Florida and Michigan = Zimbabwe
But only in Cloudcuckooland, which has a new resident.
To compare what happened in Zimbabwe - (the ruling party was unhappy with the result, so it rigged the results to require a run-off and permit it to wage all-out political war against the opposition) - to what happened in Florida and Michigan this year is so baseless, so beyond the pale, so Godwinian in its obnoxiousness.
We already saw yesterday that Senator Clinton likened the Florida and Michigan primaries to what happened to Democrats in Florida in 2000. To Democrats, those are fighting words - especially given the fact that Clinton uttered them in Boca Raton, where many elderly Jewish voters miraculously chose to ignore Pat Buchanan’s anti-Semitism to vote for him in 2000.
The ultimate irony here doesn’t have to do with the fact that Clinton said she’d follow the rules set forth by the DNC and then decided not to when it suited her. The irony is that Florida and Michigan intentionally and knowingly violated DNC rules and pushed their primaries up to January so that they would have a similar impact on the primary race as Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. The DNC warned those states in 2007 that any effort to do that would result in those states’ delegates not being seated.
If people in Florida and Michigan are angry and their “disenfranchisement”, they have only to look to their state party organizations, which had been forewarned of the consequences far in advance. If Hillary Clinton is so shocked by the disenfranchisement of Florida and Michigan Democrats, then the time to speak up was back in 2007 when she was the presumptive nominee - not now, when she’ll quite obviously do and say anything to harm the person who has since become the presumptive nominee. She could have objected to the DNC, or tried to change those states’ parties minds.
And the further irony is that if Florida and Michigan had pushed their primaries back to May or June, they would have been far more important to the process overall than they ever could have imagined.
The saddest thing, however, is that the mismanagement of the Clinton 2008 campaign has revealed her to be a poor strategist and a worse manager. It has revealed her to be petty, hypocritical, false, and vindictive to millions of people who had respected and supporter her in other endeavors.
I look forward to her continued service in the United States Senate, which is nothing to sneeze at. I think that her current petulant and harmful behavior has prevented her from being any sort of VP contender.
dougk Says:May 22nd, 2008 at 9:29 am
you are so so deep in the tank for obama, you’re using andrew sullivan for material, sheesh
KevinP Says:May 22nd, 2008 at 10:01 am
Why would you look forward to her “continued service in the Senate”? You just wrote that she is “petty, hypocritical, false, and vindictive…”
Surely, we can do better than someone with those personality traits.
Chris Smith Says:May 22nd, 2008 at 10:15 am
The irony of it all is that Obama will attain the magic number of delegates needed to secure the nomination (2,026) with 25 more superdelegate endorsements which are on the way and a 50-50 split of the 86 delegates in the remaining primaries. He currently has 1961 delegates.
Then, the DNC will meet on 5/31 and change the number needed. Good times.
Chris Smith Says:May 22nd, 2008 at 10:19 am
The idea of her as VP is nauseating. Why would Obama, after running a change campaign, enlist Hillary and Bill to look over his shoulder and second guess his every move in the White House? He is running against the idea of “politics as usual” and would then enlist the leading progenitor of those very politics he claims to reject?
Obama/Richardson or Obama/Biden or Obama/Anyone But Hillary
indabuff Says:May 22nd, 2008 at 10:38 am
My hope is that she doesn’t bow out before Denver…the drama…the media insanity…the punditry…the absolute perfect cap to the ridiculiculiculousness of the Dem presidential nominating process…it would be something to behold…the Dems have more residents in Cloudcuckooland than Hillary Clinton…watch an Obama rally and it is easy to spot others…the party is a sham.
KevinP Says:May 22nd, 2008 at 10:52 am
Didn’t the grand event of Edwards’ endorsement of Obama have the look of the Obama ticket to it?
Chris Smith Says:May 22nd, 2008 at 11:08 am
Edwards would be a good choice, but I think Obama needs someone with foreign policy gravitas in order to counter what will surely be McCain’s primary attack, that Obama is unqualified to be Commander in Chief. Not sure if that outweighs the need to bring white working class voters on with Edwards and it seems debatable to me how much pull he has in that direction.
indabuff Says:May 22nd, 2008 at 11:11 am
Speak’n of the VP selection…
Hot off da presses…
Obama begins VP search
Mike In WNY Says:May 22nd, 2008 at 11:17 am
If your going to talk about the hypocrisy of Hillary, Don’t forget the moral compass of Barack. He willing threw the Rev. Wright and his grandmother under the front of a bus.
Jon Splett Says:May 22nd, 2008 at 1:08 pm
While you’re complete right, the voters of Michigan and Florida only have their state democratic leaders to blame, the fact that they got disenfranchised is a disgrace on more than just a state level and the fact the national party cares more about busting balls over a pledge instead of concerning themselves the will of their members is carried out is disgusting.
It’s far too late in the game now (and I’m pretty sure the idea got shot down for being ‘too expensive’ which is retarded when you look at the amount of money spent on presidential politics) but both Florida and Michigan should have been revoted. After all the bullshit that went down in 2000, how can you really expect democrats to come out in full force in November when many of them have been told their votes don’t count by both republicans eight years ago and fellow democrats now?
Actions like this are exactly why, despite the fact I lean left of 99% of issues, I could never support the democratic party or vote for their nominee. It’s a god damn shame the Greens in America are so poorly organized because after the way the democrats have run this sham of a primary process, now would be the perfect time for a third party to make a legit run at ousting them as the second major party and with any luck, they’d go join the Whigs as a footnote in a history book.
Oh and come November, when McCain squeaks out Florida by a handful of votes to take the presidency the same way Bush did, watch the democrats blame Nader for it again.
indabuff Says:May 22nd, 2008 at 2:35 pm
Sorry folks for my earlier posts…I forgot to take my Obamatabs this morning…I am better now…I will make sure John Splett starts taking his as well…yes we can.
dougk Says:May 22nd, 2008 at 6:40 pm
yes we can!
yes we can, what?
believe!
believe in what?
change!
what kind of change?
change we can belive in!
can anyone say tautology
mike hudson Says:May 23rd, 2008 at 2:07 pm
the idea of chris smith is nauseating. it’s assholes like him that give liberals a bad name. mccain-clinton ‘08!
Christopher Smith Says:May 23rd, 2008 at 2:37 pm
It’s news to me that I’m a liberal.