Hillary going after PLEDGED delegates...

[scheming daemons]

We're not talking about superdelegates that can switch at any time ... we're talking about delegates WON in primaries and caucuses.

Link here:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0208/8583.html


Will the MSM go with this story? Obama needs to hit on it in the debate on Thursday. Make her answer it. Make her PLEDGE, in front of millions, that she won't work to overturn the will of the people. Of course we've already seen that her word means nothing (she pledged to abide by the DNC concerning Florida and Michigan delegates), but put her on the record.

Camp Desperation will go after every loophole, every sleazy option they can come up with to attain power.

"Will of the People" be damned.

[Scurrilous]

1. Clinton Camp: 'All The Rules Will Be Going Out The Window'

<snip>

"Our friend Roger Simon has a juicy little column in this morning's Politico where he reports on the Clinton campaign's push not just for superdelegates but regular, pledged delegates.

Whether or not they know it, those delegates purportedly elected to represent the will of the voters of their home states and districts can actually vote any way they want. And according to Simon, "Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign intends to go after delegates whom Barack Obama has already won in the caucuses and primaries if she needs them to win the nomination.

“I swear it is not happening now, but as we get closer to the convention, if it is a stalemate, everybody will be going after everybody’s delegates,” a senior Clinton official told Simon yesterday. “All the rules will be going out the window.”

The Obama campaign responded harshly this morning.

“As it becomes increasingly clear that Senator Clinton may not be able to secure the nomination by winning the support of actual voters, the Clinton campaign has once again floated a strategy that would essentially say that the preference of Democratic voters is a mere obstacle to their win-at-all-costs strategy," said Obama campaign manager David Plouffe. "First, they said they’ll try to seat the non-existent delegates in Florida and Michigan, something that neutral party leaders have roundly criticized. Then, they suggested that superdelegates should consider subverting the will of the voters and the pledged delegates, which has also been strongly objected to.

“Their new strategy will be to convince delegates that were pledged by actual Democratic voters to switch sides. In their own words, ‘all the rules will be going out the window.’ Voters are already rejecting the Clinton campaign’s say-or-do-anything-to-win tactics, and this is the latest example that it’s time to turn the page on this type of politics that could severely harm our party’s chances to win the general election."

This thing reminds me more and more of the Florida recount. And just as with that contest, the point is not to "count every vote" -- but to win."

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/02/clinton-camp-al.html

[Arugula Latte]

2. She's pathetic in her Rovian desperation. nt

[peaches2003]

5. She's become pathetic, period.

:evilgrin:

[peaches2003]

3. Read this Politico article

I just read it before I moved over to DU. Is NOTHING too low for Hillary and Bill to try to get this nomination??? If she disrespects our voters and our democracy this much, what will she try if she runs in the general and God help us if she wins.

[TexasObserver]

4. What next? Will she start abducting them and holding them prisoners?

The poor thing is going crazy as loon about losing.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

7. ROFL

[Laura PourMeADrink]

6. Pathetic - She can't win on good ideas - this is the shit we want to

move beyond..

[helderheid]

8. This makes blogslut's find make more sense:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x4646229

[antigop]

9. TPM:."...both sides agree..highly unlikely that Clinton can end up with more pledged delegates.."

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/178293.php

Howard Fineman just did a brief segment on MSNBC gaming out the delegate count and where it's likely to end up when the last primaries and caucuses are over. He said he based his comments on conversations with people in both campaigns. And the gist of it was that both sides agree that it's highly unlikely that Clinton can end up with more pledged delegates than Barack Obama. And the issue now is how close she can keep the margin.

If she can keep it within a couple dozen delegates, he argued, it would be credible to try to make up the margin with super delegates. On the other hand, if Obama's ahead by 100 or 200, the pressure against trying to make up the margin with non-elected delegates would just be too great.

[CoffeeCat]

10. Keep up the bullshit Hillary....please! I'm begging ya!'

The more rabid and ridiculous she behaves--the more you see voters realizing that they
need to fend off total mayhem and destruction of the Democratic party--and make this
a decisive win for Obama.

We see it in Wisconsin. The latest poll has Obama up by 10 points. Hillary's 20+-point
lead in Texas is now down to 3 or 4.

The Democrats have collectively decided that they want to avoid a Clinton-generated disaster--complete
with cheating, dirty tricks and manipulations.

Keep going Hillary. Keep voicing how you will cheat with Florida and Michigan. Let the world
know how you strong-arm Super Delegates. I love this new one, that you will go after pledged
delegates. Please Hillary, talk about this more often. Talk about how you'll do "anything" to win.

We can only hope that she keeps her self-destruction and scurrilous tactics---out in the open for
all Dems to view.

[AnarchoFreeThinker]

13. Agreed. Desperation is the gift that keeps on giving.

[Diane R]

11. This makes me genuinely worried that they're perfectly comfortable with tabulation fraud, too.

[cascadiance]

12. This is their definition of the mechanism of "inevitability"...

... if things don't work out through normal means, they'll MAKE them work out so that things are "inevitably" for Hillary!

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

14. The Story's Bullshit. Try Not To Propagate Unsubstantiated Bullshit Slanderous Rumors Next Time Ok?

Don't be so eager to decimate the other DEM candidate that you don't use your head and better judgment. Anonymous sources. Always question when all an article has is anonymous sources.

The article is a pile of horseshit.

[ORDem]

15. This is all going to be moot after TX and OH anyway. Obama is going to pull this out. n/t

[Unbowed]

16. Let's hope this doesn't happen.

If Clinton does this, it will destroy our Party.

I'm still of a mind that she won't stoop to this. Maybe I'll be proven wrong, but I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise.

[seafan]

17. How far will the Clintons go, to ensure that they win?

Richmond Mayor L. Douglas Wilder predicted riots in the streets if the Clinton campaign were to overturn an Obama lead through the use of superdelegates.
Photo: AP


Clinton targets pledged delegates

By: Roger Simon
Feb 19, 2008 05:48 AM EST

Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign intends to go after delegates whom Barack Obama has already won in the caucuses and primaries if she needs them to win the nomination.
This strategy was confirmed to me by a high-ranking Clinton official on Monday. And I am not talking about superdelegates, those 795 party big shots who are not pledged to anybody. I am talking about getting pledged delegates to switch sides.

.....

But one neutral Democratic operative said to me: “If you are Hillary Clinton, you know you can’t get the nomination just with superdelegates without splitting the party. You have to go after the pledged delegates.”

Winning with superdelegates is potentially party-splitting because it could mean throwing out the choice of the elected delegates and substituting the choice of 795 party big shots.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has warned against it. “I think there is a concern when the public speaks and there is a counter-decision made to that,” she said. “It would be a problem for the party if the verdict would be something different than the public has decided.”
Donna Brazile, who was Al Gore’s campaign manager in 2000 and is a member of the DNC, said recently: “If 795 of my colleagues decide this election, I will quit . I feel very strongly about this.”

On Sunday, Doug Wilder, the mayor of Richmond and a former governor of Virginia, went even further, predicting riots in the streets if the Clinton campaign were to overturn an Obama lead through the use of superdelegates.

“There will be chaos at the convention,” Wilder told Bob Schieffer on “Face the Nation.”

“If you think 1968 was bad, you watch: In 2008, it will be worse.”

But would getting pledged delegates to switch sides be any less controversial? Perhaps not. They were chosen by voters, but they were chosen to back a particular candidate.

.....

The longer this goes on unaddressed, the worse the outcome.

Florida and Michigan are smoldering fuses.

[quakerboy]

18. so the

semiofficial word, as i heard it 4th hand is that this is not true.

one thing immediatly evident to me. No one who goes this route will win the GE. Not Hillary, not Barak, not even If we brought Abraham Lincoln back to life and ran him as our 2008 democratic candidate.

So.. why even the idea? Why do we need, as a party(or is it us?) to make this concerted attempt to destroy ourselves?