Breaking the Final Rule

[CherylK]

Breaking the Final Rule by Gary Hart http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gary-hart/breaking-the-final-rule_b_90420.html

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.

As a veteran of red telephone ads and "where's the beef" cleverness, I am keenly aware that sharp elbows get thrown by those trailing in the fourth quarter (and sometimes even earlier). "Politics ain't beanbag," is the old slogan. But that does not mean that it must also be rule-or-ruin, me-first-and-only-me, my way or the highway. That is not politics. That is raw, unrestrained ambition for power that cannot accept the will of the voters.

Senator Obama is right to say the issue is judgment not years in Washington. If Mrs. Clinton loses the nomination, her failure will be traced to the date she voted to empower George W. Bush to invade Iraq. That is not the kind of judgment, or wisdom, required by the leader answering the phone in the night. For her now to claim that Senator Obama is not qualified to answer the crisis phone is the height of irony if not chutzpah, and calls into question whether her primary loyalty is to the Democratic party and the nation or to her own ambition.

[phantom power]

1. remind me, what "ammunition" did this give to the GOP?

[ihavenobias]

3. Enjoy!

Uh, it basically creates some great campaign commercials for McCain, whether he faces Obama OR Hillary in the general election. It concedes that McCain is fit to be commander in chief based on his experience, and that's an argument Hillary shouldn't be making:

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a81/kos102/2007/05 EDIT: This link stopped working for some reason so use THIS one http://www.americablog.com/2008/03/hillary-today-john-mccain-has-more.html and scroll down to the second video with Maddow.

These two links still work though:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/07/olbermann-rips-into-clint_n_90392.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHlf6nyaIwg

[phantom power]

4. Interesting. Yeah, I can imagine the GOP making that commercial.

I'm still pretty skeptical of all the angst about "giving the GOP ammo." They have the Right Wing Noise machine on their side, and it just doesn't matter. Even if both Clinton or Obama ran a hermetically perfect campaign (and neither has), it wouldn't slow the GOP campaign machine down. They can spin their ammo out of thin air.

[CherylK]

9. Great links, thanks for posting! n/t

[rateyes]

2. I still say Hart would have made a fine president.

:kick: and R

[MidwestPerspective]

5. Boomer Clinton attacks Generation Joneser Obama

Hillary relying on the old style Boomer politics against Obama, a member of the next generation--Generation Jones (born 1954-1965, between the Boomers and GenXers). Outrageous positioning McCain as more qualified than her fellow Dem. Several top journalists, including Jonathan Alter, have recently argued that Obama is not a Boomer nor Xer, but is instead a member of Generation Jones--a post-partisan generation which doesn't resort to below the belt tactics like the those of the Clintons.

[info being]

6. And what if she wins? Shit....what if she wins with such tactics

[phantom power]

7. Then... a Democrat will be in the White House?

[ihavenobias]

8. This deserves it's own thread...

but I liked what Larry David (yes, co-creator of Seinfield) had to say...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larry-david/on-the-red-phone_b_90338.html

EDIT: Of course a thread was already created. Oh well.