Hillary’s Voice

The Unity Carousel (Clyde’s Place)

Democrats Still Struggling With Whole ‘Party Unity’ Thing (by Dana Milbank, Washington Post)
It was billed as a post-primary unity event at Democratic National Committee headquarters [Tuesday]… In their opening remarks, [Howard] Dean, [Nancy] Pelosi and [Harry] Reid mentioned the Republican Party’s candidate by name 17 times, more than they did their own party’s likely nominee… The negative strategy may have something to do with the need to win over the 18 million people who voted for Clinton. They may not have fallen for Obama’s charms during the primary — but perhaps they can be convinced that McCain is the greater evil… Dean [made] a prediction: “I have every confidence we will be united by the fall election.” Against McCain, if not for Obama.
You’re right that it’s not just about Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, Dr. Dean.  It’s also about the Democratic Party’s total disregard for democracy.  And I hope you don’t bet the farm on your prediction that we’ll all come running home.  Some of us can be wooed, but it will cost you.  BIG time.  So far, I don’t see no flowers.  I don’t see no candy.  I don’t even see no meat and potatoes.

Documentary Proof of RBC’s “Stop Hillary” corruption (by Paul Lukasiak at Corrente)
A document included as an exhibit in the Nelson vs Dean Lawsuit that was filed in October 2007 in an attempt to force the DNC to seat the Florida delegation provides indisputable proof that the Democratic National Committee’s Rules and Bylaws Committee singled out Florida and Michigan for sanctions, and ignored violations of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina… It is clear that the RBC violated its own rules for political reasons – to stop Hillary Clinton. Without the opportunity to beat Clinton in one of the early states in a meaningful primary or caucus, Clinton’s advantages going into Super- Tuesday would have been impossible to beat. The corrupt officials of the RBC were part of a “stop Hillary” movement, and chose to ignore their own rules in order to make it possible for someone other than Hillary Clinton to get the nomination, and the complete and utter corruption of James Roosevelt, Alexis Herman, Alice Germond and the rest of Obama’s supporters on the RBC is no longer in doubt.
Click through to read Paul’s detailed analysis.

Obama’s “New Politics” Inspired by Rush Limbaugh and Ken Starr (by Edward Olshaker, a longtime journalist whose research on conservative talk radio is cited in The Republican Noise Machine, by David Brock, writing at the History News Network)
In the closing days of the primary season, unity was finally achieved—between the Obama campaign and the most extreme elements of the GOP attack machine, who spoke with a single voice as they eagerly ascribed the darkest imaginable thoughts and motives to Sen. Hillary Clinton simply because she mentioned the murder of Sen. Robert Kennedy… Right-wing columnists gleefully joined in the fun that their strange-bedfellow allies of the left had started…

Before adopting the far-right strategy of ascribing horrific motives to Clinton without a shred of supporting evidence, many Obama supporters, including those in the media, already were in the habit of blindly accepting and repeating other conservative attack points such as labeling Clinton “polarizing”—without specifying polarizing statements or policies; and “power-hungry”—although every other presidential candidate obviously had an identical hunger for power…

Remarkably, had the race been closer, the Obama team was preparing to reach into the past and revive the ultimate right-wing line of attack. As Jonathan Weisman reported in the Washington Post on April 23, “a Democratic strategist familiar with the Obama campaign” said the campaign was likely to raise old issues including “Whitewater and possibly impeachment… How much time and money were Obama’s aides prepared to devote in an effort to succeed where the Whitewater independent counsels had failed? As for the report of the Obama team preparing to bring up impeachment, when was Sen. Clinton ever impeached? “Audacity” might be a fitting word after all, but how exactly is this “breaking free from the politics of the past”?

In Defense of Brokered Conventions (by Taegan Goddard, CQ Politics)
Sen. Hillary Clinton’s decision to suspend her presidential campaign might be the best thing to unite Democrats, but political junkies are left a little sad. Most of us have waited a long time to see the excitement of a brokered convention in our lifetimes — where no candidate wins the nomination on the first ballot.
That is a very strange sentiment coming from you, Taegan, you’ve been in the tank for Obama from the beginning. The fact that the excitement is gone is the fault of all of you in the media who did your damnedest to push Clinton out of the race.

The Furies do post mortem (by twandx at Corrente)
The night of the long knives took the msn, DNC and the obamacan bully boyz of the netroots [trying to out-drudge, Drudge] over a year to produce a final kill. They gather around the corps of the candidate they had determined to kill; gloating, taking credit inwardly but outwardly sharpening their knives for slashing continuing wounds. “The fault”, the many pontificated, “was her own. She made so many mistakes and he ran a faultless campaign.” The few with positive and praising comments usually included a barb, a snark or a regret that there was no more blood to be shed. But most were beyond the need for spilling more blood. They got her – they got that presumptive chick, that cocky robin that dared try to lead a country of men. Once again, misogyny won. Strut, strut, strut.

Retreat, Hillary
What does Hillary want? Who is the real Hillary Clinton? What should she do now? What will she do? I have a suggestion. She should take a summer sabbatical from the Senate and go on a retreat. A silent retreat. The idea of a retreat is to find acceptance of yourself, to acquire insight.
That sage advice is from Beltway doyenne and punditress Sally Quinn, a long time Clinton hater.  Because she knows so much about retreats.  And about self acceptance.

Couric Gets Honored In D.C. (Media Bistro)
[Tuesday], CBS’ Katie Couric was honored by the Sewall-Belmont House and Museum at their Alice Award Luncheon Gala… Some thoughts from Couric at the event: “However you feel about her politics, I feel that Sen. Clinton received some of the most unfair, hostile coverage I’ve ever seen.” Couric went on to say that latent sexism contributed, in part, to Hillary’s defeat. She referred to one “prominent member of the commentariat” who said he “found it hard to be objective when it came to Obama.” “That’s your job,” she remembers thinking when hearing this, before suggesting that he “find another line of work.” (Was it Chris Matthews? Or was it Lee Cowan?)

Keith Olbermann Worst Person In the World (by Reba Shimansky, via email)
How dare you select Katie Couric as the Worst Person in World for telling the truth. The fact is that Katie Couric is correct Hillary Clinton was the victim of a lot of misogynistic comments particularly from you. When she attacks reporter Lee Cowan for admitting his pro Obama bias she is correct. Reporters should at least try to give the appearance of being objective-that is their job. I am amazed that she did not  attack you because nobody exhibited more psychotic over the top hatred towards Hillary than you. My only explanation is that she is terrified of your anger and is afraid what you would do to her if she directly attacked you. Lee Cowan was a safe choice.

It’s Howdy Doody Time on MSNBC (by Larry Durstin at Cleveland Current)
On Monday night, in response to John McCain’s shameless ploy of trying to marginalize Barack Obama by defining his victory as one that was partially achieved through the media’s embracing of him as a fellow elitist liberal, Chris Mathews, Keith Olberman and the crew indulged themselves in some presumably serious navel-gazing to examine whether or not McCain’s transparent charges had any merit — especially the part about the “left-wing media’s” trashing of Hillary Clinton in order to help coronate their untested and shallow comrade.

It was particularly amusing to watch Jonathan Alter indignantly pooh-pooh the claim that Obama got a more benevolent treatment than Clinton, when he himself had spent the better part of three months sneering and wearily mocking much of what the Clinton campaign did, while barely uttering a discouraging word about the Illinois senator. Olberman was equally incapable of admitting his Obama devotion, nor recognizing the prissy outrage he exhibited in his tedious litanies lashing out at Clinton… Only the vastly underrated Dan Abrams, who all along has pointed out the slanted manner in which his colleagues have treated Clinton, prevents MSNBC from turning every weekday evening into wall-to-wall Howdy Doody Time.

If This Keeps Up We’ll Need A Restraining Order. (by myiq2xu at Corrente)
The Confluence is a fairly new blog that is unashamedly pro-Hillary and anti-Obama. It was founded by Riverdaughter (aka Goldberry) as a refuge for Hillary supporters fleeing the rampant CDS [Clinton Derangement Syndrome] at DailyCheeto [Daily Kos] and other blogs. The OFB [Obama Fan Base] trolls that post there followed the Hillary supporters from other sites like domestic abusers that stalk their victims. Their comments range from manipulative to abusive, often in the same post. They don’t want us, but can’t let us go. And they sure don’t act like winners.

Obama Pods hate the First Amendment. (by John: south of Melrose at Liberal Rapture)

The Obama Pods are out in force hacking, disrupting and spamming Anti-BHO blogs.
Why? Because free speech is the enemy of Barrack Hussein Obama and the pods know it. In all the comments on all the blogs I see from pods - NONE explain why Obama should be President. None. Either they attack Clinton, attack McCain or spew some drivel about the “party”. This party they are talking about is not any party anyone recognizes anymore. It is Stalinist in spirit and deed - and will, no doubt, be in word in short order. These people are dangerous, anti-American thugs.
JUST like the Bushbots of 2000, who were the reason, with all their racism and sexism, for my getting involved in politics for the first time in my life.  Now I’m fighting the same types, if not the same people, only now they call themselves Democrats.

There is a little bit of Hillary Clinton in all of us now (letter to the HillBuzz blog)
This week has been one of the hardest of my life… All of this is made much, much harder by the guys in my office, Obama fans all, who have spent this entire week ridiculing Hillary Clinton and celebrating her defeat, like a frat party that has, as of Wednesday, not ended yet… The hatred these guys felt for Clinton was not about Clinton … it was about beating down “the bitch”. It was a “take that” moment, the same kind of moment these guys all had when a female VP was sacked at our firm last year because of budget cuts. These guys all went out drinking after that, to celebrate, and they all went out together on Monday night too. On the way out the door, as I still worked in my office, they walked by singing “Ding dong the witch is dead. Which old witch? That Clinton witch!”…

But, tonight, I’m trying to figure out how I can keep fighting for the issues important to Clinton, today, tomorrow, and for the rest of my life. Because, and I’ll be completely honest and painfully personnal here, I’m ashamed I never got involved in any of this before. I regret wasting the first 30 years of my life never giving a damn about anyone else or lifting a finger to help… Hillary Clinton, wherever you are, you probably don’t know what you have done, and the media sure as heck isn’t paying attention, but the real political story coming out of this election is indeed Hillary’s Army of Clinton-to-the-Core believers who won’t ever stop working hard for our champ, or for her vision for America.
Contribute toward helping Hillary retire her campaign debt here.

Women Count PAC
Since its creation in May, WomenCount PAC has raised nearly $500,000 from all around the country and received e-mails and phone calls from thousands of supporters. In addition to the ad campaigns, WomenCount PAC has also made contributions to several woman candidates for Congress. The PAC was created to ensure that the 51 percent of American citizens who are women have their values and votes counted in the political process.
They’re gearing up for another ad, which you can help publish:

Women for Fair Politics (formerly Clinton Supporters Count Too)
We have had over 530,000 people register on our website in the past week and a half. We all need to stick together. Hillary 2012!!!

Obama picking up Clinton voters (Political Ticker, CNN)
(CNN) — A new poll out Wednesday suggests Barack Obama is picking up support among older female voters, a demographic that largely voted for Hillary Clinton in the prolonged Democratic primary race. The findings could be a sign the Illinois senator is making significant strides among that bloc of voters, who had been fiercely loyal to Clinton and potentially ambivalent about supporting Obama in the general election. According the new survey out by Gallup, Obama now holds a 6 point lead over McCain among women over 50 nationwide, 47 to 41 percent. That compares to a 3 point lead (46 to 43 percent) McCain held over Obama in a similar poll taken last week just days before Hillary Clinton conceded the nomination.
I don’t believe it.  The previous matchup described here was only between McCain and Obama, just like this one.  Hillary had nothing to do with it.  Saying that this shift is due to Clinton supporters coming around to Obama isn’t proven by the poll.  This is more PR from the Obama campaign about how the party is healing, pretending that it is happening as a way of trying to make it happen, and CNN just lapped it up without questioning it.

Possibly the most intense phone conversation I have ever had (by Heidi Li Feldman at Heidi Li’s Potpourri)
I have just got off a call with Terry McCauliffe, Senate Clinton’s National Campaign Director and Jonathan Mantz, her National Finance Director. The other participants were top fundraisers in the midatlantic region… Rest assured, neither Terry nor Jonathan nor any of the people who spoke on the call (including me) are happy with the D.N.C.’s treatment of Senator Clinton… Many commented that Senator Obama had not said a word to stop the abusive treatment she received during this campaign season. Much bigger fish than I who were on the call explained that neither they nor their “networks” would contribute a dime to the D.N.C. any time soon and nobody I heard was stepping up to raise money for Senator Obama. Speaker after speaker made it crystal clear that they and their contacts simply will not accept the current state of affairs regarding the D.N.C. and Senator Obama’s treatment of Senator Clinton.

Intense Bid to Court Clinton Fund-Raisers (New York Times)
While it appears that many Clinton backers are poised to begin immediately raising money for Mr. Obama, the presumed Democratic nominee, several categorically ruled that out in interviews. Others said they drew the line at collecting cash for the Democratic National Committee, whose chairman, Howard Dean, angered many Clinton donors over how he handled the dispute over whether to seat convention delegates from Florida and Michigan. “The Obama campaign has a lot to show me before I will consider being there for them,” said Susie Tompkins Buell, co-founder of the clothing company Esprit and a longtime friend of Mrs. Clinton. Ms. Buell said she wanted to see how Mrs. Clinton was treated over the next few weeks, a sentiment that she said was shared by many of the women, especially, in her donor network.

Dr. Dean, I Presume? (by Lynne in Lakeland at Liberal Rapture)
Won’t it be funny when Senator Obama kicks Howard Dean to the curb? It’s going to happen.
Obama uses people to get where he wants to go then throws them under the bus. Dean and Brazille are sure to make the list. He wants all credit. That’s the problem when you believe your own hype. It’s like when George Bush decided maybe he was President. He was wrong, too. Howard Dean doesn’t want a roll call at the Convention. Ms. Brazille has told us we’re not needed in the party. So many of us have left. Wouldn’t it be great if there were some sort of mechanism or organization who would dig for facts and disseminate them to the public? A group that would look into the numbers of defections from the party? They could report on the growing anger at the Democratic party by former loyalists?… This same group could possibly let people know that the Convention in Denver is short of dough… Donations are down for the DNC, too. Jeez, could that be one of the reasons Dean wanted the primaries over?

Hispanic Dems warn Obama he risks losing Latinos (The Hill)
Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) must commit to helping illegal immigrants achieve citizenship or else risk losing the vital Latino vote in the general election, Hispanic Democratic lawmakers are warning. If he does not promise so-called comprehensive immigration reform, the lawmakers say, the only other way to win over Hispanic supporters of his erstwhile rival, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), may be to pick her as his running mate.

Spanish-language media key to victory with Latinos (Politico)
Obama, the Democratic survivor, is still figuring out how to win over the huge Hispanic voting bloc that strongly favored Clinton in the primaries. But McCain already has begun his Hispanic media campaign — in Spanish and English — in the hopes of copying the successes that President Bush had with those voters… But with the Democratic Party finally realizing it cannot take Hispanics for granted, the McCain campaign is bracing for the toughest competition ever for Latino support.

Wednesday: Live by the sword… yada-yada-yada (by riverdaughter at the Confluence)
I’ve been saying all season that the best way to take down the poisonous media’s ability to choose our nominee every four years would be to elect Hillary. But instead of sapping their powers, we have cynically seen everything they were up to and given in to it while barely uttering a discouraging word. Now, the media beast has grown and it’s going to start focusing its laser like attention on the presumptuous nominee. And since the blogger boyz have lost all credibility, they will not be able to walk it back. The media monster roars with delight and toys with its food before biting off each limb.

Get ready for the attacks on Michelle Obama (War Room, Salon)
It’s that time of the campaign cycle again, the time when Republicans’ fancy turns to the wife of the Democrats’ presidential nominee. Now, it’s Michelle Obama’s turn.  Numerous media outlets have articles Wednesday speculating about how Republicans will attempt to skewer the spouse of the presumptive Democratic nominee during the general election campaign. In her column for the New York Times, Maureen Dowd wrote, “It’s good news for Obama that Hillary’s out of the race. But it’s also bad news. Now Republicans can turn their full attention to demonizing Michelle Obama.” Dowd then listed many of the negative rumors circulating in the blogosphere about Obama, including a videotape in which she supposedly denounces “whitey,” and quoted one unnamed political observer who said, “Michelle is a target-rich environment.”
Joan Walsh of Salon says, “I … can’t help hoping that Obama supporters who denied Clinton faced sexism, but who are now outraged by the treatment of Michelle Obama, will have new insight into the dynamics of American media and politics, and new compassion for Clinton.”  Let me just say, Joan, that I will not be holding my breath on this one.  Psychopaths have no concern whatever for the feelings of others.

Obama Pledges to Campaign in Republican Areas (Political Wire)
In an interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Sen. Barack Obama “promised that Missourians will see a lot of their Illinois neighbor — in rural as well as urban and suburban areas.” Asked why Democrats have lost the state in 2000 and 2004, Obama said: “A mistake is probably made in neglecting those parts of the state that are not traditionally Democratic… In the rural parts of the state, showing up makes a big difference. My general view is, even if I don’t win those areas, we can narrow the gap and that may make a significant difference in how we do statewide.”

Obama, Throwing Heat (by Howard Kurtz, Washington Post)
[At the North Carolina State Fairgrounds] it’s no longer about Hillary Clinton. A bit odd, after the endless primary season, to cover Obama now as the undisputed Democratic nominee, no longer dueling the woman who promised to be ready on Day One. Although he did begin by paying tribute to her “historic” effort, which I imagine we’ll keep hearing as he tries to appeal to HRC’s voters. One other oddity: Obama had John and Elizabeth Edwards here, along with half a dozen governors, including Virginia’s Tim Kaine and Maryland’s Martin O’Malley, but didn’t invite them on stage. People in the crowd couldn’t see them. Ergo, no photo op.
Obama must be angry with them for some reason.  But it’s the CLINTONS who keep an enemies’ list, of course.

Johnson resigns from team vetting Obama VP
WASHINGTON - Jim Johnson, a manager of Democrat Barack Obama’s vice presidential search team, resigned Wednesday amid criticism over his personal loan deals.
Interesting.  I thought Obama said Johnson didn’t work for him.

Obama Economic Adviser Draws Fire (Political Radar, ABC News)
ABC News’ Teddy Davis, James Gerber, and Gregory Wallace Report: Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., underscored his affinity with Democratic centrists this week when he tapped Jason Furman, who worked closely with former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, to be his director of economic policy. But the selection is now drawing criticism from some on the left who are wondering if the presumptive Democratic nominee will challenge corporate power and make good on his promise to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Barack Hoodwinks His Peeps on Iraq (by Larry Johnson at No Quarter)
Barack insists that his judgment on Iraq was superior to Hillary’s. Oh really? Well boys and girls, here’s a grip on reality. Barack will say anything, to anyone to advance his cause… “Q: But you’ve said troops should be withdrawn (from Iraq). A: No, no, I’ve never said troops should be withdrawn.” Really? This is what his website offers for his Iraq policy: “Bringing Our Troops Home[:] Obama will immediately begin to remove our troops from Iraq.”
Click through to watch the video of Obama claiming never to have said our troops should be withdrawn from Iraq.

Washington Times’ Tony Blankley: Obama might be a ‘dictator.’ (Think Progress)
In the Washington Times [Wednesday], former Newt Gingrich aide Tony Blankley tries to cast Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) as a potential “dictator” in waiting. Claiming that Obama made a “shockingly dictatorial assertion” last month when he said Americans can’t expect to be considered world leaders while still driving SUVs and eating “as much as we want,” Blankley asks if he is a “dictator or democrat?“.

McCain in Pennsylvania: ‘Bitter’ is back (On Politics, USA Today)
Republican John McCain revived Democrat Barack Obama’s famous remarks about “bitter” small-town voters at a town meeting today in Philadelphia at the National Constitution Center. “We’re going to go the small towns in Pennsylvania and I’m going to tell ‘em I don’t agree with Sen. Obama that they cling to their religion and the Constitution because they’re bitter,” McCain told his audience. “I’m going to tell ‘em they have faith and they have trust and support the Constitution of the United States because they have optimism and hope and are the strength of America.”

Lots more really good stuff at MakeThemAccountable.com.

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com