"Hillary Clinton portrays calls to quit as chauvinism" (Poor Nell!)

[TahitiNut]

Hillary Clinton portrays calls to quit as chauvinism

By Toby Harnden in Washington
Last Updated: 2:03am BST 31/03/2008

Faced with a growing chorus to abandon the uphill battle against Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton is falling back on what she sees as her trump card - her gender.

At other perilous junctures like the eve of the New Hampshire primary and the eve of Super Tuesday, the former First Lady highlighted her femininity during televised tearful moments. Now she is portraying the calls for her to quit as male chauvinism.

In comments leaked to the New York Times, Mrs Clinton is said to have told aides that she would not be "bullied out" of the White House race and in a conversation with two allies compared her plight to "big boys" trying to bully a woman.

During a weekend interview with the Washington Post - arranged at her request - she was asked whether Mr Obama could beat John McCain, the Republican nominee.

She responded: "I'm saying I have a better chance. You cannot as a Democrat win the White House without a very big women's vote. What I believe is that women will turn out for me."

<snip>

[splat]

1. Where are all the powerful female pundits? Under the glass ceiling!

Boys club business as usual, no girls allowed.

[TheWraith]

65. You wanna tell that to Rachel Maddow?

Also Maureen Dowd, Margret Carlson, Donna Brazile, etc., etc....

[redqueen]

69. How about Helen Thomas?

:rofl:

[TheWraith]

90. If we're broadening it to journalists, let's not forget Christiane Amanpour.

I shudder to include Katie Couric in that category. I consider her unfit to pre-rumple Christiane's collar for her.

[Hepburn]

2. So now....

...to tell a loser to quit is sexism?

Oh, brother.....:eyes:

[splat]

4. How can you lose before the end of the race? By tagging her a loser?

[Hepburn]

5. Ms Inevitable Nominee???

You mean...you have not noticed she is in second place? Hello? Coming in SECOND means one HAS lost.

Get it?

[splat]

7. Trailing now doesn't mean Obama won't crash and lose before it's over

Get it?

[Hepburn]

14. Yeah right....

...and with the campaign that Hillary has run, it sure looks like he is the one who has made all the mistakes!

:rofl:

She is still second and unless your crystal ball for the future is 100% accurate, she is always gonna be second.

Again: Coming in second means ~~ LOSING!

[cliffordu]

39. That's a great campaign strategy -

just hanging on long enough for the other guy to crash and burn....No popular vote, no delegates to count, just wait for the coronation.


Great. No wonder she keeps losing ground.

[Alter Ego]

82. That's what she's waiting for, you know.

She's waiting for the one scandal--the one knockout punch--that will knock Obama back on his heels and end his campaign, and then she can run in and claim the nomination, all the while trumpeting her "extreme tenacity".

[TheWraith]

66. And it's not impossible that monkeys will fly out of my butt.

It's also not impossible that Al Gore will be retroactively declared the winner of the 2000 election, and the Bush years will cease to exist.

But depending on events that would require a literal miracle isn't a rational approach to politics. Right now, short of being struck by lightning, Obama has a mortal lock on the Democratic nomination.

[Zhade]

74. Keep dreaming, it's all you have left.

NT!

[SwampG8r]

88. actually shes in 3rd right now

mccain would be 1 since he has a nomination locked
then obama by any reasonable measure you use
then hillary

[Life Long Dem]

3. Uphill battle is an understatement.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

6. Edwards, Kucinich, Richardson, Biden, etc.... all victims of the patriarchy.

:eyes:

[splat]

8. I think you're in the wrong thread; they chose to quit or 'suspend'

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

12. Yeah, just like Clinton should quit.

She's further behind now then either of them were when they quit.

[karynnj]

52. That's actually not true - and I'm an Obama supporter

The only way that you could say it was true was because there were far more outstanding states.

Biden, Dodd, Richardson and Kuchinich never got above 10% support in the polls and they did not have money to compete beyond Iowa or NH. In the case of Biden and Dodd, there would have been the embarrassment of not being in the NH debate, even though they were 2 very accomplished men fighting for the nomination. To win, they needed a surprise in Iowa. I don't get why Richardson quit before NV, but it might be that his internals showed he would not do as well with Hispanics as thought.

Edwards is more complicated. He was treated as one of the top three - giving him more weight than Richardson, Biden and Dodd in terms of the media and how they were treated in 2006 and 2007. But, his entire campaign was based on winning Iowa and getting the momentum to win in NV and SC - tricky as someone else would win NH where he was weak. When that didn't happen, his campaign was a long shot because of the time and money invested there and because of what Iowa was to Edwards. I've seen Edwards people point out he beat HRC in Iowa - and he did. The difference was that Iowa was must win for him and not her. Her campaign even contemplated not contesting Iowa because it was not a good state for her. For Edwards, Iowa and Wisconsin were his two best states, other than the Carolinas, in 2004. Losing Iowa by 8 points and beating HRC by 1 point was a bad result for him.

After Iowa, coverage turned to NH where he was not a contender, so he got less coverage there. The story was whether Obama would defeat HRC in a state that she was 20 points ahead in the week before. Edwards was still given coverage in both SC and VV, though it was less than Clinton and Obama, who after all were then the frontrunners. After getting 4% in Nevada, the media stopped treating Edwards as top tier in terms of coverage. However, when the race turned nasty in SC,there was speculation that SC could reject both Clinton and Obama. He was given equal status in the SC debates and was possibly the most praised after it. The truth is that he always had been the underdog of the top the three - with substantially less money and support in national polls. The loss in SC left him with no wins facing 20 some states 10 days later. i have not seen an Edwards FEC report for first quarter 2008, but it would seem likely that without the kind of money the others had, no victories to generate momentum, and less free coverage because the story then was whether the momentum Obama had gained could stop HRC from clinching the nomination on SuperTuesday, he had no chance.

He is the only one close to HRC's current position - though he likely knew, if his polls looked like the public polls, that on the day after SuperTuesday - he wouldn't have been. He likely would then have been in debt and with far too few delegates to win. An interesting point is that he could have made it likely that no one would get 50% of the pledged delegates - much less 50% of the superdelegates.

[Coexist]

9. she's being asked to step aside because she's LOSING.

what is sexist about that?

[splat]

She can run as long as she wants in America

[Hepburn]

15. Sure....

...that is what democracy is all about: Having the absolute right to be a selfish POS.

JMHO

[splat]

17. It's selfish to deny the messiah his due? Wake up and find he'll lose to McCain

[Hepburn]

23. Pull your Hillbot head out of wherever you have it shoved ...

...and ask yourself why people like Limpballs, Scarborough and Buchanan are pimping for her. Is it because they think she can beat McCain...or because she is s sure loser?

Duh....:eyes:

[NOLALady]

70. Or maybe they don't mind if she beats McCain.

They see it as a win-win situation.

[Coexist]

22. yes, but shes not losing because of sexism.

[Window]

49. Run Hillary, run.

[Why Syzygy]

10. BWAHHAHAHA

She is TOO MUCH!

THEY HATE ME BECAUSE I'M BEAUTIFUL!

I'm embarassed she is considered a woman. I didn't think I could hate anyone more than GWB.
She is far more a stooge and fool than even he can pull off.

Take your pity-skirts and GO HOME HilLIARy.

[ProSense]

11. "Wretched rationalizations for Hillary Clinton's kamikaze campaign."

The New Republic

No Really, You Should Go

by Jonathan Chait

Wretched rationalizations for Hillary Clinton's kamikaze campaign.

Post Date Wednesday, April 23, 2008

<...>

There is some point at which a candidate's chance of winning becomes so low that her right to continue is outweighed by the party's interest in preparing for the general election. Does Clinton have a chance to become president? Sure. So does Ralph Nader. Clinton's chances are far closer to Nader's than to either Obama's or John McCain's.

Almost nobody contends that Clinton has a chance to overcome Obama's lead in pledged delegates. The spin now is that Obama's delegate lead is "small but almost insurmountable" (USA Today) and that, since neither can clinch the nomination with pledged delegates alone, "the nomination is expected to be in the superdelegates' hands" (Los Angeles Times). These beliefs reflect the mathematical illiteracy that has allowed the press corps to be routinely duped by economic flim-flammery. A lead that's insurmountable is, by definition, not small. The very primary rules that make it impossible for Clinton to catch up--proportionate distribution of delegates that award tiny net sums to the winner--are exactly what made Obama's lead so impressive.

<...>

Then you have the millions of Clinton supporters who have come to see her campaign as the literal embodiment of feminism. "Now Clinton's methodical, dogged history of work for the Democratic Party is treated just like the methodical, dogged histories of so many women in the workplace," writes syndicated columnist Marie Cocco. "She must step aside to take the smaller office, with the lesser title and the lower pay to make room for the younger guy with the thinner resume."

In the same column, Cocco concedes, "Maybe it is true that Clinton has no realistic way to win the nomination." That's quite a concession! That is, if you consider the presidency an instrument for legislation and policy change, rather than a vehicle for Hillary Clinton's self-actualization and the civic expression of the South Dakota Democratic primary electorate.

more

[TahitiNut]

29. This one sentence sums up the math illiteracy of those who dismiss Obama's lead ..

"The very primary rules that make it impossible for Clinton to catch up--proportionate distribution of delegates that award tiny net sums to the winner--are exactly what made Obama's lead so impressive."

As a math major and former high school math teacher, I'm appalled at the state of math literacy (which must include comprehension, not mere mechanics) in this forum and the nation. It's compounded by the remarkable ignorance (among partisan "Democrats" no less!) of the delegate apportionment process and the emphasis on 'electability' built into the algorithms. The ridiculously simple-minded wails and whines regarding "winner take all" and "electoral votes" betray a fundamental miscomprehension of the process.

[TheDoorbellRang]

13. Good grief. L'enfant Terrible.

Hillary. Trapped in the 70's.

[WillyT]

16. She Had The Biggest Democratic Machine Built , And A Former President To...

campaign by her side, and she STILL managed to blow it.

And now she goes crying that the "big boys" are being MEAN???

I don't think she does the feminist movement ANY favors by this behavior.



:wtf:

[splat]

20. She'd be the first woman ever -- hardly a shoo-in in this man's world

And they're piling on.

[cooolandrew]

18. It's more mathematics and reality saying this is pointless excercise wasting our time. BUT...

Barack says HRC should go as long as she wishes so we should honor that.

[splat]

34. Barack is giving her permission? How patronizing

[JBoy]

57. It would be much better if he told her to drop out.

Then you could label him a sexist.

[Alter Ego]

83. All he meant was that he really doesn't care what she decides to do.

You know that, dammit--and you're choosing to ignore it.

[BeyondGeography]

19. She's basically egging women on to make Obama pay by not supporting him in large numbers in the GE

It's part of her charm.

[splat]

24. A lot of Hillary supporters think Obama is a slick-talking loser

[BeyondGeography]

30. That's cuz he is, by golly!

:thumbsup:

[crankychatter]

36. Predatory racist parody

"rooty-poot, light skinned, smooth talking, arrogant hustler" stereotype that even PREYS upon the fears and prejudices of mature African American people... so they kill two birds with one stone.

nice try asshole

[crankychatter]

38. Calling the Winner a "loser" is classic Rove/Orwellian CRAP

subject line says it all

is today "Opposite Day" in your little world?

[splat]

41. Slick talkers come in all races -- why would you think it's a black thing?

[TahitiNut]

40. Don't you mean "looser"???

Can you be more transparent??

:rofl:

[crankychatter]

45. you're too nuanced

don't make me think

how's that for transparency?

edited to add the dang question mark

you know Steinbeck couldn't spell

;--P

[Zhade]

75. Yeah, well, a lot of her supporters are fucking idiots who support a proven liar.

So, fuck them.

[C_U_L8R]

21. Yes, Hillary blame all your failings on that MAN

Mark Penn. Bwahahaha.

Seriously though. There is no excuse for her poor campaign except for her poor leadership.

[bowens43]

25. Wow. She's just making an ass of herself now.

[splat]

26. If he's so inspiring, why are his supporters such rude bullies?

[crankychatter]

31. I'll contrast my bullying shit to YOUR bullying shit anytime

-Obama, Wright, and Hamas
-While Barack was having his palms greased by his slumlord friend
-Obama tied to another racist, homophobe who is supposedly an Obama superdelegate
-Obama Connection to Terrorists Revealed by Talk Show Host
-WTF?? "Enquirer Claims Obama Behind Murder of Gay Choir Director of His Church"
-Am I a "typical white person?"
-How Obama-Demographic Yuppies Perpetuate Racism
-That Obamamaniacs will blame Hillary for ANYTHING
-The New "Religious Left"
-Obama struggles to limit damage in pastor row as white voters slip away
-Kerry Wants Obama To Give Power To Islam
-Obama's Brownshirt Tactics
-Obama: Your own personal Jesus
-Barack Obama won't be visiting his ailing grandmother this Easter.
-Obama: My Grannie's a typical white person. !!
-Obama remark stereotyping "typical white person" seen as racist by some
-Obama Still Considers Rezko a Friend
-Barack Obama: Toxic Mentors Start to Corrode
-Obama: Exploitive and Wrong About Rev. Wright
-Would People Please Stop Blaming the Rev. Wright For Obama's Mistake?
-Could someone explain to me the attributes of the typical black person?
-Barack Obama and George W. Bush - Brothers in Voter Disenfranchisement
-Hey Obamabots suckers!!! Bill Richardson says Clinton Was Not Questioning Obama's Patriotism(video)
-The Obama Strategy: Victory By Voter Suppression
-Obama's Avalanche of LIES
-Calling all typical white people, if any left on Du to check in!
-Judas Richardson Does Nasty for Fox
-Rev. Wright, the US government did not inject African-American men with syphilis
-Why does Clinton do so well with blue collar whites?
-Are you typical of your ethnicity? (Poll)
-What exactly was Obama's drug use in the 90's?
-Obama papers confirm Rezko tie
-The Reverend Wright controversy is not going away...
-The cult of Godbama prayer thread.
-March 14, 2008,Obama released a new list of Rezko-related campaign contributors- I't GROWING SHEEPLE
-Post here if you are desperate to be added to the Obamaton "Final Solution" list
-Obamatons...
-Obama's Neoconservative Foreign Policy Agenda
-Obama tied to another racist, homophobe who is supposedly an Obama superdelegate
-Obama goes on vacation when going gets tough. Signs of weakness in campaign.
-Zionist Organization of America asks Obama to quit his church
-Obama Linked to Terrorism

and my personal favorite "If it's brown, flush it down"

Ya'all post this Klan Assed Shit then squeal "sexism?"

KM Democratic A

we KNOW who the "bullies" are

[Hepburn]

33. Because Hillbots are too dense for civility.

Feel better now? :eyes:

[Lucky 13]

67. Precisely.

There's no talking to them. They are completely irrational at this point.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

27. She's married to the biggest "big boy."

Amazing how the establishment candidate rails at the machinery that kept her candidacy alive.

[DeschutesRiver]

28. She is flat out without character

As one of those older women, voting independent and the beneficiary of extremely strong and couragous women who blazed a trail before me, I wouldn't vote for her. Nice wimpy try on her part to drum up some "outrage" to get votes, but she ain't fooling this strong willed older woman voter in the slightest.

This has zero to do with gender, and Hillary knows that 100%. She is still hoping that voters are too thick to see this for what it is - and if she really thinks her fellow women are that foolish, I am here to hope right back at her that it ain't so.

Her failure is about her personal lack of character, lying, blind power ambition and the arrogance with which she seemed to believe that her nomination was a shoo-in - merely because she said so. Like I've heard mentioned on the tube last night, she talked this line "successfully" when there was no input from voters. She blew her head start and the voters are responding.

I know tons of strong capable and even brilliant women, and I am not in the slightest bit concerned that we'll have a great woman president someday. But Hillary isn't that woman, and I wouldn't vote for a guy this lacking in campaign running ability/country running ability. She is flat out not very smart, and worse a legend in her own mind.

[TahitiNut]

35. The very failings you cite are typically regarded as "masculine" traits.

It's a surrealistic dialectic ... where Obama is actually parlaying his strength in what are widely regarded as "feminine" traits. Relationships, diplomacy, cooperation, 'feelings," and such emblems as 'Hope' and 'Change' are ALL cast in the feminine side of the Yin/Yang balance ... traits frequently dismissed and demeaned by the stereotypical macho right-wing long-neck swilling redneck.

I have a hard time believing the 'feminists' of MY generation (clearly and sadly a minority of the females in that early "boomer" generation) can regard her tactics with anything but deep disgust.

[splat]

43. Hope and change are words we've heard for 40 years, just words

It's like all these swooners were born yesterday.

[JBoy]

60. Your talking points are so March 2008.

[TahitiNut]

63. So, you're saying you've been at a 3rd grade reading level for 40 years?

Awesome. It's too bad that reading comprehension is so far in the future. :shrug:

Cynicism is a depressing religion.

[DeschutesRiver]

78. interesting thought

I hadn't focused on Obama's strengths as more feminine, and thus seen as failings (by fools), and Hill's as more traditionally masculine failings.

Maybe the failings I described were thought of as "masculine" traits only because for years we've operated in a theater with mainly males cast members. I'd like to get to a day when we can recognize that "traits" might be more related to character than gender. I already know that is true.

[PoliticalAmazon]

84. I am disgusted by feminists trying to spin HRC's failures and Rovian...

...campaign tactics being criticized, negatively influencing her campaign, as chauvanistic.

She's unethical, a liar, and two-faced, and that is something that transcends gender.

[crankychatter]

42. omg deschutes

steelhead

I WANNA GO HOME

cranky <<<< languishing in kansas

[DeschutesRiver]

79. :)

Just click your heels three times, and say "there's no place like home, there's no place like....." Oh. Wait, that just took Dorothy back to Kansas - never mind:)

Yeah, steelhead. Hiking the Sisters. Smell of sagebrush and woodsmoke in the morning. Sunsets that make you weep; mountain ranges that take your breath away. Big sky. Remember, the steelhead run every year, so it's never to late to come back home....

[TahitiNut]

85. That's funny, when I think of the Deschutes .. I think of the good times I had ...

[DeschutesRiver]

89. When I was much younger and long before I lived here

we used to run the Deschutes River in the summer - that photo takes me back in time. I'm not the best swimmer (tried, almost drowned as a kid, never got very good at it) who despite that did the Buckskin Mary rapids with only a life jacket. Figured you ought to try most things once:) Lucky I even made it back to land after Mary spit me out, exhausted and dog paddling away...

[Yael]

59. Well stated.

Welcome to DU :hi:

[DeschutesRiver]

80. .........

:hi:

[zulchzulu]

32. Proof that Penn is still whispering in her ear

:puke:

[Catherina]

37. I seriously hope she's not counting on me or most of the women I know

to support her clusterbomb loving self.

[splat]

44. I seriously hope he's not counting on me or most women I know -- we see through him

[EFerrari]

47. Really? What are you seeing, exactly?

lol

[TahitiNut]

48. Diverticula and polyps, apparently.

:rofl:

[Voltaire]

50. Well gee, if Hillary was as smart as you she'd be winning right?

The numbers don't lie. Despite her tactic of hanging around waiting for Obama to stumble. Its pathetic, just like a lot of her supporters.

[Zhade]

76. The numbers don't lie, but clinton sure does. over and over and over and over and over and over and

NT!

[Lucky 13]

68. Don't worry yourself about it. No one is counting on Hillary supporters for anything.

[TahitiNut]

46. (Off Topic) Noticing your avatar, I've been going to bed with Arundhati Roy for the past week or so

... reading her "God Of Small Things" before dozing off and waking up to find her face-down next to me. It's a REMARKABLE work of literature ... with flavors, scents, and an almost tactile sense of perspective on the two-egg twin's family and culture. I'm anticipating the climax and resolution with great interest. I'm glad I finally got around to reading it.

[Binka]

55. It Is A Beautiful Book

"going to bed with Arundhati" sounds like a dream to me!

[TahitiNut]

58. It's a poetic license I take in honor of her writing style.

It seems ... right, somehow. I do most of my reading in bed ... into the wee hours of the ayem and even when I wake in the middle of the night. The quiet time and twilights of consciousness afford me a left-brain/right-brain coordination that's more evocative. (When life deals lemons, make lemonade - I'm not keeping anyone up with my reading.)

[Window]

53. Ya know.

[Binka]

56. The ClusterBomb Mama Isn't Getting My Help Either

Bomb Bomb Bomb Hillary can take a short walk into a mine field.

[Cali_Democrat]

51. Hillary plays the gender card yet again

[TahitiNut]

54. That's just an AWESOME 'toon ... so apt. (And so ironically tragic, too.)

Rolling Stone deserves commendation for clarity in that.

:rofl:

[Ysabel]

71. great cartoon i notice in the article also what looks to me somewhat like a halo shot...

[FredScuttle]

61. Good Lord....will this nightmare never end?

[TwilightGardener]

62. Losing = sexism. Winning = equality. There is no other possible interpretation, clearly.

:crazy:

[rodeodance]

64. I think demanding HRC step aside is WEAK--can't take the heat!!

[PoliticalAmazon]

86. No, I'm just sick of dealing with her bullshit. Eight years of Bush Jr is enough. n/t

[Ysabel]

72. hey i go around highlighting my femininity every day...

wtf does that mean...?

:rofl:

[Zhade]

73. Utter fucking bullshit. We want you out because YOU'VE LOST.

NT!

[H2O Man]

77. Dudley was a favorite here.

Don Rumsfeld makes a heck of a Snideley.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

81. Coming Soon! "The Passion of the Hillary" K&$

[SwampG8r]

87. what the real story here is

is the washington post interviewed her at her request, and the question they wanted to hear her answer was, "Senator Clinton,what do you think Senator Obamas chances are in the GE against McCain?"
wonder what the message there is?
:popcorn: