Archive for the 'Clinton' Category

Hillary Is Getting Screwed

As Hillary marches on in this inevitable race, her message to the public is changing. The tide is turning in her favor (apparently), and yet she is a victim of the democratic system. Jon Stewart gives her a voice.

Voices Tags: , ,

Clinton Counting

First there was Reaganomics.  Now there’s Clinton Counting.  After her win in Pennsylvania, Hillary announced that she’s ahead in the popular vote.  Funny so did Obama.  Hmmm…  Surely you’ve seen or heard the stories.  They’re in the major news networks:  CNN, MSNBC, FOXNews.  Both campaigns made sure of that.  That’s all fine and dandy, but to reach her conclusion Clinton included Florida and Michigan, in spite of the fact that the Democratic Party isn’t counting the primaries in those states (back to that in a minute).  Then there’s the other problem with the ‘popular vote’ count.  The 4 caucus states also excluded.  That includes even Washington who actually had a primary with a popular vote.  But they also held a caucus to decide delegates so apparently their popular vote doesn’t ‘count’ in Clinton Counting.  Check Newsweek’s story about it.  They’re calling it Hillary’s new re-count.  She apparently still wants to have her cake and call it caviar.   

One of Hillary’s main arguments for counting the Florida and Michigan primaries, in spite of the fact that neither state followed the rules even though they knew the consequences, is that the voters’ voices must be heard.  So my question is: “What about the voices of the voters in caucus states?”  Especially Washington which had a primary with a popular vote that she’s intentionally choosing to ignore.  Could it be because she only won one of the 4 caucus states, while Obama won 3 including Washington in which he won in both the delegates and the popular vote?  Yes, I realize a popular vote doesn’t exist in the other 3 caucus states, but that doesn’t mean she should ignore them because it looks better for her.  She isn’t even acknowledging them when she says “I have received more votes by the people who have voted than anybody else”.  Makes you wonder whether she’s deluded or deceptive - maybe both.

 So my next question is: “What makes the Florida and Michigan voters more important than the voters in Washington in Clinton Counting?”  The answer to that one is easy.  They make her position look better.  She won Florida and Obama wasn’t on the ballot in Michigan.  She says she won more popular votes than any other candidate in Michigan, which is technically true; but there’s no way of really knowing whether Michigan voters favor Clinton or Obama since both names weren’t on the ballot.  And that also leads us back to Washington and a 3rd question: “Why aren’t the popular votes in Washington included in Hillary’s count?”  One answer that I’m guessing would come from the Clinton camp is because they are a caucus state.  The real answer is because Hillary lost that state.  

Her claims are kind of a moot point anyway because when it comes down to it, delegates, and not popular vote that decides the candidate.  But apparently that’s not enough to stop a Democrat. If I remember right, wasn’t ‘popular vote’ Gore’s argument in the 2000 general election?  When will they learn?  And when will Hillary learn to count?

Be The First! Tags: , , , ,

Primary Desperation

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?

Continue reading ‘Primary Desperation’

Voice Tags: , , , ,

Some Cheese with that Whine?

Hillary is at it again – or should I say still. She’s still trying to get a revote in Michigan, and is going to what some would say is extreme measures – especially since Florida has already said they won’t hold a revote. She’s changing her schedule today to go beg Michigan lawmakers for a revote, and some of Hillary’s supporters are trying to raise funds for a privately funded revote. There are several issues the Legislators in Lansing must look at: cost, legality, logistics, and possibly some ethical issues.

According to an article in today’s NY Times, the cost of the revote would be approximately $12 million; and a proposed privately funded re-vote just adds to the legal issues. If they want it privately funded, maybe it should come out of Hillary’s personal funds – not government funds or even campaign funds. Let her use the royalties from her book, although that would just give her another reason to whine that it’s unfair even.

Of course the accusations and finger pointing continue too. Hillary’s camp says that Obama is trying to disenfranchise the Michigan voters by not urging them to support a revote, as well as trying to block a revote. They claim he’s saying he doesn’t want a primary in Michigan. I think they need a reality check. There was a primary held in Michigan. As simple as it sounds, just because there will be no delegates from Michigan counted for the nomination doesn’t mean there wasn’t a primary held. But of course Hillary doesn’t see it that way because it offers no advantage to her; and after all she won’t do anything or fight (beg, plead, whine) for anything that doesn’t provide some advantage to her or her campaign.

Continue reading ‘Some Cheese with that Whine?’

Voice Tags: , , , ,

Is Clinton Finished?

There has been a lot of Democratic action over the past two weeks, and its looking like Obama has the upper hand. The dust hasn’t even settled and already bloggers are suggesting that Hillary needs a reality check. I don’t know if its her politics or her name, but it seems likely that Hillary won’t be America’s first female President. Clinton has not yet conceded victory, in hopes that a superdelegate vote in her favor will trump Obama’s lead. I don’t claim to be the smartest guy, but that seems like a longshot. Mark Schmitt had this thought:

It’s well past time to enter the gracious winding-down stage of this long, and until recently, healthy campaign. The last candidate I can remember to keep punching like this even after the race was effectively decided was Jerry Brown in 1992. I’m sure Clinton remembers the unpleasantness of that 1992 convention. I doubt that she wants to be that guy.

Will she have the same dogged staying power that Mike Gravel has? It seems to me that Clinton staying in the race will most benefit John McCain. If she stays and she and Obama continue to publicly shred one another it’ll hurt the Democrats more than it will help either one of them. So I won’t mind if Clinton rides the clock.

By the way, I need to cry uncle. I’ve been claiming that Gravel would be the next candidate to drop since September. I’ll admit it, I was wrong.

Be The First! Tags: , ,

Primary Fairness

OK, so is it me or does it seem that Hillary is grasping at straws to build her delegate count? As soon as Obama pulled ahead of her in the count, she started calling for the Michigan and Florida primaries to count. If it’s truly important to her, she should have been calling for it earlier while she was still ahead in the count. Or even better she should have tried to convince the Democratic party in those states to follow the rules so that their votes would count when the primary dates were being set. They all knew going into those primaries that the votes and delegates wouldn’t count, but she couldn’t be bothered with it until she fell behind.

Continue reading ‘Primary Fairness’

Voice Tags: , , ,

Hillary Attacks

Hillary has been attacking Obama as long as the Presidential race has been in progress. I know that negative campaigning moves the meter, but honestly it has gotten pretty nasty between them. From what I’ve heard of Clinton’s plans for America, she would be better served by thinking through her platform than worrying about Barack’s perceived shortcomings. She’s relentless. Obama has had a section of his site devoted to keeping track of Hillary’s attacks. Continue reading ‘Hillary Attacks’

Voices Tags: , ,

Not so strange bedfellows

I love living in Austin where you have all kinds of people, most of them just itching to spout off on any topic (and I’m one of them to some degree). The latest topic is the Clinton/Obama debate hosted by CNN on the University of Texas campus on February 21st. At first the TX Democratic Party said attendance would be by invitation only. Personally being a Republican, this didn’t bother me, especially when I can watch it on CNN if so inclined. Plus you can go to the watch party if you have $50 to blow. However, there were a LOT of people, both Democrats & Republicans, who started screaming and yelling, some having an outright hissy fit complete with indignant outrage, that it should be in a larger venue so that the public can attend, claiming a conspiracy with CNN & the Democratic Party. Quite a few posted their opinions on the Austin American Statesman website. Of course some just took the opportunity to rant and rave about other things, but that’s par for the course in these things.

Rantings aside for the moment, I actually like what Susan Binford, Assistant Dean of the LBJ School of Public Affairs said about it after they announced the release of 100 general public tickets. She said “First and foremost, this is a television show.” After I got over my self-amusing thoughts of “So does that mean it will be purely entertainment?”, I started looking at their position. I agree that larger venues have more logistical and production problems, i.e. security, audio that isn’t as good as it would be with a smaller venue, etc… All in all, I think it’s being handled the best it can be given the short notice in pulling together a production of this magnitude.

I think one of the biggest problems is that many see the target audience as strictly a Texas audience, or even an Austin audience, when in fact it’s a nationwide audience as are all Presidential Debates in this era of quicker, easier dissemination of information. The candidates are in the news every day for some issue or another, ensuring plenty of access to the candidates views & positions on the issues. People need to look at the larger picture and stop being so self-focused when it comes to this debate.And back to the topic of ranting for a minute, I think that the people who took out their anger and frustration on the people who answer the phones at the Travis County Democratic Party Office were way out of line. It’s not like they made the venue decision, and it’s not their fault, so don’t yell at them.

I’m sure people will continue to bash the TX Democratic Party, CNN, as well as UT and the LBJ School given their involvement, while throwing in the GOP and their candidates just because they can. They’ll also continue claiming some kind of conspiracy to prevent public access to the candidates, but it’s not. That’s all there is to it, and they need to get over it.

Be The First!

Clinton Suggests Garnishing Wages For Health Plan

Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton has been a proponent of universal healthcare for several years. When she announced her candidacy this was one of the first issues that her campaign addressed. Earlier this week ABC’s George Stephanopoulos asked her about enforcement. He had to press her for an answer, but she finally did admit that there would be enforcement mechanisms, including going after people’s wages. There was a quip about forced enrollment as well.

Continue reading ‘Clinton Suggests Garnishing Wages For Health Plan’

Be The First! Tags: ,

Woman Who Made Clinton Cry Voted For Obama

We’ve been hearing about Hillary’s bout of tears all week now. The way the papers are going on you’d think she was crying so hard she snotted on someone. So much drama over so little. Jon Stewart, as usual, hits the nail on the head in his response. What did Marianne Pernold Young, the photographer that asked the question, have to say about it though?

Continue reading ‘Woman Who Made Clinton Cry Voted For Obama’

Be The First! Tags: , ,



About

See Ya Dubya is a blog covering the 2008 Presidential election. Share comments and info on the candidates, discuss the issues and generally have fun keeping up with the race to the Presidency. Written by Chris Leonard and Cindy Ellis.

Close
E-mail It