You might remember Kristen Breitweiser, one of the 9/11 widows who hounded Congress until they got their head out of their collective backside and actually looked into what happened on September 11, 2001 (though some say they stopped short of finding all the facts). She's been following this election closely and has spoken out from time to time. Well she hit the nail on the head with this one and takes it to the Superdelegates with everything she's got.
My admiration for this woman knows no bounds. She pulls no punches in this one and says what a lot of other folks have been thinking for quite some time now. I probably wouldn't have built McCain up as she did, but the rest of it is right on...
You Broke It, You Own It - Obama Style
Those who are responsible for putting Democrats in the broken place we are in right now with regard to Barack Obama had better own it to the end. Leave those bumper stickers on and wear those campaign pins until the bitter end folks because YOU OWN IT. And people are going to want to know whose to blame.And as for the superdelegates, just an FYI, we have the list with your names, you will be held accountable on Election Day and beyond, too. This time around, everybody's going to be looking for accountability.
Flash forward to Election Day 08. Can you imagine the backpedaling going on when it comes to explaining how Barack Obama -- the Democratic nominee by math not by sensibility -- loses key states? What will those pundits say? ... What will they use as their rationale as to why they reasonably expected Obama to win those states in the general? Will they be driven mad with their math and just keep repeating that it wasn't their fault -- it was math's fault? (Or will they fall back on the usual suspect and blame it on Hillary?)
snipIn August when the Republican attack ads unroll with a screaming, ranting, raving, railing, and dancing like a chicken lunatic Reverend Wright juxtaposed with an angry Obama with an outstretched pointing finger overlayed by Obama's voice saying that he can't disown Wright anymore than he can disown his grandmother, will the superdelegates feel good and justified about their decision to try and kick Hillary out of the race before she won a state like West Virginia or Kentucky? Will those same superdelegates apologize for their bad judgment in thinking a candidate who lost 40% of the Democratic vote in a state primary -- a mere 5 months before Election Day -- should even still qualify to be the best candidate in a general election?
I've been asking this for months but no one's ever been able to answer me... Just HOW do Axelrod and company plan on responding to those ads by the 527s when they roll them out? And you know they're coming guys.
I really don't think "hope" and "change" will work in the general election. I mean calling other Democrats racists puts us back on our heels and we back down. We actually care about racism and many of Hillary's supporters were in the thick of the fight for civil rights. But do you honestly think the rethugs will stop in the face of those charges?
Just exactly what is David Axelrod's reasoning as to how Obama -- the candidate who "says" he represents change and "outsider politics"-- will fare against the well-documented record of a maverick like McCain who has actually spent his entire career bucking the political system and truly enacted change? Will Obama change his campaign theme? Yikes. Is the Obama campaign strategy being unveiled when Obama states that "a vote for McCain is a vote for Bush"? Because if that is the Obama campaign's idea of a "winning" strategy against John McCain, we are in serious trouble.snip
... so many Clinton supporters are reluctant to vote for Obama if he becomes the nominee. It's not because they are bitter. It is because they chose Hillary over Obama for two real reasons: experience and definition.
Obama can't gain experience in the next 5 months.
True, Obama can gain definition -- that is if he starts defining himself today and stops leaving his self-definition up to others -- namely the likes of Reverend Wright and Karl Rove.
To me, it's the difference between buying cereal for the picture on the box rather than the ingredients on the nutritional label. Clinton supporters want to know what they are eating for breakfast--they don't get swayed by the fancy packaging that often hides the sugar and artificial additives hiding inside. They check the label. They read the ingredients.
We know what we are getting with Hillary Clinton. We've read the label that has been on the box for years. And, yes, we may not like everything about her, but at least we know what we are getting when we support her. There are no surprises, no baggage left unexamined. Hillary has been in the public eye for years. She has a record that can be followed and seen in plain view. We know who she is. We know that she is a hard worker and a smart fighter who will never give up. And we have a pretty good idea of what she would do as president. Perhaps most importantly though, we know that she wins vital states that have proven to be essential to winning the WH.
Now as we all know, it is the responsibility of the superdelegates to use their independent judgment to do what is best for the party and most likely to ensure victory for the Democrats in November. As Superdelegates, their judgment is crucial in cases like this where the leading candidates have equal support from the electorate.
They're the only ones who can pull us back from the brink of what I'm certain will be a sure loss for Dems in November if they throw this thing to Obama. Guys there are just too many gifts to the rethug 527s out there and you know as well as I that they'll do their level best to exploit each and every one of them to their advantage.
Hillary is a proven deal closer and a fighter and she'll fight for all of us when she is in the White House. She's consistently won the electorally rich states such as New Jersey, New York, California, Texas and Florida and the swing states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Mexico and Arkansas. In every election since 1980, it has been the lunch bucket voters and increasingly the Hispanic voters who have been most likely to vote GOP, and these groups have, in primary after primary, shown a remarkably strong support for Hillary. And the decrease in the margin of women voting for the Democratic presidential ticket may have been the single most important factor in the outcome of the 2004 presidential election.
At this point, neither Obama nor Hillary can win sufficient pledged delegates to secure the nomination. This means the superdelegates have the power and obligation to decide who will be the best, most electable candidate for our party. Obama and his supporters must recognize that he did not win the major (swing) states and that his victory in states that are highly unlikely to vote Democratic in the fall make Hillary the stronger and therefore our strongest candidate in the general election.
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