Hillary to quit, endorse Obama, says the NYT
Long rumored, but this time it is probably true that Hillary Clinton has thrown in the towel. The NYT reports:
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton will endorse Senator Barack Obama on Saturday, bringing a close to her 17-month campaign for the White House, aides said. Her decision came after Democrats urged her on Wednesday to leave the race and allow the party to coalesce around Mr. Obama.
Howard Wolfson, one of Mrs. Clinton’s chief strategists, and other aides said she would express support for Mr. Obama and party unity at an event in Washington that day. One adviser said that Mrs. Clinton would concede defeat, congratulate Mr. Obama and proclaim him the party’s nominee, while pledging to do what was needed to assure his victory.
The unacknowledged cost of abetting the Hillary versus Barack fight, something which Rush Limbaugh's "Operation Chaos" encouraged, was the destruction of the Clinton Machine. It was in a way like supporting Fatah versus Hamas in Gaza. Neither had much to recommend them. But perhaps there was more to be gained to seeing both factions remain viable rather than forcing a showdown in which one faction is supreme winner. There was going to be a showdown anyway. But now the Clintons have been defeated, not only on points; they have been defeated utterly. Crushed.
Barack Obama will soon move to consolidate his power within the Democratic Party. Hillary underestimated him and lost her power and fortune to hubris. Yes. The unthinkable can happen.
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posted by wretchardthecat at 6/04/2008 09:00:00 PM
24 Comments:
Hillary's defeat of course says more about what the Democrats want (no "compromises" with the middle/working class for which the Clintons were famous) than about her. Or Obama.
Her campaign was plagued by cronyism and ineptness, ala Fatah. But Obama is plagued with innate radicalism like Hamas which endorsed him btw. All Obama can do is send rhetorical rockets into PA, or OH, or KY, aimed at working class whites particularly, and also middle class whites.
The Operation Chaos outcome has been to defeat the interests of middle/working class whites. They are crushed. Obama need not nor will he compromise with them. His route is Hamas's route. More rockets. More radicalism.
There is no pivot. He can't pivot. Even if he attempted a sham pivot, no one would believe him after the bitter struggle. He represents Louis Farrakhan and George Soros. That's it.
That's the bet Dems made. I suspect it will not pay off, but rather cost them greatly.
Never have events been less out of the hands of pols, the Media, and the elites and into ordinary people who can shape it by releasing a video, or maybe some obscure Chicago fixer deciding to rat out the Democratic nominee.
Well, the NYTimes says it, so it must be true;-)
Bob "Bombshell" Beckel on the mysterious Michelle video.
"Is it bigger than a college thesis?"
ht Sam
American Thinker On The Michelle Bombshell
ht Doug
To continue Wretchard's analogy, Fatah knows that when Hamas takes over the West Bank, they are dead men. All of them. So they'd rather throw in their lots with the Israelis rather than Hamas. Since the Israelis don't want them dead.
The opportunity is for a "deal" that gives Fatah some concessions, and Israeli protection, from Hamas and the men who want Fatah dead.
Now with Clinton backers, they have nowhere to go. Obama already has his people, and they are George Soros, Arianna Huffington, and most importantly Louis Farrakhan. Their interests are dead, dead, dead in an Obama campaign let alone victory. At best they'll be told to shut up, get to the back of the bus, and stand the whole journey.
Obama has already doled out the positions, the loyalists, the patronage, the pork on his campaign. He's got nothing left to buy off Hillary supporters. What's his move? He has none.
He has to "kill" in political terms his opponents, by making them suffer. Since he has nothing to purchase their loyalty with, that has not already been promised to his backers particularly Black leaders. But since he can't kill them in reality, these people can join forces with McCain.
Already there is a Hillary Supporters for McCain website. I'm sure there will be others. McCain HAS options to buy loyalty or at least support from Hillary backers. HE can offer her a unity ticket VP slot, with a one-term pledge. AKA "Stop Obama." He can name a stolid Clintonian Democrat if Hillary does not accept or backs publicly Obama. Jim Webb comes to mind, or perhaps Lieberman. Yes the base won't like it but what, they want Farrakhan's pawn in the White House?
I don't see where Clinton's backers go other than McCain. Obama will tell them to "shut up" and "iron my shirt" and that's not a winner with them. THEIR interests will be hosed in favor of save the Polar Bears and Farrakhan friendly policies. Like soft on crime stuff.
The NYT still has the gall to claim it practices impartial journalism.
I'll believe it when I see it.
Barack Obama reacted to Tony Rezko's conviction with this statement:
I’m saddened by today’s verdict. This isn’t the Tony Rezko I knew, but now he has been convicted by a jury on multiple charges that once again shine a spotlight on the need for reform. I encourage the General Assembly to take whatever steps are necessary to prevent these kinds of abuses in the future.
It's amazing how little he "knows" about all his old friends. He's shocked, shocked that all these things are happening in Trinity Church or in Chicago politics. Who would have thought?
It may well turn out that the guy didn't even know his wife.
I will speak for you all,
She's an ugly bitch, isn't she?
ADE
If the tape comes out, he'll say she's just a typical all black person, but his white grandmother taught him how to heal the divisions between the all black and the all white, becoming the Mulatto Mortar Messiah, bonding the races with hope and a shared passion for change.
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Mexico’s war on drugs Journey into a lawless land
It is not the sort of place where you can just turn up without an introduction, and I spent years trying to make contacts who could take me in under their protection. Time and again, I was told that it was too dangerous to take a gringo into the mountains, because the drug lords were feuding, or battling the army. Finally, I found a way to get into the Sierra Madre, spent four months travelling down the range and was extremely lucky to escape from the mountains without getting killed.
Along the way, I glimpsed Mexico's future. In the past 18 months, and particularly in the last two weeks, the murderous narco-anarchy I saw in the Sierra Madre has gone nationwide. President Felipe Calderon has gone to war against Mexico's drug cartels, all of which were started by Sierra Madre clanfolk who came downhill – and he is now discovering that the Mexican state isn't strong enough to defeat them.
In Mexico City, cartel gunmen assassinated the nation's police commander in the grounds of his home. In the state of Chihuahua, drug gangs have, in the past fortnight, put up hit lists and wanted posters with names and photographs of police commanders, and offers of reward money for their deaths. In the border city of Juarez, the list was posted on a police memorial statue. No one dared take it down, and so far 17 names have been crossed off it – dead.
The narcos are also feuding with other, with 1,400 drug-related murders so far this year, and many towns and cities are under a virtual curfew. Several police departments have resigned en masse in terror, and three police commanders have fled to the United States requesting asylum. President Calderon is claiming signs of progress, but it looks like the whole nation is unravelling, turning feral, descending into lawlessness.
She's an ugly bitch?hahaha
RC CARS
I think most Americans see the enthusiastic crowds at the Obama rallies and they ask themselves, "Do we want theses folks running the country?"
Now, if most voters are not looking for salvation from D.C. I think he'll lose despite McCain's charisma Deficit. In this case voters will be motivated by Sen. Obama's Charisma to turn out to vote against him, as well as for him.
Perhaps the best way to under-motivate his base is to constantly portray him as just another politician who will do what a politician needs to do to get elected, as his former spiritual advisor has said. If that requires ditching his past "bosom buddies" after claiming he'll stand by them as well as stand up for them, then consider the ditching done (has he made that claim for the US? Perhaps it is well he hasn't).
But his base is looking for someone to stop the oceans from rising -- not just another politician who promises to stop the oceans from rising before the election and then complains about the contrary tides after the election -- or says he needs more "resources." Did Moses need more resources? Did Moses Compromise? Or did he issue Commandments? And will ten be enough? Perhaps they are better by the dozen.
When Benj listed Sen. Obama's accomplishments (the ones Sen. Obama said McCain had failed to acknowledge), the chief accomplishment was winning the nomination (which in fact McCain has acknowledged). How that made him qualified for President before he was selected was not explained. Still, that certainly shows him to be a good Chicago Politician. A professional Politician surrounded by experts in the dark arts of politics. A Chicago Machine Politician, paid up in full, who knows how to organize, motivate and direct a crowd: turning that crowd into something else. What's the word? A mob?
Thou shalt not set your thermostat @ 72 degrees.
Thou shalt not drive SUV's.
Thou shalt not order a Burger with Cheese.
Burma Shave
ADE, that's not what we need. She's not an ugly woman. Not at all. I do find myself wishing, however, she emulated Laura Bush more than Hillary Clinton but I presume that explains why I will not be voting for Obama.
The opponents of Obama, however, will have to be careful how they go after Michelle -- and she does need to be taken on. But her looks? Attacking her looks is a losing proposition. Factually wrong and an incredibly poor reflection on the proponent.
I think the key here is McCain. He has to lead; make people want to vote for him. He won't win this one by simply being the man people voted for because they didn't like Obama. Who can win an election based on that? I wonder how much of his support is actually based on the idea that he's not Obama.
That might be enough, but like the idea that something really derogatory on Barack is bound to come up, it is a dangerous thing to rely on.
Although many people are repelled by the hive-life of the Left, I think it's fair to say that this has also been their strength. I think the conservatives have been out-organized and possibly out-shouted cross the board by the Left. And that won't change until some effort is put into it. Maybe it will take a catastrophic defeat in 2008 to wake people up to that possibility.
Cap and Trade not exactly a Reagan Conservative's Dream.
Open Borders with a Drug-addled, violent war zone less than ideal.
No Drilling in Anwar
Close Gitmo
---
"We'd love to have somebody articulating our conservative values to the American people in this race. It's not going to happen. We have to face it."
"Right now, as conservatives, we are not going to have an inspirational leader articulating our values and inspiring the American people. Therefore, we are going to have to inspire ourselves -- just like we did through the Clinton years."
"These are the Clintons; they are never going away, folks! No matter what happens, they aren't going away."
"Obama, what are your accomplishments? Community organizing? Whoop-de-doo. Harvard Law Review? Whoop-de-do. Running around with terrorists? Whoop-de-do."
---
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And there's an interesting piece today by The Prowler at the AmericanSpectator.org:
"Word out of the Sedona auditions for GOP vice-presidential nominee is that Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal at the very least wowed other guests over the weekend with his grasp of policy and the need for change inside the Republican Party. 'He was the only one who seemed to understand that we have to get back to innovative public policies that don't stray far from our conservative values,' says a source with knowledge of the weekend. 'He was the star of the weekend without really trying.'"
Now, something about this is just overwhelmingly confusing to me. I don't understand. It doesn't make sense, because McCain is not projecting himself in this manner. McCain is not projecting himself as somebody who can change inside the Republican Party and take it back to a more conservative entity. McCain's doing just the exact opposite. And yet Jindal goes out there, according to this report, and causes everybody to do back flips. I would think it would scare 'em. I would think, "Oh, no, this is not what we're looking for," because the McCain campaign is doing everything it can to get away from conservatism, at least the kind that Bobby Jindal represents. "In the run-up to the Memorial Weekend getaway, McCain campaign aides insisted that while Jindal is under heavy consideration, the party might be better served to have him as a highly visible governor for the next several years. But Jindal apparently saw the opportunity and made the most of it."
Now, he's publicly saying he doesn't want it; he's got too much work to do in Louisiana; he's pretty young, 36-years-old. But I read this and it stunned me. We've got some insider, knowledge of the weekend, somebody at McCain's place, "he was the only one," presumably includes McCain, "who seemed to understand that we have to get back to innovative public policies that don't stray far from conservative values?" Would that not be a great thing for the nominee to try"?
- Rush Limbaugh
Wretchard -- in 2004 Rove out-organized the Left. One of the primary mistakes of Kerry's campaign was using College kids with naivete and arrogance to call up voters. Instead of Lincoln's dictum of having them contacted by people they know and trust.
The Left massively outspent Bush and he still beat Kerry.
Sadly, McCain disdains organizing, while Obama likes it. However, Obama's ability to organize around blue/white collar whites is questionable.
Folks,
Hillary may concede publicly, but it will be a ruse.
The woman wants to be president more than I want to breathe. She cannot allow Obama to win in 2008.
If Obama wins in 2008, he’s pretty much the presumptive nominee for 2012. Assuming he isn’t run out of office over a non-response to a WMD terrorist attack on the US, and he wins re-election, then his VP has the inside track for the 2016 election… but for Hillary, it doesn’t matter if the VP wins or loses.
If Obama wins in 2008, she’s out at least 8 years, possibly even 12.
No, if Hillary wants to be president , she’s got to make absolutely certain that McCain wins. She’s gotta figure that he’ll cross the aisle so many times on legislation that’s anathema to conservatives that he’s a guaranteed one-termer… and she’d be the front runner for 2012.
Watch your back Barack – the Clintons have the long knives out.
Triton
Triton'sPolarTiger said:
"if Hillary wants to be president , she’s got to make absolutely certain that McCain wins."
This may well be part of Hillary's calculation. However I suspect her main consideration is that Barack Hussein as President would be a catastrophe for the United States. Why would Hillary want to be President if New York and Los Angeles were glowing in the dark due to nuclear terrorism or the American economy had been hammered into the ground due to head-in-the-sand style socialism?
Is there not the slightest possibility that Hillary is actually motivated by patriotism?
If Obama wins in 2008, he’s pretty much the presumptive nominee for 2012.
If B. Hussein wins (which I don't for a minute think he will), his tenure will end exactly the same way that Jimmy Carter's did: abruptly and in disgrace. I refuse to believe that he will be, in the slightest, competent and I'm already sick of listening to his oily voice on the radio.
The issue then becomes what catastrophe will he bring down upon the rest of us that will lead to his departure, and will we be able to go out and kick liberal democratic ass in the streets as a result of it.
Agree with Rattlegator about having to face up to Michelle and her hatred, but calling her ugly is not the way to go. At least, not physically ugly, because that woman has one of the ugliest points of view I have ever witnessed from a supposedly educated female. At least Cindy Sheehan could fall back on her inherent redneckedness to account for her psychological ugliness.
Hillary needs to continue officially campaigning because she has $11 million dollars in debt, and the law says when you roll up your campaign you can only raise a maximum of $250,000 in additional funds. This works out for Barack because he never wanted to have Hillary in the number two spot anyway, and speeches where she's expected to concede, and congratulate Barack, but only gives out her website instead, give him an excuse to cast off any pressure by Democrats to consider her for VP.
Eggplant:
"Is there not the slightest possibility that Hillary is actually motivated by patriotism?"
Good point. Hillary hater though I am, it has occurred to me that in her own way she might love her country, and it might be a country I could recognize as my own.
I've always assumed that a politician knows more about politicians than I do. What we know of others we know as an extension of what we know introspectively of ourselves. We know those like ourselves much better than we know those who are very different. Hillary is a calculating, ruthless politician, and a liar. Barack is a calculating, ruthless politician, and a liar. Who better to understand Barack than Hillary? It is possible she may know he doesn't love the same America she does. This might be a sufficient reason for her to want him defeated. Americans have been known to surrender a great deal for the good of their country.
I will say that I have some sense that Hilary lives in the same world as I, even that she lives in the same town (though not the same neighborhood). She reminds me of a girl I knew in high school whom I very much disliked. That makes her comprehensible. I made it through high school with that girl in that same town, I could probably make it through four or eight years of a Hillary presidency. But Barack... I have no sense of that guy at all, beyond flim-flam. It's very hard to understand a man who spent most of his life trying to decided what race he was. Has he decided yet what country is his?
I wonder why the perception is always that Hillary has stayed in a loveless marriage for the sake of her career aspirations. If the marriage is loveless, isn't Bubba equally chained to the same marital train wreck?
We think we know what Hillary thinks she could get out of staying with Bill. What does Bill think he can get out of it, staying with Hill?
And so ends the second-longest concession speech in the history of the US (First place being held by Al Gore, at 7 years, 7 months and counting)
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