Hillary Clinton

Posted at 9:25am on May 15, 2008 We seem to be missing some data.

Odds and ends absent from the best Democratic Primary EVER.

By Moe Lane

And let me depress our Democratic lurkers a bit by noting that we're only at the halfway point of it. Good times, good times.

Anyway, there are some things missing, and I have to admit, I'm curious where they are:

1). Polls for Montana, South Dakota, and especially Puerto Rico. The default Media assumptions are that Senator Obama is going to win the first two because he won the (caucus) States around them, and that Senator Clinton will win the last one because it's full of people who speak Spanish. On the other hand: Montana and South Dakota are primary contests full of working class white people, which is a demographic group that Obama is busily losing at levels not seen since Walter Mondale; and the media folks reporting on Puerto Rico are generally from mainland USA, which means that they almost certainly don't speak Spanish themselves, thus making it hard for them to check. Some actual, you know, polls would be helpful here, people.

2). About those April 2008 fundraising totals, Hillary, Barack: pretty miserable for you both, huh? No? So what were they? It's May freaking 15th, already; and neither of you could be made to shut up about the billions and billions of money you raked up in December, January, February, March... What? Sorry, no, John's taking public money for the general, and our race is over anyway. You two are still in this one. So come on, already.

3). "A senior Democrat strategist, familiar with discussions at the highest levels of the Obama camp, has revealed that Mr Obama is now confident of the support of around 120 of the remaining 260 undeclared superdelegates." Yeah. How is that going, anyway? I mean, given that 29% of Clinton's supporters currently want her to do a third-party bid if she doesn't get the nomination, I think that "delicacy about hurting her feelings" (HAH!) may need to take a back seat to "stopping the bleeding now." You think that maybe you want to get that list leaked, Senator?

Note that there's always the possibility that I just missed any or all of this. But if the obsessive amateur political junkies can't find something...

Moe Lane

Posted in | | — Comments (8)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 1:14am on May 15, 2008 Jim Lindgren Makes Mischief

By Pejman Yousefzadeh

It would be positively sublime if some enterprising reporter asked Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama about this idea. And it would be even more sublime if said reporter followed up and followed up and followed up some more until Clinton and Obama both admitted that there is absolutely no difference whatsoever between calling for a windfall profits tax on oil companies and calling for one on farmers, save the fact that oil companies make better targets for demagogues.

Posted in | | | | — Comments (0)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 4:00pm on May 14, 2008 Polluting the Message

Always Let the Right Hand Know What the Left Hand is Pandering

By Mark I

Sen. John McCain has called for a summer gas tax holiday to help consumers dealing with the rising cost of filling their tanks. Most observers, including this one, think that the temporary aspect of McCain’s suspension makes it nothing more than political pandering. But we’ll accept that because of the political strategy inherent in making this proposal. It’s a good suggestion inasmuch as it forces his Democratic rivals to go on record as for or against higher gas prices. Sen. Hillary!™ Clinton recognized the political strategy implicit in McCain’s call and quickly endorsed the idea, while the Senator from H.O.P.E.™, Barack Obama, did not. In the process Obama painted himself as more comfortable than McCain or Clinton with high gas prices. So far, so good.

But then Sen. McCain stole the thunder away from his own political jujitsu by coming out in favor of a cap and trade system for carbon emissions. Leaving aside the catastrophic economic implications such a policy would have, and sidestepping the question of whether man-made global warming is real and reversible; calling for this policy on the heels of proposing a gas tax suspension is both bad politics and poor message craft. The two proposals contradict one another and make the Democrats' message look coherent by comparison.

Read on…

Posted in | | | | | | — Comments (21)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 3:51pm on May 14, 2008 My, what a refreshing glass of cola.

I can't tell you the brand, lest it be seen as advertising...

By Moe Lane

...but it's one of the ubiquitous ones. Mmmm. Tasty, tasty carbonated beverage...

IF CLINTON DOES NOT WIN THE DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY NOMINATION, 29% OF DEMOCRATS SAY SHE SHOULD RUN AN INDEPENDENT CAMPAIGN FOR THE WHITE HOUSE.

(Via Hot Air)

(pause)

Excuse me while I go get a towel for the keyboard.

(longer pause)

Sorry: I still got nothing that can top that.

Posted in | | — Comments (21)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 10:30pm on May 13, 2008 In West Virginia, Obama Still Can't Win

By Erick

As crosses burn Hillary sweeps across West Virginia tonight with a massive victory, I have to wonder how many members of the MSM will change the "Obama wins" narrative, at least only slightly, to recognize that Obama is, in fact, the weaker candidate in a general election match up with John McCain.

When Indiana and North Carolina voted last week, the MSM was gleeful pointing out that McCain, the GOP nominee, was still seeing double digits worth of votes go to Huckabee, Ron Paul, and others.

Here now, this week, and next week, Barack Obama, the presumptive Democrat nominee, will have lost every election since February except North Carolina and Guam, and lost nearly two thirds of the vote in West Virginia, and yet the media will sweep it all under the rug, flailing about wildly to find burning crosses and white sheets instead of recognizing Obama's significant general election vulnerabilities.

Hillary is still done for in the media's mind, but Barack still can't win. The media will ignore that. After all, West Virginia and Kentucky and Indiana and Puerto Rico are all racist.

When the sun sets on this election we might have to realize that the media's efforts to set up Obama as the Democrat nominee has been the greatest gift they've ever given to the GOP.

Posted in | | | — Comments (13)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 8:24am on May 13, 2008 55% of Democrats want the Spring/Summer of Pain to Continue

By Jeff Emanuel

According to UPI:

A USA Today/Gallup poll released before Tuesday's West Virginia primary indicates a majority of Democratic voters say they want the nomination race to continue.


The poll of 1,017 national adults conducted May 8-11 indicates 55 percent of likely Democratic voters say both Sens. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., should stay in the race.

How nice that a majority of Democrat voters would like the nomination fight that is tearing their party asunder on racial lines to continue into the summer, giving Republican nominee John McCain more time to define himself and hone his message while his general election opponent is still distracted by intraparty political warfare.

As Mr. Burns would say: "Excellent."

Posted at 7:46am on May 12, 2008 Michigan Disenfranchised: Another day without a solution

By RightMichigan.com

Cross-posted on Right Michigan at www.RightMichigan.com.

Did you hear the news over the weekend?  It turns out the race for the Democrat nomination is over.  Game, set and match.  Hillary Clinton hasn't gotten word just yet and neither, by all indications, has her BFF Jennifer Granholm but if you put any stock in what the mainstream media has to say than you know it's over.  All of it.  Mostly.  There's still one pesky issue the Dems haven't resolved and it's finally starting to garner a bit of the spotlight on the national stage.

Still no solution for seating Michigan and Florida.  

Two major battleground states that have approximately zero voice right now in the Democrats' nominating contest.  No say on who very well may become the next President of the United States of America.

But we might get a say.  Maybe.  Eventually.  Partially.  The regressisphere is abuzz with proposals and possible solutions, most of which focus on Florida getting a full delegation and Michigan being relegated to secondary-citizen status, being stripped of as many as half our delegates.  Others think we should just toss out the votes of hundreds of thousands of residents and split the delegates down the middle between Hillary and Barack... oh, but don't touch those super delegates.  They can do whatever they'd like.

The MSM, they're reporting dutifully on the left's heroic (/sarcasm) efforts to seat our delegates, conveniently ignoring the fact that it's the left that pulled the chair out from under us when we went to sit down.  (Even if Michigan gets to send a few delegates to Denver they'll be staying somewhere else in Colorado... the DNC months ago even released the State's hotel block.)

But while the national press bumbles their way to the most flattering possible coverage they can generate for the Barackstar, Detroit News columnist Daniel Howes provides a bit of a Michigan perspective.  And when you're realistically discussing Michigan AND Barack Obama it's bound to be an uncomfortable conversation.  The man hasn't exactly endeared himself to the State, what with his 300+ day absence and his constant verbal assaults on the troubled auto industry.  Which leads Howes, the columnist perhaps best respected on all things Big 3 and equipped to discuss the auto industry to deliver a bit of advice while doing something Obama, I'm sure, wishes he hadn't.

He compares the Senator to George W. Bush.


...To suggest that Japanese rivals aren't being pinched by sky-high gas prices is mistaken because, as Toyota Motor Corp. confirmed last week, they are. Also mistaken -- and unfair -- is suggesting that Detroit doesn't build fuel-efficient cars, just like when President Bush exhorted Detroit to build "relevant" cars and refused to meet with the CEOs of Detroit's Big Three.

You're right: America needs "truth telling" from its president -- especially one who grasps the facts and understands that truth can cut two ways.

It's actually a pretty scathing piece that takes the candidate to task for his ill-informed comments about the Big 3 and his penchant for piling on with non-constructive criticism.  It'd be easy to quote the whole thing but fair use and all that.  Suggested read.  

That is, of course, if you aren't entirely soured on all things Detroit after the latest revelation from the Hip Hop Mayor's office.  We knew he had a problem firing folks he shouldn't have been firing but hiring family members he shouldn't have been hiring?  

The Associated Press reports:


City records examined by the Detroit Free Press showed that at least 29 people with close ties to Kilpatrick have been appointed since he took office in 2002. Kilpatrick has cut more than 4,000 city jobs since then, including firefighters and nearly 1,000 police officers, mayoral spokeswoman Denise Tolliver said.

Tolliver defended the appointees, saying they not only are well-qualified but also are part of a tradition in Detroit...

Also a part of a tradition in Detroit...


Some Kilpatrick appointees have faced legal and ethical problems, including at least two relatives who remain on the city payroll despite falsifying their college credentials on their resumes, the Free Press said.

Political patronage.  Gotta love it.  At least it's a tradition.  Tradition makes everything OK.  Besides, Detroit's got one heck of a role model in Lansing.

The Ivory Tower follows up on that report with a quick look at term limited State House members and their next careers of choice along with those who might be replacing them.  There'll be a lot of familiar names on ballots this year, though they might not be where you're used to finding them.  

With legislators getting termed out many of them are looking for a taxpayer funded paycheck elsewhere in the State.  The bureaucratic mentality is, I think, best summed up as follows:


"I don't think anybody anticipated the consequences of a three-term career," said state Rep. Fred Miller, D-Mt. Clemens, who is caucus chairman for House Democrats and will face term limits in 2010.

"You spend your first term locking down your district, the second term trying to do some policy initiatives and your third term looking over your shoulder to see where you're going next."

Posted in | | | | | — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 8:42pm on May 11, 2008 It's Not Too Soon To Start Thinking Of 2012

By Pejman Yousefzadeh

Via Patterico's Pontifications, we have this:

As Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., avoids any real campaigning in West Virginia, the former president of the United States is out there ginning up resentments.

Bill Clinton has the right to say whatever he wants, of course. But he's a smart man. Brilliant, even.

He can do the math. He must know that it's quite improbable that his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., will be the Democratic presidential nominee.

So what purpose does it serve for him to barnstorm a state like West Virginia and tell rural voters that Obama and his elitist political/media cabal allies are mocking Appalachia?

He's using the kind of language Democrats typically use against Republicans -- as in, stuff you say when you don't want voters to vote for the other guy under any circumstance.

This is tough stuff to walk back from.

As if the Clintons want to walk back from it. Now that they realize the nomination is likely not theirs, they will do whatever is necessary to ensure that Barack Obama will not win in the fall. Then Hillary Clinton will run again in 2012, gambling that by that time, the Democrats will have become so hungry for a Presidential win that they will forgive her and her husband for the efforts they are currently undertaking to destroy the Democratic Party.

And don't think that a few of the Clintons' supporters won't take what they are doing to heart and heed the implicit message not to vote for Barack Obama under any circumstances this fall.

Once again, the Clintons have ensured their place in history as the Patron Saints of Popcorn. The entertainment they provide political observers is nothing short of amazing.

Posted in | | | | | — Comments (1)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 1:01am on May 11, 2008 "Nothing's Over Until We Decide It Is!"

By Pejman Yousefzadeh

Refusing to go gently into that good night, Clinton supporter Jerome Armstrong stubbornly sticks to the message that Hillary Clinton can win the Democratic Presidential nomination. He points to West Virginia as a state that serves as a good indicator of what Armstrong believes to be Barack Obama's general election problems. Sensitive to charges that fretting about Obama's general election appeal in West Virginia could be tantamount to giving credence to the views of racists, Armstrong spends a goodly amount of time denouncing anyone who would dismiss as racists anti-Obama voters in West Virginia.

This isn't particularly interesting save for two observations:

  1. The Clinton folks actually believe that their candidate might yet pull off some sort of miracle and capture the nomination.
  2. Despite all of the talk that Obama's nomination is now inevitable and that with said inevitability will come newfound party unity, seething anger and resentment continues to define the mood of Clinton supporters. This is, perhaps, somewhat understandable; at the beginning of the nomination contest, I don't imagine that people like Armstrong really ever thought that Obama would be able to wrest the nomination away from Clinton when they consulted the stars. Nevertheless, one would have thought that the various pro-Clinton factions in the netroots would have begun to reconcile themselves to an Obama nomination and then line up to support him against John McCain and the Republicans.

Well, perhaps eventually, they will. But for now, there remains seething anger and resentment and since it is almost the middle of May already, one could easily see the resentment continuing through the summer--especially if Hillary Clinton decides to push through the rest of the primary schedule and goes to the Democratic National Convention without having fallen on her sword. Ted Kennedy kept on fighting up to and during the convention in New York in 1980 even though he had significantly less support then than Clinton does and will have during this electoral contest. I am sure that this information will not be lost on the Clintons, I would not be surprised if they continued to play every trick in the book--and some that may not be in the book--to try to win the nomination at the last moment during a knife fight in Denver and while I have not recently checked the stock prices for popcorn companies, I don't imagine that they have gone down all that much.

Posted in | | | | | — Comments (27)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 8:28pm on May 9, 2008 Oh, look. Maliki beat the Sadrists like a red-headed stepchild.

But... but... but... that doesn't fit the Media narrative!

By Moe Lane

And I can almost hear the teeth grinding of Ms. Fadel as she had to write this particular article (via Instapundit):

In big concession, militia agrees to let Iraqi troops into Sadr City
By Leila Fadel | McClatchy Newspapers

BAGHDAD — Followers of rebel cleric Muqtada al Sadr agreed late Friday to allow Iraqi security forces to enter all of Baghdad's Sadr City and to arrest anyone found with heavy weapons in a surprising capitulation that seemed likely to be hailed as a major victory for Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki.

In return, Sadr's Mahdi Army supporters won the Iraqi government's agreement not to arrest Mahdi Army members without warrants, unless they were in possession of "medium and heavy weaponry."

The agreement would end six weeks of fighting in the vast Shiite Muslim area that's home to more than 2 million residents and would mark the first time that the area would be under government control since Saddam Hussein was toppled in 2003. On Friday, 15 people were killed and 112 were injured in fighting, officials at the neighborhoods two major hospitals said.

There's something pleasant about watching a site like McClatchy being forced to deal with objective reality. But enough about them! I have a question each for both of the Democratic candidates for President:

For Barry: Given that, if we had listened to you when you called for our cutting and running from Iraq, this scenario would not only not have happened, but the entire country would have probably collapsed into an inchoate mess - when are you going to actually revise and extend your position on the war so that it reflects conditions in this universe?

No, you may not ask a friend. Frankly, I don't know why you even have advisers, given that they seem to have a half-life of seaborgium. At this rate, I expect that you will soon have them all fitted with explosive collars that will go off whenever the policy positions they espouse go under 50% 60%* in the polls.

For Hill: Given that you are rapidly acquiring a rogues' gallery of left-wing pundits, bloggers, activists, anarchists, Marxists, and just plain insane nutballs that any self-respecting neo-conservative would envy... have you thought about just taking the damn plunge already and rejoining the side of the angels wrt the GWOT? All of those people above are prepared to climb over broken glass rather than vote for you anyway.

Come on. You know that you want to.

*Dammit, Addison. Having an actual sense of humor is fighting dirty.

Posted in | | | | | — Comments (28)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 1:25pm on May 9, 2008 Meet Democratic Super-delegate Steven Ybarra.

A man who knows what he wants.

By Moe Lane

And a man ready to name his price:

DNC Superdelegate Puts His Vote Up For Sale
Steven Ybarra Wants $20 Million For His Vote

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CBS13) ― In this tight battle for the Democratic nomination we've heard a lot about the candidates courting superdelegates.

But, one superdelegate is courting the candidates. He says he'll sell his vote for a price. A very high price: $20 million.

Steven Ybarra of Sacramento says that eight-figure price is peanuts for the presidency.

This is not going to be an attack on Mr. Ybarra, by the way: he's just an example. The real problem for the Democrats are the super-delegates who are being quiet about their special needs.

Read on.

Posted in | | | | — Comments (11)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 5:45pm on May 8, 2008 Permit me to translate this letter for you.

Just because.

By Moe Lane

It's a letter from Senator Clinton to Senator Obama regarding the Michigan and Florida delegations (via Hot Air), and like all such letters what the writer would like to say is not necessarily what it does say. Fortunately, I am in the throes of a telepathic trance (or a minor throat infection, which has roughly the same effects), so let's rectify that, shall we? The actual letter is in blockquotes: my, ah, channelings of what Senator Clinton actually wanted to say and/or include are in italics.

Senator Barack Obama

Obama for America
P.O. Box 8102
Chicago, IL 60680

Dear Senator Obama,

[Me channeling HRC: Guess what? I'm still here. I guess Jimmy was right: give you one of mine and we'll both have two. Oh, by the way, Jimmy really appreciated the way that you just sat there and took the insult to both you and your wife not like a man at all. "Performance art?" You're from Illinois: did you really think that'd play in Peoria?]

[Read on, Barry.]

Posted in | | | — Comments (10)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 5:38am on May 8, 2008 Who will be the traitors? Operation Chaos can still cause more chaos if the General wants.

By Erick

It's been 300 days since Barack Obama deigned to set foot in Michigan. Michigan has 18 unpledged super delegates.

Florida has 13 super delegates who are uncommitted.

Obama, in addition to thumbing his nose at Michigan, has blocked Florida's delegates from being seated, despite a legitimate election with his name on the ballot. Obama could have worked with Hillary Clinton for a do-over. But he knew he'd lose both states so he sought to block them.

Which super delegates will be betray loyalty to their state and endorse Obama? Will Representatives Tim Mahoney or Allen Boyd stab Florida in the back? Mahoney had a hush-hush meeting with Clinton today. Maybe he'll be loyal to the state Obama peed on.

What about Senator Carl Levin and Representative Bart Stupak in Michigan? What about soon to be indicted (potentially) Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick? 300 days it has been since Obama gave their state any attention. And Obama continues to push environmental legislation that would harm Michigan's auto industry, not to mention his rah-rahing of protectionism while going to Canada to tell Canadians to ignore it; he didn't mean it.

Who will these super-delegates pick? The woman who paid their states the attention those sates were due? Or the man who thumbed his nose at them?

Posted in | | | — Comments (10)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 1:28am on May 8, 2008 It Cannot Be Stressed Enough

By Pejman Yousefzadeh

Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are the most protectionist major Presidential candidates to come down the pike in recent memory. I say "recent" because, of course there is one particular President who was in the same league with both Clinton and Obama when it came to promulgating lousy trade policy and making the country suffer for it. I know that Charlie Black works for the McCain campaign and gets paid to throw elbows, but he is right to go where he goes verbally:

The growing shopping list of promises has also served further to sharpen the contrast with John McCain, the Republican nominee, who has staked out a robustly free-trade stance for the general election.

"The last time we had a protectionist president was Herbert Hoover [in office from 1929 to 1933] and look how that worked out," says Charlie Black, a senior adviser to Mr McCain. "We think we can win this debate in a general election."

The ghost of Hoover may be smiling now. The ghosts of Hawley and Smoot most certainly are. The rest of us have every reason to feel grim.

Posted in | | | | | — Comments (3)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 1:22am on May 8, 2008 Hillary Clinton Is Not Going Anywhere Anytime Soon

By Pejman Yousefzadeh

At least not if this story is to be believed. And yes, much of what is found in that story in terms of anti-Obama sentiments is ugly beyond measure. But that ugliness may not serve as much of a deterrent against Clinton staying in.

Syndicate content


blog advertising is good for you


blog advertising is good for you



 
Redstate Network Login:
(lost password? new user?)


image

Get RedState by E-mail



Delivered by FeedBurner

image

©2008 Eagle Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Legal, Copyright, and Terms of Service