First Door on the Left

Hillary Clinton wrote an op-ed column for The New York Daily News. It was published today…

Hillary: Why I continue to run

Hillary Clinton

This past Friday, during a meeting with a newspaper editorial board, I was asked about whether I was going to continue in the presidential race.

I made clear that I was – and that I thought the urgency to end the 2008 primary process was unprecedented. I pointed out, as I have before, that both my husband’s primary campaign, and Sen. Robert Kennedy’s, had continued into June.

Almost immediately, some took my comments entirely out of context and interpreted them to mean something completely different – and completely unthinkable.[..]

I was deeply dismayed and disturbed that my comment would be construed in a way that flies in the face of everything I stand for – and everything I am fighting for in this election.

And today, I would like to more fully answer the question I was asked: Why do I continue to run, even in the face of calls from pundits and politicians for me to leave this race?

I am running because I still believe I can win on the merits. Because, with our economy in crisis, our nation at war, the stakes have never been higher – and the need for real leadership has never been greater – and I believe I can provide that leadership.

I am not unaware of the challenges or the odds of my securing the nomination – but this race remains extraordinarily close, and hundreds of thousands of people in upcoming primaries are still waiting to vote. As I have said so many times over the course of this primary, if Sen. Obama wins the nomination, I will support him and work my heart out for him against John McCain. But that has not happened yet.

I am running because I believe staying in this race will help unite the Democratic Party. I believe that if Sen. Obama and I both make our case – and all Democrats have the chance to make their voices heard – in the end, everyone will be more likely to rally around the nominee.

I am running because my parents did not raise me to be a quitter – and too many people still come up to me at my events, grip my arm and urge me not to walk away before this contest is over. More than 17 million Americans have voted for me in this race – the most in presidential primary history.

I am running for all those women in their 90s who’ve told me they were born before women could vote, and they want to live to see a woman in the White House. For all the women who are energized for the first time, and voting for the first time. For the little girls – and little boys – whose parents lift them onto their shoulders at our rallies, and whisper in their ears, “See, you can be anything you want to be.” As the first female candidate in this position, I believe I have a responsibility to finish this race.

I am running for all the men and women I meet who wake up every day and work hard to make a difference for their families. People who deserve a shot at the American Dream – the chance to save for college, a home and retirement; to afford quality health care for their families; to fill the gas tank and buy the groceries with a little left over each month.

I believe I won a 40-point victory two weeks ago in West Virginia and a 35-point victory in Kentucky this past week – despite voters being repeatedly told this race is over – because I’m standing up for them. I’m standing up for the deepest principles of our party and for an America that values the middle class and rewards hard work.

Finally, I am running because I believe I’m the strongest candidate to stand toe-to-toe with Sen. McCain. Delegate math might be complicated – but electoral math is not. Our campaign is winning the popular vote – and we’ve been winning the swing states we need to get 270 electoral votes and take back the White House: Pennsylvania, Ohio, Arkansas, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, Michigan, Florida and West Virginia.

Got it? Good. It’s all about Hillary Clinton. Every bit of it. All else is incidental.

Plus, she is certifiably delusional (not to mention sexist).

Related post: Unforgiven.

What a difference a couple of months can make…

The first video is from December of 2007; the second from late February of 2008. Back in December, Hillary Clinton honestly believed that she would have the nomination in her pocket by February 5.

Where was her concern for the voters of Florida and Michigan in December? She sure didn’t seem to be too concerned about their right to have their voices heard back then. And she surely would not be now had she not “won” in those two states. (Remember that Senator Obama did not campaign in either state and his name was not even on the ballot in Michigan.)

(h/t The Jed Report)

In case you have been hiding under a rock for the past 36 hours or so, Hillary Clinton had this to say during an interview with a newspaper editorial board in South Dakota yesterday:

“My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. You know I just, I don’t understand it.”

(Actually, her husband “wrapped up” the nomination after the Illinois primary in March of 1992, but why would we expect his wife to know that?)

Basically, what she said was that she needs to remain in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, even though there is no chance she will win, because Barack Obama may be assassinated.

There are those who are trying to cover for Mrs. Clinton, saying that what she said was just a poor choice of words and she was only stating that other nominating contests had lasted into June and she could not understand why this one should be different. I’m not buying it. Hillary Clinton is a very smart and intelligent woman. She knew exactly what she was saying. She was employing the Rovian tactic of fear mongering. “If Senator Obama is killed next month and I am not still in the race, who are you going to turn to?” (The unfortunate reality is that we would probably turn to her, even if she is not still running for the nomination.)

Even Barack Obama has tried to cover for her…

“I have learned that when you are campaigning for as many months as Senator Clinton and I have been campaigning, sometimes you get careless in terms of the statements that you make and I think that is what happened here. Senator Clinton says that she did not intend any offense by it and I will take her at her word on that.”

While I am in awe of Mr. Obama’s chivalry, I must disagree with him for several reasons. First, he pretty much had to say that, otherwise he would alienate all the die-hard heroine worshipers who are still clinging to the hems of Mrs. Clinton’s pant suits. (Fact, not misogyny (the Clintonista’s byword these days.)) Second, if she is going to get careless with the statements she makes under the pressures of campaigning, what is she going to do under the pressures of the presidency? And, finally, she most certainly did intend every word she said.

Libby Copeland, staff writer on The Washington Post understands…

Hillary Clinton Raises the Specter of the Unspeakable

Smart candidates don’t invoke the possibility of their opponents being killed. This seems so obvious it shouldn’t need to be said, but apparently, it needs to be said.

“We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California,” Hillary Clinton said yesterday, referencing the fact that past nomination contests have stretched into June to explain why she hasn’t heeded calls to exit the Democratic race. She was in an editorial board meeting with a South Dakota newspaper, and she didn’t even seem to notice she’d just uttered the unutterable.

The nation’s political science students, our future strategists and campaign managers, would do well to pay attention to this moment. There are taboos in presidential politics, and this is one of the biggest. To raise the specter of a rival’s assassination, even unintentionally, is to make a truly terrible thing real. It sounds like one might be waiting for a terrible thing to happen, even if one isn’t. It sounds almost like wishful thinking.[..]

Clinton issued a statement apologizing “if” she’d been in “any way offensive,” and a spokesman tried to clarify what she meant.

“She was talking about the length of the race and using the ’68 election as an example of how long the races in the past have gone,” Howard Wolfson said, missing the point. What she meant was: We can wait a little longer to know who the Democratic nominee is. What she said was: assassinated.[..]

The fear of a president or a presidential candidate being shot or assassinated is horrifying precisely because recent history teaches us that it can happen. We don’t need anybody to remind us, and we certainly don’t need anybody to remind whatever suggestible wackos might be lurking in the shadows.

In the context of Obama, Clinton’s words broke a double taboo, because since the beginning of his candidacy, some of Obama’s supporters have feared that his race made him more of a target than other presidential hopefuls. Obama was placed under Secret Service protection early, a full year ago. To be unaware that one’s words tap into a monumental fear that exists in a portion of the electorate — a fear that Obama’s race could get him killed — is an unusual mistake for a serious and highly disciplined presidential candidate.

Hillary Clinton has disqualified herself for either the presidency or the vice presidency. She probably should not even be a senator, but there’s isn’t much we can do about that now. Those who are willing to overlook her hateful and ill-intentioned remark are blind to the realities of the age in which we live. It is past time for the leadership of the Democratic party to show some leadership and insist that she withdraw immediately from the race for the Democratic nomination for the presidency of the United States.

This is choice…

Poor ticket sales, expected protests scuttle Bush-McCain fundraiser at Phoenix Convention Center

Bush / McCain

A Tuesday fundraiser headlined by President Bush for U.S. Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign is being moved out of the Phoenix Convention Center.

Sources familiar with the situation said the Bush-McCain event was not selling enough tickets to fill the Convention Center space, and that there were concerns about more anti-war protesters showing up outside the venue than attending the fundraiser inside.

Another source said there were concerns about the media covering the event.

Bush’s Arizona fundraising effort for McCain is being moved to private residences in the Phoenix area. A White House official said the event was being moved because the McCain campaign prefers private fundraisers and it is Bush administration policy to have events in public venues open to the media. The White House official said to reconcile that the Tuesday event will be held at a private venue and not the Convention Center.

Convention Center personnel confirmed the event has been canceled at their venue.

Tickets to the event were to range from $1,000 to $25,000 for VIP treatment. Money was to go toward McCain’s presidential bid and a number of Republican Party organs.

Arizona is Johnny McCain’s home state! Let’s review… A fundraiser for the presumptive Republican nominee for the presidency of the United States with the sitting President of the United States had to be canceled in the presumptive nominee’s home state because of poor ticket sales. They could not sell enough tickets to fill the venue. Their were fears that there would be more protesters outside the venue than supporters inside.

From this week’s Friday Night Cartoons (click to enlarge):

November 4 cannot get here quickly enough.

UPDATE: Isn’t it strange that this Associated Press story makes no mention of the above? Uh, tell me again, please, about the “liberal media.”

This needs to end now.

Clinton cites Kennedy assassination in primaries

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Sen. Hillary Clinton referred Friday to the assassination of Robert Kennedy in 1968 Democratic campaign as a reason she should continue to campaign despite increasingly long odds.

Clinton was responding to a question from the Sioux Falls Argus Leader editorial board about calls for her to drop out of the race.

“My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. You know I just, I don’t understand it,” she said, dismissing the idea of dropping out.

Clinton said she didn’t understand why, given this history, some Democrats were calling for her to quit.

She later apologized…

“I regret that if my referencing that moment of trauma for our entire nation and in particular the Kennedy family was in any way offensive. I certainly had no intention of that whatsoever,” the former first lady said.

She knew exactly what she was saying, how it would be interpreted and what her intentions were in saying it. (To believe otherwise is a direct insult to her intelligence.) Hillary Clinton has proven beyond doubt that she is not temperamentally fit to be Commander in Chief. This has to end and it has to end now. Who knows what desperate measures tomorrow will bring?

I’ve heard many Clinton supporters say that they would vote for McCain over Obama. I am almost to the point of returning the favor. Almost. I would still, at this point, choose Hillary over Johnny. It’s getting to be a close call, though. (And I have never voted for a Republican in my life!)

UPDATE: Keith Olbermann…

(Transcript.)

Wow, it’s Friday evening again already. Time really flies when you’re getting up in years. Don’t believe me? Ask Johnny McCain. (I am no where near as far up in years as our friend Johnny, but I’ll catch up eventually.)

It is time once again to present what your humble editor has determined to be the best of the past week’s political and editorial cartoons. Remember, your mileage may vary. Click on a cartoon to make it bigger. You may also view a slide show by paying attention to the icons that will appear at the bottom of your browser image when you click any of the thumbnails.

Enjoy.

As always, our thanks go to the talented and observant cartoonists who, each week, help us smile through the pain.

Saturday additions:

CNN’s Suzanne Malveaux is reporting that there are some within the Clinton camp who are actively pushing for her to be offered the number two slot on the Democratic ticket…

Sources: Clinton, Obama supporters discussing exit strategies

(CNN) – Several close friends and supporters of Hillary Clinton tell CNN they are pushing for a “graceful exit strategy” that would allow the Clinton and Obama camps to come together, and for the New York senator to save face should she fail to become the nominee. The discussions are not taking place between the campaigns, but rather among informal campaign advisers on both sides who are trying to actively influence and shape the debate as the competition nears a close June 3.[..]

But some Clinton insiders and close friends are actively floating three scenarios which they believe will influence whether or how the two teams merge.

The first scenario is if Obama ignores Clinton and her supporters and makes the vice presidential offer to someone else.

One insider said “This would be a total dismissal of her and totally unacceptable.”

“This could mean open civil war within the party,” another said. “A rupture in the party. If he doesn’t offer at all, you’ve got a breakdown. A real resentment there.”

Another source said it would not mean Clinton would not campaign for Obama, she would. But she would do so like Bill Clinton campaigned for Al Gore, “aloof.”

Another source said it would affect the willingness of some womens’ groups to raise money for Obama.

The second scenario they forsee is Obama could publicly offer Clinton the VP spot, with the understanding she would turn it down. But several Clinton friends say “the problem is the two sides do not trust each other” to follow through on this.

The third scenario they envision would be trying to get both the candidates to sit down face-to-face and work out an agreement suitable to both parties. Some Clinton insiders say some points to consider would be how to help pay off the Clinton campaign debt, or whether he would offer support for a possible Clinton Senate majority run.

Clinton insiders say Hillary Clinton is aware that some of her supporters are pushing for her to get an offer to join the ticket, but they say she has not thought about whether she wants the VP slot, because she’s still campaigning for the top job.

All we have it this point are rumors and hearsay, but I have no doubt in my own mind that Mrs. Clinton would jump at the VP slot were it offered. It would give her and Bill another eight years to haunt the halls of the White House and it would set her up as the Democratic nominee-designate in 2016 (when she will only be 68 years old, younger than Johnny McCain is now).

Personally, I don’t see why Senator Obama would want her for the job, considering the negative and nasty campaign she has run against him in the primaries. Plus, his entire campaign has been about change and depositing Bill and Hillary in the office across the hall from the Oval would be anything but change. At this point, I think it is incumbent upon Bill and Hillary Clinton to apologize for being such asses for the past two years and quietly fade into the sunset.

That is not going to happen, however. The Clintons and their minions still have a lot of noise to make and they seem to be hell bent on making it.

Update:

Clinton says reports of veep negotiations untrue

SIOUX FALLS, S.D (AP) — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton says her campaign has had no discussions with Barack Obama aides about her possibly becoming his vice presidential pick.

Clinton calls such reports “flatly untrue,” in an interview Friday with the Sioux Falls Argus Leader editorial board, adding that she is not planning any such discussions.

Asked if her campaign had any discussions with the Obama campaign about her possibly bowing out in exchange for the vice president slot, Clinton said: “It is flatly untrue and it is not anything I’m entertaining. It is nothing I have planned and it is nothing I am prepared to engage in. I am still vigorously campaigning.”

Good. Though, I wonder, what would they expect her answer to that question to be? As long as she persists in campaigning for the nomination, any admission that she is or has given consideration to the VP slot would be a concession of defeat. As long as she remains under the delusion that she may win this thing, that is not likely to happen.

If Johnny isn’t careful, he soon will not have a friend left in the right wing of the Republican party… not if he keeps insisting on denouncing their preachers…

McCain rejects pastor’s endorsement

John Hagee and John McCain

STOCKTON, Calif. (AP) – Republican John McCain on Thursday rejected endorsements from two influential but controversial televangelists, saying there is no place for their incendiary criticisms of other faiths.

McCain rejected the months-old endorsement of Texas preacher John Hagee after an audio recording surfaced in which the preacher said God sent Adolf Hitler to help Jews reach the promised land. McCain called the comment “crazy and unacceptable.”

He later repudiated the support of Rod Parsley, an Ohio preacher who has sharply criticized Islam and called the religion inherently violent.

McCain issued a statement Thursday afternoon announcing his decision about Hagee.

“Obviously, I find these remarks and others deeply offensive and indefensible, and I repudiate them. I did not know of them before Reverend Hagee’s endorsement, and I feel I must reject his endorsement as well,” he said.

Later, in Stockton, he told reporters: “I just think that the statement is crazy and unacceptable.”

Then in an interview with The Associated Press, McCain said he rejected Parsley’s support, too.

“I believe there is no place for that kind of dialogue in America, and I believe that even though he endorsed me, and I didn’t endorse him, the fact is that I repudiate such talk, and I reject his endorsement,” McCain told the AP.

Hagee had sparked controversy since the San Antonio pastor endorsed McCain on Feb. 27 shortly before the Texas presidential primary. Parsley’s views were aired Thursday in an ABC News report.

McCain actively courted Hagee, who leads a megachurch with a congregation in the tens of thousands and has an even wider television audience. Former GOP presidential rivals also sought Hagee’s backing.

Hagee has referred to the Roman Catholic Church as “the great whore” and called it a “false cult system.” He also has linked Hitler to the Catholic church, suggesting it helped shape his anti-Semitism. And Hagee said Hurricane Katrina was God’s retribution for homosexual sin.[..]

The other pastor, Parsley, has described Islam as an “anti-Christ religion” and the Muslim prophet Muhammad as “the mouthpiece of a conspiracy of spiritual evil,” according to ABC News.

There is nothing in the teachings of either Hagee or Parsley with which right wing Republicans do not agree. They cannot be happy that the presumptive presidential nominee of their party is rejecting their beliefs. I look for a lot of them to stay home come November 4.

Russell Goldman of ABC News offers about the best summary I have read…

Clinton Still in the Game, but Wants Rules Changed

'..except in the states where I lost.'

Hillary Clinton has vowed to stay in the game, but some critics contend she is looking to change the rules.[..]

“In the total universe of delegates, there are 311 outstanding: 217 of those are as of yet uncommitted superdelegates, 94 are thus far unallocated pledged delegates from last night’s contest in Oregon and the upcoming three contests in Puerto Rico, South Dakota and Montana,” wrote David Chalian, ABC News political director.

Clinton needs 84 percent of all the remaining delegates — pledged and superdelegates — to hit 2,026, the magic number needed to lock up the nomination.

Obama needs just 23 percent of all the remaining delegates to hit 2,026. With the current rules for delegate math against her, Clinton has pushed to increase the overall delegate total needed to win up to 2,210, or to instead consider using the popular vote as a metric.

Obama leads in the popular vote if Michigan and Florida are excluded from the count. He also leads in popular votes if Florida is added.

Clinton, however, has more popular votes if all the states, including Michigan and Florida, are included in the total.

But Obama did not campaign in Michigan and his name was removed from the ballot before the race.

The Democratic Party would not be convening a meeting to resolve the issue if not for Clinton, said ABC News consultant Matthew Dowd.

“The DNC [Democratic National Committee] is considering changing the rules, and they wouldn’t be changing the rules unless she wanted them to meet and discuss it. She obviously wants to see the rules changed. Her staff should have set up a campaign that worked within the confines of the current rules,” he said. “It is as if Barack Obama is on the 99-yard line and in the final moments of the game Clinton wants the football field extended from 100 to 120 yards.”

Many of Clinton’s advisers are former party insiders, including Terry McAuliffe, her campaign’s chairman and former party chairman, who helped make the rule in the first place.

“What is amazing to me is that she has got a camp filled with DNC operatives. These are the people who essentially created the rules,” Dowd said. “She has been in the game a long time. It’s not as if she’s new to this and didn’t know better. Her campaign is run by the insiders who have been running the party for the past 16 years.”

I honestly believe that Hillary Clinton, in her lust for the presidency, has lost all sense of right and wrong. Neither matter, as long as she comes out the winner. She knew the rules established by the Democratic party for this primary and she was in complete agreement with them… until she started losing. Then, suddenly, it became necessary to change the rules.

I wish somebody in this party had the cojones to say “Shut up and sit down, Hillary. It’s over.”

We need to get on with the business of defeating Johnny McCain and the Republicans in November.

Johnny McCain was a guest on Ellen DeGeneres’ show today. They talked about gay marriage. (DeGeneres has announced that she will wed partner Portia de Rossi this summer.) As he does with most important issues, McCain tried to laugh it off. (This video is from CNN’s American Morning and MSNBC’s Morning Joe, broadcast May 21, 2008.)…

It kind if irks me when I see gay marriage referred to as a “liberal issue.” Equal rights and equal protection under our laws for all citizens of our country should not be a liberal or a conservative issue; it should be an American issue. We can only hope that those still fighting it will eventually join the rest of us in the 21st century. “Separate but equal” went out with the 1960s.

For the record, I am also in disagreement with the Democratic candidates on this issue. Both Obama and Clinton have said that they favor civil unions with all the rights and privileges of marriage, but they oppose calling it marriage. There is a difference in our society between saying “I am married” and “I have a civil union.”