cross-posted at faboo mama
And in keeping in line with the Clinton’s insulting voters at every turn, superdelegate, Ms. Ferraro tells us that voters don’t represent rank-and-file Democrats:
Besides, the delegate totals from primaries and caucuses do not necessarily reflect the will of rank-and-file Democrats. Most Democrats have not been heard from at the polls. We have all been impressed by the turnout for this year’s primaries — clearly both candidates have excited and engaged the party’s membership — but, even so, turnout for primaries and caucuses is notoriously low. It would be shocking if 30 percent of registered Democrats have participated.
You’re looking a little green. Go ahead and spit out that bile in your mouth. I know how it is. It’s kind of sad that a former Vice Presidential candidate went that far. That with record turnout at the polls and at caucuses, Ferraro had decided that dismissing all those people participating in democracy was a good idea. This goes to show that Team Clinton really did expect a coronation. Like it’s the voters or Barack Obama’s fault the Clinton’s can’t run a national campaign.
The focus of Ferraro’s op-ed is that only the superdelegates know what’s best for the party. That’s why they’re super, thanks for asking…
But the superdelegates were created to lead, not to follow. They were, and are, expected to determine what is best for our party and best for the country. I would hope that is why many superdelegates have already chosen a candidate to support.
Wouldn’t you just love to hear the explanation as to why these supers haven’t found it fit to lead these last 16 years. Why they felt rolling over for the GOP was better than leading. Why they were so scared that the infantile infotainment channels might say something mean about them? Oh wait, it was the voters who were clamoring at these guys not to rubberstamp an illegal war the PATRIOT ACT, NCLB, the FISA bill, torture or the bankruptcy bill. It’s so heartening to know these superdelegates lead us right down the drain with their special brand of leadership. Since I can’t quite remember Geraldine Ferraro standing up for our democracy and country then, I can only wonder why she feels the need to inject herself right now.
We can add Geraldine Ferraro into the long list of Clinton backers who now want to change the rules midgame. Now, it’s a problem that Republicans and independents are voting in our primaries. A more optimistic person would be thrilled. They’d say, “Wow, look at all these people switching over. We should do something to engage and keep them.” The Clinton’s camp looks at them as more people who’d muddy up their flowcharts and focus-tested phrases, making them pay Mark Penn even more money for his microtrends.
Perhaps because I have endorsed Mrs. Clinton, I have noticed that most of the people complaining about the influence of the superdelegates are supporters of Mr. Obama. I can’t help thinking that their problem with the superdelegates may not be that they’re “unrepresentative,” but rather that they are perceived as disproportionately likely to support Mrs. Clinton.
And I am watching, with great disappointment, people whom I respect in the Congress who endorsed Hillary Clinton — I assume because she was the leader they felt could best represent the party and lead the country — now switching to Barack Obama with the excuse that their constituents have spoken.
Yeah, uh…because, why should they start representing their constituents now when they’ve managed not to do that the last 16 years, right? Naturally, Ferraro’s piece devolves into Team Clinton’t usual bleating about seating Florida and Michigan delegates. Naturally, Ferraro’s piece manages to not mention that Clinton had signed an agreement saying her name would be removed from the ballot, but Ms. Ready from Day One managed to forget to do it.
I’m tired ya’ll…this race shouldn’t be this hard. I never thought that I’d see a former First Lady or a sitting Senator use race-baiting and xenophobic tactics on a member of the same party. I never thought I’d see a former First Lady or a sitting Senator decided that voters in 24 states, black voters, activist and caucus-goers aren’t part of the electorate, that those groups don’t count. I never thought I’d see a former First Lady or a sitting Senator accuse an opponents supporters (over 10M people!) of being delusional for supporting him. I never thought I’d see a former First Lady or a sitting Senator who did not stand up to be counted when an election was being stolen, sit here and try to undermine the democratic process of voting. But what I really can’t wrap my head around, is that I never thought I’d see a former president, a former vice presidential candidate, Senators, Governor and Congresspeople, acting like this presidency was an entitlement that Clinton deserved. I never thought that I’d see these elected Democratic officials doing their damnedest to undermine the Democratic Party and democracy as a whole.
After Ferraro was talking about how all those people who showed up to vote to count for a hill of beans, because they aren’t super, she turned her sites on Denver. I guess if this was a duel, she just landed that first slap. With regards to FL and MI:
I never thought I would feel the urge to use a phrase like, “Why, of all the unmitigated gall—” in a non-ironic way, but fuck, what unmitigated gall, what a titanic sense of entitlement, what a paternalistic vision of government.
Personally, I take the opposite view. I think primary voters count more than people who just turn out for the general in presidential election years. We’re the people who actively participate in democracy, year after year, lesser of two evils after lesser of two evils, good weather or bad, war or peace, poverty or prosperity. We’re the informed, educated (self- or otherwise) electorate that the Founders envisioned. We don’t give a rat’s ass who has the most donors and who spends the most on thirty-second ads that couldn’t possibly contain enough information to make a decision on toothpaste brands, much less potential leaders of the free world.
We’re the ones that would-be dictators, pampered bella donnas, and corrupt back-room deal makers wish would go away so they can get on with the business of fattening their wallets and egos as they drive the country into a hole in the ground.
There’ll be no coronation for you, Hillary Clinton. We haven’t been hiring annointed royalty since 1776. You’ve forgotten your place as an elected representative, as a servant of the people. And if your cronies try to — much less succeed at — pulling a palace coup at the convention, you can’t imagine the shitstorm you will be unleashing in this country. You think we want a conservative status-quo corporate Democrat apparatchik so bad we won’t stay home and relish the shit-eating grin on John McCain’s face as you congratulate him on his victory? Fucking think again.
Later this year, whether you concede to Barack Obama or John McCain, I’m betting it won’t take long before we hear of your retirement from the Senate. Why? Because your entire Senate career has been a sham, a careful, calculating, preening audition for the Oval Office. It wasn’t about serving the people of New York any more than your current buffoonery is about serving the people of America. It’s all been about you and your narcissistic craving for power and prestige.
You know what Hillary Clinton? The people are about to tell you the same thing they told your clownish, emotionally stunted husband: America isn’t about you.
I completely agree on that point. Of course, I’m also a cynic and even said back when she was running from debates in 2000 that the Senate run was just a stepping stone to the WH. I can totally see her not running for reeletion for Senator if she loses the WH bid. The Clinton’s will just turn their focus on creating the Democratic Party in their image.
shudder
That’s what makes her whole “He’s always wanted to be president, just ask his kindergarten teacher” schtick so ridiculous. They picked a state to move to where she could win a Senate seat post-presidency, with the thought of a Clinton third term in the future.
They just didn’t count on those pesky uimportant primary voters thinking they’d have a say in who the nominee should be.
And as I recall, Geraldine Ferraro was a LOSER, like her running mate. Of course she’d back the Clintons and their scorched-earth efforts.
With a loser husband who was neck deep in corruption.
Calm down. We’re in a new, NEW era.
Geraldine Ferraro is so, so yester year.
We are taking back the Party and Geraldine and other so called party elders coming out of the woodwork can’t handle the uprising – the quiet revolution. You see in history the quiet revolution is most dangerous. It jolts.
Want some proof that Clinton is done?
A must Read is Dana Milbank’s column, Washington Post, Feb. 26:
Team Clinton: Down, and Out of Touch
Do these guys remind of the keystone cops? Yes.
Can we spell Tired, Angry? Thought you could.
Yes they are not just tired, but drowning and want this to be over.
see why the Clintons and surrogates have gone negative, hurling the kitchen appliances?
When you’re drowning….you grab at straws.
Stay tuned for Tuesday’s debate. In my neck of the country, we’re under a winter storm watch. I won’t be shovelling – the heat from the debate should melt the expected 14 inches of snow.
Desperate for a boost, Madame Clinton now seeks the blessing of every has-been, never-was political operative. One can picture her combing through lists of Democrats, both ancient and obscure for the names of those that have managed to avoid the ravages of old age. This is how a bright and accomplished woman chooses to end her presidential aspirations.
Have Mondale and Dukakis announced their endorsements yet?
Mondale endorsed Clinton.
No surprise there…
yea, but Obama gets a Dodd endorsement
via TPM:. Slated to announce Tuesday, Feb 26.
Dodd Joins Team Obama
eat your heart out Hillary. You too Geraldine.
You know, what is a slap in the face is that Geraldine isn’t trying to convince us, she’s simply talking down to us. How dare she assume that the actual election part of the process doesn’t matter. She’s an idiot. You know, it’s not just the conservatives who have lost the real concept of democracy.
It was something like:
Yeah, I loved being talked down to from politicians. That’ll get me to vote for ya!
it seems we’re just all either stupid naive little children or big bad misogynist pricks if we’re not voting for Hillary, aren’t we?
Reminds me of the whole Bob Casey thing…when his supporters said I was just a “purity troll” “single-issue voter” for not voting for him because of his positions on the issues that were important to me. And guess what? That approach didn’t win him my vote; I wrote someone else in instead.
Every time I hear that clip of Hillary saying, “Shame on YOU, Barack Obama…” I just want to….well, first of all I push the mute button because I want to scream, then I think of my mother. I don’t want my mother in the white house, and I also don’t want that snotty high school girl either, which is what Hillary sounded like when she was openly mocking Obama over the weekend. If I had any positive thoughts about Hillary, she killed them the past few days.
Those clips almost make me fee sympathetic towards Bill..almost.
That was the result of the vote in the Ronald Reagan/George H. W. Bush vs. Walter Mondale/Geraldine Ferraro contest. (525 electoral votes, 49 states carried vs. 13 electoral votes, 1 state and D.C. carried). Not exactly a person I would accept advice from.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geraldine_Ferraro
not to mention she hasn’t won a campaign since. from wiki:
they’re trapped in the past.
Oh. My. God. Not just well said, but beautifully said. Your comments should be front-paged.
Most Democrats have not been heard from at the polls. We have all been impressed by the turnout for this year’s primaries — clearly both candidates have excited and engaged the party’s membership — but, even so, turnout for primaries and caucuses is notoriously low. It would be shocking if 30 percent of registered Democrats have participated.
So. “We” speak for rank and file Dems in case 1) you revert to form and don’t really participate in primaries or 2) we hear from too many of you and “we” don’t like what we hear.
Glad she cleared that up.
I swear, the more I think about it, the more I think “we” set John Kerry up to fail. I know he and his campaign must shoulder the most blame, but I swear to you, I’m starting to believe it. I saw Kerry at an Obama event, and guess what? He looked GREAT and he sounded even better. Confident. He could communicate clearly and effectively. And I kept thinking, THAT guy would have won 4 years ago.
And this is where I just lose patience with these Clinton supporters who claim they are progressive. They just do not understand who Hillary Clinton is and what she represents. This is more than a struggle for the presidency; it’s a struggle for control of this party. Will we flush the current, but well-paid crop of losers or not?
Fact is, “our” party elders would rather lose–and lose big–than grow the party, because that means it would be out of their control. Everything they do, and I mean EVERYTHING, is about fighting progressives. (And truth be told, they’re not fighting an influx of Greens, but just regular folks who are merely left of center. It’s still too scary for them.) I wish to God I had saved an article I read years ago where one of these DLC types was quoted saying “I live for party in-fighting.” And it shows. Billary has been more effective in attacking Barack Obama than they EVER have attacking George W. Bush.
I just remember the screaming about Obama’s Reagan’s comments, and all I can do is SMH. What a flippin’ joke! They can pretend that his was an era that offended them, but that’s just Grade A tripe. They never tried to change one damned thing–in fact, they tried to be more like Reagan. They’re just mad that Obama called them on their crap, and did what we needed done by bringing folks in and get them organized. Bill Clinton and that whole DLC crap wasn’t an answer to Reagan; it was their admission that they weren’t going to change the game but work within it.
She is a liar of the first order when she talks about “fighting” Shrub; that is a mere talking point used as a prop to get back into power. The only people she and her DLC crowd fights are REAL DEMOCRATS, as evidenced by Ferraro’s sorry op-ed.
Girl power solidarity can’t cover this con. I just wish other folks would get a clue…or be honest that having a woman trumps any and all policy, no matter what.
this kind of aggrandizing, patronizing commentary, and the actions of the campaign as a whole, hillary specifically, are having a very negative effect.
a bit of anecdotal evidence: several women l know, who are, shall we say, strident 70’s era feminists, and have been equally strident in their support of hillary, are recent converts to obama.
two of them had attended his speech at DU in denver, prior to the caucus, and they both said the speech, and the amazingly diverse crowd that shoed up, caused them to reconsider their positions.
this disclosure is quite recent, and l have no way of knowing, nor did l ask, how they voted in the caucus, but l suspect, they’re suffering from buyer’s remorse, given the discussion in general.
the wheels have come off the vaunted clinton machine. l hope reason prevails and she, hillary, can graciously concede…though l am not optimistic that she will do.
the ohio debate tonight will be a very telling event.
Apparently, this diary thing agrees with you – you’re back in the #1 spot. Hopefully this positive reinforcement will encourage a continuation of the desired behavior… :o))
Another great diary!