News > Politics > Hillary Goes Pathetic

commentary
TUESDAY FEBRUARY 19 2008 6:00 AM

When candidates get desperate, they often go negative. Some go for the jugular and go dirty, while others apparently attempt to go negative and just end up looking pathetic. Hillary Clinton is running one of the saddest campaigns in recent memory. And by recent memory, I mean Rudy Giuliani.

For the first time in the race, Hillary has found herself on the back end of some serious ass kickings. Obama has rolled off eight, straight primary wins and looks to add to that total tonight, with Wisconsin and Hawaii. Hillary has adopted the Rudy template for failure by basically giving up those states and hoping for big victories in Texas and Ohio in March. At the same time, she is trying to go dirty on Obama and its fucking sad oh, and if successful, it will tear the party apart.

The most distasteful aspect of the Clinton campaign is the win at all costs attitude. Its great in a general election, but in a primary you just end up turning off millions of people you will need to vote for you in November. Examples of Clinton stupidity abound.

Yesterday, the co-chairman of Hillarys Michigan campaign told Democrats in red states that they are completely useless.

"Superdelegates are not second-class delegates," says Joel Ferguson, who will be a superdelegate if Michigan is seated. "The real second-class delegates are the delegates that are picked in red-state caucuses that are never going to vote Democratic."

Oh. Thanks. That is very nice of you, says HALF the country. And for those of you thinking it was just a guy in Michigan slipping up, I give you the man running the Clinton campaign.

Could we possibly have a nominee who hasn't won any of the significant states -- outside of Illinois? Chief Strategist Mark Penn said. That raises some serious questions about Sen. Obama.

Yes, it does. I mean, what kind of an asshole is popular in red states? What you want is someone who isnt popular in red states, that way you can be sure to only win in blue states, like Kerry and Gore.

And while were on the subject of superdelegates, know that the Clinton campaign is listening to all the Democratic voters and party members who are concerned the situation could destroy party unity at the convention. The popular wisdom says that whoever wins the popular vote, should receive the majority of superdelagate votes, so voters dont feel disenfranchised. Of course, the Hillary people could give a shit.

"We don't make distinctions between delegates chosen by million of voters in a primary and those chosen between tens of thousands in caucuses,'' Wolfson said. "And we don't make distinctions when it comes to elected officials'' who vote as superdelegates at the convention.

"We are interested in acquiring delegates, period,'' he added.

Oh, good. Thanks for putting to rest everyones fear that the candidate would be chosen by a bunch of party insiders in a smoke filled room and disenfranchise voters, you stupid assholes. Whats that? There is something worse that you can do to tear the party down the middle?

Senior strategist Mark Penn also indicated that the Clinton campaign would press the issue of seating pro-Clinton delegates from Florida and Michigan, where she won unauthorized primaries conducted after the national party barred the states from holding contests before Feb. 5 and after other major candidates agreed not to compete.

Right. The Michigan delegates should totally be counted, because not only was Obama not on the ballot, but also voters were not allowed to write in his name. Oh, and never mind that Hillary agreed that the votes would not count before primary season began. Thats just her word, why would we believe that?

Even Clinton supporters, people working hard on her behalf, are getting pissed off about the tactics.

"You dont change the rules in the middle of the game. Period, said former Nebraska Senator Bob Kerrey, when asked if the delegates from the Florida and Michigan primaries should be represented at the Democratic National Convention. No new vote and no new caucuses, either. Just stick to the rules that they agreed to, Kerrey said firmly.

Shes never going to listen, Bob. I mean, it's her fucking throne, not Obama's. And she is pulling out all the stops, calling for her friends to start a swiftboat campaign against Obama. Hillarys people are reaching out to her rich supporters to make their own ads.

Some of Sen. Clinton's top fund-raisers, who have "maxed out" at the individual limit of $2,300 and have tapped out their personal network of donors, are consulting with lawyers about how they can create "independent" groups that can spend unlimited money in support of her campaign.

Susie Tompkins Buell, founder of the Esprit clothing company, was weighing whether to start her own entity for buying ads to promote Clinton or to put money into an existing pro-Clinton organization, like the feminist political organization Emily's List which has already spent about $1 million on Clinton's behalf.

Oh, good, that always ends well. Many of these supporters believe Obama is too big of a pussy for the job and are impressed with Hillarys fightin attitude.

Some Democrats, who have e-mailed me, praise the ruthlessness of the Clinton political machine, arguing that only a readiness to throw sharp elbows can defeat the Republicans this fall. These Democrats hate what they call Barack Obama's "Kumbayah" message of national reconciliation, a reference to the campfire song based on an old African spiritual.

And while youre at it, why dont you reach out to some neo-cons for some help, Hillary?

Mr. Mantz held a quick meeting in a hotel lobby in Washington with donors, some of whom are involved in the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC and were in town for other business.

Yes, AIPAC. Just a lovely group of people who did everything they could to make sure the Iraq War happened. Pick a neo-con strategy in the Middle East and you can be sure AIPAC is doing what they can to make it happen. And now, they are giving money to the campaign of Hillary Clinton. Good news.

The heat is also rising on Obamas dealings with a shady Chicago businessman named Tony Rezko. Hillary has been trying trying to get this scandal on the front page, with little success.

"We still don't have answers about Senator Obama and his dealings with Mr. Rezko," Clinton also said last week.

I have gotten a few emails from Clinton supporters about the Rezko land deal and its been popping up on pro-Clinton blogs and message boards. Sadly for them, this scandal appears to be nothing. It was investigated and there was no crime. Yesterday, the people who sold the home to Obama were finally interviewed.

The couple who sold Barack Obama his Chicago home said the Illinois senator's $1.65 million bid "was the best offer'' and they didn't cut their asking price because a campaign donor bought their adjacent land, according to e-mails between Obama's presidential campaign and the seller.

But, Im sure thats not the last weve heard of that deal. Clinton will keep it alive and well, because having been on the other side of the bullshit Whitewater scandal, she is able to take the low moral ground and try to put a fellow Democrat through the same horseshit. Classy lady.

Another good way to forever alienate the supporters of your Democratic opponent people you will need to vote for you in November is to label them a cult. The Clinton machine started in on this two weeks ago.

Democrats fear that the Clintons are putting their personal ambitions ahead of what's good for the Party and the country, that they are ready to dirty up Sen. Obama with attack ads and dismiss his millions of supporters as -- what one key Clinton backer called -- "a cult of personality."

Let's see, how would this work?

You're all in a cult!

No, we're not. We just really like this guy.

I win. Nevermind. Vote for me!

Good luck with that, dipshit.

So, whats left? How about charging Obama with plagiarism?

Howard Wolfson, the Clinton campaign's communications director, today accused Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) of committing plagiarism in a speech in Milwaukee on Saturday night.

On the call, Wolfson said: Sen. Obama is running on the strength of his rhetoric and the strength of his promises and, as we have seen in the last couple of days, hes breaking his promises and his rhetoric isnt his own.

"When an author plagiarizes from another author there is damage done to two different parties. One is to the person he plagiarized from. The other is to the reader," said Wolfson.

Oooo. But what if the person who was plagiarized says it didnt happen? Hillarys campaign was accusing Obama of stealing a speech from Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick. Unfortunately for Clinton, Patrick and Obama are old allies who often share talking points.

Mr. Patrick said that he and Mr. Obama first talked about the attacks from their respective rivals last summer, when Mrs. Clinton was raising questions about Mr. Obamas experience, and that they discussed them again last week.

Both men had anticipated that Mr. Obamas rhetorical strength would provide a point of criticism. Mr. Patrick said he told Mr. Obama that he should respond to the criticism, and he shared language from his campaign with Mr. Obamas speechwriters.

Mr. Patrick said he did not believe Mr. Obama should give him credit.

Huh. Maybe before accusing someone of wrongdoing, you should check with the alleged victim to see whether or not you are going to look like an asshole. Also, check to see whether or not you are a pot calling a kettle black.

I asked Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson and Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass, if they could assure the public that neither Clinton nor McGovern has ever done what Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, did when he used the rhetoric of Gov. Deval Patrick without footnoting him.

They would not.

Oh, probably because Hillary has taken Obamas campaign slogan and used it in a speech.

Could this woman get any more pathetic? I submit she could not. But, maybe her daughter could.

Has your mother shown any remorse for the fact that her vote cost Iraqis a million of their lives? a student asked Chelsea Clinton on Monday at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Ms. Clinton replied: She cast a vote based on the best available evidence. Perhaps you had clairvoyance then, and thats extraordinary.

Holy fucking shit. Shut your mouth, you stupid asshole. Im not clairvoyant, but I knew the Iraq War would be a disaster. You know why? Because I know how to read books. They are these things that have lots of ideas and words in them about stuff like tribes, religions and societies. Some people have actually written a few about Iraq. Crazy huh? Oh, and maybe Hillary should have actually read the National Intelligence Estimate about Iraq before voting for the fucking war.

Clinton did not read the 90-page, classified National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq, according to "Her Way: The Hopes and Ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton."

For members of Congress to read the report, they had to go to a secure location on Capitol Hill. The Washington Post reported in 2004 that no more than six senators and a handful of House members were logged as reading the document.

Shut your pie hole, Chelsea. If youre going to be pimped out, dont embarrass the pimp.

This is pretty simple: The Democrats have about a month to get rid of Hillary Clinton, or they are never going to win in 08.

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Comments

Hozilla

Centralia, IL

January 2007

FEB 19, 2008 06:16 AM

I agree totally it is sad that this campaign has gone into this stage i was hoping it would stay above that but I see that is impossible. I am glad that other Americans see how wrong the Clinton stategy is and it is my hope that we put Barrack Obama in the white house in November because he is the best person to be president and lead this nation forward and not continue the same failed policies that washington seems so fond of these days

LostLucy

USA

December 2006

FEB 19, 2008 06:20 AM

Good smackdown of Chelsea. SHe is 28 now?? How did that happen??? WHy does she still look so fearful? Makes me wanna see Jenna do a take-down...

Hillary will never, never be POTUS and she is unable to see that with her bitter, entitled, fearful chase.

Chuck Schumer, the other senator from NY said it clearly on Mt the press Feb 17th

At the end of the day, on June 5, for the sake of party unity--June 7--Howard Dean and the two candidates will have to get together if neither candidate has 2025, which is the margin that the rules require to win, and come up with a strategy. Each candidate will have to have buy into that strategy to determine who wins because if the loser and their supporters stalk away, then we will lose the general election. So, you know, this, this issue of how the superdelegates ought to vote, you know, this great epistemological, metaphysical issue, no one thought about it three months ago. To me, it is not a great moral issue. The great moral issue is defeating George Bush, John McCain, and coming up with a way that we can do--walk away from the convention unified. And neither Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama, I think, want to have an internecine fight where one side is so bitter that the other feels that they can't enthusiastically support the winner.

But yes, for BILLARY, it is her way or no way.

What i really want to hear is how someone who supports her justifies doing so at this point.

Really, WHY would anyone, how could anyone, support her and feel confident about her with her deceit,
her lies,
her refusal to take the least responsibility for her deeds,
and let's not even talk abt that crazy loose cannon she's got running around taking actual physical jabs at Obama supporter's faces.

Calling Vince Foster......

Cash

USA

OLD SKOOL

FEB 19, 2008 06:44 AM

Oh, Hillary...desperation is a smelly, smelly perfume.

What's next...starting a rumor that Obama stuffs his bra and will go all the way to 3rd base on the first date?

401kboy

Woodbridge, NJ

May 2007

FEB 19, 2008 06:49 AM

The Clinton campaign is desperate. The Clinton family is desperate. Everything they have done for the last eight years was designed to put Hillary in the Oval Office. Bill going on tour with Bush 41, moving to NY to win a Senate seat, Hillary's votes in the Senate. As their opportunity slips away they will do anything to hold on to it.

This "plagiarism" accusation is indeed pathetic. I cringed when I first read about it; I was almost embarassed for them.

While I am still uncertain about Obama (there just isn't alot of history to judge him on yet) I am firmly convinced that Hillary Clinton should not be president.

However, regarding the "super" delegates: we must remember that a political party is NOT an arm of the government, and that they can choose their nominee however they choose to.

Salome

SUICIDEGIRL

Illinois, USA

FEB 19, 2008 07:01 AM

Desperation is not attractive, in a date or potential candidate.

Hooraydiation

Boston, MA

October 2005

FEB 19, 2008 07:08 AM

Salome said:
Desperation is not attractive, in a date or potential candidate.

As a fairly desperate person myself, I feel this has made Hilary easier to relate to on a personal level.

Meanwhile, Obama's frequent displays of competence continue to alienate me. Why can't he be afraid of public speaking, like me? Why does he have to have all these scruples?

In short, can I trust a seemingly decent individual to represent my interests as a pathetic asshole? I think not.

mattacme

Calistoga, CA

February 2006

FEB 19, 2008 07:58 AM

I am more and more confident that Senator Obama will be our next President. I just hope we can keep him alive to finish his two terms.

MrChairman

Evanston, IL

March 2005

FEB 19, 2008 08:00 AM

It's impossible to believe the Clinton campaign has made this far... Bil-lary both seem to take their best shots at Obama but he just dust himself off and keeps climbing. Totally torpedos Hillary's claim that Barack wouldn't be able to withstand what the GOP will throw at him.

Also, gotta say I'm not going to feel all that motivated to get out and vote in the general election if the superdelegates end up wrenching away the nomination from Obama and laying it at Hillary's feet.