Democrats are turning on the Clintons

[JaJae]

Archivists block release of Clinton papers - USATODAY.com

Archivists block release of Clinton papers
LITTLE ROCK — Federal archivists at the Clinton Presidential Library are blocking the release of hundreds of pages of White House papers on pardons that the former president approved, including clemency for fugitive commodities trader Marc Rich.

That archivists' decision, based on guidance provided by Bill Clinton that restricts the disclosure of advice he received from aides, prevents public scrutiny of documents that would shed light on how he decided which pardons to approve from among hundreds of requests.

Clinton's legal agent declined the option of reviewing and releasing the documents that were withheld, said the archivists, who work for the federal government, not the Clintons.

The decision to withhold much of the requested material could provide fodder for critics who say that the former president and his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, now seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, have been unwilling to fully release documents to public scrutiny.

I think most people who have followed the Clinton's know how Billy Boy decided who got pardons... the ones who donated to his Library or in some way benefited Billy Boy financially got pardoned..

I wonder if Obama will monopolize on this.

[JaJae]

Stupidity of the Clinton Campaign. I had been saying this for some time about her fear-mongering 3am commercial she ran. The person it helps most is McCain. And her telling nation that experience is so important in this way, and then pointing out McCain's experience... was just completely moronic.

Rasmussen Reports™: The most comprehensive public opinion coverage ever provided for a mid-term election.

The commercial was credited as one factor enabling Clinton to turn her campaign around in Texas last week. But, 42% of all voters said the person they’d most want to answer the phone was John McCain. Among all voters, 25% picked Clinton and another 25% named Obama as the person they’d want in the White House when a foreign policy crisis call arrived. …

Among unaffiliated voters, 39% said McCain would be their top choice to handle such a crisis. Twenty-seven percent (27%) of unaffiliateds said they thought Obama was the best to handle the call while 18% named Clinton.

It helped her against Obama, but it hurt her in the general election. She's trying so hard to beat Obama that she isn't realizing that she's shooting herself in the foot if she actually beats him.

When you take the question away from just purely liberal voters, you see a difference. People most likely want someone to answer the phone with either the best judgment or the most "experience". Against McCain or Obama, Hillary hasn't shown she has either. Her claims of experience fall against McCain. What logical reason could someone say they'd prefer Hillary to answer the phone over both McCain and Obama? The only reason I can think of is that they just want Hillary in the White House.

[David Octavius]

Originally Posted by JaJae

Stupidity of the Clinton Campaign. I had been saying this for some time about her fear-mongering 3am commercial she ran. The person it helps most is McCain. And her telling nation that experience is so important in this way, and then pointing out McCain's experience... was just completely moronic.

Rasmussen Reports™: The most comprehensive public opinion coverage ever provided for a mid-term election.


It helped her against Obama, but it hurt her in the general election. She's trying so hard to beat Obama that she isn't realizing that she's shooting herself in the foot if she actually beats him.

When you take the question away from just purely liberal voters, you see a difference. People most likely want someone to answer the phone with either the best judgment or the most "experience". Against McCain or Obama, Hillary hasn't shown she has either. Her claims of experience fall against McCain. What logical reason could someone say they'd prefer Hillary to answer the phone over both McCain and Obama? The only reason I can think of is that they just want Hillary in the White House.

Interesting poll - makes sense, the independents would fall to McCain on the experience factor if Hillary makes that the issue if she wins the nomination.

Blowback is a bitch

[RMNIXON]

Originally Posted by David Octavius

Interesting poll - makes sense, the independents would fall to McCain on the experience factor if Hillary makes that the issue if she wins the nomination.

Blowback is a bitch

I am good with that.


Republicans taking lots of notes and keeping track of those video clips....

[JaJae]

The girl in Hillary's 3am ad apparently was stock footage from 8 years ago that she purchased from a company. The girl in the video will be old enough to vote in the upcoming election and she's making sure to tell the media that she'll be voting for Obama.
Local girl makes unexpected appearance in Hillary ad | Top Stories | KING5.com | News for Seattle, Washington

But the young girl starring in the ad will actually be voting age next month and says she's no fan of Hillary Clinton.

The first girl in the ad is young Casey Knowles. It's stock footage from 8 years ago when she worked as a TV extra - footage owned now by Getty Images and used by the Clinton campaign.

But they couldn't have picked a more unwilling star.

"It's really sort of ironic that my image would be used to advocate for Hillary when I myself do not," said Casey.

She may only be 17, but Casey has some very strong political opinions. She turns 18 - legal voting age - in April, in plenty of time before the general election.

"It's perfect timing because I have a candidate that I really identify with," she said.

"I've been campaigning for Barack Obama for a few months now," she said. "I was actually a precinct captain at the caucuses a few months ago. I attended his rally a few months ago and I'm a very, very avid supporter."

This would really be something:

"I think it would be really wonderful if me and Barack Obama could get together and make a nice counter ad," she laughed.

[JaJae]

Hillary is stuck backtracking her derogatory statements about Mississippi this week. She made some very harsh comments in Iowa not thinking the election would ever have made it past Super Tuesday and certainly not until the Mississippi primaries. She has epic foot in mouth disease with her win at all costs strategy, while completely ignoring any future repercussions.

My Way News - Clinton Revises Remark on Women in Miss.

Speaking to radio station WJZD-FM in Gulfport, Miss., the former first lady said the comments she made about the state in the run up to the Iowa caucuses "were not exactly what I said," even though they came directly from an interview she gave to the Des Moines Register in October.

They quoted her verbatim and she's trying to say it wasn't exactly what she said. Yes it was Hillary. It was a direct quote that you did not dispute until you had to get to Mississippi. Stop lying.

Rival Barack Obama has been running radio ads in Mississippi calling Clinton's comments insulting to the state.

Hillary can say goodbye to Mississippi. Obama is tracking very well there and her insulting the state isn't going to help.

[JaJae]

Hillary's "experience" in Ireland is being called into question now by a Nobel Peace Winner. Hillary has been running around bragging about bringing peace to Northern Ireland. Well apparently the people who actually did bring peace to Ireland say Hillary is full of shit.

Nobel winner: Hillary Clinton's 'silly' Irish peace claims - Telegraph

Hillary Clinton had no direct role in bringing peace to Northern Ireland and is a "wee bit silly" for exaggerating the part she played, according to Lord Trimble of Lisnagarvey, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and former First Minister of the province.

"I don’t know there was much she did apart from accompanying Bill [Clinton] going around," he said. Her recent statements about being deeply involved were merely "the sort of thing people put in their canvassing leaflets" during elections. "She visited when things were happening, saw what was going on, she can certainly say it was part of her experience. I don’t want to rain on the thing for her but being a cheerleader for something is slightly different from being a principal player."

"I helped to bring peace to Northern Ireland," she told CNN on Wednesday. But negotiators from the parties that helped broker the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 told The Daily Telegraph that her role was peripheral and that she played no part in the gruelling political talks over the years.

Central to Mrs Clinton’s claim of an important Northern Ireland role is a meeting she attended in Belfast in with a group of women from cross-community groups. "I actually went to Northern Ireland more than my husband did," she said in Nashua, New Hampshire on January 6th.

There is no record of a meeting at Belfast City Hall, though Mrs Clinton attended a ceremony there when her husband turned on the Christmas tree lights in November 1995. The former First Lady appears to be referring a 50-minute event the same day, arranged by the US Consulate, the same day at the Lamp Lighter Café on the city’s Ormeau Road.

The "Belfast Telegraph" reported the next day that the café meeting was crammed with reporters, cameramen and Secret Service agents. Conversation "seemed a little bit stilted, a little prepared at times" and Mrs Clinton admired a stainless steel tea pot, which was duly given to her, for keeping the brew "so nice and hot".

This comes at a wonderful time when the Obama campaign is finally willing to attack her on these claims. Basically all she did was lemming Bill Clinton around like any wife would. She didn't do anything beyond that.

[JaJae]

Wyoming so far is swinging towards Obama.

Obama leads Clinton in Wyoming caucuses

By MEAD GRUVER, Associated Press Writer 1 minute ago

Sen. Barack Obama took the lead over rival Hillary Rodham Clinton in early returns as Democrats deluged caucuses in Wyoming Saturday, straining the ability of party officials to accommodate crowds.

Obama led Clinton 57 percent to 40 percent with 6 of 23 counties reporting as they vied for the next prize in their extraordinarily tight Democratic presidential nomination race.

During the first caucuses of the day, it appeared the state's Democrats were showing up in record numbers. In 2004, a mere 675 people statewide took part in the caucuses.

Print Story: Obama leads Clinton in Wyoming caucuses on Yahoo! News

CHEYENNE, Wyoming (Reuters) - With a long history of firsts in women's rights, Wyoming would seem to be a state primed to put its stamp on the presidential aims of Sen. Hillary Clinton, but experts say that doesn't seem likely.

They are predicting the western state of just 59,000 registered Democrats will back Clinton's rival, Sen. Barack Obama, in Saturday's presidential nominating caucuses. It has backed Republicans in the past 10 presidential elections.

Wyoming, land of firsts for women, tough on Clinton | Reuters

Hillary doesn't do as well among independents as Obama, most likely because of her lack of ability to compromise. Die-hard liberals love this, but the moderate Democrats and independents don't. Wyoming will most likely go to Obama, as will Mississippi (Tuesday) which will end Hillary's momentum for the time being. They'll have three more weeks to campaign after this before heading into the delegate rich PA where Hillary is favored.

[motivez]

Originally Posted by JaJae

Hillary doesn't do as well among independents as Obama, most likely because of her lack of ability to compromise. Die-hard liberals love this, but the moderate Democrats and independents don't.

I think your characterization is ass backwards, the die hard liberals don't like Hillary because they see her being a more centrist President, whereas they believe Obama is more liberal and likely to champion their causes, which is why you see him getting the support of every single liberal blog I can think of.

[JaJae]

Originally Posted by motivez

I think your characterization is ass backwards, the die hard liberals don't like Hillary because they see her being a more centrist President, whereas they believe Obama is more liberal and likely to champion their causes, which is why you see him getting the support of every single liberal blog I can think of.

Unfortunately the demographic polls I've looked at disagree with you. The more moderate people identify themselves as the more likely they are to support Obama. A huge percentage of Obama's support is among moderates and independents. A lot of Hillary supporters make similar claims as you're making here. Perhaps they believe her views are more "centrist" than Obama's, but in my opinion they views they've expressed this campaign are extremely similar. Regardless of whether Hillary is viewed as more "centrist" or not though, it's clear that the independent/moderate voting base favors Obama by a rather large margin.

[JaJae]

Wyoming Update:
Obama Leads Clinton in Wyoming Caucuses

Obama led Clinton 61 percent to 38 percent with 11 of 23 counties reporting.

Almost half the vote is in, Obama is currently up 23 points. If it ends at these results Obama will like only pick up 2 delegates. But it will help offset the 10 or so Hillary picked up on Super Tuesday 2. As of right now it looks like Hillary has to pick up over 125 delegates to surpass Obama in the delegate race.

If Obama can keep these numbers in Mississippi where Hillary insulted the state, he could cancel out any gains she made on Super Tuesday 2.

UPDATE:
70% Reported.
Obama 58 - Hillary 41

No winner projected so I assume that means some pro-Hillary districts haven't reported yet and they think she still has a chance.

UPDATE:
Looking at the map now
Election Center 2008: Primary Results by County - Elections & Politics news from CNN.com
Obama has won 10 counties
Hillary has won 5 counties
They tied in 2 (exactly same number of votes)
6 Left to vote including Laramie (big numbers will come from here).

Obama is winning in the popular vote thus far. In Albany county alone, his win was so great that his votes in that county essentially equal all of Hillary's votes to this point.

Laramie is still left to report, so it's still anyone's state.

UPDATE:
78% reported
Obama 59%, Hillary 40%
Still no projected winner.
Laramie reported, strong turnout for Obama... I'm not sure what they're waiting for, does anyone else know? So far Obama has won 11 counties, Hillary has won 4. 5 left to report.

UPDATE:
Obama wins another county..
Obama 59 - Clinton 40
4 Counties left to vote.

UPDATE:
It's been called for Obama
Only one county left to report
Obama - 4,459 - 59%
Clinton - 3,081 - 40%

[motivez]

Originally Posted by JaJae

Unfortunately the demographic polls I've looked at disagree with you. The more moderate people identify themselves as the more likely they are to support Obama. A huge percentage of Obama's support is among moderates and independents. A lot of Hillary supporters make similar claims as you're making here. Perhaps they believe her views are more "centrist" than Obama's, but in my opinion they views they've expressed this campaign are extremely similar. Regardless of whether Hillary is viewed as more "centrist" or not though, it's clear that the independent/moderate voting base favors Obama by a rather large margin.

I'm not saying they don't, but your characterization of liberal support for Hillary is way off base, the "far" left dislikes her very much and are active and vocal in their support of Obama.

[RMNIXON]

Originally Posted by Scrum

She's such an idiot.


Way to endorse McCain you fucking retard.

She's a Dumbass, Huh, Huh, Huh...."





"Thank You, Drive through............."

[RMNIXON]

Originally Posted by JaJae

UPDATE:
78% reported
Obama 59%, Hillary 40%
Still no projected winner.
Laramie reported, strong turnout for Obama... I'm not sure what they're waiting for, does anyone else know? So far Obama has won 11 counties, Hillary has won 4. 5 left to report.

Cue the Fat Lady!

She can't win a Caucus. When people meet in a group the Hillary camp is getting shouted down.

[kombayn]

Originally Posted by RMNIXON

She's a Dumbass, Huh, Huh, Huh...."





"Thank You, Drive through............."

I just realized I would totally vote for a Butt-Head/Beavis '08 ticket.

[JaJae]

Political Punch

Hillary Clinton's "My Lai" Strategy?

March 08, 2008 12:03 PM

She's destroying the party in order to save it….that seems to be the conclusion of a some opinion writers today…

Obama-backing former Sen. Gary Hary writes: "It will come as a surprise to many people that there are rules in politics. Most of those rules are unwritten and are based on common understandings, acceptable practices, and the best interest of the political party a candidate seeks to lead. One of those rules is this: Do not provide ammunition to the opposition party that can be used to destroy your party's nominee. This is a hyper-truth where the presidential contest is concerned.

"By saying that only she and John McCain are qualified to lead the country, particularly in times of crisis, Hillary Clinton has broken that rule, severely damaged the Democratic candidate who may well be the party's nominee, and, perhaps most ominously, revealed the unlimited lengths to which she will go to achieve power. She has essentially said that the Democratic party deserves to lose unless it nominates her."

Jonathan Chait notes that "Pennsylvania is a swing state that Democrats will almost certainly need to win in November, and Clinton will spend seven weeks and millions of dollars there making the case that Obama is unfit to set foot in the White House. You couldn't create a more damaging scenario if you tried.

"Imagine in 2000, or 2004, that George W. Bush faced a primary fight that came down to Florida (his November must-win state). Imagine his opponent decided to spend seven weeks pounding home the theme that Bush had a dangerous plan to privatize Social Security. Would this have improved Bush's chances of defeating the Democrats? Would his party have stood for it?"

And Peggy Noonan looks at the subject that dare-not-speak-its-name in the Democratic primaries -- but will be screamed in the general election should Clinton be the nominee:

"it has long been agreed in the Democratic Party that one must not, one cannot, ever, refer to the long caravan of scandals that have followed the Clintons for 15 years. "We don't speak of the Clintons that way."

"But why not? Everyone else does. Yes, the Obama sages will respond, that's the point: Everyone knows about cattle futures, etc. Everyone knows that if you Yahoo "Clintons" and "scandals" you get 4,430,000 hits….But voicing the facts would violate party politesse. So he loses the No. 1 case against her. But by losing the No. 1 case, he loses the No. 2 case: that she is the most divisive figure in the country, and that this is true because people have reason to view her as dark, dissembling, thuggish…

"(T)he Clinton campaign, which has always been more vicious than clever, this week did a very clever thing. They pre-empted any criticism of past scandals by pushing a Democratic Party button called . . . the Monica story. Mr. Obama is 'imitating Ken Starr' by speaking of Mrs. Clinton's record, said Howard Wolfson. But Ken Starr documented malfeasance. Mr. Obama can't even mention it."

Obviously, not a balanced group of op-eds. But they touch on some interesting dynamics -- thoughts?

Interesting article.