Hilary Clinton

Bro Deal

Yeah, it looks like Clinton is preparing to take things to the convention. Not only that, she is preparing to finish the process with a tale of how sexism cost her the nomination. I expect that she will write books in the future, painting herself as an icon for feminsim who was undone by a misogynist media. She has been playing the victim card for months. She will spend the rest of her life playing the feminst martyr.

My own cynical opinion is that Hillary never cared one bit about the country or what could be accomplished as president. She is similar to Bill in that she just wanted to be president. For more than a decade she has surrounded herself with a pyramid structured club of old school, hardcore feminists, and I think that is the key to understanding her motivations. She and her close supporters see putting a woman into the presidency as a culmination of their lives, which they define in terms their struggle against The Man (both figuratively and literally).

Once she recognized that she was likely to lose the nomination, she adjusted her goals to coming in a close second. That is a key difference between her and other candidates in a similar position. Others will concede when they realize they have lost because continuing will damage the party, the winner may exact political retribution later, and there are spoils to be shared if they snap into line and support the nominee. Clinton sees continuing as enhancing her stature with her most ardent supporters. She is already heaping credit on herself for being a historic figure. In her mind, the closer she can come to winning, the more historic she will be. Plus you never know what might happen; as she said last week, she needs to stay in just in case Obama is assassinated.

This week and the next one will be interesting. The DNC is meeting to decide what to do with Florida and Michigan. Surrogate organizations of Clinton's campaign are busing in protesters. Things look to get nasty since the DNC seems determined not to give her what she wants.

Next week are the final primaries. Obama is now less than 50 delegates shy of what is required for the nomination. Those primaries plus some super delegates should clinch it for him. After that the remaining super delegates really should come out in support of Obama, nailing Hillary's coffin shut; but so far they have not been doing their job, so perhaps they will let the situation fester until August.

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"You are like the wind and I like the lion. You form the tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will never know yours." -- Mulay Hamid El Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers, Last of the Barbary Pirates

Crankyfeet

California...

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jhuskey

Only in winter. December maybe.

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Whenever I can't get excited about riding I just fantasize about someone else's bike.

wolfix

jhuskey.......... Spent my break yesterday in Nashville.........After doing a drop in Goodlettsville.Tennesee is a beautiful place. I am there often. Where abouts are you?

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"I rule my world with a cellphone."

jhuskey

About as far East as you can go without being in N.C. I am at this moment at work and sitting within 2000 feet of the National Park boundry.
It's a little hazy here in the mountains today or it could be my eyes.

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Whenever I can't get excited about riding I just fantasize about someone else's bike.

wolfix

I get up that way once in awhile. Today I am headed to the Rockies.I learned to roll a truck in those hills without using the brakes down in Ashville/Black Mountain one night. I was at 79,000 lbs and had a Peterbilt at the front and a Peterbilt at the rear. Goosebumps took a whole different meaning that night.
I have 3 students living in that area of far east Tennesee. So I will get to see it from a different perspective then from the windshield. They tell me the air is so clear up there that you can see your reflection in a can of beer ........Or at least the first 6 beers. And I am looking forward to that.......I am so damn good looking after 6 beers...............

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"I rule my world with a cellphone."

jhuskey

Sometimes you can see 3 reflections but it takes me 8 before I get devastingly handsome.I must be less attractive than you.
I only get out to the Rockies on an occcassional ski trip.

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Whenever I can't get excited about riding I just fantasize about someone else's bike.

Crankyfeet

Is that some hillbilly saying cause it makes no sense to me??? Reflection in a can of beer? Clean air?...

Sorry wolfy... but seeing my reflection in anything is about the worst possible selling point for clean air with regards to myself...

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TheDarkLord

Florida and Michigan delegates get 1/2 vote. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7428909.stm.

Interesting quote from this article: An appeal for party unity was jeered by one heckler with the words "Lipstick on a pig!"

Is this normal in the party at this stage, or is this a real sign of deep divisions that will doom the party in November?

Bro Deal

It is normal when one side buses in protesters.

The hardcore Clintonistas are nutters. Their blogs are full of racist comments, One of the bigger sites recently posted message warning commenters not to threaten to kill Obama and that the Secret Service is currently investigating two posters. Those types appear to be too riled up to do an about face.

I saw an analysis of the number of posters on hillaryis44 where shell scripts were used to count the number of unique posters and the comments that site. The numbers were then compared to one of the Obama leaning sites. hillaryis44 had few unique posters, and most of the comments were posted by an even fewer number of very active posters. It is evident that the Internet sites that are driving the split are made up of fringe elements, a good portion of which are probably Clinton campaign staffers. Once Clinton concedes, which could happen this coming week, a lot of that talk will disappear.

Ultimately the feminists that see Hillary as a symbol of their struggle against men will have to face up to the reality that a McCain presidency would be detrimental to their cause. Nearly all will fall into line.

__________________
"You are like the wind and I like the lion. You form the tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will never know yours." -- Mulay Hamid El Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers, Last of the Barbary Pirates

TheDarkLord

Bro, I hope you're right. But Clinton's actions seem to stem from a hell bent determination to win the nomination by hook or by crook, and so I don't quite share your optimism about the unity of the party. Do you think she will appeal the current decision regarding FL and MI delegates?

jackson123

BUt it's definitely not like that...

jhuskey

Normal? No ,but it has happen in the past and has adverse effects.

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Whenever I can't get excited about riding I just fantasize about someone else's bike.

Bro Deal

She got spanked at the delegate meeting on Saturday. It's clear that she won't fare any better if she challenges the deal seating MI and FL at the convention. Obama showed that he is in the Dem Party's driver's seat.

The Clinton campaign is letting key staffers go on Tuesday. These are staffers who would be required if she were to run a campaign for the general election during summer. That signals that she will probably concede or put her campaign on hold later this week.

I still would not be surprised if she tries to work out some sort of talking point so she gets more of the popular vote counted just so she can say she got closer to winning. Obama wants MI and FL seated at full strength, with a full vote at the convention. Of course this would happen after he has the nomination locked up, but maybe then Clinton will use the full strength seating to claim the full primary vote for herself. She is already claiming the popular vote in those primaries, but full seating might make it appear to be more legitimate to those who are currently scoffing at her claims. I'm sure she will be using the "I won the popular vote." claim as a cornerstone of the books she will write. Actually the full claim these days is, "I won the popular vote but sexism gave the nomination to an unqualified black man."

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"You are like the wind and I like the lion. You form the tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will never know yours." -- Mulay Hamid El Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers, Last of the Barbary Pirates