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Now It's Weird

TUESDAY MAY 13 2008 6:00 AM

Submitted by FearTheReaper. Edited By erin_broadley.

TAGS: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Democratic Primary

When the Democratic primaries began I was afraid the party faithful would pick Hillary Clinton as the nominee. She would have lost handily to any Republican nominee and energized the right wing base, creating coattails for GOP gains in Congress. As the primaries continued, it became apparent that Hillary probably wasn�t going to win the nomination. Yet, she continued. I then became angry at her campaign�s obvious racism and ugly tactics. Finally, she began attacking Obama like she was Karl Rove. At that point, I went from anger to hate. I despised the demon with every fiber in my body. But, again, my feelings have changed. Now I am bewildered and confused by her inability to face reality.

Her actions remind me of a couple of situations. The first is the execution of Ricky Ray Rector in 1992. Ricky killed a cop and then shot himself in the head. He survived, but was basically lobotomized. On the night of his execution, he set aside his desert (pecan pie) so he could come back and eat it when he returned from the electric chair. There may not be a more appropriate analogy for Hillary than Rickey Ray Rector. The only situation that comes close occurred in England during the time of King Arthur.

The race for the presidency was over in February. Then it was really, really over on March 5th, after the Ohio and Texas primaries. There was just no way Hillary would ever catch him in delegates after that day. But she kept on going. Six weeks later, she actually won Pennsylvania by 9 points, which only set her back further, and yet she continued on, in a delusional stupor. Finally, on May 6th, Hillary lost the nomination when Obama crushed her in North Carolina and tied her in Indiana. Now, everyone knows Hillary has lost - except Hillary.

The media declared the race over.

David Gergen, a former adviser to several presidents, including Mrs. Clinton�s husband: �I think the Clinton people know the game is almost up.�

Bob Franken, political analyst: �Let�s put it right on the table: It�s over. It�s over.�

Bob Schieffer, CBS News: �Basically, Maggie, this race is over.�

George Stephanopoulos, ABC: �This nomination fight is over.�

Yet, that did not stop Hillary. She has decided to continue on, despite this little thing called reality. And even though one of America�s main polling institutions has decided to just stop asking polling questions about her.

However, while Senator Clinton has remained close and competitive in every meaningful measure, she is a close second and the race is over. It has become clear that Barack Obama will be the Democratic nominee.

Even if every single Superdelegate was convinced that the former First Lady is somewhat more electable than Obama, that is not enough of a reason to deny him the nomination.

With this in mind, Rasmussen Reports will soon end our daily tracking of the Democratic race and focus exclusively on the general election competition between Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama.

Well, that�s no reason to stop, is it? Hillary�s only hope is to convince the Superdelegates to overturn the will of the people and vote for her. She apparently is unaware that her 108 Superdelegate lead has evaporated and she now trails trails Obama in the party insider vote.

Sen. Barack Obama moved into the lead today in the last category that Sen. Hillary Clinton had claimed to have an edge -- support among the Democratic Party's Superdelegates.

The Illinois Democrat grabbed the superdelegate lead thanks to a switch by New Jersey Rep. Donald Payne and an endorsement from previously uncommitted Rep. Peter DeFazio of Oregon.

Those two votes gave Obama a 267-266 lead over Clinton. That is a huge shift since the days when Clinton boasted about a 60-plus-vote lead among the party's pros back on Super Tuesday.

Since last Tuesday, Obama has picked up 20 Superdelegates and Hillary has picked up 1.5. And now Obama�s spokesman is sending out emails, seeking staff for the upcoming general election.

From: Dan Pfeiffer [mailto:XXXXX]

Sent: Monday, May 12, 2008 5:52 PM

Subject: Resumes and Recommendations

While Barack continues to campaign hard in the upcoming primary states, we have begun collecting resumes for communications staff for the general election. Pls send resumes of friends and colleagues who you would recommend to become part of our organization either in Chicago or in a state to XXXXXX.

Thanks,

Dan Pfeiffer

Just a guy who won the Democratic primary staffing up to take on the other party�s nominee, while a bag lady runs around in the alley screaming, �I�m the nominee, I�m the nominee.�

Obama has moved on. He�s no longer running against Hillary. Today he will fly to Michigan, where he will meet with state leaders to discuss seating the state�s delegates. Obama is doing so because he WON the Democratic primary.

Obama will meet with leading Democrats and campaign in Michigan on Wednesday, staking a claim to vital general election turf and working toward a compromise that would seat Michigan's disputed delegates at the Democratic National Convention in August.

The Obama campaign will not be fighting too hard for the final Democratic delegates. They don�t need to. They have decided to turn their attention John McCain � mostly because he�s the only opponent left.

"Our schedule reflects the fact that we are still fighting for votes and delegates in the remaining contests, but also that we are going to places that are going to be competitive in the fall. John McCain has gone unchallenged for far too long and we're going to make sure that voters in competitive states know the choice in this election between changing Washington and the third term of George Bush's failed policies that McCain is offering."

Nothing to worry about, Hillary. Don�t pay attention to the fact that Obama is ignoring you and campaigning in Florida and Missouri.

This is the point in the movie where drunk brother keeps trying to fight sober brother, who wants nothing to do with it.

EXT. LAWN.

The brothers square off on the law. Sober Brother slowly backs up. Drunk Brother lunges and swings wildly at Sober Brother. Sober Brother easily ducks the blow.

I�m not going to fight you.

You think you�re better than me?!

Stop. Dad wouldn�t want this.

Drunk Brother lunges again. Sober brother steps to the left. Drunk Brother misses and collapses face down in the flowerbed.

Sober Brother takes Drunk Brother�s car keys out of his pocket.

Dad loved me more.

You can wash up in the bathroom. I put some sheets on the couch.

Sober Brother enters the house he alone inherited from their father.

I�m sleeping right here. In my flowerbed! Forever!

FADE TO SADNESS

Like most drunks, Hillary isn�t so good with her money, either. She�s $20 million in the hole � and her enablers are telling her to keep the party going.

Clinton aides continued to insist that she will remain in the race even while confirming that she is $20 million in debt. "The voters are going to decide this," senior adviser Howard Wolfson said on "Fox News Sunday," acknowledging the $20 million figure. "There is no reason for her not to continue this process."

Right, no reason � except she lost. And she�s broke. And 11-year-old kids are selling their bikes to keep the party going.

When Hatfield presented former President Bill Clinton with a check for $440 after Friday's rally at the Williamson Fire Station, the man who was once the leader of the free world seemed to nearly come to tears.

"You sold your bike to get this?'' Clinton asked.

The reply was "yes'' and a whole lot more.

Hatfield feels so strongly that Hillary Clinton should be the next president he not only sold his bicycle, but video games and anything else he could find that "I could make money with'' to donate to the former first lady's bid for the Democratic nomination.

"I was thinking one day how could I make money for the campaign,'' he says. "And I just went through my closet and found things I didn't need.''

The result was a donation that for the most part left the former president, who is known as a great communicator, speechless.

This has moved from distressing to absurd to pathetic. Hillary Clinton is a walking, talking joke. Every time she enters a room, people should say, �Dead man walking.� Maybe then she�ll start to figure it out. I mean, I doubt it, but at least it's something.

108 Comments

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Kohai

I'm lost

October 2006

MAY 16, 2008 01:23 PM

Hey, 8 years of self-delusional, reality-denying politics under the current president may not have been the best for his approval rating, but he did get to serve his full term, managed to pass a lot of his agenda for the nation, and has managed to do enough stupid shit in Iraq while "staying the course" that his (likely) Democrat successor will be handed an impossible fuckstorm.

Perhaps Hillary has read the political tealeaves to say, "We want someone as belligerently obtuse as our current president but from the OTHER party." Or perhaps she's always been unable to shift course... like when she decided to go ahead with her planned push against Grand Theft Auto in the same week allegations that the Bush administration might have deliberately misled the American people about the presence of WMDs in Iraq were just starting to emerge.

Uglynproud

New Orleans, LA

March 2006

MAY 16, 2008 01:38 PM

Alfaduetto said:
Being a rehabilitated Yankee [PA]myself, I was really taken aback by the evolution of the new racist states. They ain't in the south no mo they're up North. That's the great circle of life I guess Simba.

I moved from the North to the South 6 years ago, and that was the first thing I noticed. Friends in New York still don't believe me. The North is a way more racist than the South, but the media keeps perpetuating the old Southern Racist stereotype.

RudieCantFail

Intercourse, PA

January 2006

MAY 16, 2008 02:03 PM

Uglynproud said:

Really? Because I also moved here from the North a few years ago, and I don't find it to be any better or worse.

My experiences seem to indicate that the patterns are rural vs. urban, and basic education vs. higher education.

Domo_Kun

Rockford, IL

March 2005

MAY 21, 2008 02:57 AM

Uglynproud said:

There's a different dynamic in the North. In the North, white people do not like individual black people, but love them as a group. In the South, racism is manifested by hatred toward black people as a group, while many white racists may like individual black folks.

For example, a white man living in Chicago is more likely to express an opinion against racial profiling and in support of Affirmative Action, but is also more likely to draw his children closer to him if he encounters a black man on the street, or move out of his neighbourhood if a black family moves in.

Toku666

Columbus, OH

May 2004

MAY 21, 2008 05:45 AM

Domo_Kun said:

Uglynproud said:

So please link us to the abstract for the intensive sociological study you are either citing or have conducted yourself.

...because otherwise you're talking complete shit.

We can certainly all hypothesize about the characterization of racism in the North versus the South, but without something solid to go on, we're (at best) talking about personal experiences. And don't ever forget that plenty of racists know they're not "supposed to be" racists, and don't ever let anybody know how they really feel.

LostLucy

USA

December 2006

MAY 21, 2008 06:24 AM

Toku666 said:

Domo_Kun said:

SPOILERS! (Click to view)

Yep. I don't think you can make rash generalizations about north or south, even urban and suburban. Race is still a very heated and polarizing issue for many, just as there are many many others anxious to make the divide go away...

Domo_Kun

Rockford, IL

March 2005

MAY 23, 2008 07:32 AM

Toku666 said:

Domo_Kun said:

Uglynproud said:

Where the fuck did I cite any sort of study? It was purely conjecture based on my own observations, and was supposed to be taken as such.

PointBlank

New York, NY

November 2004

MAY 23, 2008 07:40 AM

Toku666 said:

Domo_Kun said:

Uglynproud said:

I'm betting that guy hasn't spent more than a week anywhere in the South (or anywhere more than 200 miles from his dorm or home).

Coyotemike

Kearney, NE

May 2006

MAY 23, 2008 07:42 AM

Domo_Kun said:

Toku666 said:

Domo_Kun said:

Uglynproud said:

Where the fuck did I cite any sort of study? It was purely conjecture based on my own observations, and was supposed to be taken as such.

Your own observations are bullshit. White Flight hasn't happened in years, and unless you observed how your hypothetical white guy on the street with his kids reacts to EVERY stranger they encounter on a daily basis (and discounting the possibility that the probable 1 person you saw do this isn't an individual racist) you have really said nothing.

OhSoOrdinary

New York, NY

July 2006

MAY 23, 2008 11:17 AM

coyotemike said:

SPOILERS! (Click to view)

Oh Mikey, I knew I hearted you for a reason.

motorfirebox

Pittsburgh, PA

March 2004

MAY 23, 2008 11:38 AM

Dom_Kun's observations generally match up with my own. and i've been quite a bit further than 200 miles from home.

individual anecdotes may not mean much, but as an aggregate they're as reliable as any other sort of poll (which is to say, ymmv). considering that Domo_Kun is hardly the first to express that particular sentiment, here, i'm having a hard time understanding the sudden hostility. moreover, his opinion is one i've seen expressed elsewhere. the first time i heard it, i think, was in the novel Chesapeake by James A. Michener.

Coyotemike

Kearney, NE

May 2006

MAY 23, 2008 11:41 AM

motorfirebox said:
Dom_Kun's observations generally match up with my own. and i've been quite a bit further than 200 miles from home.

individual anecdotes may not mean much, but as an aggregate they're as reliable as any other sort of poll (which is to say, ymmv). considering that Domo_Kun is hardly the first to express that particular sentiment, here, i'm having a hard time understanding the sudden hostility.

My hostility is against generalizations, such as . . .

In the North, white people do not like individual black people, but love them as a group. In the South, racism is manifested by hatred toward black people as a group, while many white racists may like individual black folks.

and

For example, a white man living in Chicago is more likely to express an opinion against racial profiling and in support of Affirmative Action, but is also more likely to draw his children closer to him if he encounters a black man on the street, or move out of his neighbourhood if a black family moves in.

But that is just me.

motorfirebox

Pittsburgh, PA

March 2004

MAY 23, 2008 11:50 AM

well, we're talking about societal trends. i'm not sure how to do that without using generalizations, since society is itself a generalization of the individuals which comprise it. generalizations can certainly be used badly, and to great harm, but that doesn't make generalizing inherently bad or wrong.

hk85

Guerneville, CA

October 2007

MAY 23, 2008 03:36 PM

Hillary is staying in 'cuz someone got assasinated once, in June.

"My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. I don't understand it."

Way to take the high road, Obama is black and might get shot. Classy

Now she has issued an apology. Oops.

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