PAIR MULL VARIOUS STRATEGIES AS CONVENTION LOOMS
Posted on 03/31/2008 8:23:56 AM PDT by COUNTrecount
Pay no attention to that woman behind the curtain. Be afraid. Be very afraid, for if you don’t obey the Great and Powerful Oz will turn her wrath on you. Yawn. Hillary Clinton’s favorite girlhood movie was the “Wizard of Oz.” But now, as the primaries clank along, her subjects are refusing to wear the green-tinted glasses and buy her act. She’s less and less terrifying every day, and fewer of those closest to her -- her Senate colleagues -- are intimidated. Despite their best efforts, the Clintons' powers seem to have gone on the fritz, and those Democrats who know Hillary best have strayed off to follow a new, more congenial character.
Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey, Jr. was the most recent U.S. Senator to endorse Barack Obama for President. But he certainly is not the only one. The list is long: Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND), Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) (who avoided a formal endorsement but confessed he had voted for Obama in his state’s primary), Sen. Tim Johnson, Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) ,Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), and Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV).
Hillary Clinton is not without support. So far she has managed to snag: Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).
Although that might seem like a fairly even split, it likely has stunned the Clintons, who have come to expect undivided loyalty from the Democratic Party. The shock is aggravated by the fact that the Democrat power players are lined up with Obama and the minor-leaguers with Clinton. The Clintons seem dumbfounded that senators whom Hillary worked so hard to cultivate would not all fall into line. Time magazine revealed that the Clintons are shocked, just shocked to see so many desertions from the Clinton juggernaut (which looks more and more like a leaky row boat). Apparently, “She can't stop from shaking her head in disbelief when longtime friends who are elected officials inform her that they are going to endorse Obama and were chiefly convinced by their children's enthusiasm for his candidacy.”
Maybe those she counted as “friends” were only those on whom intimidation worked. Maybe the Godmother doesn’t have any capos to do her dirty work any more. How can you intimidate when the IRS doesn’t audit your enemies any more?
James Carville, a Clinton loyalist extraordinaire, expressed the mindset of the Clintons when he labeled New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson (former Energy Secretary and U.N. Ambassador under Bill Clinton) “Judas” for the temerity to endorse Obama. After catching flak for his over-the-top metaphor, Carville then penned an indignant op-ed in the Washington Post saying he was happy he said what he did. He wrote:
"I was saying what I felt as an individual who -- with no encouragement from the Clintons but as someone who is proud to consider himself a friend of theirs -- thought that Richardson had done something deeply disloyal. . . Fully aware of this supercharged environment in which the slightest slight is elevated to the most egregious insult, I waded in -- okay, dove in -- by demonstrating what constitutes a real insult. I believe that loyalty is a cardinal virtue. . . . At the very least, I would have stayed silent. And maybe that's my problem with what Bill Richardson did. Silence on his part would have spoken loudly enough."
So make no mistake about the message there: the Clinton’s chief pit bull is warning the Democrats who may “owe” the Clintons to, at the very least, hush up.
It should come as no surprise that the Clintons do not inspire loyalty any longer among Democratic office holders and why they are no longer feared. They did not exactly do wonders for the Democratic Party. Many, starting with Al Gore, likely still hold Bill responsible for the loss of the presidency in 2000 and for providing George W. Bush with the chance to run on a promise to restore decency to the White House. That, coupled with loss of the Democrats control of the House and Senate during the Clinton presidency, taught Democrats an important lesson: the Clintons aren’t going to help them hold their seats or stay in the majority.
So what does this foretell for Clinton’s future? First, she has reason to be worried about those superdelegates who will be critical to wrapping up the nomination. Those not already convinced that Clinton is ballot box poison for the Democratic Party may recoil from the bullying tactics of the Clinton surrogates. In the end, like all politicians, they will act in their self-interest (that’s a characteristic the Clintons should identify with) and certainly not out of any sense of devotion to a couple that has shown so little concern for their collective political well-being.
Second, and even more troubling for Clinton, may be the prospect that a loss, a bitter loss at that, would force her back to the Senate to face the turncoats face-to-face. How will it seem sitting next to Leahy who told her to get out of the race? How comfortable will she feel spending time with Kennedy who essentially said that she and her husband are the has-beens of the Democratic Party?
It seems an awful prospect, which in fact may explain why Clinton sees no reason to bug out of the primary race any time soon. That would mean returning to face the colleagues who, in the Clintons’ eyes, turned their backs on the monarchs entitled to return to the throne of power.
Well, with a career option like that, there is every reason to keep clawing her way to a possible nomination, however remote her chances become. And should she lose the nomination? Like Scarlett O’Hara, she would be forced to ask "But what will I do? Where will I go?" Many of her colleagues have already answered: they frankly don’t give a damn.
I remember all the years we thought “this will do it” and it never did. She will do ANYTHING to get elected and I think the witch’s bag is still full.
Frankly, McCain doesn't seem all that willing or ready to fight Obama. All the MSM has to do is cry, "racist!" after every speech or ad and McCain will be neutered. He'll denounce the 527 ads and piss off his base further.
I'm concerned about Hillary too. I don't think she can win legitimately. She'll lie, cheat and steal. However, I'm not sure she commands so much power anymore.
It's called "ROLL OUT THE BARREL", we'll have a barrel of fun - lying, bribing, threatening, auditing, begging, crying crocodile tears - and a few more I've deliberately left out....I guard my little dog, and ME too! Lol.
I think the worm has turned, and that this article is generally correct. The Clintons ain’t what they used to be. Even streetfighters get old.
Yeah, I caught that too... they’re letting their children decide for them. Great.
Yeah, I caught that too... they’re letting their children decide for them. Great.
Politicians acting like babes in the woods...
(grin) Sorry, I couldn't resist that one.
Agreed.
however, should she somehow claw her way back and get the nomination, all those turncoats will turn right back toward her and fully support her...
I hope you have a comfortable lawn chair to sit upon to watch the "festivities" :-).
“Watch for the pile-on, there are a lot of old scores to be settled.” One can hope. After all, isn’t Obama the one selling hope?
ALL the Senators that work with her are supporting OBAMA!! LOL! It must SUCK to be Hillary!
wHO KNEW IT WOULD ONLY TAKE SOMEONE MORE left OF hILLARY TO DEFEAT HER!!
But what will I do? Where will I go?”
Write fiction on Fantasy Island,
amen!!! He talks like the WHITE TRAILER TRASH he is!
“I have been waiting for this for over 16 years. And it will only get better. I expect the Hilda-beast and her pervert husband to call it splits-ville next January.”
Hillary will no doubt become president of NOW, and Bill will assume the mantle once worn by Billy Graham. No one, but no one, ever perfected the Billy Sunday con as well as little Billy Blyth Clinton of Hot Springs, Arkansas.
I cannot find a way to wipe this smirk off my face, just imagining her having to go back to the Senate, even more miserable than she is now. LOLOLOL
Does this mean she is still collecting her senate salary without working?
What's up with us paying these creeps to run for president.. All 3 of them are doing it.
LOL! Barrel of laughs!
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