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Topic: They Won't Baaaack Dowwwn! (MOVED TO C/E)
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| chucho | Posted – 5/17/2008 5:43:33 AM | show profile This pretty much sums up my feelings (and the feelings of a lot of us out there) about the remainder of this primary and the smug, self-righteousness of Institutional Democrats: "The remainder of this race has therefore become a matter of each candidate making a case for his/her electability to the 300-odd superdelegates still uncommitted ? people like Jimmy Carter and Al Gore, who ultimately will decide this contest at the convention. In the meantime, one thing about this contest can be said with absolute surety: Everyone involved has lost their minds. For Clinton supporters, the race has taken on a meaning that transcends politics. One gets the sense that Hillary's campaign has become an idée fixe for any Democrat of a certain type who has ever been fucked around or disrespected or abused or disappointed. Far more than any policy position, it is Hillary's "fight to the finish" mantra that is reaching her supporters on some elemental level that is hard for outsiders to comprehend. Her campaign has become a symbol of not giving in to those who would wish us to surrender, of defying the smug assessments of those who think they know better, of not letting someone else's diminished expectations for us ? maybe those of a boss, maybe an ex-boyfriend or ex-wife, maybe a Madison Avenue ad world that tells us we have to look a certain way/age to be worth loving ? rule the day. I would say that Hillary is the electoral incarnation of a Gloria Gaynor song, but Gloria Gaynor is too campy and even a little bit too black for this crowd; the vibe at Hillary events feels more like nostalgic white suburban angst, a numbing misery of a type that runs deep enough it can hear the same song over and over again in the car on the way to work for 20 consecutive years and yet still sing along to it, lips pursed defiantly in Billy Crystal's white-man's overbite, when it hears it twice, three times, even four times in the same hour. In other words, this Hillary campaign is basically Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down" running for president. If you're the kind of person who's ready to throw a chair through a window if you hear that fucking song even one more time, you're not going to get this Hillary thing. More to the point, you're not going to fit in with these crowds, which are full of featureless, angry faces, faces of the type that all us smug cleverati in the media think can be ignored, faces that have been going to boring-ass jobs every day and taking one crappy vacation a year to Puerto Vallarta and running a treadmill three times a week to help their spouses find sex with them more tolerable ? you see, there we go, making jokes about them again! See, we can laugh all we want, but they won't . . . back . . . down! THEY WON'T! BACK! DOWWWWWWWN!" - Matt Taibbi |
| UGoGirl | Posted – 5/17/2008 4:58:10 PM | show profile This election has always been the Democrats to lose, and it seems as if we are doing our best to do just that. Clinton has a right to stay in as long as she can, but she has basically no chance mathematically of winning the Democratic nomination. Some of her followers seem fine with that and seem to prefer McCain winning this election so she can run again in 4 years. To hell with what happens to the country in that 4 years, as long as their candidate becomes president in 4 years. Pretty sad. |
| UGoGirl | Posted – 5/17/2008 5:03:46 PM | show profile But then again, perhaps Clinton is now ready to back down.... ***** PORTLAND, ORE. -- ...It appears that Clinton, after a week when former candidate John Edwards gave his support to Obama and his superdelegate count passed hers for the first time, has backed down from attacking her rival for the nomination. Not only that, but Clinton has shifted her focus in the past 24 hours to crediting Obama. It appeared yesterday that she stood by Obama when it was perceived that he was the brunt of President Bush?s remarks to Knesset, Israel?s parliament, where Bush compared an engagement of talks with Iran?s leader as being analogous to Nazi appeasement. Tonight, the only reference Clinton made before the Portland audience to Obama was complimentary ...Clinton also released three ads today ? two in Kentucky and one in Oregon ? that did not mention anything about Obama. In the town hall, she shifted her attacks back to the Republican opponent. ?Senator McCain is a good person. He has a great record of service. But his ideas about what are best for America are just wrong and we saw that again yesterday,? Clinton said. |
| beenthere | Posted – 5/20/2008 2:13:04 PM | show profile I read an article about a week ago--I wish I could remember where--that discussed why Hillary SHOULD complete the race. Among the reasons listed were the fact that it would be unfair to her supporters in the remaining states who have worked hard during the primaries to lose the chance to cast their votes, and that because the race was so close it was her duty to finish it regardless of the outcome. It was actually a pretty solid article, more a dissection of the primary race itself, rather than slanted in favor of either candidate. I wish I could remember more of it. In any case, it's the primary structure itself that has caused the issues, rather than the candidates. Why the primaries last so long is beyond me. |
| chucho | Posted – 5/20/2008 6:19:33 PM | show profile I agree. She can do what she wants. She's earned that right. I am creeped out by party politics, especially Democratic Party politics. Who says anyone has the right to decide to exempt states from the electoral process? That's infuriating. As far as I'm concerned the popular-vote winner should be the winner, period. |
| UGoGirl | Posted – 5/20/2008 11:19:09 PM | show profile Hillary - You Go Girl! There really is a very good side to all of this, especially for women in the future. Hillary Clinton has been a true trailblazer, and women that follow in her steps who run for President will from the get-go be considered more viable thanks to Clinton. She's smart, tough, a fighter, and a competitor. I think we will all owe her a huge debt. Same goes for Obama, whatever happens in the fall, he is a trailblazer for black politicians who will follow him. He's proven himself to be a very worthy, intelligent, savvy, and inspiring candidate. Although this has been frustrating, it's also pretty thrilling to be witnessing all of this now. I hope and believe it's a real turning point in national politics. I just don't think it's going to be cool to see all old white men running for President in the future. |
