Running Primaries Thread

Don't forget:

The worse the economy gets . . . and it is . . . the more valuable the Dem nom becomes.

 

If we're going to rip Hillary for Bill shooting off at the mouth, can we bring up Michelle Obama's assertion that NOW she's glad to be an American, because they support her husband? (That's a paraphrase, I know).

But I digress . . . . .

A highly improbable, though not impossible, scenario:

If Hillary can landslide win in Michigan . . .

If Hillary can landslide win in Florida . . .

Then she can make a deal with Edwards for his 26 (or is it 23?) delegates . . .

And then she'll return her big gun to the race. Through the sheer power of Bill's personality, the 40-50 or so superdelegates who would need to switch from Obama to her for her to win, would do so.

Then, battle hardened, she would sweep to victory against an overmatched McCain, and then save the world from further GOP machinations!

Universal Health Care! Peace in our time! Strong, experienced leadership!!!!!!!!!!!! All this and more would be reality!!!!!!!

Of course, there is no f$%#ing way any of this happens at this point (including universal health care, unfortunately) . . . but this has to be what her campaign and hardcore supporters are thinking. Mathematically, this can happen.

Her wins in the biggest states have kept the delegate count somewhat close, and kept her campaign optimistic. But I wonder how much longer this will go, barring clear indications of crazy numbers in her favor in a not-yet-certain-anyway revote in Michigan and Florida.

 

Damn right it's a paraphrase, because it's not what she said.

 

Not her directly. Her surrogates. Like Ferraro. Like Rendell. Like Bob Johnson. Clinton herself has done it subtly by referring to a man with a Harvard law degree as an empty suit and by running ads with a white woman answering scary phone calls in the middle of the night. Translation: Don't vote for the dumb black guy. You might die. Maybe at some point people will acknowledge that Obama has more years elected service than both Clinton AND Edwards. Anyone call Edwards an empty suit or too inexperienced? It plays because Obama is black.

 

Swung on, belted. Deeeeeep to left. Way back, way back...

Touch 'em all, jagtrader.

If experience were the commodity she'd like to make it, she and Edwards would have been out first, followed shortly by Obama, and Dodd, Biden and Richardson would be duking it out.

This is a change election. The GOP, God bless them, responded to that call by nominating a 72-year-old man.

The Clintons, meanwhile, keep trying to pluck defeat from the jaws of victory.

 

OH, hell.

What did she say then, oh unbiased observer of these proceedings?

EDIT: Never mind.

"[F]or the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country. And not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change. I have been desperate to see our country moving in that direction."

And that's about as worthy of bellyaching over as Bill "making race an ISSUE!!!!" in a campaign whose numbers, as talked about on CNN and yes, here, have most assuredly included racial and gender overtones.

 

I think the least we can be about things is honest. Saying that Bill's talking through Hillary -- or that I should vote for Hillary because hey, we get Bill out of the deal -- is like someone telling me 8 years ago that if I vote for Bush, at least I get Colin Powell out of the deal.

My hope is that the only people who end up marginalized in this election are the assholes who have set the example nationally and in doing so, have ruined politics at even the most local level.

There's nothing like going out to a Meet the Candidates session in a small town only to see one city treasurer candidate bring up her opponent's abortion stance and another guy, running for town council, talk about how the immigration policy should be more lenient.

As if it fuckin' matters for town politics.

But people want to smear shit on the walls and eye gouge for every fuckin' polling point.

Fuck them, and fuck anyone who pushes such a cause. They're all just piano players in someone else's whorehouse.

 

"For the first time in my adult lifetime, I'm really proud of my country."

Who is anyone to tell her when she should or shouldn't be really proud?

 

Sure . . .I think there's an entire generation right now who haven't really had opportunity to be proud to be Americans. That's largely Obama's constituency, the people who were kiddies when Clinton won, whose parents were kiddies when Kennedy won, and who like to hear that they will be proud to be American for the first time since they started paying attention.

But I don't think Bill's incredibly pompous and stupid statement injected race into the campaign, as was said here at the time. It was already there, as evidenced by the way he numbers have shaken out.

 

Yes, because he had difficulty winning the white vote in heavily black states such as Iowa, Minnesota, Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming, Connecticut, Vermont and Maine.

The only states in which there have been a black-white divide are those Obama likely won't win in November anyway.

And before I get accused of bashing the South, let me point out he won the white vote in Virginia, and probably would win Virginia in November if he's the nominee.

EDIT: Forgot about Wisconsin, Utah and Kansas, too.

 

Not a divide at all . . . . Hillary has had no chance at the African-American vote, even before Obama's wave gathered momentum. Since that happened, she has been able to depend on . . women.

Didn't people say "Ted Kennedy's endorsement will help Obama get the Hispanic vote that Hillary depends on!"

Race is always an issue in campaigns. As is gender. The black vote, the hispanic vote, the soccer mom vote . . . all coveted groups, all designated by campaigns and pundits a certain way.

 

I feel like we're talking about two separate issues now.