The Comeback Kid Starts Over (Updated)
[Guest post by DRJ]
Former President Bill Clinton made his first extended public appearance in a whirlwind trip to several African nations to review progress of health initiatives sponsored by his foundation. This Washington Post article described the trip as the beginning of the “rehabilitation” of Bill Clinton after the divisiveness of the Democratic primary.
Clinton was accompanied by daughter Chelsea, Terry McAuliffe, Governor and Mrs. Tom Vilsack, aides, press, and a documentary film crew – the latter of which may be designed to help Clinton reestablish himself as Al Gore did after the 2000 Presidential election.
Describing himself as eager and happy to get back to international foundation work, Clinton declined to discuss his role supporting Hillary Clinton’s candidacy and had little to say about Obama:
“Clinton volunteered very little praise of Obama, beyond describing him as “smart” and “a good politician” when asked about him toward the end of the interview. He did, however, muse at length about the role that race could play in the general election — the issue that some of his former black allies angrily accused him of introducing in the Democratic primaries — as a factor, if not a decisive one.”
On June 30, the Huffington Post quoted Terry McAuliffe as saying Bill Clinton didn’t hold a grudge against Barack Obama and that they planned to meet in early July. Obama and Bill Clinton connected the next day via telephone, after which Obama said “I absolutely want Bill Clinton campaigning for me.”
But in a June 24, 2008, blog post, just one week before Bill Clinton and Obama talked, Marc Ambinder convincingly explained why Bill Clinton would continue to hold a grudge against Barack Obama:
“[T]he former president remains “miffed” for two reasons. One is that he feels that Obama’s candidacy was essentially an anti-Clinton candidacy; that Obama ran against Clinton’s presidential record at times, implying that it was timeworn, divisive, and damaging to the party while adopting policy positions that seemed to flow directly from the Clinton oeuvre. Why should Clinton embrace a guy who spent the past twelve months bashing him and his accomplishments?
Two: Clinton is convinced that the Obama campaign went out of its way to portray the former president as a racist. Clinton wants a private meeting with Obama to sort these things out; he has reconciled himself to the reality of Obama’s nomination and does not want to sit on the sidelines.”
I think that’s a good analysis of what Bill Clinton probably felt and still feels about Barack Obama, and I’m not sure it can be repaired in one telephone call. Two months later, Clinton’s statements in Africa suggest he’s still lukewarm on the subject of Barack Obama.
Does it matter?
I think it does. If Barack Obama wants to portray himself as someone who can unite people and bridge divides, he needs Clinton supporters. It’s hard to sustain the image of a uniter if you’ve fractured your own Party. I think Obama repaired the rift with Hillary and possibly with Bill, but his continued emphasis on race will reopen and aggravate old wounds.
In addition, Bill Clinton could help Obama with blue-collar and rural voters, many of whom consider Bill to be someone who cares about jobs and the economy. It doesn’t look like Bill Clinton is willing to put in that kind of effort at this point but it’s too soon to tell.
Finally, I doubt either Clinton wants Obama to win in November so the question is: How far will the Clintons go to see Obama lose?
UPDATE 8/3/2008: ABC News has posted a video interview in which Bill Clinton insists he’s “not a racist” and was described as “testy” over his wife’s loss.
— DRJ
If Hiillary is selected that VP candidate, then Bill Clinton will want to help OBama win. However, it’s pretty likely that he is more interested in 2012. If Hillary wins the nomination and presidency then, Bill Clinton’s legacy (such as it is) will be restored very, very quickly.
I’ve always had this impression of Obama’s campaign as very immature about these things, and I know there was a ton of bad blood on June 3. Obama’s people really beleive that Bill Clinton is a racist and that his people are racist, just as they really believe the same about the average GOP voter. It’s going to be tough for them to swallow that and nominate Hillary, but frankly, Obama’s predicted meteoric rise has not happened at all, and he needs to choose between pride and success.
Bill and Hillary and all their people are well aware of just how horribly Obama is doing right now… especially since he always polls much better than he actually does in elections. They told us over and over that only Hillary could beat Mccain… and they will be serving crow to their party if Obama loses. I don’t think Obama can come back and win another nomination (and I’m certain he would not win it today if the dems got a second chance).
No, Bill and Hillary and their friends are probably hoping for a Mccain presidency that is already rumored to not seek reelection.
Juan (4cdfb7) — 8/3/2008 @ 12:43 pmAs far as necessary. No holds barred. They have nothing to lose. Everything is on the table.
Horatio (55069c) — 8/3/2008 @ 12:52 pmI think that’s correct – once Obama’s campaign accused Clinton of injecting race into the campaign, that was it for them. And now McCain’s people are making the same claim, which is impossible for Obama’s camp to deflect, due to their past actions. Watching Daschle this morning attempting to explain Obama’s comments last week was an exercise in futility – no one’s buying it, not by a long shot.
Dmac (82935d) — 8/3/2008 @ 1:06 pmWill BC stiff the Obama Campaign?
Another Drew (8018ee) — 8/3/2008 @ 1:33 pmThe easiest thing for Bill to do would be to extend his “world tour”
and be unavailable for campaign/fund-raising appearances.
Hillary is the keynote speaker — that means she’s not the VP. I really don’t think she wants to be VP, especially since the prediction of the Clinton campaign appears to be coming true — Obama may not be able to beat McCain. If he doesn’t, she’ll get the nomination in 2012 by acclamation, and she’ll get to take on a one-term 76 year old Pres. who will probably not have accomplished much because the Dems will control Congress and his own party isn’t too much of a fan of his.
Obama’s failure to really step up and help retire her debt is a big deal too. The fact that he opted out of public financing means that he’s got his own money to raise.
Bill Clinton will NOT forgive him for making him out to be a racist, especially since it was a nakedly a campaign tactic – Obama needed to strip the AA community away from Clinton, and that gave him the opening to do so. Had she held on to even 25 or 30%, she would have beat him.
If Obama wins, Hillary will run for Governor of NY, and return in 2016 to run for Pres. But she will not be part of an Obama Admins.
wls (4ab682) — 8/3/2008 @ 1:45 pmIf the Clintons sabotage Obama, it won’t be anything overt: that would finish HRC with black–and “progressive”–voters forever. I can see them leaking out little tidbits of damaging memes at the times they will be most damaging, though. If Obama really wants to neutralize the Clintons as a threat, he should just send a direct message to them: “if something gets leaked that hurts me that can’t conclusively be linked to the Republicans, I’ll assume it’s from you and condemn you for it, even if it costs me the election.” The Clintons will have to decide whether he means it, but they might not be willing to take the chance that he would.
M. Scott Eiland (a16843) — 8/3/2008 @ 1:58 pmAnd all it would take to sink Obama forever would be for them to now play the victim against Obama’s strong-arm tactics.
“We have done nothing but be supportive of the Senator, yet he chooses to threaten us in this fashion? We leave it to the American People to decide the facts and motivations for themselves, but we will never negotiate with people employ such tactics.”
Obama will be lucky to win his home precinct under those circumstances.
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 8/3/2008 @ 2:05 pmAnd all it would take to sink Obama forever would be for them to now play the victim against Obama’s strong-arm tactics.
Maybe–but it would also finish the Clintons: the primaries proved that a substantial portion of the Democratic electorate has tired of the Clintons and is willing to believe the worst about them. Part of the risk of playing Chicken is that both players can lose.
M. Scott Eiland (a16843) — 8/3/2008 @ 2:26 pmThe Clintons are already finished. Not only is that large Democratic electorate sick of her, but the entirety of the Republicans are also. Hillary has Bill’s record around her neck just as Teddy Kennedy has Chappaquiddick.
So she would have nothing to lose and a chance (if she plays it just right) as looking even more like the candidate that they should have run instead of Obama.
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 8/3/2008 @ 2:32 pmDrumwaster,
Don’t you think Hillary is the heir apparent if Obama loses in November?
DRJ (9d1be2) — 8/3/2008 @ 2:33 pmJust as she was the heiress apparent this year? She will still have to cope with that millstone of a lying, adulterous husband around her neck.
Just remember, electing Hillary for President is also giving Bill access to the White House interns again, but without the daily scrutiny he had as CinC. But if she divorces him, those records WILL be leaked by someone anonymous, and her career is still over.
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 8/3/2008 @ 2:42 pmBut the points you make bother Republicans, not Democrats. If Obama loses (a big if), I think Democrats will view Hillary as the candidate they should have chosen to begin with.
DRJ (9d1be2) — 8/3/2008 @ 2:51 pm“Finally, I doubt either Clinton wants Obama to win in November so the question is: How far will the Clintons go to see Obama lose?”
Absolutely. I’m stocking up on popcorn for the convention. You’re going to have full tilt loonies protesting all around the city that somebody will cover even if the MSM doesn’t. Hillary is PUBLICLY saying she doesn’t want her name entered into nomination, which I think is total horseshit. If that were the case she would make some deal about releasing her delegates but retaining influence over the platform. She’s retaining her delegates in the hopes of further Obama stumbles and the possibility that superdelegates decide Obama can’t win in November,IMHO. Only Lovey’s superdelegate in the sky knows for sure.
daleyrocks (d9ec17) — 8/3/2008 @ 3:02 pmDRJ’s got it exactly right. Hillary got — or would have gotten with normal elections in Fla and Mich — more votes than Obama.
There are 18 million Dem voters — including middle and upper class women that are the core of her constituency — that will erupt if Obama loses.
There is no one else waiting in the wings — other than maybe Mark Warner.
But the party will have lost with the “sure thing” candidate whose biggest liability was the fact that he was largely unknown.
Hillary will use her supposed liability — that she’s well known — as her biggest claim to the nomination. Her campaign theme might as well be “Never Again.”
wls (4ab682) — 8/3/2008 @ 3:02 pmThe only reason that Obama is the candidate today is because Democrats were looking for an alternative to her In-Evita-bleness. Do you think that any of those looking to end the Bush-Clinton-Bush era – including all those new voters who have never known a time without a Bush or a Clinton in the White House – would vote to extend such a thing?
It wasn’t the plurality of Republican voters that voted in Obama.
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 8/3/2008 @ 3:04 pmThe guy who is really in the toughest position, IMO, is Rahm Emanuel. He’s the saaviest politician in Congress, he’s a long-time Clinton supporter, but he’s with the Obama Chicago machine.
If there was there is any kind of pre-convention distress registered by Obama, the Clintons are going to go to Emanuel. If they can get him to flip as a superdelegate, it will open a floodgate.
Is Emanuel willing to ride a sinking ship to an election loss if Obama continues to slide leading up to the election?
Stranger things have happened.
wls (4ab682) — 8/3/2008 @ 3:07 pmDrum — the Dems want to WIN. If Obama doesn’t win, after Kerry didn’t win, they’re going to go back to the Clinton model. The left-wingnuts are going to be marginalized in an effort to win. The women and unions will line up behind Hillary.
wls (4ab682) — 8/3/2008 @ 3:09 pmFace it folks, Hillary Clinton and the Clintonite ilk is finished. As far as this year is concerned. Stop nursing any fantasy of a come back. It aint happening. It’s only on blogs like this and among hard core Reps that you get the feeling that Obama is a “sinking ship”. I don’t believe the democrats think that. The convention will go smoothly. Hillary will give her key note speech and finally fade into the darkness and then, shall the real race begin. The sooner you all face it the better. Obama has done the impossible, he has defeated a Clinton. That will be hard to recover from.
love2008 (0c8c2c) — 8/3/2008 @ 3:52 pmLet me also sound a note of advice: Hillary should watch her steps veeeeeeeerry closely. She is at the verge of destroying whatever is left of her failed ambitions. We know what she is up to.
And the Titanic is an unsinkable ship. Just ask the experts.
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 8/3/2008 @ 3:55 pmObama was +9 a week ago today in the Gallup tracking poll.
And he’s not going to have the huge money advantage that was thought to be the case. In fact, he’s going to be behind in money on Sept 1 when the campaign starts.
And his crew has never run a 50 state, 10 week general election campaign.
McCain has many veterans of both Bush I and Bush II’s winning campaigns.
wls (4ab682) — 8/3/2008 @ 4:05 pmI neglected to mention that he’s +1 today — but that’s an improvement from yesterday.
wls (4ab682) — 8/3/2008 @ 4:06 pmEspecially because of the crews wasted on those other seven or eight or nine States.
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 8/3/2008 @ 4:13 pmDrumwaster, there are no White House interns, aside from a solitary press office intern who is watched like a hawk.
Bill Clinton probably has a very hard time getting women, now, actually. He’s well aware he’s being watched, and at this point most women who would do that would brag about it.
Love2008, Obama has run an awful campaign, and the funniest thing is that some really lionize him far too much. The GOP is completely expecting a tough november. There are no fairy tales here. Frankly, your comment that only right wingers are pointing this out only proves that you are completely out of the loop. Pay attention… If the election were held today, there is little doubt Obama would lose because he polls a lot better than he actuall does. The Republicans pull ahead in the next several months.. that’s just how it works when people swallow hard and think about all the scary stuff the GOP plasters everywhere. Mondale, Dukakis, Kerry all did far better then Obama is now doing at this point.
You think beating a Clinton is some kind of magic… you do realize that Bill Clinton never won 50% of a general election? Beating Perot+Clinton proved impossible, but a Clinton alone ain’t the same thing.
Juan (4cdfb7) — 8/3/2008 @ 4:16 pmI used the term very generally. I know that Monica was probably the last intern ever hired, but her job title (such as it was) was “intern”, which means “unpaid”, and it wasn’t until later that she got a paying job. (Office of Legislative Affairs, IIRC.)
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 8/3/2008 @ 4:30 pmJuan- don’t be traumatizing the troll with facts; let him live his fantasy life of delusional paranoia. You know it is all about “feelings”. Some left wing loon sent me some obama garbage about how the anointed messiah is a “breath of fresh air, who, along with the democratic party” will rectify the damage the evil Bush has wrought upon America. John McCain has voted 95% with the Bush regime. yadda yadda. I politely told the wench that obama can go f**K himself. Lady got ticked that I was abridging her free speech and opinion. Moonbats are clueless and naive obamatards/-turds/-tons. Cannot stand to argue facts at all. The rest of the world hates us. Mccain will overturn Roe v. Wade and so on ad nauseum. I truly wish all the assholes would pull a reverse illegal alien thing and migrate to rest of the wonderful globe. You cannot escape these simple-minded wads. The weather expert was on a bit ago extolling the virtues of lowering your AGW carbon footprint by doing with less at your luxury hotel and thus emitting less carbon dioxide. It is so laughable. Take showers and not baths, lower the heat and raise the ac setting, don’t have new sheets daily or use the towels only once. Wow- I’m sure the hotel appreciates you increasing their profit margins. I’m certain fat pigs like Gore and Mooore worry about THEIR carbon footprints. Both use enough food and energy to save entire 3rd world shithole villages from starvation if they imbibed like normal people.
madmax333 (0c6cfc) — 8/3/2008 @ 4:33 pm#23
love2008 (0c8c2c) — 8/3/2008 @ 4:39 pmLove2008, Obama has run an awful campaign,
For a first timer who is “inexperienced”, “unqualified” and “empty suit” I would say he’s done pretty not badly.
You think beating a Clinton is some kind of magic…
Yes but he did beat her. And sometimes I don’t get your point.
Madmax. Get a life!
love2008 (0c8c2c) — 8/3/2008 @ 4:42 pmNo, he didn’t. She suspended her campaign, and the super-delegates have not yet had a chance to Select, Not Elect. If Obama keeps stumbling, your candidate may still be Hillary.
No. Really?
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 8/3/2008 @ 4:44 pmI. Would. Never. Have. Guessed.
At this point I’d love to see Hillary re-ignite her campaign. Bambi has probably hit as high as he’s going to get.
steve miller (6276a5) — 8/3/2008 @ 4:54 pmNo, he didn’t. She suspended her campaign, and the super-delegates have not yet had a chance to Select, Not Elect. If Obama keeps stumbling, your candidate may still be Hillary.
love2008 (0c8c2c) — 8/3/2008 @ 4:56 pmDrumwaster, I am beginning to think you have your own version of reality. Maybe it’s the sun.
Ok, prove what you just said. That she was not beaten. You actually think if Hillary had any chance to win she would have given up her bid? Knowing how she really wanted that nomination so badly.
Is it that you just sit before your computer just looking for anything to be against even when the facts are not on your side?
love2008, so you are ignorant of the actual pledged delegate counts, no surprise.
SPQR (26be8b) — 8/3/2008 @ 4:57 pm27-I’m not the one with man-love for the great Messiah whose middle name must not be mentioned, whom Rethuglicans fear to debate in townhall type meetings, whose resume is blank or who seeks to hide his true marxist agenda. I’m not the one who aspires to dangle figuratively amongst the dingleberries of dinglebarry’s heinie. I bet you moonbats have nightly dreams of the nightworker.
madmax333 (0c6cfc) — 8/3/2008 @ 5:02 pmOh, GOD wants to bestow the Messiahwad’s intellectual and leadership superiority upon the American people, and, for that matter, the entire planet if not the whole universe. If that’s the case, I think God must truly be the malevolent Holy Spirit of the Old Testament and wants Americans to feel pain. But perhaps Allah is the one true deity and all you lame politically correct so-called Christians will welcome Sharia and be good little dhimmis? Death to America? No war for oil? Cindy Shee-hag has absolute moral authority? I vote agains Urkel obamalamadingdong is a vote for racist old geezer bush redux McCain? I’d be happy if McCain were in veep spot and Cheney was running as POTUS wannabe, since he’s already been pulling Dubya’s strings for almost eight years and is younger than McCain.
now, as far as I’m concerned you and your ilk can attempt the anatomically impossible. I looked for a link of the contortionist photo shop dude with his head up his butt, to no avail.
She hasn’t. What she has done is to suspend her campaign and that is not “giving up”. If she was serious about having not wanting the bid, she would have pledged her delegates. She hasn’t, and those MI & FL delegates are exactly why.
Easy. What was the actual delegate count at the Convention? Oh, that vote hasn’t happened yet? Then I guess she isn’t beaten.
Hint: the so-called “pledged” delegates are only required to vote for their “pledged” candidate on the first ballot only. Once that first vote is counted, if there is no clear winner, then it’s all up for grabs.
Me, I’m buying more popcorn.
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 8/3/2008 @ 5:12 pm#30
love2008 (0c8c2c) — 8/3/2008 @ 5:17 pmDo you have nightmares of homosexual experiences? Your comments are never bereft of insinuations about Obama’s crouch and his genitals and people wanting to perform oral sex on him. Sick. Very sick!
It’s a wonder that Patterico has not banned you from this blog. But I am not surprised that he hasn’t.
(I’m gonna enjoy this one…)
Lovey, YOU are the one who made comment # 30…
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 8/3/2008 @ 5:20 pmDrumwaster- you are heartless. Do you really want to see moonbat heads exploding? Imagine a repeat of the ’68 Dem convention? Oh, goody, goody, goody..as Minn.’s HHH said back then. And let’s hope a certain head-over-heels-in-love-with-the magic-negro doesn’t have a massive myocardial infarction should the annointed/selected lose out the the convention or at the actual polls. If he’s ahead in exit polls, that means the vast right white conspiracy has struck again and another four years of derangement. MDS I suppose- perhaps midol would help. I do know that local shrinks here werew treating moonbats for PEST. Oh, and Bobby Wexler is now going to rent a place here to avoid the appearance of impropriety ex post facto. jajajaja. No word on progress of his demands that Bush/Cheney be impeached pronto. Things like domestic energy exploration are not on the table.
madmax333 (0c6cfc) — 8/3/2008 @ 5:23 pm#34
love2008 (0c8c2c) — 8/3/2008 @ 5:23 pmmy last comment was meant for madmax on comment #32.
Bill Clinton will NOT forgive him for making him out to be a racist, especially since it was a nakedly a campaign tactic – Obama needed to strip the AA community away from Clinton, and that gave him the opening to do so. Had she held on to even 25 or 30%, she would have beat him.
I agree with this. Obama did the unspeakable in the eyes of the Clintons. Bill can’t and won’t forgive him. Its simply not a part of his narcisstic nature. The man is still angry about how he was treated during the Monica debacle, so why on earth would he be forgiving re the treatment at the hands of a young upstart? Its simply not a part of his bloated egotistical nature.
btw, on my block there are now five Obama for President signs on front lawns.
Dana (254946) — 8/3/2008 @ 5:25 pmThe more I read about Bill Clinton post-WH years, the more I suspect that in his gut he believes he deserved more years to be our President. He is a grudge holder and I don’t see him being a willing whole-hearted supporter and participant in Obama’s campaign. If he does campaign for him, it will only be with Hillary’s potential future run for the WH in mind.
Dana (254946) — 8/3/2008 @ 5:29 pmUnabaleto answer with facts to support your opinions and truly a poor polemicist so naturally you have to deceive, inveigle and obfuscate as is yoor wont. Admit that like your other hero Chrissie Matthews you get a trill from the magic negro. and I did qualify your desires as figuratively anatomically. Put up real arguments instead of your endless DNC/Huff/Moron.org/Kos/DU deranged talking points.
madmax333 (0c6cfc) — 8/3/2008 @ 5:30 pm#40
love2008 (0c8c2c) — 8/3/2008 @ 5:41 pmderanged
That was just the word I was looking for. I suspect your utter hatred and distaste for Obama is more than mere politics. You are beginning to sound like a negro-hater. I think there is a word for it….
You just hate his guts. How dare he to presume he will be POTUS over superior ones like you.
Your prejudice is beginning to show and it’s ugly.
The simple fact that you see the President as someone who is placed “over” us shows a lot more than you think. None of it complimentary.
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 8/3/2008 @ 5:46 pmpot call kettle black. You’re the one calling for shooting people. FWIW my honey is black, but an oreo or uncle tom in your mind because she’s not a bleeding heart liberal like you. IMHO we don’t need no stinkin’ affirmative action POTUS just to assuage your liberal guilt. And I’m not the one who has repeatedly brought up race and racism. You have the think skin and as a liberal only believe in free speech for liberals. It’s in your DNA I think. Let me know when you come up with ANY rational reasons to prefer O!bama over McCain. I like that 0! It really stands for a big nothing cypher or ZERO with no experience except as “community organizer”. Oh to be a fly on the wall when O!bama gets together in private with Mayor Daley, Rev. Wright, Ayers, Dohrn, Hurricane Louie Farrakhan. And accusing me of racism ain’t going to change my opinion of you or Barry HUSSEIN. Now go attack someone else’s attentions or project your own inadequacies elsewhere. Good for you as imho you are warming the loon seat until levi returneth. Jesus loves you. Your boy doesn’t even belong in the senate. He is a big nothing full of his own arrogant self-righteousness and self-aggrandizement….show might fit you also.
madmax333 (0c6cfc) — 8/3/2008 @ 5:54 pmFWIW my honey is black,
love2008 (1b037c) — 8/3/2008 @ 6:03 pmThen you should do more not misrepresent yourself.
How did he misrepresent himself?
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 8/3/2008 @ 6:07 pm#34 – love2008
Your comments are never bereft of insinuations about Obama’s crouch and his genitals
— His crouch? Like a three-point football stance? Or is he the world’s skinniest Sumo wrestler?
Icy Truth (c4ec85) — 8/3/2008 @ 6:18 pmI don’t know. He is very abusive.
love2008 (1b037c) — 8/3/2008 @ 6:22 pm#26 – love2008
For a first timer who is “inexperienced”, “unqualified” and “empty suit” I would say he’s done pretty not badly.
— This is his first time running for office? Really? Oh, that’s right; he was proclaimed state senator and US Senator by divine right (i.e. the Chicago machine).
Icy Truth (c4ec85) — 8/3/2008 @ 6:24 pm#48
love2008 (1b037c) — 8/3/2008 @ 6:44 pmAtleast someone finally agrees that Obama does have some experience.
Just barely enough to run for office as Deputy Assistant Pooper-Scooper-At-Large, but not enough to actually win.
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 8/3/2008 @ 6:47 pmLove2008, I don’t think the electorate is going to buy your “any criticism of Obama is racist” line.
Lol
Evil Pundit (646727) — 8/3/2008 @ 6:54 pmDrumwaster, about all that intern stuff, I was just pointing out how the Monica scandal cost us pretty much the entire West Wing internship program. It used to be a great way for undergrads to get involved with government, get educated, etc. Bill Clinton made it so that having interns is too risky. He not only wrecked his intern’s life (and all the lies his people told about Monica before it was proven they had sex show he really was willing to squash her like a bug), but he wrecked a very cool program for our best and brightest. A lot of those interns didn’t go to Ivy leagues. They were self made badass people who were going to state schools and needed more cachet on their resume. It’s very annoying to me that Bush’s white house never restored the program, but you can hardly blame him. I know one lady who was that solitary press intern for the west wing, and for a job that really ought to have impressed people, a lot of folks associated he with the scandal of Monica. Pretty lousy.
Love2008 is a stark reminder of why we have to fight hard to support Mccain in spite of his moderate stances. If Obama is president, he will be above the law, and his people are zealous and kinda sick. A terrible combination, especially with Obama, who has changed positions so many times that all we know about him is that he will do anything to win.
Juan (4cdfb7) — 8/3/2008 @ 7:22 pmI suspect your utter hatred and distaste for Obama is more than mere politics. You are beginning to sound like a negro-hater.-love2008
What an appropriate handle. Show the love, brother! I’m sure this guy wouldn’t be opposed to Hillary or John Kerry… why no, the most logical explanation is that he hates blacks!
Obama’s people are actually dumb enough to believe this shit. The rest of the country doesn’t. In fact, the majority of Americans think Obama has been racist, not Mccain. Love2008 can’t help himself, which is why I’m very confident Obama is sunk. The first black president ought to be a Republican, not some race hustler who know how to use a teleprompter.
Juan (4cdfb7) — 8/3/2008 @ 7:30 pm#52
love2008 (1b037c) — 8/3/2008 @ 7:30 pmRacist!
#49 – Atleast someone finally agrees that Obama does have some experience.
— Then why did you make a big deal about him being a “first timer”? JFK, Carter, Clinton; the Dems nominate guys on their first run for the presidency all the time.
Icy Truth (c4ec85) — 8/3/2008 @ 7:45 pmAlso: Dukakis, Mondale, Truman (he counts), Adlai Stevenson (in 1952), and many others thru history.
Icy Truth (c4ec85) — 8/3/2008 @ 8:09 pm#46 rotflomao….some of you guys should either write or do stand up comedy. And I mean that in a nice way. The obama worshippers are a laugh riot too in another way. I haven’t found even one where I live who can give me a good reason other than it is the magic negro’s time to lead to show that we are over racism or that McCain is senile and a clone of Bush. Tons of the oft repeated mantras from the clueless and ignorant left, replete with tired canards and outright pathological lies. What I learned today was that even snopes is in the tank. Who watches the watchers? Who decides what a word in the dictionary really means or its proper spelling? The mainstream media is the gatekeeper of so much info and I thank God for the internet. I don’t really care much about what or whom John Edwards diddled, but laugh at all the gyrations the media goes through to cover up for him and to decide what is newsworthy.
madmax333 (0c6cfc) — 8/3/2008 @ 8:11 pmIt is a total riot to see how so many “objective journalists” absolutely adore the Messiah and admit their arousal. I’m not the one obsessed with race or sex. The buffoons on the left deserve to be laughed at for their bias and sheer stupidity. Ditto for the far left fever swamps. It is fun to ridicule them whenever possible. Lurch, algore, jimmy carter, kucinich, my local jackass wexler, edwards, mikey moore and the hollywood elite are all mostly white and as despicable as the magic neophyte 143 day old Ill. US senator from Kenya with deep moooslim roots.
#55
love2008 (1b037c) — 8/3/2008 @ 8:15 pmAre just trying to win an argument here?
You guys are all about Obama is not experienced. He is an empty suit etc. I make a comment to use it against you (comment #26) and you go This is his first time running for office? Really?
You can’t have it both ways icy.
But YOU are the one trying to have it both ways.
Icy’s argument is that he is inexperienced, and that this is his first national campaign, with rookies in many key positions. Inexperience couples with inexperience doesn’t suddenly equal experience.
A negative times a negative does NOT equal a positive when it comes to politics.
Spinning as badly as you have been doing, it’s no wonder you get the sides confused.
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 8/3/2008 @ 8:21 pmAll right, let me write this in crayon for the slow-on-the-uptake types among us:
Icy Truth (c4ec85) — 8/3/2008 @ 9:06 pmIn #26 you wrote “For a first timer who is “inexperienced”, “unqualified” and “empty suit” I would say he’s done pretty not badly.”
In #48 I knocked you for making a big deal about him being a first-time presidential candidate, noting that he had successfully run two previous political campaigns.
In #49 you wrote “At least someone finally agrees that Obama does have some experience,” to which my comment is: 1) accent on “some”; 2) “experience” in running campaigns as much or more than actually serving the public.
In #55 & 56 I noted that Dems nominate candidates on their first try for the presidency all the time.
In #58 you wrote “You guys are all about Obama is not experienced. He is an empty suit etc.” Again, he has some experience — a significant portion of it spent running for office and, once elected, voting ‘present’; not only does he have much less experience than John McCain, he also has much less experience than most of the men who have been POTUS.
Prediction:
BC will do the bare minimum for BO, should he end up as the nominee. It has been pointed out that the nomination is de facto, at this time. If he goes into Denver trailing McCain (certainly possible), who knows what the super’s may decide? Not likely they’d turn to Hillary!, but certainly within the realm of possibility.
Race-baiting BC worked in the primaries but will not, is not, working in the general. With that tactic now off the table, what does BO have left? Issues? On the wrong side of too many. Townhall debates? Not able/willing. Well, McCain is old. He can play that card a few more times, I guess.
Chris (da1e70) — 8/3/2008 @ 9:26 pm#62 Juan Williams has an article in the Wall St. Journal dealing with race in the race for POTUS.
madmax333 (0c6cfc) — 8/3/2008 @ 9:55 pmAm I missing something? “Mr. Obama needs to hammer home these conservative social values to capture undecided white voters.” Pew Poll claims that blacks are just as likely as whites to take a hard line regarding crime, to condemn the shocking number born out of wedlock and express disgust with the violence and misogyny of rap music.
So apparently Mr. Williams thinks if only Baracky shows he is tough on these social ills, he will be able to win white votes and the WH. There is some analysis of whether whites are racist and hiding it. Still playing the race card- no mention of character, experience, agenda, commonsense, etc. I have little doubt Juan admires 0!bama and will vote his party and race. That should please Love666 at least.
What you’re missing, max, is that Juan Williams wanted ‘the pantsuited one’ to be the nominee — in part because, as reflected in the quote you referenced, he does not think that Obama can win.
Icy Truth (7eda0d) — 8/3/2008 @ 10:33 pm#63 You’re correct, but it seems he still thinks Obama is worthy to win “white votes” if only he gives lip service to problems within the black community. Nothing O says will much decrease his percentage of black votes. So we’re to believe calling on blacks to stop the gangsta rap, get married and control their cultural propensity to violent crime will win independent white votes? I still think Williams is making alleged white racism the reason Obama may fail to win in Nov. No words that Obama is just a big nothing full of himself with poorly thought out or attainable visions for America. Yeah, I know his apologists claim he is a “great” leader, but just where is the evidence for that? He couldn’t even try to tone down his minister’s hateful rhetoric in twenty years in the pews. Yeah, I want a bozo regardless of color in WH because George Soros thinks the Messiah’s the one to carry out the Soros socialist agenda for America.
madmax333 (0c6cfc) — 8/4/2008 @ 3:25 amNot so sure that at this point in time Hillary would not be a better choice for the country and the Republicans down the road a bit. How much will McCain compromise with liberal dems? Maybe his SCOTUS choices would be better? Hopefully Denver will show some fireworks and reveal to more voters what an empty vessel BHO is.
Instapundit writes:
nk (e8a4f1) — 8/4/2008 @ 5:58 amI denounce nk.
JD (75f5c3) — 8/4/2008 @ 6:18 am