My Grace & Restraint With Hillary's Moribund Campaign Ends When She Fails to Win Both Texas & Ohio.

[David Zephyr]

I'm a nice guy to an extent, but there really is a limit.

There is a point when enough is enough.

It's time for a come-to-Jesus moment within the Democratic Party: If Hillary loses either Ohio or Texas next week after this 'last roll of the dice' --- after her being defeated in state after bloody state in every region of the nation and in every bigger routs --- someone needs to take the dice away from her campaign . Even Bill Clinton has said Hillary can not continue if she fails to win both Ohio and Texas. I hope he will honor that statement. However, seeing as to how this has already gone on far beyond any sense of respectability, I'm not sure he will.

My fear is that the parasites like Mark Penn that have sucked millions of dollars from Hillary's supporters into their own pockets as this nonsense continues will rationalize why the show must still continue on after next week. Is there anyone close to Hillary that can tell her the truth? I don't think so. Certainly, no one has yet.

The latest poll by CNN now shows Obama has pulled ahead of Clinton in Texas and that he's cut Hillary's lead by 50% in Ohio.

Any other candidate who had strung up so many consecutive losses would have long ago had the decency to have dropped out and been big enough to endorse the other Democrat. But an artificial date of the Texas & Ohio primaries were held out there by the Clinton campaign as when they would finally actually win a single state. "We know we keep losing state after state every week, but you just have to give us until Texas and Ohio. Why? Just because."

So the spotlight in on the Clintons. They are the ones who have promised to deliver the goods next week. And the audience is restless and tired of watching the loser continue to stand on the stage trying still one failed tune after the next. A very loud groaning is about to swell from every corner in the theater. There will be quaking in the rafters.

And let's get really honest: There will be no consolation prize after next Tuesday. Zip.

If Hillary loses either Texas or Ohio, we will have learned only one painful thing: she wasted one full month of our party's time and energy from unifying to defeat John McCain in November.

Human grace has its limits! Millions of us are quietly losing our patience and good graces with this prolonged, and yes embarrassing exercise in futility. We'll bite our tongues a little longer, but don't mistake our silence for the growing contempt of how the system is being gamed for a very privileged couple who have used up every get out of jail card left in the the pack.

And believe me, there will be no calls for a swan song or a farewell dance from the audience when this stink-bomb comes to an end. Only a very large hook from behind the curtains as the crowds begin to stampede the stage to take the microphone from her hands and give it to the one that actually can perform.

It's time for the pent-up cheering to begin as the headliner takes full command of center stage without anymore of simply pitiful distractions.

I want to rally around the winner regardless of what the loser thinks anymore.

[russian33]

1. my ignore list gets longer every day

buh-bye

[Joe the Revelator]

6. Its funny that the truth bothers you so much.

This is a great thread.

[rosetta627]

17. And my K&R list just got longer with this thread

Buh-bye to Billary in 8 days.

[stevietheman]

40. Cowards use ignore. n/t

n/t

[EFerrari]

55. There is no merit badge given out for suffering bad behavior

or for engaging in it, for that matter. The ignore feature saves us all a lot of both.

[EFerrari]

56. dupe

[Stephanie]

2. I agree

:hi:

[David Zephyr]

23. And you are a special one at that, Stephanie.

:hi:

[bigtree]

3. you're not 'graceful' or restrained, not even in this screed you're promoting

you're condescending and insulting. People who voted for Clinton don't buy into all of the vulgarities and ridicule which has characterized the opposition to Hillary Clinton here and elsewhere. You are in a league of your own on this.

[niceypoo]

4. So your saying your going to throw a gigantic hissy fit?

And make a fool out of yourself? Perhaps your next mini-essay should be on how we should just do away with elections and just have coronations? It is democracy you are mad at.

[thevoiceofreason]

5. I know many who are just like you

Waiting for her campaign to finish its death rattles.

[riverwalker]

7. She won't be president

but will have a long and honorable career as a US Senator under a democratic administration. She will still be one of the worlds most admired women. Her famous husband has at least $30 million dollars. She has several homes, and could retire in complete and total luxury at anytime. Travel the world, do anything she wishes, anything her heart desires, they have the money and the fame to do it. She has a healthy, happy and smart child, which is priceless. Hillary won't be president, but she is not being sentenced to a prison dungeon. Compared to the rest of us, and the all other women in the world, she will be just fine.
All the anquish and handwringing about "poor Hillary" is in need of some perspective.

[Stephanie]

14. Don't be so sure about that Senate career.

New York has been betrayed by HRC long enough, IMO.

[rosetta627]

19. I think that she's doing so much damage to herself that her senate career

Is in jeopardy.

[Stephanie]

21. I think she would be seriously vulnerable to a challenger.

Tasini got 20% in the 2006 primary. A candidate with principles and MONEY could pick her right off.

[rosetta627]

26. And since she's only using NY as a stepping stone to the White House

Which she won't get, I wonder how hard she'll even fight to retain her Senate seat.

[milkyway]

51. Hillary's fortunate she's not up for reelection until 2012. She would be in a very tough spot if

she had to start campaigning little more than a year from now for 2010. The extra two years will give her more distance from this disastrous campaign and her bizarre antics.

[Yael]

8. She rewards loyalty -- and that extends to protecting her from bad news

People HAVE been telling her. Bill and even Carville have stated that this is it.

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend tried to tell her but she was politely dismissed.

[David Zephyr]

25. I didn't know that, Yael.

Your link to the story about Kathleen Kennedy Townsend just underscores I know what far too many of us have been keeping to ourselves. Thanks for the very relevant link.

[Window]

9. K/R.

Peace:thumbsup:

[MonkeyFunk]

10. Your grace and restraint?

You've been demanding she drop out for weeks now!

I'd hate to see you graceless and unrestrained.

[blm]

48. DZ has ALWAYS been respectful to Clintons. Much to my annoyance. ;))

.

[David Zephyr]

60. LOL! My patience is really getting thin, blm.

Here's hoping that Al Gore, Jimmy Carter or a slew of super delegates will tell the Clintons to pack it in after Tuesday.

[Blue_Roses]

11. your post is a breath of fresh air...

I live in Texas and we are now being bombarded with a recent TV ad with her giving the closing of the debate last night. While it was a good ending, after this weekend, I am so turned off.

[milkyway]

53. They're still running that ad even after her rant this weekend? It makes her look like a hypocrite.

It must seem almost surreal to see that after her rant on Saturday, her ridiculing of millions of Dem voters on Sunday, and the photo incident on Monday. That commercial now only reminds people of her extreme mood swings of late--not exactly a quality people look for in a president.

[apocalypsehow]

12. Great post. K & R.

n/t

[Bullet1987]

13. I agree...if this were anybody but Hillary Clinton, they would have been

written off by the MSM and DNC weeks ago!! I'll join you in that chorus, but truth be told...it's already started with her own supporters like Catholine-Kennedy Townsend.

[K Gardner]

15. Beautifully analogized and a mirror of what millions are now feeling. When Jonathan

Alter writes "STOP NOW" and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend politely calls to suggest "its time" (and is dismissed for her trouble and endorsement).. its time to withdraw life support. Your sentence about wasting the party's time for a month and inflicting damage is so very true. Bookmarking, K&R !

[Tatiana]

16. Please prepare yourself, David. She is not going to concede after OH and TX.

This will go on to Pennsylvania. And we will spend another month watching the same thing that happened in Maine, in Wisconsin, soon-to-be in Texas and Ohio. Hillary's huge lead reduced to a dead heat reduced to defeat.

And onward... all the way to Puerto Rico. Mark Penn will continue to make his millions from the honest citizens who supported Clinton. Pressure will be put on the DNC to seat the MI and FL delegations. The phones of superdelegates with relationships with the Clintons will ring off the hook. Bill will try to call in more than a few favors. Obama's pledged delegates will be relentlessly courted.

By the time Mr. Obama emerges as the nominee for the Democrats, surviving the machine, bruised and battered, but still standing tall, we'll stare at our weary selves and muster the strength to move on to the general, while the source and root of the dissension and hard feelings walks away as if nothing ever happened.

(This is how I feel on a relatively upbeat day.)

[Yael]

18. Oh man -- I SO hope you are wrong about this

:scared:

[Tatiana]

29. So do I. But this is what the Obama campaign is planning for. n/t

[Stephanie]

20. I would have believed that before Saturday.

But since then she's just looked so desperately pathetic that I don't see how she can go on. I think if she thought she had even the slimmest chance they would follow your scenario and litigate FL & MI, take it to the SC if they had to, destroy the party, fight dirty like a Rove. But I think the fat lady sang on Saturday. The endless replay of "I am PROUD to be on this stage with Barack Obama/Shame On You Barack Obama" has dug her grave. She is done and she knows it.

[hisownpetard]

57. She was "honored." Three times, she used the word "honor," insistently, to dilute the "ick factor"

that her Xerox remark produced.

However, that feeling of honor that overwhelmed her at the end of the debate did not last long enough to get her through the week-end without trying to denigrate
in any possible way her honorable opponent.

So much for Hillary's honor. That, and a dollar or two, will get you a ride on the subway.

[Big Blue Marble]

22. I really think they will stop her after next week.

We cannot have the Hillary outrage of the day for months. The party cannot survive it.
This must stop if we are to take back the Whitehouse. Assuming she does not win both Texas and
Ohio by large margins, the Supers will move. Her money will stop as well. She will be done.

And then we will have an opportunity to recover just in time to get ready to take on the Republicans.

[David Zephyr]

28. Your well described scenario is not implausible at all.

And is partly why I wrote what I did. Enough is enough. :thumbsup:

[Tatiana]

31. The only way this stops is with an intervention.

And I don't mean a few of the grand Democratic "poobahs." I mean heavy-hitters.

I'm talking Chris Dodd and Joe Biden and Bill Richardson and John Edwards and Al Gore and ALL the prominent Congressional leaders (Pelosi, Hoyer, Reid, Boxer, Feingold, Leahy, Schumer). They will need to meet with Clinton privately and explain to her, for the good of the party's future success, she needs to withdraw. If she refuses and soldiers on, then they will have to publicly urge her graceful exit.

The only thing that will motivate her is shame. She will not respond to threats and no one should threaten her. When she said "Shame on you, Barack Obama!" I think we got a real insight into the way Hillary thinks. Imagine what her reaction would be if she had all of the party leaders pointing their finger at her and saying, "Shame on you, Hillary Clinton!"

[ieoeja]

59. What, are you psychic?

"And I don't mean a few of the grand Democratic "poobahs." I mean heavy-hitters."

"I'm talking Chris Dodd and ..."


And less than 24 hours later Chris Dodd does just what you said must be done.

[grantcart]

33. On March 5th there is going to be a flood of superdelegates to Obama.

[Stephanie]

35. Why would she hold out for what's only going to be more public humiliation?

I don't get it.

[grantcart]

38. only thing I can think of is they want more money to come in so

that they can pay down the debt but its going to get ugly in texas

[David Zephyr]

36. You are right. That will be the audience racing to the stage to give the mike to Obama.

grantcart, you are on the money.

There are too many that have seen this thing play out for too long and the super delegates are going to turn against her.

I agree with you: it will be a "flood".

:thumbsup:

[EFerrari]

41. We can only hope that Bill Clinton will show better judgement

and help her to a moment of clarity.

[David Zephyr]

44. I'm no longer certain that Bill would put the party first.

I want to hope so, but I'm not there anymore.

I think it will be the exodus of super delegates publicly away from her or a public uproar if the Clintons hint that they are still looking ahead after Tuesday.

[EFerrari]

54. Maybe he will put himself and her first. This is clearly not good for either.

Let this whole mess fade and let them go back to doing the good work they are uniquely in the position to do instead of ruining their public images.

[Adams Wulff]

52. If this is turns out the way you predict...

...Does GD-P become irrelevant after 3/4? God, I hope so.

[Big Blue Marble]

24. You say so well what many of us are thinking.

After next Tuesday, if she loses either the big T or the O, it will be time for her to leave the stage.
I hope she will do so gracefully.

[rug]

27. What is Obama's "come-to-Jesus moment"?

When he enters the convention withot a majority? If he loses Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island? Or are you simply expressing magnanimity by allowing Democrats to vote even though you know the outcome?

[lastliberalintexas]

30. They are basically tied, so do you feel the same about Obama?

If Obama loses Texas and Ohio, should he drop out? Clinton then has the momentum, the lead in delegates and votes, and probably receives the lion's share of new funds for the next couple of weeks. So should Obama drop out then?


I ask as an outsider who is enamored of neither campaign and happy for once to live in a repub stronghold where my vote in November does not count. Personally I tire of both sides feeling as though their candidate is entitled to some sort of graceful capitulation from the (primary) enemy. :shrug:

[druidity33]

43. ahem

even if she wins one or both contests, i submit that the momentum is clearly not with her after losing 11 in a row. This is not a tie. HRC has been the supposed front-runner for nearly a year and her popularity is going nothing but down. I would vote for her if she were the nominee, but i think the moment has passed her. BO played the stage better...

:shrug:

[lastliberalintexas]

61. If she wins both TX and OH, the momentum shift is HUGE,

for the very reason that she HAS lost 11 in a row. TX is big in delegate numbers and Ohio's importance in Nov can't be overstated. Those wins would be incredibly huge. So my original question still stands- should Obama drop out if he loses, or is it just Clinton who should put party unity above personal ambition? And if you argue that Obama should stay in, then why not Clinton? Why does either side feel as though they are owed this nomination from the other? I think David's poor argument could be put to either, and it pains me that some of my favorite DUers like David have become such zealous partisans that they can't see what they are posting.

Personally I think she is losing Texas at this point, but who really knows. Democrats down here are just as divided as on DU, though not as nasty. We also have open primaries, and I know republicans who are voting for Obama because they believe a Black man would be easier to beat in Nov and I know republicans who are voting for Clinton because they think her baggage makes her easier to beat. Apparently our opposition is just as divided as we are on which one to choose. :)

I didn't vote for either, just so you know.

[Armstead]

32. Uh oh -- There goes your Mr. Congeniality Award

:)

[SammyWinstonJack]

50. Which he never deserved in the first place. Nice guy!

:rofl:

[grantcart]

34. very reasonble

[bigbrother05]

37. kick and rec

[eridani]

39. She really ought to string up Mark Penn by the short hairs

I don't agree that she should quit. Let's let the Repub slime machine have to dilute its efforts for awhile.

[Scurrilous]

42. K & R

:thumbsup:

[kentuck]

45. If she fails to win TX and OH...

A lot of her supporters will be telling her it's time to step aside, in my opinion. K&R.

[VolcanoJen]

46. What an excellent, honest, thoughtful, and well-written post.

All the best to you, Zeph.

:thumbsup: :-)

[CyberPieHole]

47. "Grace and Restraint"???

You must have been hiding it on some other web~site. I never saw an inkling of "grace and restraint" from your previous posts.

[AtomicKitten]

49. Amen.

Any other candidate who had strung up so many consecutive losses would have long ago had the decency to have dropped out and been big enough to endorse the other Democrat.

:thumbsup:

[WilliamPitt]

58. Wonderfully written, but I disagree completely.

Funny. People don't recognize democracy anymore when it's happening right there in front of them.

Democracy is messy and crazy. This is a GOOD THING. The elections that weren't messy in recent years...how'd those turn out?

Don't tell me, I already know. ;)

:toast:

Good to see you, David. Cheers.