First there was the call for a re-vote in Florida and Michigan. Then there was the statement that pledged delegates didn’t necessarily have to honor that pledge at the convention. Now there’s accusations that her opponent doesn’t want people to vote in the remaining primaries. What is Hillary smoking? Is she honestly that desperate for delegates?
While these tactics may work if she was running for, oh, I don’t know… Prom Queen. But do we really want a prom queen for President?
I’ve already addressed the whiney call for re-votes in “Some Cheese with that Whine”.
Next let’s look at the call for delegate switching. She is correct in that the regardless of primary outcomes, delegates technically may vote for whomever they wish. Hillary even went so far as to call them “so-called” pledged delegates to further reinforce the lack of commitment. This brings up some character questions for me, as it should for all Americans regardless of political affiliation. Should someone wants to lead our country be calling for those elected by the people, in this case the delegates, not honor the sentiments of the people they represent? The Democratic Party’s selection rules for delegates say that they ought to “in good conscience reflect the sentiments of those who elected them.” Hillary in effect called for the delegates to ignore party rules. Is that any way to lead? If she doesn’t want those elected representatives to honor the interests and sentiments of the people, why should we believe she will represent the best interests of this country as she claims. There is a major conflict of messages with this issue. What this says to me is that she wants the will of the people to be represented yet ignored when it suits her best interests. If this is the way the Democratic Party is going, no wonder Gravel changed parties.
The latest in Hillary desperation statements is that Obama is trying to stop people from voting in the remaining primaries. According to MSNBC today, she told CBS’s affiliate in Billings, Montana, KTVQ, “My take on it is a lot of Senator Obama’s supporters want to end this race because they don’t want people to keep voting,” Her ‘take’ screams of desperation. She’s running out of valid accusations that she thinks won’t hurt her, and is now grasping at the nearest straw. Obama’s camp rightfully calls it ‘laughable’, and continues to support the nomination process in spite of Hillary’s accusations. For that I give him a kudo - but not too many as I’m still a Republican McCain supporter.
Let me end with a tip for Hillary: People won’t vote for someone who sounds that desperate. From my standpoint, however, I say keep it up. Do your part to elect McCain. A grateful nation will thank you for not being elected President
Although Hillary has made some bad calls, I am certainly no fan of Barack. That said, I encourage you to read my take on the MI and FL primaries in my blog. I have a few posts on the topic.
One last thing, although I posted that McCain is a second choice for me, I really don’t trust him. He might have voted for the war, but he was later criticizing GWB. Still later, he began to support GWB. Now, he continues to support GWB. We don’t need another GWB.