Did Hillary actually reject the endorsement of the independence party?

[NJmaverick]

I couldn't find anything like her claim, when I did an internet search.

[ShaneGR]

1. Google Much?

I did one search and found dozens upon dozens....

http://www.google.com/search?q=independence+party+hillary+clinton&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

[NJmaverick]

4. Yes, where is the article talking about her rejecting

their endorsement????

[babylonsister]

2. Depends on who you ask, from this:

Rejected Independence Party; they include Pat Buchanan

CLINTON {to Lazio}: When the Independence Party was considering who to nominate, I made it very clear that I would not run on a party line with Pat Buchanan because of his anti-Semitic comments. You were more than happy to accept that particular line.

LAZIO: Mrs. Clinton, that’s not totally accurate. Your people were up there working hard for that.

CLINTON: I’ve specifically said publicly that I wouldn’t take it if they nominated Pat Buchanan. It was up to them to decide what to do.

LAZIO: I condemned him and the fact that he has been intolerant.

CLINTON: You know, I can only respond because, you know, as The Forward said when they endorsed me, Jewish voters should reject smear campaigns and inaccurate information.

Q: Did you accept the Independence nomination?

LAZIO: No.

CLINTON: That’s because it wasn’t offered.

LAZIO: No. It wasn’t offered to either one of us, to be fair about that.

http://www.ontheissues.org/Senate/Hillary_Clinton_Principles_+_Values.htm

[Ino]

3. But did she DENOUNCE it?! (n/t)

[NJmaverick]

5. As far as I can tell there was nothing to demounce or reject

They never offered to endorse her. So it would seem that despite her claims to the contrary, she didn't make some bold politically costly move. It seems to me she was baiting Obama, trying to get him to make the bold costly move she never made herself.

[karynnj]

8. It's likely that even had she been offered it, accepting it is what would have been costly

There is no way Lazio wouldn't have used that and the RW accusations regarding her hugging Arafat's wife after she said inappropriate things - and the cost in Jewish votes could easily swamp these votes.

[NJmaverick]

9. Didn't Hillary say that turning them down

Cost her votes?

[karynnj]

11. She implied it

"CLINTON: I just want to add something here, because I faced a
similar situation when I ran for the Senate in 2000 in New York. And
in New York, there are more than the two parties, Democratic and
Republican. And one of the parties at that time, the Independence
Patty, was under the control of people who were anti-Semitic, anti-
Israel. And I made it very clear that I did not want their support.
I rejected it. I said that it would not be anything I would be
comfortable with. And it looked as though I might pay a price for
that. But I would not be associated with people who said such
inflammatory and untrue charges against either Israel or Jewish people
in our country.

And, you know, I was willing to take that stand, and, you know,
fortunately the people of New York supported me and I won. But at the
time, I thought it was more important to stand on principle and to
reject the kind of conditions that went with support like that. "

http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2008/02/complete_transcriptdemocratic.html

This seems to be overselling what happened because:
1) It seems there was no straight forward offer to accept or reject.
2) This is a very small party and having that line would have made no difference to either her or Lazio (it went to some obscure candidate)
3) The votes in 2) would likely have been more than matched as Lazio (a Long Island Congressman) would very likely have made an issue of it to steal some of the normally Democratic Jewish voters.

[NJmaverick]

12. Yeah, that's how I see it

I have to say, I am not entirely happy with politicians that make a up a false act of political courage. I think that's over the line, even for a politician (who by their natures tend to stretch the truth).

[karynnj]

14. What bothered me more was the shameless ploy of attacking him

for not holding hearings on Afghanistan. He is chair of the subcommittee overseeing Europe, where NATO is headquartered. But the SFRC held 2 full committee hearings and the near east and South Asia committee had one as well. These were headed by Biden and Kerry, who both made several trips there and are probably the 2 strongest Democrats on foreign policy. It would be silly for Obama, with staff expert on Europe, to hold his own Afghanistan hearings. The problem there is that the RNC and CNN have picked up on this.

Here is a diary on DKos about it: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/2/27/10645/7336/820/464968

[ellacott]

6. It appears that she conditionally rejected their endorsement

She did speak in front of the group but said she wouldn't accept their endorsement if Pat Buchannan-Fulani was their Presidential ticket because of their anti-semitism.

It's ironic that Buchannan is now an MSNBC analyst.

I actually thought Tim Russert bait Hillary. She made her statement and he prodded her to make that conclusion.

[NJmaverick]

7. From what I read, she wasn't likely to get the endorsement

In fact she was demanding that Guiliani reject the endorsement. So it seems she was painting a false picture of herself. She was not this brave politician that sacrificed votes for principles, as her comments would lead people to believe.

[ellacott]

10. I agree with that

[UALRBSofL]

13. From what I read she was telling them in advance

She didn't want there endorsement. She didn't want to let them endorse her only for her to reject them. She was smart to reject them in advance before any issues were started from having to reject an endorsement. She had a very good insight into what would happen so that's why she told them in advance she would not support them.