Hillary’s Voice

Clinton Punches, Obama Bowls, and McCain Reminisces: March 31- April 6, 2008 (Project for Excellence in Journalism)
Barack Obama attracted the most coverage of any presidential hopeful last week, and John McCain’s biographical tour helped him climb back into the headlines. But it was Hillary Clinton who generated the clearest story line in the media last week in advance of the April 22 Pennsylvania primary. The narrative was the debate over whether it might be time for Clinton to throw in the towel in the nomination fight. It was the single biggest campaign story line, accounting for 7% of all the campaign stories last week, and it was big enough that Clinton herself fought back by embracing one of Philly’s fictional favorites… “Let me tell you something, when it comes to finishing a fight, Rocky and I have a lot in common,” said Clinton. “I never quit.”

Thank you, Rush Limbaugh! (by Joan Walsh, Salon)
A very angry Obama-fan reader sent me a transcript of Rush Limbaugh quoting something I said on Campbell Brown’s CNN show last week. What a nice gesture, on both their parts! Rush has quoted me before, but I don’t think I’ve ever been happier to have what I said reach a wider audience. Here’s what he quoted:  “I think that Senator Hillary Clinton has faced much more overt sexism than Barack Obama has faced overt racism in this campaign…” Thanks, Rush! I really appreciate your getting that point of view out to more people. Sadly, you’ve got a bigger audience than I do at Salon, at least temporarily. But I’m thrilled to have that statement reach a wider audience. Because, yes, it’s just true.

[M]any of the letters about my post helped prove the point that sexism is more pervasive, and far less conscious, than racism is in the Democratic primary this year. So did the letters on Carol Lloyd’s Broadsheet post about Randi Rhodes calling Hillary Clinton a “fucking whore.” I honestly never thought I’d see the day when Salon readers, including some I respect, would defend that kind of attack on a female politician, as people did in that letters thread… If you disagree, and you’d like to argue on behalf of calling female politicians “fucking whores,” please marshal your best arguments in my comments section. But also, if you feel that way, please feel free to stop reading Salon. I passionately want to grow our audience, and I’m proud to have tripled it in the three years I’ve been editor in chief. But truly, some readers we can live without. There must be someplace where people who want to call female leaders “fucking whores” will feel welcomed and at home, but this isn’t it.
Ditto MakeThemAccountable.

Stories of Love and Hate (by eriposte at the Left Coaster)
In the 2000 election campaign, one of the key stories that led to Gore being falsely savaged as a liar and exaggerator was the “Love Story” incident… Today, we have the Trina Bachtel story. Believe it or not, my first reaction after I saw some alleged “liberal” bloggers go after Sen. Clinton on this in knee-jerk fashion was: it’s Love Story all over again - except Frank Rich, Maureen Dowd, and the dozens of other frauds in the media now have willing pals in parts of the formerly “liberal” blogosphere. To me, the 2008 Democratic primary campaign is a watershed event in the history of the progressive blogosphere. It has revealed that some of the alleged “progressive” bloggers are fundamentally no different than the media and the deranged right-wing bloggers they have long claimed to detest.

How the presidential candidates played the Iraq question (McClatchy)
WASHINGTON — Here’s how the presidential candidates positioned themselves on Iraq on Tuesday in questioning Army Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker.
REPUBLICAN JOHN MCCAIN
STANCE: Continue U.S. troop commitment.
STYLE: Amiable but somber, alternately encouraging and critical; asked detailed questions about military events in Basra, Mosul, Baghdad’s Green Zone.
DEMOCRAT HILLARY CLINTON
STANCE: Withdraw one to two brigades per month; require President Bush to seek congressional approval to any plan with Iraqis to continue operations beyond July.
STYLE: Calm but pointed, protective of Senate’s advice and consent role.
DEMOCRAT BARACK OBAMA
STANCE: Withdraw one to two brigades per month; the surge has temporarily reduced violence but not yielded enough self-governance.
STYLE: Professorial, consensus-seeking; said Petraeus, Crocker are just “cleaning up the mess.”

Obama on Foreign Policy Experience (by Jeralyn at TalkLeft)
Barack Obama explained to a fundraising crowd in California this week why his VP nominee would not need extensive foreign policy experience. It’s because he has it. Was he joking? No. “… I traveled to Pakistan when I was in college–I knew what Sunni and Shia was [sic] before I joined the Senate Foreign Relations Committee…” Cockiness is an understatement. He lived in Indonesia from the ages of 6 to 10. He didn’t visit Africa until he was an adult — his first trip was in his late 20’s, his second 14 years after that. Does he really believe that being a child in a foreign country and having poor relatives in Africa makes one prepared to be Commander in Chief? Can he really think it compares to Hillary’s years of service on the Armed Services Committee? If this is an indication of his “good judgment” I can’t wait to see what his poor or mistaken judgment is like…

[F]rom the Chicago Tribune: “After being sworn in as U.S. Senator, it took him 11 months to make a major speech on Iraq.” When did he first introduce legislation setting a timetable for troop withdrawal from Iraq? “In January 2007, shortly after announcing his presidential exploratory committee.” Obama the candidate for U.S. Senate spoke out forcefully against the Iraq war. For most of his tenure in Washington, though, Obama the U.S. senator has not been a moving force on Iraq. He left it to others to lead public opinion. Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) and Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) emerged as the strongest voices against the war. Those critics all spoke out before Obama gave his first major policy speech on the war — 11 months after he took office.

Obama’s Foreign Policy Faux Pas (by Larry Johnson at No Quarter)
Barack’s relationship with folks like Rashid Khalidi, who is widely perceived by most supporters of Israel as a radical, is part of a disturbing pattern. Barack makes nice with Khalidi. Barack steers money to Khalidi and his group. But Barack’s poor judgment in making friends and hanging out with unsavory associates does not stop there. Barack was pals with a self-confessed and unapologetic terrorist–William Ayers. Barack seeks advice and counsel from a racist preacher who damns America and blames whites for inflicting HIV on African Americas–uncle Jeremiah Wright. And let’s not forget Barack’s initiative in seeking help with a real estate deal from Tony Rezko–a man Obama knew was facing a Federal corruption investigation. So I ask again. What judgment? Barack has demonstrated recklessness, cluelessness, and foolishness in cultivating and maintaining these relations.

Elizabeth Edwards Prefers Hillary’s Health Care Plan to Obama’s (by Jeralyn at TalkLeft)
Elizabeth Edwards has joined Center for American Progress, (home to the excellent Think Progress blog) as a Senior Fellow on health care issues. She’ll also be blogging as part of their rapid response team at the Wonk Room. While she’s not endorsing either candidate, she tells Good Morning America tomorrow she prefers Hillary Clinton’s health plan to Obama’s: “… Edwards … said she believed Clinton’s health care plan was more inclusive than that of the Illinois senator. ‘You need that universality in order to get the cost savings … I just have more confidence in Sen. Clinton’s policy than Sen. Obama’s on this particular issue,’ she said.”

How 1968 changed Hillary (by Edward McClelland at Salon)
The story of [Hillary Clinton’s] conversion from high school Republican to Seven Sisters campus liberal is the story of how the Democratic Party was gentrified in the 1960s, its lunch-bucket rank and file making way for college-educated professionals consumed with issues of civil rights and unjust wars. And its ironic coda is that Hillary Clinton, once one of the activist newcomers, now depends for her electoral survival on reviving the party’s old blue-collar base.
I had the same conversion, but mine was much more gradual.

Low and high information (by lambert at Corrente)
Funny how Hillary’s going around giving detailed and wonky bullet points on policy to supposedly low information voters—and though our famously free press yawns, the crowds eat it up with a spoon. Meanwhile, our supposedly high information voters, exemplified by the “creative class” [cough] types, have all gone gaga for the Unity Pony. ’Tis a puzzlement! Tell me again who the people are who really care about politics, how government works, and the way the country is going might be?

“Nobody Has Ever Spent 2.2 Million in the State” (The Page, Time, thanks to No Quarter)
Democratic media consultant Neil Oxman, who is neutral in the race: “Nobody has ever spent 2.2 million in this state: not Rendell, not Specter, not Casey, not Santorum, not Bush, not Kerry…That’s unbelievable.”

Is Barack Obama buying Pennsylvania Super Delegates? (video)

Obama’s latest Pa..ad features testimonials from the women in his life (On Politics, USA Today)
His sister, grandmother and wife all talk about him in Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama’s latest TV ad aimed at Pennsylvania voters.
Gee, from what I’ve read about the women in his life, you wouldn’t think he’d be advertising their support.

PA Women, Whites, Stand by Hillary, Turn Back The Clock On Obama: (SurveyUSA)
In a Democratic Primary in Pennsylvania today, 04/08/08, two weeks to the vote, Hillary Clinton defeats Barack Obama 56% to 38%, according to a SurveyUSA poll conducted exclusively for WCAU-TV Philadelphia, KDKA-TV Pittsburgh, WHP-TV Harrisburg, and WNEP-TV Wilkes-Barre. The results are almost identical to a SurveyUSA poll released one month ago. Then, Clinton led by 19. Today, 18. In between, however, in a SurveyUSA tracking poll released last week, Obama had closed to within 12 points.

Michelle Obama Event: Seating Re-Arranged to Showcase Whites (by Jeralyn at TalkLeft)
Via The Tartan, the student newspaper for Carnegie Mellon on a Michelle Obama campaign rally in PA: “While the crowd was indeed diverse, some students at the event questioned the practices of Mrs. Obama’s event coordinators, who handpicked the crowd sitting behind Mrs. Obama. The Tartan’s correspondents observed one event coordinator say to another, ‘Get me more white people, we need more white people.’ To an Asian girl sitting in the back row, one coordinator said, ‘We’re moving you, sorry. It’s going to look so pretty, though.’”… The politics of theater. Can you imagine if a similar request for African-Americans was made by the Clinton campaign? It would lead the evening news.

Obama Delegate Resigns After Remark (Associated Press)
CARPENTERSVILLE, Ill. — An Illinois delegate for Democratic Sen. Barack Obama resigned after using the word “monkeys” to describe black children playing in a tree, the Obama campaign said Tuesday. Linda Ramirez-Sliwinski, a trustee in the Chicago suburb of Carpentersville, was issued a $75 ticket for disorderly conduct after neighbors complained to police. She says the word wasn’t meant racially and she will fight the ticket. “Given the incident, Linda Ramirez-Sliwinski is stepping down as a delegate and will be replaced,” said Obama spokeswoman Amy Brundage.
If Obama were really for unity, he’d have said that this is nonsense, and he’d have asked the woman not to step down.

Offensive Slave References Scrubbed from Obama Website (by Fleaflicker at No Quarter)
On April 6th, I reported that Barack Obama’s website had a disgusting analogy comparing what is going on in this election as a choice between two types of slaves: Field Slaves (Obama supporters) and House Slaves (Hillary supporters). Since bringing this to the attention of the world-at-large, suddenly and without explanation, the offensive page has been scrubbed, like so many other clearly offensive statements and connections from the Obama campaign. But I remain confident that the story accomplished what it set out to do. The hypocrisy and the hatred coming from the Obama campaign needs to be called out every single time it appears. Join with me in making sure we hold their feet to the fire.

Obama’s speech has turned stale (by Gil Troy, Jerusalem Post)
I am furious that a State Senator from Illinois, let alone a Harvard Law graduate with political aspirations, could maintain a relationship with a pastor who on the Sunday after September 11, 2001 rejoiced that America’s “chickens were coming home to roost.” As a parent, I cannot accept that Obama chose to send his daughters to a church where a pastor could preach that whites were spreading AIDS, or excuse Hamas terrorism or shout, repeatedly, “God damn America,” not God Bless America, and claim scriptural support… I liked the speech, I want to believe, but the persistence of my fears are trumping the audacity of my hope. My head is overriding my heart; Mister “Yes We Can” is striking me as Mister “Maybe I will stand up for my country, only if it is convenient, and as long as it does not offend the people immediately around me, who are paying attention this minute.”

Lots more really good stuff at MakeThemAccountable.com.

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com