"What, aren't two Cabinet posts enough?" - Bill to Bill Richardson; Super Delegates not Superfans

[HeraldSquare212]

Tuesday, February 12, 2008 - Page updated at 07:34 PM

ON DEADLINE: Chickens Come Home to Roost
By RON FOURNIER

Associated Press Writer

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2004179017_apondeadlineclinton12.html



-snip-

Obama has won 23 of 35 contests, earning the majority of delegates awarded on the basis of election results. The remaining 796 delegates are elected officials and party leaders whose votes are not tied to state primaries or caucuses; thus, they are dubbed "superdelegates."

And they are not all super fans of the Clintons.

Some are labor leaders still angry that Bill Clinton championed the North American Free Trade Agreement as part of his centrist agenda.

Some are social activists who lobbied unsuccessfully to get him to veto welfare reform legislation, a talking point for his 1996 re-election campaign.

Some served in Congress when the Clintons dismissed their advice on health care reform in 1993. Some called her a bully at the time.

Some are DNC members who saw the party committee weakened under the Clintons and watched President Bush use the White House to build up the Republican National Committee.

Some are senators who had to defend Clinton for lying to the country about his affair with Monica Lewinsky.

Some are allies of former Vice President Al Gore who still believe the Lewinsky scandal cost him the presidency in 2000.


Some are House members (or former House members) who still blame Clinton for Republicans seizing control of the House in 1994.

Some are donors who paid for the Clintons' campaigns and his presidential library.

Some are folks who owe the Clintons a favor but still feel betrayed or taken for granted. Could that be why Bill Richardson, a former U.N. secretary and energy secretary in the Clinton administration, refused to endorse her even after an angry call from the former president? "What," Bill Clinton reportedly asked Richardson, "isn't two Cabinet posts enough?"

-snip

[TwilightGardener]

1. An angry call and a charge of being an "ingrate"--niiice, Big Dawg.

Hard to believe Richardson didn't respond favorably to that....

[Dogmudgeon]

2. Ron Fournier? Are you serious?

The guy is a one-man character assassination unit. He's had a hard-on for the Clintons for years.

If you read the article, you'll see it's unsourced material. But anything derogatory about the Clintons sells.

While the Clintons are his main obsession, he dabbles in assassinating other characters, too. Perhaps, someday, Barack Obama.

--p!

[HeraldSquare212]

5. He covered Clinton in Arkansas and then moved the WH with him.

A quick search shows some people alleging the AP put him back on the politics beat for this election so he could support the Clintons. So, absent some support for the contrary, I'm just going to have to split the difference between you and them.

I don't consider the article derogatory about the Clintons - i.e., it's not saying bad things about them, it's describing the mindset of some superdelegates and why their loyalty to the Clintons may not be so secure.

Here's a bio of Fournier:

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ron_Fournier

[speedoo]

3. K&R, and bookmarked.

Something tells me Hillary is not getting too many more superdelegates.

[NashVegas]

4. And They Think Obama Will Fight for Liberal Causes?

When he couldn't get the Democratic Majority in the Senate to follow his vote?

[Araxen]

7. What has the democratic majority done?

They've done almost exactly nothing. They couldn't even take care of FISA. It's pretty embarrassing what the dems have done with their control of the Senate.

[northzax]

8. look to his advisors

they will fight for liberal causes, just like they did while working to Tom Daschle as Minority Leader.

oh, wait. hmm.

[northzax]

9. look to his advisors

they will fight for liberal causes, just like they did while working to Tom Daschle as Minority Leader.

oh, wait. hmm.

[MaineDem]

6. And some were elected by their states to be DNC members

They owe no loyalty to anyone other than their states' Democrats. Most of them want to win in November and will support whomever they think will accomplish that.