http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/03/carville_sticks.htmlJames Carville, a Hillary Clinton partisan, today did not back away at all from comparing New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson to Judas.
Carville had said Richardson had betrayed the Clintons -- much as Judas betrayed Jesus -- by endorsing Barack Obama on Friday despite working in former president Bill Clinton's administration. Richardson should have stayed neutral in the Democratic primary fight, Carville said today on CNN.
Carville said he wanted to show his strong displeasure and used a "seasonal metaphor."
These were not comments aimed at Richardson. Governor Richardson was already clearly in the 'dead to us' category. These were not comments made in the 'heat of the fight'. These were comments aimed at other Clinton supporters who they are worried have grown weary of the fratricide and are willing to throw in the towel.
Anyone who has previously endorsed Clinton and is considering changing should be prepared that the Clintons will be using everything in their power to make you pay. And this is not the first time. The first time was in the overlooked parts of Ferraro's Obama attack. In this you tube take go to 2:35 and listen to Ferraro clearly imply that civil rights hero Rep. John Lewis is a coward for endorsing Obama. I will give you that 'coward' does not quite reach 'Judas' but it is pretty close.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqL_sm0J8jcWho are they worried will be next? Anyone in New York. The Clinton super delegate lead is based on a whopping 41 super delegates in New York. Any slippage there following a Richardson endorsement would show that the Clinton foundation was crumbling other super delegates that are getting cold feet for being on the wrong ship would start jumping.
They want every super delegate in New York and in areas where the Clinton brand is still huge to be absolutely terrified of ending up on national TV being accused of being a Judas. They do not want to be a target of the Clinton 'scorched person' campaign after the presidential campaign is over.
Who are they worried about, whose defection would seem to be possible and cause even more damage than Richardson. Three candidates;
1) Governor Patterson.
From the African American community he like a lot of politicians from the African American community cannot be too happy on how this has all turned out. Never since the "S.S. Minnow" left on a 'three hour tour' have a group of folks found that they were not on the happy outing that was promised to them.
The evidence he may be thinking of changing sides: Last week he announced he was not resigning his DNC seat as a super delegate. This means that the super delegate seat held by Spitzer will now go unused. This has cost Hillary a super delegate and was not an accident. A subtle signal that he is not happy?
2) Representative Charles Rangel
He endorsed Senator Clinton very early on when it seemed like a cake walk (5/25/07)and found himself in the middle of the surrogate wars when Obama was coming up but looked like a temporary phenomena when he made these comments about Obama and Dr. King:
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/01/rep-rangel-defe.htmlquote
In defending his candidate for president, New York colleague Sen. Hillary Clinton, Rep. Charlie Rangel seemed to fumble what Illinois Sen. Barack Obama said about Dr. Martin Luther King's work to enact civil rights legislation. Rangel told NY1 Monday night "...for him to suggest that Dr. King could have signed that act is absolutely stupid. It's absolutely dumb to infer that Doctor King, alone, passed the legislation and signed it into law."
unquote
A few days later:
Rangel’s wife Alma formally announced today that she is endorsing Barack Obama for President.
3)Senator Chuck Schumer
Senator Schumer is unlikely to come out directly against Clinton but he could be giving comfort to other New York super delegates who may be considering it. In past comments he made it clear that he is against a protracted futile campaign.
http://www.observer.com/2008/schumer-avoiding-self-destructive-end-clinton-vs-obamaquote
But he also said he doubted that one candidate would stay on long after it became clear he or she could not win the nomination.
"The number one thing that people worry about is that the candidates will cut each other up and make it harder to win the general," he said. "But I think that is not going to happen. Because everyone cares about winning so much. Not only the candidates, but the electorate. So if one candidate is doing something that is regarded as really self-destructive, of the ability to win, that's really going to hurt them."
"It would widely be regarded negatively in the electorate," he said.
Defections from her home base would likely be fatal to the campaign. Carville's Judas rant was aimed to make sure the the folks close to home where her power can still be felt got the message. Cross us and we will come after you.
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
