Molly Ivins -regarding Hillary Rodham Clinton

[thoughtcrime1984]

"I'd like to make it clear to the people who run the Democratic Party that I will not support Hillary Clinton for president. Enough. Enough triangulation, calculation and equivocation. Enough clever straddling, enough not offending anyone." -- Molly Ivins

[TexasObserver]

1. "Enough triangulation, calculation and equivocation."

Good golly, Miss Molly. She is missed.

[candice]

2. That's a politician for you...Obama's voting record precisely.

[candice]

3. PRESENT! 100 times PRESENT....

...don't pin me down, I'm running for President.

[emilyg]

9. God forbid he should make a decision openly.

[thoughtcrime1984]

10. he made 4000+ decisions openly

I'd like to see what Hil would have done in the Ill. Senate. I doubt the number of present votes would differ much.

[candice]

4. PRESENT! 100 times PRESENT....

...don't pin me down, I'm running for President.

[thoughtcrime1984]

5. Might as well post it 8 more times, 2 isn't enough.

[rodeodance]

15. yes, The nuclear leaks bill was he ultimate betrayal to voters--he brought in $$ to

coffers while watering down a bill that was detremental to peoples health./lives!!

[Cleita]

6. Golly I miss Ms. Molly. She was always so spot on in cutting

to the quick of a politician's essence.

[Hieronymus]

7. Wise words from Molly Ivins.

[thoughtcrime1984]

8. up we go

[DebraK]

11. kick

[_Wayne_]

12. Wasn't it Bill that "triangulated?" Poor Molly; great writer, but flawed.

[magatte]

14. so what are those 35 years of experience she is talking about?

i.e. if she was against it she could have stopped it. You can`t take credit for having the "experience" and not take credit for the bad practices. Just can't do.

[rodeodance]

13. I respect Molly a lot--but I strongly disagree with her comments.

[bvar22]

16. K&R for Molly.

I don't like obama, but he is clearly the lesser of two conservative Democratic evils in this case.

Vote Obama.
Its important!

[rodeodance]

17. Obama lied to voters... On the take from Nuclear Industry... (NY T imes)

and here is how Obama triangulates!!



Forum Name General Discussion: Primaries
Topic subject Obama lied to voters... On the take from Nuclear Industry... (NY T imes)
Topic URL http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x4364922#4364922
4364922, Obama lied to voters... On the take from Nuclear Industry... (NY T imes)
Posted by CONN on Sun Feb-03-08 09:52 AM

When residents in Illinois voiced outrage two years ago upon learning that the Exelon Corporation had not disclosed radioactive leaks at one of its nuclear plants, the state’s freshman senator, Barack Obama, took up their cause.
<snip>
He has boasted of it on the campaign trail, telling a crowd in Iowa in December that it was “the only nuclear legislation that I’ve passed.”
<snip>
The campaign did not directly address the question of why Mr. Obama had told Iowa voters that the legislation had passed.

Since 2003, executives and employees of Exelon, which is based in Illinois, have contributed at least $227,000 to Mr. Obama’s campaigns for the United States Senate and for president.

Two top Exelon officials, Frank M. Clark, executive vice president, and John W. Rogers Jr., a director, are among his largest fund-raisers.

John W. Rowe, chairman of Exelon and also of the Nuclear Energy Institute, a lobbying group, has been an Obama donor.

Mr. Obama’s chief political strategist, David Axelrod, has worked as a consultant to Exelon.


U.S. / POLITICS | February 3, 2008
Nuclear Leaks and Response Tested Obama in Senate
By MIKE McINTIRE
An Illinois controversy pitting two important constituencies against each other put Barack Obama’s legislative skills to the test.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/03/us/politics/03exelon.html?ex=1202706000&en=9b90278942ace89a&ei=5070&emc=eta1

[leftofthedial]

18. Molly Ivins was OBVIOUSY a blatant sexist misogynist!

OBVIOUSLY a woman-hating bitc, er, uh . . . never mind.


Molly, as usual, was quite observant. Clinton is a politician first, foremost and only.


(Not that Obama is other than that.)

[jlake]

19. Just imagine what she'd say about Obama if she knew what we know now.

[newmajority]

20. One wonders what Molly might have said about this campaign season.

Given the above quotation, we know who she would have voted for, but I wonder what her thoughts would have been on this rounds corporate sponsored chaos in getting there.

[Stand and Fight]

21. Yeah, I'm sure ol' Molly would just love Barack's posturing....

Yeah, I'm sure ol' Molly would just love Barack's posturing to make nice with the Republicans... NOT.

By the way -- this was one article I strongly disagree with in hindsight.

[Yossariant]

22. If she were alive, she'd see the alternative is worse.

[AtomicKitten]

23. The coolest thing about this election - for me

is that I can tip my hat to Molly and finally render the reckoning I pledged when the IWR went down. There is no effin way I will lend my support to anyone that was stupid/craven enough to give Junior a blank check for that mess.

Yes, we can.

[Perry Logan]

24. Molly's spirit spoke to me last night. "Obama's supporters are complete assholes," she said.

[AtomicKitten]

26. She whispered in my ear, "Beware of war-mongers because they will destroy the planet."

[rodeodance]

27. good one---one thing about Molly--she was astute--able to re-assess the situation.

[AtomicKitten]

28. She was very astute and very clear about her opposition to Hillary.

I will not support Hillary Clinton for president
Molly Ivins
January 20, 2006

AUSTIN, Texas --- I'd like to make it clear to the people who run the Democratic Party that I will not support Hillary Clinton for president.

Enough. Enough triangulation, calculation and equivocation. Enough clever straddling, enough not offending anyone This is not a Dick Morris election. Sen. Clinton is apparently incapable of taking a clear stand on the war in Iraq, and that alone is enough to disqualify her. Her failure to speak out on Terri Schiavo, not to mention that gross pandering on flag-burning, are just contemptible little dodges.

The recent death of Gene McCarthy reminded me of a lesson I spent a long, long time unlearning, so now I have to re-learn it. It's about political courage and heroes, and when a country is desperate for leadership. There are times when regular politics will not do, and this is one of those times. There are times a country is so tired of bull that only the truth can provide relief.

If no one in conventional-wisdom politics has the courage to speak up and say what needs to be said, then you go out and find some obscure junior senator from Minnesota with the guts to do it. In 1968, Gene McCarthy was the little boy who said out loud, "Look, the emperor isn't wearing any clothes." Bobby Kennedy -- rough, tough Bobby Kennedy -- didn't do it. Just this quiet man trained by Benedictines who liked to quote poetry.

What kind of courage does it take, for mercy's sake? The majority of the American people (55 percent) think the war in Iraq is a mistake and that we should get out. The majority (65 percent) of the American people want single-payer health care and are willing to pay more taxes to get it. The majority (86 percent) of the American people favor raising the minimum wage. The majority of the American people (60 percent) favor repealing Bush's tax cuts, or at least those that go only to the rich. The majority (66 percent) wants to reduce the deficit not by cutting domestic spending, but by reducing Pentagon spending or raising taxes.

The majority (77 percent) thinks we should do "whatever it takes" to protect the environment. The majority (87 percent) thinks big oil companies are gouging consumers and would support a windfall profits tax. That is the center, you fools. WHO ARE YOU AFRAID OF?

I listen to people like Rahm Emanuel superciliously explaining elementary politics to us clueless naifs outside the Beltway ("First, you have to win elections"). Can't you even read the damn polls?

Here's a prize example by someone named Barry Casselman, who writes, "There is an invisible civil war in the Democratic Party, and it is between those who are attempting to satisfy the defeatist and pacifist left base of the party and those who are attempting to prepare the party for successful elections in 2006 and 2008."

This supposedly pits Howard Dean, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, emboldened by "a string of bad news from the Middle East ... into calling for premature retreat from Iraq," versus those pragmatic folk like Steny Hoyer, Rahm Emanuel, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Joe Lieberman.

Oh come on, people -- get a grip on the concept of leadership. Look at this war -- from the lies that led us into it, to the lies they continue to dump on us daily.

You sit there in Washington so frightened of the big, bad Republican machine you have no idea what people are thinking. I'm telling you right now, Tom DeLay is going to lose in his district. If Democrats in Washington haven't got enough sense to OWN the issue of political reform, I give up on them entirely.

Do it all, go long, go for public campaign financing for Congress. I'm serious as a stroke about this -- that is the only reform that will work, and you know it, as well as everyone else who's ever studied this. Do all the goo-goo stuff everybody has made fun of all these years: embrace redistricting reform, electoral reform, House rules changes, the whole package. Put up, or shut up. Own this issue, or let Jack Abramoff politics continue to run your town.

Bush, Cheney and Co. will continue to play the patriotic bully card just as long as you let them. I've said it before: War brings out the patriotic bullies. In World War I, they went around kicking dachshunds on the grounds that dachshunds were "German dogs." They did not, however, go around kicking German shepherds. The MINUTE someone impugns your patriotism for opposing this war, turn on them like a snarling dog and explain what loving your country really means. That, or you could just piss on them elegantly, as Rep. John Murtha did. Or eviscerate them with wit (look up Mark Twain on the war in the Philippines). Or point out the latest in the endless "string of bad news."

Do not sit there cowering and pretending the only way to win is as Republican-lite. If the Washington-based party can't get up and fight, we'll find someone who can.

[rodeodance]

29. That was 2 years ago--like I said--Molly had the ability to reassess a situation. Neither you nor

I will ever know what her assessment would have been today.

[AtomicKitten]

30. Yes, if Molly hadn't passed, she and Hillary would be BFF and would brush each other's hair.

[JVS]

34. Hooowaaaahh!

[Apollo11]

25. Hillary stands to the left of Bill. Just ask the New York Post.

To be fair to Hillary, I think that she is at least as smart as her husband. Much more focused and disciplined. Plus I think that deep-down she shares the values of most of us here on DU.

It's not just me. That right-wing rag The New York Post has noticed it too.

"Sen. Clinton stands philosophically far to the left of her husband, and is much more disciplined in pursuit of her agenda."

www.nypost.com/seven/01312008/postopinion/editorials/obama_for_the_democrats_261880.htm

PS - I am not a Hillbot! You may have seen some of my pro-Obama posts! B-)

[UALRBSofL]

32. Your absolutely right about that

If she were around today she most likely would feel different about Hillary then Bill. :)

[Egnever]

31. Thanks Molly

You are absolutely right

[redqueen]

33. Molly voted for Nader, didn't she?

[BlackVelvet04]

35. I just love women who always find some

reason, a lofty sounding reason of course, that they just can't support another woman. If only it were the "right woman"....that perfect ideal, paragon of virtue who is 200 times smarter, who is just the right amount of attractive, yada yada yada. It's just never THE woman of the moment.

[elixir]

36. I respectfully disagree.