Hardball: 'Kamikaze' Hillary Ready to Wreck the Party

NewsBusters ^ | Mark Finkelstein

[governsleastgovernsbest]

After me, the deluge" (après moi, le déluge) -- popularly attributed to Louis XV

Look for Chris Matthews to start calling her "Louie." The Hardball host was as roiled as Robespierre today at Hillary Clinton's threat to take the Dem party down in a convention credentials fight over the seating of the Florida and Michigan delegates.

In the course of an interview with Greta Van Susteren of Fox News yesterday, Clinton made clear her intention to take things to a floor fight if necessary, and went so far as to pre-emptively undermine Barack Obama's legitimacy as a candidate if he doesn't go along with her proposal to seat the Florida and Michigan delegates. That set Matthews off, though it was panelist Tucker Carlson who supplied the most colorful language, describing Hillary as a "kamikaze" who is "ready to wreck the party."

View video here.

[keeper53]

I have said the same thing for long time about the possibility of Gore “saving the day” for the Dems.....truly a nightmare!

keeper

[Nuc1]

I would lean to Gore as their choice but it is just a feeling. Anyone that thinks the “Party Elders” can get the Witch to step aside is out of their minds.

[Anti-Bubba182]

I don't know how much juice Hillary will have left by convention time. If she does great in the remaining races she has more power for a floor fight, if not it will fizzle.

As much as I wish otherwise, if Obama arrives at the convention with more delegates and popular vote he will win. I do not see the Democrats as so stupid that they will destroy the party for Hillary Clinton's benefit.

Another Upside possibility is that as Hillary trys to go against the delegate count and popular vote she will damage herself fatally. She isn't Nixon, she won't come back, too many people hate her ass and that will get worse with a convention floor fight.

[colorado tanker]

The “Re-Create ‘68” nutburgers rioting outside and a credentials fight on the floor inside. It don't get any better than this!

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Thinking about the best possible outcome under the present circumstances, it would be Hillary stealing the nomination by manipulating Super Delegates, losing to McCain and alienating the Black vote in the process insuring she could never get the nomination again.

I think it would be just as well if McCain nominated a black conservative VP who belongs to an integrated church. That would guarantee the nomination of Obama by the Democratic convention - and that would guarantee a blowout anti-Wright vote.

The existence of a black on the Republican ticket would negate any white guilt in voting against Obama, who would be reduced to his black racist base - a blowout of historic proportions. The Democratic Party would have to go into dry dock. Of course, the fact that a President McCain would be nearly as bad as a Democrat would cause a powerful and perhaps successful primary challenge in '12, leading to a complete political realignment in America.

[Little Ray]

Good for Hillary!. I’m proud of her and behind her 100%! She deserves the Democrat nomination! She has a right to it! She should be the Democrat nominee! She should fight tooth and nail for it and NEVER give up! Only Hillary! can lead this country in the right direction!

(May I please have some more popcorn?)

[HChampagne]

I agree. Penn. conservative should vote for O. That would keep it close and not let Hil get a mandate of sorts. but I am still ticked at what they did to what they did to their splendid ex senator.

[Eaker]

t is simply not acceptable for a major political party to disenfranchise its delegates from two major states, leaving party members in those states with no voice in the Presidential nomination. Something has to be done to give those members representation.

The States were told what would happen if they moved their primaries up and they did it anyway.

I have no sympathy for them as life just ain't full of do overs.

[Republic If You Can Keep It]

Something has to be done to give those members representation.

No, it doesn't.

There are consequences to breaking rules, as all adults need to learn.

[Miss Didi]

RUSH: ...I just got a flash e-mail from my friend Andy McCarthy, who used to be in the US attorney's office, Southern District of New York, in Manhattan. He says, "You know, I'm trying to understand the lefty claim that you and the OpChaos voters ought to be indicted. If Hillary says that even the pledge of the pledged delegates is meaningless, if the votes that have happened so far don't mean anything because delegates can vote for whoever they want to vote for, what the hell difference does it make a who you tell people to vote for? What difference does it make who the voters vote for is Hillary is running around saying whoever they vote for doesn't matter because the delegates can do whatever they want independent of the voters? So if they're going to indict you, shouldn't they indict the pledged delegates who conspire with Hillary to switch their votes? Shouldn't they indict Hillary for suggesting the votes that have already been cast don't mean anything? Why is your fraud the only indictable fraud in this thing?" (laughing) It's an excellent point. Mrs. Clinton, one more sound bite. Greta Van Susteren says, "Well, what do you see as the numbers there? Any thoughts in Pennsylvania is that?"

HILLARY: I don't make predictions, I just want to do as well as I can. You see, what I think what's important about this, Greta, is people don't want this to be over. There was some poll today somebody told me about where, you know, 22% of the people said I should quit and 22% of the people said Obama should quit and 62% said let it go on. That's what people are telling me. That is what we have to do. Let the voters have a chance to be heard. Nobody should be, you know, writing obituaries on this race, because it is a long way from being over.

RUSH: Well, back to Andy McCarthy's point. She's saying, "Let the voters be heard," but what does it matter what the voters say? What does it matter what the voters vote if the pledged delegates are not pledged and if they can vote for whatever they want? The message to take from this, ladies and gentlemen, is that none of this matters to the Clintons. All of this is a formality. What happens in Pennsylvania is a formality. What happens in North Carolina, what happens in Indiana, what happens in Puerto Rico, it's a formality. What she's telling you is that votes in the Democrat Party do not matter. They have another scheme. They have another plan. They want this to go to a credentials fight at the convention -- and when that happens, folks, that is nirvana. A credentials fight at the Democrat convention could extend Operation Chaos all the way through the general election!

The Kneecapping of Barack Obama

[jersey117]

That woman is just plain evil. God help us if she becomes President.

[krb]

What odds did you get?

[dennisw]

Even odds...on that bet

[krb]

I would have held out for 3:1. The Obama Nation people are so confident I bet they’d have agreed.

[Iron Munro]

What a country of wussies.
Before people were brainwashed into thinking a mere question is a form of hate speech candidates fought it out until the convention where the nominee was finally selected.

I think they should both stay in the race as long as they want or until one of them reaches the magic number of guaranteed delegates.

That’s what Huckabee did.

On the other hand, Obama can always take the high road and drop out for the good of the party as easily as Hillary can.

[harpo11]

Clintons don't care about our country or their political party. The only thing they do care about and will do anything to gain and preserve is their political power.

Everything and everyone is expendable in their demented quest for the White House.

[hunter112]

I don't know how much juice Hillary will have left by convention time.

I agree, there are so many places for her to fizzle out between now and Puerto Rico, that she's going to need one heck of a lucky streak to run the table, even with Operation Chaos to help. But the longer the Rat fighting goes on, the better it is for us now, and especially in the future. Even the spectacle of the DemonRat party elite having to go to the Witch to tell her the game is over will be lovely to watch.

And my prediction is, unless she loses something big time along the way, she will not go out without a fight. Such is the supreme entitlement mentality of the Clintoons.

[Anti-Bubba182]

I hope the process ruins her and Bill’s reputation.

[bt_dooftlook]

IIRC, the parties own the primary process; it has nothing to do with the Constitution. That being the case, the Dems can decide to only run primaries in CA, NY, OH, FL, and PA if they want. If they don't run a primary in your state, presumably you can vote in some other parties primary...However, they did make a rule, which Michigan and Florida violated, and the party punished those states - all of the candidates at the time agreed to this outcome.

As Will rogers once said - "I don't belong to an organized political party...I'm a Democrat"

[EDINVA]

You simply cannot change the rules after the game has been played. Even if you are a Clinton.

The DNC, and to a lesser extent the RNC, made a very bad political decision last year. But so, too, did the Florida and Michigan state parties and legislatures.

Both national parties voted to disquality either all (DNC) or half (RNC) of the delegates selected in pre-Super Tuesday primaries. It is up to the national parties, comprised of members from all the states, to seat delegates at their respective nominating conventions. Delegates elected in defiance of the party rules should be excluded.

The legislatures and parties in Florida and Michigan wanted to be more relevant to the nominating process and defied the party rules. As responsible educated voters, the people in MI and FL knew, or should have known, when they voted in January exactly what the rules and their consequences were.

How many Michiganders and Floridians didn’t vote precisely because they knew the consequencess and that their vote would mean nothing? How many states didn’t move up their primaries/caucuses because of the rules? Which candidates chose not to campaign in Michigan and Florida because of the rules? And how many Democrat candidates had their names removed from the Michigan ballot because of the party rule?

If people in MI/FL feel disenfranchised, they should look to electing new state party leaders and new state legislators. If the DNC caves on this rule, it is not fair to the states that chose to play by the rules, nor to the candidates who chose not to run in Florida or Michigan.

It’s sort of like demanding a recount only in Miami-Dade and Broward. That’s what cheaters do.