Clinton Campaign: Let Rhode Island Decide

[grantcart]

Must-win spin
Posted: Friday, February 29, 2008 12:57 PM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under: 2008, Clinton, Obama

From NBC’s Domenico Montanaro
So Clinton must win, right? Clinton Campaign Chief Strategist Mark Penn today released a memo to the media, though, with the subject, “Obama Must-Wins.”

“If he cannot win all of these states with all this effort, there's a problem,” Penn writes. And not only does he have to win, they have to be “decisive,” according to the memo.

“Should Senator Obama fail to score decisive victories with all of the resources and effort he is bringing to bear, the message will be clear,” Penn continues, “Democrats, the majority of whom have favored Hillary in the primary contests held to date, have their doubts about Senator Obama and are having second thoughts about him as a prospective standard-bearer.”

Obama has won a majority of nominating contests, including caucuses, but note Penn’s use of “primary".

In a conference call surrogate Harold Ickes, a top aide, agreed with Penn saying that "while Ohio, Texas and Vermont were important states - it really comes down to Rhode Island as being the key to a victory for the nomination".

When surprised reporters pressed the pair on the importance of Rhode Island, Penn rebuked "Rhode Island has always been the key to Democratic victory. Rhode Island is one of the most reliably Democratic states during presidential elections, regularly giving the Democratic nominees one of their best showings. In 1980, Rhode Island was one of only 6 states to vote against Ronald Reagan. In the 1984 Reagan landslide, Rhode Island provided Walter Mondale with his 3rd best performance. Rhode Island was the Democrats' best state in 1988 and 2000 and 2nd best in 1996 and 2004".

Harold Ickes remarked that it was impossible to "envision the party selecting a nominee that could not handle a state that was the strongest Democratic voting state in the Union". When a reporter questioned the impact a small state like Rhode Island would have on the primary selection process Ickes rebuked him saying that the reporter "obviously was not well informed about the state as its real name was the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations"

Penn explained that Rhode Island was always a trend setter and that "Rhode Island was the first of the original thirteen colonies to declare its independence from Great Britain" and that it will be the first to "restart the Hillary revolution".

For a few minutes there was some confusion in the call when Ickes was talking about the unique pioneering culture of Rhode Island when he was apparently referring to the "Providence Grays won the first World Championship in baseball history in 1884 and also the Rhode Island football team the Providence Steam Roller won the 1928 NFL title".

The call ended up abruptly when Penn said that everyone should "simply let Rhode Island decide because all of their officials were Democrats" and an intrepid reported pointed out that Govenor Carcieri was a Republican.

It should be noted that Senator Clinton holds a substantial lead in the polls in Rhode Island leading Senator Obama by 53% - 38%.

[FrenchieCat]

1. !

:rofl:

(need link-Is this the Onion?)

[jgraz]

3. Found it.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/02/29/716900.aspx

No, it's not The Onion. These people are nucking futs.

[thesubstanceofdreams]

6. Wow, I can't freaking believe this is for real

Although I gotta say that after their political advising career comes to a crash, these guys will reinvent themselves as Onion writers.

[Eric J in MN]

137. It's not real. It's a parody. NT

NT

[femmedem]

26. It's parody. Unless I'm missing something in your link.

The memo is real, yes, but everything else is parody. Great parody, though!

[grantcart]

70. CNN confirms that Clinton camp is saying : Let Rhode Island decide

(CNN) – Seeking to raise the expectations for its rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign said Friday that Sen. Barack Obama needs to sweep the March 4 primaries.

The Illinois senator should win all four states — Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island and Vermont — decisively, given the amount of money and resources he has devoted to them, the Clinton campaign said in a memo circulated to reporters.

"If he fails to garner big wins, there's a problem," the memo states.

"The Obama campaign and its allies are outspending us two to one in paid media and have sent more staff into the March 4 states. In fact, when all is totaled, Senator Obama and his allies have outspent Senator Clinton by a margin of $18.4 million to $9.2 million on advertising in the four states that are voting next Tuesday."

"Senator Obama has campaigned hard in these states," the memo continues. "He has spent time meeting editorial boards, courting endorsers, holding rallies, and - of course - making speeches."

The memo came out moments after Obama campaign manager David Plouffe finished a conference call with reporters, during which he said the New York senator needs big victories in Texas and Ohio Tuesday if she hopes to chip away at Obama's now 153 pledged delegate lead — according to CNN's latest estimate.

"The Clinton campaign needs to begin wining big states by big margins to have any hope of eliminating this delegate lead they are facing," he said.

[femmedem]

104. I know that part is accurate.

And I was astounded the first time I read it. But, um, you expanded it a little. ;-) (For which I thank you.)

[grantcart]

107. my pleasure - hope you weren't too traumatized the first time lol

[conservdem]

33. You could not make this shit up if you tried.

If someone predicted it 6 months ago they would have been thought to be crazy.

[karynnj]

35. This it is Onion worthy - and does follow from their labelling all the states as must wins for

Obama, who is ahead, and NONE of them as must wins for HRC. Very nice satire.

"In a conference call surrogate Harold Ickes, a top aide, agreed with Penn saying that "while Ohio, Texas and Vermont were important states - it really comes down to Rhode Island as being the key to a victory for the nomination".

When surprised reporters pressed the pair on the importance of Rhode Island, Penn rebuked "Rhode Island has always been the key to Democratic victory. Rhode Island is one of the most reliably Democratic states during presidential elections, regularly giving the Democratic nominees one of their best showings. In 1980, Rhode Island was one of only 6 states to vote against Ronald Reagan. In the 1984 Reagan landslide, Rhode Island provided Walter Mondale with his 3rd best performance. Rhode Island was the Democrats' best state in 1988 and 2000 and 2nd best in 1996 and 2004".

Harold Ickes remarked that it was impossible to "envision the party selecting a nominee that could not handle a state that was the strongest Democratic voting state in the Union". When a reporter questioned the impact a small state like Rhode Island would have on the primary selection process Ickes rebuked him saying that the reporter "obviously was not well informed about the state as its real name was the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations"

Penn explained that Rhode Island was always a trend setter and that "Rhode Island was the first of the original thirteen colonies to declare its independence from Great Britain" and that it will be the first to "restart the Hillary revolution".

[Orangepeel]

60. Did you read your link? The OP is parody

really funny parody, but parody

:D

[grantcart]

68. Well

I resemble that remark. What does it mean about a campaign when it is almost impossible to tell if it is a parody or the real thing and only the careful reading word by word can tell for sure.

Maybe its not parody. Maybe its prophecy lol

[grantcart]

95. Here is another link

http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/03/clinton_planning_for_life_afte.html


Amazingly, Hillary Clinton's top aides -- Mark Penn, Howard Wolfson and Harold Ickes -- are now behaving as if those calculations never existed. The first sign of the shift came last week, when Ickes declared that Clinton would have to reassess her plans only if she lost BOTH Texas and Ohio. Then came a Friday conference call in which Wolfson -- to the utter amazement of reporters listening in -- said the "onus" was on Obama to win all four March 4th states.

[grantcart]

27. Here is the link

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/02/29/716900.aspx

[grantcart]

77. Here is CNN confirmation

(CNN) – Seeking to raise the expectations for its rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign said Friday that Sen. Barack Obama needs to sweep the March 4 primaries.

The Illinois senator should win all four states — Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island and Vermont — decisively, given the amount of money and resources he has devoted to them, the Clinton campaign said in a memo circulated to reporters.

"If he fails to garner big wins, there's a problem," the memo states.


http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/02/29/clinton-campaign-obama-needs-to-sweep-march-4/

(We were just 12 hours ahead of time)

[jgraz]

2. Link to source?

Just to prove this didn't come from The Onion. :crazy:

[thesubstanceofdreams]

4. Is this from the Onion?

[Eric J in MN]

132. No, but it's a parody.

Apparently, by the poster.

[Gore1FL]

142. It's no parody

they were even talking about it on Meet the press.

[Eric J in MN]

146. grantcart made up half of it. NT

NT

[Scurrilous]

5. Amazing.

The people running the Clinton campaign are obviously bat-shit crazy.

[johnnydrama]

7. bad press

Hillary's people complain that they don't get a fair shake from the media, right?

Isn't this the reason, because of stupid dumb crazy things like this.

So then you'll get some political reporter on CNN or MSNBC saying how lame their campaign is for trying to spin how 14 of 15 losses means Hillary is making a comeback, and all of a sudden the media is bashing her.

[crispini]

8. LOL

;)

[grantcart]

110. hows the caucus preparation going? I don't think200 is going to be enough

Do you know how many voted early?

[Window]

9. That's just damned pathetic.

This definitely smells like the onion.

[Ichingcarpenter]

Gilligan's Island

The USS Minnow will sail if the Obama storm doesn't shipwreck them again
preventing them to sail to the next three primary cruise.

[cali]

10. OK, please tell me that some of this is more

your prescient satire, grant.

[grantcart]

11. i may have helped a little bit

[Window]

14. Too funny.

:rofl:

[femmedem]

67. You deserve a DUzy.

:applause: :rofl:

[JackORoses]

12. We have officially stepped through the looking glass.

I hope she loses Rhode Island, too.

[Window]

15. Oh, I do so wish she would lose RI, or at least just squeak by.

It would serve her ass right.

[rodeodance]

25. so far its looking to Hillary

[Alexander]

75. Is that why she's over 100 delegates behind and lost 11 states in a row?

[Eric J in MN]

131. It's a parody by the poster. NT

NT

[FrenchieCat]

13. Did y'all see this video? this is the Hillary's campaign spokesperson

answering the 64 million dollar question about Hillary's "ready from day one to answer the red phone" qualifications! -

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=385&topic_id=99319&mesg_id=99319

[grantcart]

55. is that clock still ticking?

[Skwmom]

16. Didn't the idiot argue that RI always votes Democratic in the general

election. It's not RI or the other dependable blue states that the Democrats need to worry about in the general election.

[grantcart]

42. I had the same reaction

[Crunchy Frog]

17. This isn't from the Onion is it?

[grantcart]

58. It is not from the Onion

[Eurobabe]

18. 11 in a row for Obama and Penn says RI decides?

I don't fucking think so.

[RiverStone]

46. Why do people even listen to this idiot?

As an Obama supporter, I'll concede that Hillary has gotten some very bad advise from her campaign manager(s).

At worst, after Tuesday - Obama still will have won 13 of the last 15 contests and according to Bill Clinton and James Carville (2 weeks ago) that will have won it! Obama is a lock for VT. and ahead in TX - OH slightly behind (yet gaining) and probably will lose RI.

I'd say that just about shoots down anything Penn says. He horribly mismanaged her campaign.

[BringBigDogBack]

19. ...

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[JTFrog]

20. You should put the link into the O.P. This shit really can't be made up. MSNBC link:

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/02/29/716900.aspx

[grantcart]

49. thanks got it in late

[Major Hogwash]

21. I don't think that's desperation I smell in the air. *sniff sniff* Doesn't pass the sniff test.

Man, can these guys bullshit or what?

Hahahahahaha!

I'd like to go fishing with these guys!
Can you imagine the stories they would tell later?

Who the hell is writing their material? Larry the Cable guy?!

"Hell, that fish had to be this big!!"

[Adelante]

22. The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations MATTERS

Barack is there today. And so are Sniffa and B-Baby! :)

[grantcart]

59. Tell sniffa we want pictures and a report

[ecdab]

23. Oh my.

That's taking the silly season firmly in hand and running off the end of the dock with it. Rhode Island is a wonderful state and all, and it is meaningful - but these folks have lost their minds.

[rodeodance]

24. and another: Clinton leads Obama in Rhode Island, 49%-40%

Forum Name General Discussion: Primaries
Topic subject Clinton leads Obama in Rhode Island, 49%-40%
Topic URL http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x4830340#4830340
4830340, Clinton leads Obama in Rhode Island, 49%-40%
Posted by Bluebear on Sat Mar-01-08 03:06 AM

Heard this on Boston radio tonight on the way home, for interest's sake...

====


Providence (March 1) - Hillary Rodham Clinton leads the race in the Rhode Island Democratic presidential primary by nine points over Barack Obama, according to a poll released yesterday by WPRI-12/RIpolitics.tv.

In the poll of 401 likely voters statewide, 49 percent favored Clinton, 40 percent were for Obama and 11 percent were undecided.

The poll, conducted by Fleming & Associates, has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percent.

http://www.projo.com/news/politics/content/fleming_poll_03-01-08_9T979LD_v9.365c320.html

[writes3000]

30. They have lost their minds. Really.

They have to know how silly this argument makes them look.

THEY said it was all about winning Texas and Ohio so let's see if she can win both those states.

[rodeodance]

31. I do not believe "they' have lost their minds

[slampoet]

47. The WPRI poll is ALWAYS inaccurate. In 1992 they even failed to predict the second place finishers

in three different 3-way races. There have been elections that they have failed to predict even with 14 percentage points.

They are also owned by the Company run by former Gov Bruce Sundlun. a conservative democrat.




Also take a look at their sample of 401 likely voters. How can you make a prediction on that?
especially in a state that has more Purposly unaffiliated voters that any other in the union and also in a state that in a normal primary has only 6-13% turnout but might quadruple that this year?



I am in the very influential East Side neighborhood and I haven't seen ONE Clinton Yard sign. That is a 65+ block area with no Clinton signs.

This poll in very inaccurate and to say it has a +- of only 5% I can assure you that the statistician who assigned that figure doesn't actually live and know RI politics.

[grantcart]

102. I cannot see #24 can you put your post into context for me?

[Kittycat]

101. Are you serious - that's GREAT News for Obama!!!

Holy crap, the margin there was over 20pts just a few days ago!

GOBAMA! :applause:

[Greyskye]

149. Giving a "Keith Number" of 16

Providence (March 1) - Hillary Rodham Clinton leads the race in the Rhode Island Democratic presidential primary by nine points over Barack Obama, according to a poll released yesterday by WPRI-12/RIpolitics.tv.

In the poll of 401 likely voters statewide, 49 percent favored Clinton, 40 percent were for Obama and 11 percent were undecided.

The poll, conducted by Fleming & Associates, has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percent.

http://www.projo.com/news/politics/content/fleming_poll...

9 point lead with a KN of 16? That's a statistical dead heat.

[TexasObserver]

28. Let Arkansas decide! Where the family trees don't fork, but the first cousins do!!

I HOPE this is the last we hear of the Clintons.

[grantcart]

51. they were pretty smart picking Rhode Island she is way ahead there

[tekisui]

29. They will regret saying that.

It will all be over March 4th.

[jgraz]

34. Cuz I'm sure they're really happy with all the other bullshit they've said up til now

:rofl:

[Unsane]

32. ROTFLMAO

[NorthernSpy]

36. Is this a joke?

:rofl:

[grantcart]

41. It looks legit to me.

[rodeodance]

56. No joke---Hillary is ahead

[NorthernSpy]

80. the joke is that now they'll be saying that Rhode Island is the only state that matters...

:crazy:


The other joke is that you can't even see why this is so funny.


But you will. Some day.

[grantcart]

112. you got it twice but unfortunately I have no idea who you were talking too lol

[long_green]

113. they can't say that, not on Wednesday

if they tried to say that on television on 3/5, they'd really kill their campaign because they'd do the one thing they can't do...make their candidate a national laughingstock. You can lose elections, you can seem divisive, but you cannot ever look ridiculous.
I still have trouble believing the OP is legit. It makes it sound like they're conceding OH and TX. No one is so incompetent that they would let that spin get out over the 'net.
If BO wins on 3/4, Mark Penn will be on a beach somewhere Wednesday instead of on the airwaves spinning a tale of victory.

[grantcart]

114. I emailed a friend of mine a while back and said well now it was just a

question of how much humiliation you were willing to put yourself thru that 11 primaries in a row was getting to the point of shredding your own personal respect.

He emailed back two words

"stained dress"

[long_green]

115. Ouch...

I mean, ouch.

[grantcart]

116. Yeah and I think he is a Clinton supporter - we had to stop talking after

our heated arguements about Edwards. If this view is correct we could see a truck load of embarassement before PA. Personally I think Wednesday will be it.

[Eric J in MN]

136. Yes, it's a joke. NT

NT

[conservdem]

37. Is there a tape of the call. I would love to hear the last part of it.

[grantcart]

38. I'm looking for it - they ususally release the tapes in the afternoon

pls keep coming back thanks

[KAZ]

45. You bad!

:)

[THUNDER HANDS]

39. Clinton Campaign: "I dare Obama to whip us like a mule."

Okay. I'll take that bet.

[Major Hogwash]

145. Hahahaha! What does it cost to rent a mule these days.

Not much, evidently.

LoL

[Johnny__Motown]

40. Is the room spinning? No, just the Clinton Campaign again. Goal posts loaded onto trucks

[Faygo Kid]

43. Somebody tell me this is The Onion. Please - but Montanaro is indeed with NBC.

We have got to see link to this story. It must be The Onion. If it isn't, then Hillary supporters can never accuse us of being in a cult again - they are the ones in the cult.

[grantcart]

44. I looked on the Onion its not there

[BigDaddy44]

48. Where's that picture of Baghdad Bob?

[Yael]

74. Here ya go!

[Mezzo]

50. How about "Let the Democrats Decide"

the republicans will get the candidate they want.

[Binka]

54. Oh Go Pee On Yourself

Your stuff is boring Mezzo.

[grantcart]

65. wow tht was harsh

[B2G]

52. Who's up after Rhode Island?

Let me guess. The *real* trendsetter.

:eyes:

[stillcool]

53. The Supreme Court?

[grantcart]

62. We will stop in Puerto Rico first

[K Gardner]

57. Wyoming? Mississippi?

[grantcart]

66. I think they think that if they win RI that should be it

[WritingIsMyReligion]

61. This is beginning to sound like the march to war in Iraq.

"We have to go in as retribution for 9/11!!"

When that failed:

"We have to go get WMDs!!!111!"

Then

"Saddam poses an imminent threat to the US!!"

Then eventually

"We're, er, spreading democracy!!11!"

Then

"Well, we HAVE to stay now--we can't cut and run!!"

Now...

"If we leave, Iraq is fucked."

Yeah. Way to grasp at straws. Chugging dem goalposts right along...

[rodeodance]

63. the march to war is the Obamamania -few questions asked of him, people jumping

on the bangwagon, press pushing for him

yup--like the build up the war----we know what happened now didn't we when the press was silent --actually encouraged the mania.

[bigbrother05]

64. I KNOW I KNOW

Hillary has been announced PRESIDENT of RHODE ISLAND
Come on Guys as Terry McCulliff said people quit taking their Meds, so they could donate.
Take your Meds please:rofl:

[Yael]

69. I am positively speechless.

Are you all sure this isn't a parody? :wow:

:rofl:

Congrats to Rhode Island for mattering. :toast:

[grantcart]

71. CNN confirms that Clinton camp is saying : Let Rhode Island decide

(CNN) – Seeking to raise the expectations for its rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign said Friday that Sen. Barack Obama needs to sweep the March 4 primaries.

The Illinois senator should win all four states — Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island and Vermont — decisively, given the amount of money and resources he has devoted to them, the Clinton campaign said in a memo circulated to reporters.

"If he fails to garner big wins, there's a problem," the memo states.

"The Obama campaign and its allies are outspending us two to one in paid media and have sent more staff into the March 4 states. In fact, when all is totaled, Senator Obama and his allies have outspent Senator Clinton by a margin of $18.4 million to $9.2 million on advertising in the four states that are voting next Tuesday."

"Senator Obama has campaigned hard in these states," the memo continues. "He has spent time meeting editorial boards, courting endorsers, holding rallies, and - of course - making speeches."

The memo came out moments after Obama campaign manager David Plouffe finished a conference call with reporters, during which he said the New York senator needs big victories in Texas and Ohio Tuesday if she hopes to chip away at Obama's now 153 pledged delegate lead — according to CNN's latest estimate.

"The Clinton campaign needs to begin wining big states by big margins to have any hope of eliminating this delegate lead they are facing," he said.

[woolldog]

79. grantcart

I'm as big an Obama supporter as anybody, but you need to clearly label this as satire. IT's not fair to the Clinton campaign for you to be passing this off as legit and it's not fair to those readers who are reading this post and take it (and the link attached) at face value, without digging deeper.

I think what you're doing--trying to pass this off as legitimately from the Clinton campaign--is pretty low and completely unethical.

[grantcart]

82. I clearly signaled that it was a parody:

1) When you include a sentence that the presidential campaign comes down to a single state should have been enough but just to make sure any reasonable person who read it carefully might not be tricked I included:

quote
For a few minutes there was some confusion in the call when Ickes was talking about the unique pioneering culture of Rhode Island when he was apparently referring to the "Providence Grays won the first World Championship in baseball history in 1884 and also the Rhode Island football team the Providence Steam Roller won the 1928 NFL title".
unquote

Is there anybody who can actually believe that a presidential campaign is citing a baseball championship in 1884 or or an NFL title in 1928 as being something that would actually be said by a national campaign staff.

2) The first replies were quickly onto it but some were not sure. As soon as someone actually asked if I had written it I fessed up in response #11

The huge irony is not that the Clinton campaign is writing stuff that is so strange that it is almost impossible to tell if what they are shovelling out is real or something from SNL

Now we have this from CNN which quotes the Clinton campaign in support of the absurdity of the parody above, namely that if Barack Obama goes on to win 14 straight victories the meaning of this will be completely lost because they did not take Rhode Island.
The intellectual dishonesty of the Clinton campaign saying that they had to take Texas and Ohio but now it just matters if they take Rhode Island is remarkable. It doesnt deserve a rational response, it deserves either parody or derision.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/02/29/clinton-campaign-obama-needs-to-sweep-march-4/

[woolldog]

87. That's a very intellectually dishonest post.

You didn't clearly signal that it was parody. Inserting comments that seem ridiculous (to you) doesn't clearly signal to others that it's parody. The fact that you added a link from a reputable news source that closely tracks the language of your "parody" makes it more underhanded b/c it might confuse people who didn't read your source very carefully and closely compare it to your post to see that the text was not entirely the same. Also many people might not even read past the OP and so wouldn't see your post #11. It seems as if you're actively trying to trick people.

And if you read the thread you've confused a lot of people responding and probably even more who haven't responded.

That's troll-like behavior. Shame on you.

[grantcart]

98. The signals were very clear

1) no link
2) plenty of absurdities
quote
For a few minutes there was some confusion in the call when Ickes was talking about the unique pioneering culture of Rhode Island when he was apparently referring to the "Providence Grays won the first World Championship in baseball history in 1884 and also the Rhode Island football team the Providence Steam Roller won the 1928 NFL title".
unquote

please don't embarass yourself any further by arguing that even the Clinton campaign would resort to referencing an 1884 baseball or a 1928 NFL title as being relevent.


As for shame - shame on the Clintons for continuing this shame campaign for money.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x4817652

As I forcasted the Clintons are not serious about the nomination any more. They are continuing this because they want to build a big warchest for the future. Now even the media is catching on. Note how they are labeling the press call I parodied as "utter amazement" and "delusional".

http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/03/clinton_planning_for_life_afte.html

quote
Amazingly, Hillary Clinton's top aides -- Mark Penn, Howard Wolfson and Harold Ickes -- are now behaving as if those calculations never existed. The first sign of the shift came last week, when Ickes declared that Clinton would have to reassess her plans only if she lost BOTH Texas and Ohio. Then came a Friday conference call in which Wolfson -- to the utter amazement of reporters listening in -- said the "onus" was on Obama to win all four March 4th states.

Most in the campaign still think she can eke out a win but Wolfson’s comments were clearly a signal that the former first lady intends to keep fighting if she loses the Alamo.

Wolfson is not being delusional. If the campaign doesn't yet have a compelling electoral rationale to survive a loss in Texas it has a financial one -- $35 million in February fundraising from a new base of online donors eager to keep the First-Woman-President dream alive no matter how many contests she loses.

To keep her in the fight, the campaign needs to come up with some way to argue that Texas doesn't matter.
unquote

And finally people got the joke right away. From the begining they suspected that it was from the Onion. People who just read a few paragraphs and react don't get it and their leg is pulled a little. A few of those have come back and said they finally got it and it was great fun. But the joke was fun and others shared in it and they are passing it around like here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=4835975&mesg_id=4835992

Only one person has felt it was an ethical violation. Personally I think what Hillary is doing by prolonging the campaign but not really spending it is entirely dishonest, it is fraud. That they spin absurdly means that they no longer deserve an honest debate but satire, derision and parody.

[woolldog]

103. I suggest you reread this thread

because a lot of people posting were confused and indicated as much. Not everyone reads every sentence of every OP, and even if they did, would realize certain things were meant to be jokes.

And you did include a link later when someone asked for one, without any caveat at all that you were joking and that the link didn't show what you implicitly claimed it did (i.e., the truth of you OP) by posting it in response to a claim for evidence.

Why did you post that link as if it supported your OP when you knew it didn't? That's a complete misrepresentation of the facts.

[grantcart]

105. Facts are that in the link there are 20 posters who either got it immediately

or had a very high suspicion that it was from the onion. And anyone reading the thread would have seen that there was suspicion from the first post. The first three posters all specifically mentioned, much to my delight the onion. Here are the responses of the people who got it and laughed their heads off(1,2,6,26,35,60,4,8,9,10,14,67,17,19,32,36,80,43,64,69)

You have completely brushed over the fact that I put obvious absurdities into it so that anybody who was thinking about it would be able to figure it out.

Exactly three people objected versus 20 that raved about it. There are different ways to communicate. Sometimes you need a picture and sometimes you need a lecture, a photograph and sometimes you can actually get people to think by pulling their legs.

You figured out that it was a parody but you have missed the real meaning.

Look at post # 78

quote
So, I just figured out this was a joke
and the frightening thing is that entire campaign has gone so far off course that I actually thought this was real and they were banking on Rhode Island.

That is how insane the HRC camp has become, that some of us here actually believe this to be true...even for a moment.

Once again, great writing Grant!
unquote

Post "70" she didn't get it but after she thought about it she got the real meaning which you have missed. It wasn't an attempt to take something written by honorable people who are trying to communicate somthing honorable and make their intellectually honest statements look ridiculous.

It was an exercise to take something that dishonorable people are doing to make a joke out of process (by continuing to undermine Obama's victories and show the absurdity. Winning 11 straight now has now meaning. Winning Texas has no meaning even winning Vermont, Ohio and Texas in addition to the 11 in a row will have no meaning - they must win Rhode Island or it is 'buyers remorse'.

I simply took their absurdity and while maintaining their logic stretched it to make their explanation as ridiculous as their logic. And your right, they are so far gone it is very hard to tell what is coming out of the Clinton camp is it really from them or something from the Onion.

[yourguide]

72. WOW!

That is truly pathetic. ROFL!

[daleo]

73. I looked at the linked article

None of this funny stuff is actually there. Either the site has pulled some stuff, or some creative writing has been added to the post. It is amusing satire, but I don't know if it is a good idea to make stuff up.


"When surprised reporters pressed the pair on the importance of Rhode Island, Penn rebuked "Rhode Island has always been the key to Democratic victory. Rhode Island is one of the most reliably Democratic states during presidential elections, regularly giving the Democratic nominees one of their best showings. In 1980, Rhode Island was one of only 6 states to vote against Ronald Reagan. In the 1984 Reagan landslide, Rhode Island provided Walter Mondale with his 3rd best performance. Rhode Island was the Democrats' best state in 1988 and 2000 and 2nd best in 1996 and 2004".

Harold Ickes remarked that it was impossible to "envision the party selecting a nominee that could not handle a state that was the strongest Democratic voting state in the Union". When a reporter questioned the impact a small state like Rhode Island would have on the primary selection process Ickes rebuked him saying that the reporter "obviously was not well informed about the state as its real name was the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations"

Penn explained that Rhode Island was always a trend setter and that "Rhode Island was the first of the original thirteen colonies to declare its independence from Great Britain" and that it will be the first to "restart the Hillary revolution".

For a few minutes there was some confusion in the call when Ickes was talking about the unique pioneering culture of Rhode Island when he was apparently referring to the "Providence Grays won the first World Championship in baseball history in 1884 and also the Rhode Island football team the Providence Steam Roller won the 1928 NFL title".

The call ended up abruptly when Penn said that everyone should "simply let Rhode Island decide because all of their officials were Democrats" and an intrepid reported pointed out that Govenor Carcieri was a Republican."

[grantcart]

76. Or maybe the point is what does it say about a campaign when you

can no longer tell if it is in fact parody or their writing.

Is this parody?

(CNN) – Seeking to raise the expectations for its rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign said Friday that Sen. Barack Obama needs to sweep the March 4 primaries.

The Illinois senator should win all four states — Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island and Vermont — decisively, given the amount of money and resources he has devoted to them, the Clinton campaign said in a memo circulated to reporters.

"If he fails to garner big wins, there's a problem," the memo states.

"The Obama campaign and its allies are outspending us two to one in paid media and have sent more staff into the March 4 states. In fact, when all is totaled, Senator Obama and his allies have outspent Senator Clinton by a margin of $18.4 million to $9.2 million on advertising in the four states that are voting next Tuesday."

"Senator Obama has campaigned hard in these states," the memo continues. "He has spent time meeting editorial boards, courting endorsers, holding rallies, and - of course - making speeches."

The memo came out moments after Obama campaign manager David Plouffe finished a conference call with reporters, during which he said the New York senator needs big victories in Texas and Ohio Tuesday if she hopes to chip away at Obama's now 153 pledged delegate lead — according to CNN's latest estimate.

"The Clinton campaign needs to begin wining big states by big margins to have any hope of eliminating this delegate lead they are facing," he said.
unquote

The Clinton camp is in fact arguing that if Obama wins all Ohio, Vermont and Texas but fails to win Rhode Island that they are ready to argue buyers remorse: Turns out not to be parody but prophecy.

[daleo]

108. I will grant that the "moving goal posts" thing has a touch of self-parody about it

For the record, I don't really favor one candidate over the other.

[grantcart]

109. As a 'Grant' I wil take it.

http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/03/clinton_planning_for_life_afte.html

Here it is being speculated that the bizarre moving of goal posts was in fact a desperate excuse so that they can continue the campaign as long as possible so that they can continue to rake in the money - presumably for future political activities - as well as erase the debt. In support of this theory is the fact that although they are bringing in excess of $ 1 million a day they are only going to spend $ 4 million in ad buys in Ohio and Texas.



Amazingly, Hillary Clinton's top aides -- Mark Penn, Howard Wolfson and Harold Ickes -- are now behaving as if those calculations never existed. The first sign of the shift came last week, when Ickes declared that Clinton would have to reassess her plans only if she lost BOTH Texas and Ohio. Then came a Friday conference call in which Wolfson -- to the utter amazement of reporters listening in -- said the "onus" was on Obama to win all four March 4th states.

Most in the campaign still think she can eke out a win but Wolfson’s comments were clearly a signal that the former first lady intends to keep fighting if she loses the Alamo.

Wolfson is not being delusional. If the campaign doesn't yet have a compelling electoral rationale to survive a loss in Texas it has a financial one -- $35 million in February fundraising from a new base of online donors eager to keep the First-Woman-President dream alive no matter how many contests she loses.

To keep her in the fight, the campaign needs to come up with some way to argue that Texas doesn't matter.

[yourguide]

78. So, I just figured out this was a joke

and the frightening thing is that entire campaign has gone so far off course that I actually thought this was real and they were banking on Rhode Island.

That is how insane the HRC camp has become, that some of us here actually believe this to be true...even for a moment.

Once again, great writing Grant!

[grantcart]

83. It was a joke kinda

It actually reflects exactly how they are trying to spin Tuesday

Now from CNN
(CNN) – Seeking to raise the expectations for its rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign said Friday that Sen. Barack Obama needs to sweep the March 4 primaries.

The Illinois senator should win all four states — Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island and Vermont — decisively, given the amount of money and resources he has devoted to them, the Clinton campaign said in a memo circulated to reporters.

"If he fails to garner big wins, there's a problem," the memo states.

[yourguide]

84. I was talking about the Rhode Island part

I knew about this new crazy tact they were taking.

They are nuts.

[grantcart]

96. not nuts greedy: they are not trying to win they are trying to get a warchest

for the future

http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/03/clinton_planning_for_life_afte.html

[Exilednight]

81. ?I wonder if her arms are tired yet from continually moving that goal post around.

[MrsT]

85. It is lame not to mention that this is satire. eom

[stillcool]

86. It is lamer to claim it is...

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/02/29/716900.aspx




From NBC’s Domenico Montanaro
Who is Texas and Ohio “must win” for again? Hillary Clinton’s chief surrogate, former President Bill Clinton, has said she has to win both Texas and Ohio. Harold Ickes, a top aide, said, "If we lose in Texas and Ohio, Mrs. Clinton will have to make her decision as to whether she goes forward or not.” Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, a Clinton supporter, said in order to win Pennsylvania, she’s got to win Tuesday.

So Clinton must win, right? Clinton Campaign Chief Strategist Mark Penn today released a memo to the media, though, with the subject, “Obama Must-Wins.”

“If he cannot win all of these states with all this effort, there's a problem,” Penn writes. And not only does he have to win, they have to be “decisive,” according to the memo.

“Should Senator Obama fail to score decisive victories with all of the resources and effort he is bringing to bear, the message will be clear,” Penn continues, “Democrats, the majority of whom have favored Hillary in the primary contests held to date, have their doubts about Senator Obama and are having second thoughts about him as a prospective standard-bearer.”

Obama has won a majority of nominating contests, including caucuses, but note Penn’s use of “primary.”
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Below is the full Penn memo:
To: Interested Parties
From: The Clinton Campaign
Date: Friday, February 29, 2008
RE: Obama Must-Wins

The media has anointed Barack Obama the presumptive nominee and he's playing the part.

With an eleven state winning streak coming out of February, Senator Obama is riding a surge of momentum that has enabled him to pour unprecedented resources into Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont.

The Obama campaign and its allies are outspending us two to one in paid media and have sent more staff into the March 4 states. In fact, when all is totaled, Senator Obama and his allies have outspent Senator Clinton by a margin of $18.4 million to $9.2 million on advertising in the four states that are voting next Tuesday.

Senator Obama has campaigned hard in these states. He has spent time meeting editorial boards, courting endorsers, holding rallies, and - of course - making speeches.

If he cannot win all of these states with all this effort, there's a problem.

Should Senator Obama fail to score decisive victories with all of the resources and effort he is bringing to bear, the message will be clear:

Democrats, the majority of whom have favored Hillary in the primary contests held to date, have their doubts about Senator Obama and are having second thoughts about him as a prospective standard-bearer.

[MrsT]

90. Where is the stuff about Rhode Island?

Oh, that's right, it doesn't exist. Because it is satire.

[grantcart]

91. 14 wins is not enough, CLINTON CAMPAIGN: LET RHODE ISLAND DECIDE

If he cannot win all of these states with all this effort, there's a problem.

It wasn't a parody it was prophecy>

BTW the first time that someone directly asked if I wrote it, I admitted it - please see post # 11

[MrsT]

92. Why not put it in the original post?

That would be more honest.

[grantcart]

93. In any other campaign the following statements would be immediately

identified as parody. It is only as the HRC campaign has sunk to a level of incomprehensible intellectual dishonesty (remember a few days ago when Bill, and James and many others were saying that Texas was a must?) that the following statements taken from the OP could be mistaken as real


quote
Harold Ickes remarked that it was impossible to "envision the party selecting a nominee that could not handle a state that was the strongest Democratic voting state in the Union". When a reporter questioned the impact a small state like Rhode Island would have on the primary selection process Ickes rebuked him saying that the reporter "obviously was not well informed about the state as its real name was the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations"

Penn explained that Rhode Island was always a trend setter and that "Rhode Island was the first of the original thirteen colonies to declare its independence from Great Britain" and that it will be the first to "restart the Hillary revolution".

For a few minutes there was some confusion in the call when Ickes was talking about the unique pioneering culture of Rhode Island when he was apparently referring to the "Providence Grays won the first World Championship in baseball history in 1884 and also the Rhode Island football team the Providence Steam Roller won the 1928 NFL title".
unquote

You are right it is too similar.

[conservdem]

119. You fooled me.

[grantcart]

89. So you actually are saying that the HRC might reasonably refer to the 1884

Baseball championship and the 1928 NFL world title as a part of a spin.


"For a few minutes there was some confusion in the call when Ickes was talking about the unique pioneering culture of Rhode Island when he was apparently referring to the "Providence Grays won the first World Championship in baseball history in 1884 and also the Rhode Island football team the Providence Steam Roller won the 1928 NFL title".



It is not satire, it is a parody. The difference is that I am only making fun of the way they are spinning. The central argument that Sen Obama winning 14 races in a row would not be enough to close out the nomination has not been exagerated and has in fact been confirmed by CNN


http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/02/29/clinton-campaign-obama-needs-to-sweep-march-4/
(CNN) – Seeking to raise the expectations for its rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign said Friday that Sen. Barack Obama needs to sweep the March 4 primaries.

The Illinois senator should win all four states — Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island and Vermont — decisively, given the amount of money and resources he has devoted to them, the Clinton campaign said in a memo circulated to reporters.

"If he fails to garner big wins, there's a problem," the memo states.

[Arkana]

88. They're ceding Ohio and Texas then?

Thanks, Hillary!

[grantcart]

122. have to prolong . . . money coming in . . .warchest future

[HooptieWagon]

94. WTF??? has the Clinton campaign started swilling Drano?

:spray:

[Barack_America]

97. So now big states DON'T matter? Now just tiny states matter?

Is this satire? Seriously.

These people are seriously grasping at straws here.

[grantcart]

99. you have to read down the thread to figure it out

[Barack_America]

100. Yeah. I figured it out.

:P

[TexasObserver]

106. Hillary's Campaign is starting to remind me of Steve Martin at the end of THE JERK ...

...

"All I need is this tennis racket ...."

They've stopped lowing the bar. Now they're burying it.

I've never seen a campaign become this hopelessly deluded. If the candidate who had lost 11 in row were Obama, all we would hear from Hillary is "why won't this guy get out?!"

[grantcart]

111. kinda reminds me of Penn

[casus belli]

117. LOL! Awesome.

"and this chair...but that's it."

Thanks for the laugh. :D

[grantcart]

121. tks

[SKKY]

118. Now, he's just trying to justify is 4 million dollar price tag...

...it's sad to watch actually.

[grantcart]

120. I don't think that's it I think that Hillary is raking in the money

and is building her war chest for future battles. $ 35 million in and only $ 5 million in ad buys

[yellowcanine]

123. So tiny Rhode Island is the new "firewall"? And if RI fails, it will be PA. And if PA fails?

Puerto Rico?

Is Mark Penn actually Baghdad Bob?

[grantcart]

124. you have to read down the thread to figure it out tks

[amborin]

125. Clinton is ahead in Tuesday's primary states

[grantcart]

127. sorry

http://zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1459
UTICA, New York – The Democratic Party presidential primaries in Texas and Ohio have settled into a deadlock between Sens. Hillary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois, with Clinton holding a scant one-point lead in Ohio and Obama leading by just four points in Texas, the latest Reuters/C-SPAN/Houston Chronicle two-day telephone tracking poll shows.


The two delegate-rich states with elections on Tuesday are among the last of the big states left in the primary election season, and both candidates stand to split the delegates under the party’s proportional delegate apportionment scheme.

[theboss]

126. It's always been the worst accents that led the way

I'm telling you.....

[grantcart]

128. accents?

[theboss]

129. Rhode Island has quite possibly the most unpleasant accent in the country

It's a toss up between Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Providence.

[grantcart]

134. ah very good the other thing that is so hilarious about RI

is that if you happen to introduce one RI person to another they will ask about schools and churches etc until they start their, "do you know ________" and the other one responds, "no do you know _____" and this goes on for a few minutes until they find a common friend. Everytime I have seen 2 guys from RI meet it is the same thing.

Now with Obama having a rally there with 10,000 people everybody in the entire state will know somebody who was there. More and more will claim that they too were there. Eventually virtually everyone in the entire state will say they were there and having been there will have to vote for Obama, resulting in one of the most unusual landslides in electoral history - or so the theory goes.

[theboss]

144. The same thing is true with West Virginia

If you are in the same age range as another West Virginian, you've almost certainly met someone from their high school at some type of camp or sporting event at some point in your life.

[Eric J in MN]

130. This is a parody.

Harold Ickes didn't say any of that.

Apparently, the poster wrote this.

[grantcart]

133. gold star

but the point is that it is getting very difficult to tell the spin coming out of the Clinton campaign with low grade parody

[Eric J in MN]

135. The next time you write one of these...

...you should put "(Parody)" on the bottom.

Some DUers are going to believe that the Clinton campaign really said this.

[grantcart]

138. and that was my point; to illustrate the absurdity they had to experience it

and not simply read about it. If you go up the thread you can see the reactions and then the ethical discussions.

[Eric J in MN]

139. If you found the real press release absurd,

...you could have posted that without any ethical dubiousness.

When posting a parody, it's ethical to label it a parody.

[grantcart]

140. I didn't want to label it or spoon feed it I wanted people to think about it

By placing obviously absurd elements into it

like

For a few minutes there was some confusion in the call when Ickes was talking about the unique pioneering culture of Rhode Island when he was apparently referring to the "Providence Grays won the first World Championship in baseball history in 1884 and also the Rhode Island football team the Providence Steam Roller won the 1928 NFL title".

you could certainly understand that something did not add up and the first 3 folks who read it immediately guessed it was from the Onion.

[Eric J in MN]

141. You deceived people,

...whether you wanted to or not.

A lot of posts show that people were deceived.

[grantcart]

143. so your position is that a serious presidential campaign is going

to base the nomination for president of the united states on a single state, and that part of the justification was in fact based on a successful baseball season in 1988? By the way the first time somebody asked me if in fact I wrote I admitted I did.

The ethical issue at stake here is a national campaign for president that has lost its entire logic for continuing, except that now they are raising huge amounts of money and may be hoarding it for future political campaigns. Despite having raised over 35 million they are in fact spending only 5 million in ad buys.

Shortly after the faux release CNN reports Clinton campaign: Obama needs to sweep March 4
Posted: 11:00 AM ET

The Clinton campaign says Obama needs to win big on March 4, or else he has a problem.
(CNN) – Seeking to raise the expectations for its rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign said Friday that Sen. Barack Obama needs to sweep the
The Illinois senator should win all four states — Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island and Vermont — decisively, given the amount of money and resources he has devoted to them, the Clinton campaign said in a memo circulated to reporters.

So the absurdity is that having won 15 in a row Obama's victory would be devoid of meaning if he had not won Rhode Island.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/02/29/clinton-campaign-obama-needs-to-sweep-march-4/

So absurd that eventually someone in the media made note of it calling the conference call 'amazing'. to the 'utter amazement' but not 'delusional'. And the reason that it is not delusional is because they are backing of from "Texas and Ohio are must wins" to now its all meaningless if Obama doesn't win Rhode Island, so they can continue to hoard money into a war chest for future political endeavors (?).


http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/03/clinton_planning_for_life_afte.html

Amazingly, Hillary Clinton's top aides -- Mark Penn, Howard Wolfson and Harold Ickes -- are now behaving as if those calculations never existed. The first sign of the shift came last week, when Ickes declared that Clinton would have to reassess her plans only if she lost BOTH Texas and Ohio. Then came a Friday conference call in which Wolfson -- to the utter amazement of reporters listening in -- said the "onus" was on Obama to win all four March 4th states.

Most in the campaign still think she can eke out a win but Wolfson’s comments were clearly a signal that the former first lady intends to keep fighting if she loses the Alamo.

Wolfson is not being delusional. If the campaign doesn't yet have a compelling electoral rationale to survive a loss in Texas it has a financial one -- $35 million in February fundraising from a new base of online donors eager to keep the First-Woman-President dream alive no matter how many contests she loses.

[Eric J in MN]

147. The posts in this thread show a lot of people think your original post is real.

You can argue that they should be able to tell it's fake, but if you wanted people to know that quickly that you could have put the word "Parody" on the bottom. You'd still have gotten whatever you get out of fooling some people until they reached they bottom of the post.

[grantcart]

148. No the impact would have been lessened because they wouldn't have been actively inv.

As Northern spy captured it - first time she didn't get it and the second time she realized that it was in fact two jokes in one

I still don't think you have gotten the secnod joke but like NorthernSpy suggests think about it will come to you


quote
80. the joke is that now they'll be saying that Rhode Island is the only state that matters...
Edited on Sat Mar-01-08 02:12 PM by NorthernSpy



The other joke is that you can't even see why this is so funny.


But you will. Some day.
unquote

oh and by the way the second someone actually asked me if I wrote it I let them in on the

[Eric J in MN]

150. The movie "Fargo" says in the opening that..

...it's a true story. The movie is fictional.

They claimed at the start that it's real to make it more exciting.

Is it ethical for the makers of "Fargo" to put that at the start?

[grantcart]

152. keep thinking about the second part of the joke you may get it

[redstate_democrat]

151. Hey

Obama will win RI too. But I'm not 100% sure about that. Maybe 50% sure.

[grantcart]

153. if he sweeps it will be soo sweeet