More Game Change-rs
[Guest post by DRJ]
The Game Change excerpts continue with the most recent one involving the rivalry between Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton:
“According to “Game Change” Schumer had a deep rivalry with Clinton, who started overshadowing him the second she ran for her Senate seat in 2000.
“Schumer’s relationship with Hillary had always been fraught with rivalry and tinged with jealousy; though she was technically the junior member of the New York team in the Senate, she had eclipsed him in terms of celebrity and influence from the moment she arrived on the Hill,” Halperin and Heilemann write.”
But the real bombshell is the cabal of Senators including Schumer who plotted to get Barack Obama to run against Hillary Clinton:
“Schumer, Reid, Tom Daschle and North Dakota Sens. Byron Dorgan and Kent Conrad joined Nebraska’s Ben Nelson and Ted Kennedy in pushing Obama in “a conspiracy of whispers. They told him that 2008 was going to be a change election and that he uniquely could embody transformation. They told him he might never get a better chance. They told him this could be his time,” Halperin and Heilemann claim.
Hillary and Bill Clinton “were blind to the degree of Clinton fatigue in their world and deaf to the conspiracy of whispers.
“They had no idea how fast the ground was shifting beneath their feet. And neither, really, did Obama — until his conversation” with Schumer and Reid, the authors write.”
The result of this plotting? Obama went from a quasi-unknown to President … and with Reid sliding in the polls at home, Schumer may be the next Democratic leader in the Senate. Thus, setting aside Kennedy’s untimely death, Obama and Schumer seem to be the only Senators from this group who end up better off than where they started.
— DRJ
Yes, but Hillary was awarded with the Secretary of State post where she spends much of her time attending opening ceremonies at water desalination plants in Bourkina Faso and Kenya and other assorted vital regions of our national security.
I could not believe she accepted the post when it was offered and I can’t believe she is still there.
I say she’ll be the first in the Cabinet to leave. End of this year.
SteveMG (5246a9) — 1/10/2010 @ 7:48 pmI actually watched the “60 Minutes” piece tonight thinking they’d share some of this on the air…much to my surprise (SHOCK!), it was actually a Palin hit piece. WOW.
Cankle (dae396) — 1/10/2010 @ 7:49 pmI thought Grima Wormtongue was the senior senator from New York. Oh … never mind, that’s just one of Schumer’s aliases.
Beldar (332e54) — 1/10/2010 @ 8:06 pmPretty funny that Ben Nelson’s been such a pain in Obama’s ass, considering that he apparently urged him to take his shot at the Oval Office in the first place.
Leviticus (30ac20) — 1/10/2010 @ 8:27 pmI know I was shocked too, (sarc)
ian cormac (cbea0c) — 1/10/2010 @ 8:32 pmMaybe Nelson feels like Obama owes him, Leviticus.
DRJ (84a0c3) — 1/10/2010 @ 8:59 pmYup,tonight’s 60 Minutes on “Game Changer” was pretty much a hit piece on Sarah Palin; we didn’t get to hear about Harry Reid’s light skinned fellow with no Negro dialect–unless he wants one.
Didn’t hear about old Silky Pony Breck Girl Edwards chewing out a staff member who hadn’t told him to stop “fornicating”–this is a family blog– with Ms. Hunter etc.
But Obama has a way of getting older more experienced types to help his innocent young self along. Supposedly there was an old bull in the Illinois Legislature who looked at Barack –no accomplishments of any sort–and said “I’m going to make me a Senator.” Barack was then given credit for hard legislative work done by others, and the legend of the New Messiah began.
Mike Myers (3c9845) — 1/10/2010 @ 9:33 pmPatterico
I’m interested in your reaction to Sandy Banks’ latest LAT column titled “It’s not Harry Reid who should be apologizing”.
The gist is that Reid simply stated an unplesant truth (that light skinned blacks enjoy certain advantages), whereas Trent Lott approved of Strom Thurmond, who apparently backed segreation back in the day. Thus Micheal Steele is wrong to bring up the Trent Lott incident to attack Reid.
lee (cae7a3) — 1/10/2010 @ 11:24 pmDune references! Good job, Beldar.
Hmm, maybe if the Breck girl’s staff member had told him to stop fucking Ms. Hunter, it would have stopped him. ‘Cause you know that politicians always let their staff tell them what to do; right? Sorta like a peer review.
Icy Texan (418ee0) — 1/11/2010 @ 3:28 am“The gist is that Reid simply stated an unplesant truth (that light skinned blacks enjoy certain advantages), whereas Trent Lott approved of Strom Thurmond, who apparently backed segreation back in the day. Thus Micheal Steele is wrong to bring up the Trent Lott incident to attack Reid.”
Lott didn’t just approve of Thurmond. He explicitly approved of exactly what makes Thurmod so reprehensible and wished that that had been the way the nation went.
imdw (8f8ead) — 1/11/2010 @ 5:10 am“He explicitly approved of exactly what makes Thurmod so reprehensible and wished that that had been the way the nation went.”
imdw – Some people apparently believe what you wrote, but all we have as evidence is a toast made to a 100 year old man at his birthday party, obviously made to make him feel good, which was immediately apologized for afterward.
Rational people might call the critics stuck on stupid in the absence of other evidence of racism on Lott’s part.
daleyrocks (718861) — 1/11/2010 @ 5:24 am“imdw – Some people apparently believe what you wrote, but all we have as evidence is a toast made to a 100 year old man at his birthday party, obviously made to make him feel good”
Here’s what he said:
“I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We’re proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn’t have had all these problems over all these years, either,”
Yeah that’s the part. Thurmond should be made to feel bad for that. Not good. What he represented was wrong and we should feel no compunctions about that. And people who are proud of supporting a segregationist plan for america are very different than people who are supporting the first black president and commenting on what will make him more palatable to the electorate — an electorate comprised of people who may be proud to have supported segregationists.
[note: fished from spam filter. –Stashiu]
imdw (f7b257) — 1/11/2010 @ 5:32 amDune reference? Nerd card revoked!
davidt (bdd901) — 1/11/2010 @ 9:11 amIcy: was that pun intended? If so, well played.
Old Coot (d2bd0f) — 1/11/2010 @ 9:20 amSchumer and Clinton weren’t BFFs? Who would have guessed?
A walk through the ocean of their souls would barely get your feet wet.
JayC (46ff20) — 1/11/2010 @ 10:22 am“Thus, setting aside Kennedy’s untimely death, Obama and Schumer seem to be the only Senators from this group who end up better off than where they started.”
Well played. Otherwise, we might start to speculate as to Kennedy’s current domicile.
tomhynes (2e563b) — 1/11/2010 @ 7:27 pmAmong other things, YES Old Coot, the pun was intended.
Icy Texan (5dc763) — 1/12/2010 @ 2:47 am