Willie's Silly Hilly Won't Drop Out
Published May 10, 2008
After the drubbing Hillary got in North Carolina (while not being able to win in Indiana without the help of Rush Limbaugh's Dittoheads), one would think that she would be smart enough to hear The Fat Lady singing. So far, even with the faithful Rep. Rahm Emanuel admitting it's over, Hillary refuses to get real.
The idea that Hillary won't quit kept echoing in my head, until it formed into a satirical song lyric based on Little Willie, by Sweet (who is more familiar to most of you as the performers of The Ballroom Blitz). Due to the editorial standards of Blogcritics, I can't reproduce it here, but you can read it either on my home page or here.
One has to wonder why Hillary doesn't give in to the inevitable, and certainly one does. Mark Karlin, Editor and Publisher of BuzzFlash.com, expresses surprise at the large feminist bloc still supporting Hillary when her behavior is so "male". Karlin adds insult to the injury by naming that male - George Wallace.
There is evidence to support the contention that Hillary has been playing up the racial fears, and that it has been working. CNN reported on May 8, 2008 that exit polls from the most recent elections in Indiana and North Carolina show Hillary winning 60 percent of the white vote in both states; slightly down from the 65 percent of the white vote who supported her in the Ohio primary and the 63 percent of the Pennsylvania white vote.
Kate Phillips, of The New York Times, feels that Hillary herself seems to be proud that her tactic is working, despite the longer-term costs coming out of the racial harmony budget. She told USA Today about an article by The Associated Press which “found how Senator Obama’s support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me.”
African-American Blogger Oliver Willis, in a post titled Hillary White Power Clinton, excoriated Hillary's methods and awarded her the prize for the first Democratic Bigot Eruption. John Aravosis of Americablog, responded with a "what did you expect" post, observing that
...every time Hillary moves into a new state, she picks the one right-wing issue to embrace that she thinks will help with that state. I think this speaks volumes to what Hillary sees when she sees rural America, southern America,and the Midwest.
"Floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bee" may well have worked to make Muhammad Ali the heavyweight boxing champion, but that sort of inconsistency causes people to wonder about what Hillary really stands for. Katrina van den Heuvel, of The Nation, complains that the Clintons aren't living up to the standard that "People who work hard and play by the rules can get ahead" in her article "A Change is Gonna Come," and reminds her readers about Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson's observation that "the Clinton campaign has moved the goalposts so often... they're somewhere out in the parking lot." One has to lead where people are willing to go, and thanks to George W. Bush, all the Clintons have managed is to join the voters who are already outside the GOP stadium, where continuing the rigged game is all that is promised to them by GOP selectman John McCain.
- Willie's Silly Hilly Won't Drop Out
- Published: May 10, 2008
- Type: Opinion
- Section: Politics
- Filed Under: Politics: Elections and Candidates, Politics: Government, Politics: Local and Regional, Politics: U.S.
- Writer: Realist
- Realist's BC Writer page
- Realist's personal site
- Spread the Word
- Like this article?
- Email this
Save to del.icio.us
Comments on this articleComments
IMO the Clintons are confronted by the failure of their own strategy and can't accept it. They passed on the 2004 election figuring it was too hard to unseat a sitting president, especially in the middle of a war (ironically, they may now realize they were wrong after Bush's thin reelection) so they decided to wait for 2008 for a clear shot, never imagining a total newcomer could upset their plans as Obama has. After all their controlling and finagling their plans are going on the rocks just because of those darn voters! They put all their political chips on to this election and can't accept that they're losing.
Biffle,
I agree. Doesn't this just make you get all goose pimply with hope that it will be President Clinton who answers the White House phone at 3:00 am?
Dan
Sure, someone who cared about her reputation would have stopped by now. But Hillary doesn't.
We remember Bill as the guy who could wriggle his way out of anything, but that's not really true. He'd take the hit and keep going. His focus was on the win, not on the wreckage in his wake. So he sold out constituencies over things like NAFTA and welfare reform, manipulated others (remember that he was impeached because he's black), and when there was nothing left to do but loot the White House and pardon criminals for cash, he did that.
Hillary really is Bill without the charm. She has that same horrible uninterest in the consequences of her actions. You said that she doesn't know when to fold 'em, but that assumes that there's a cost to staying in the race. Six million dollars, she won't miss. Open wounds in the Democratic Party, she doesn't care about. She's got a 4% chance of stealing the nomination and there's no appreciable downside for her, so she's staying in.
Man, I am sick of this 'quit' attitude. Hey, the Yankees are down by 3 points in the 8th inning, shouldn't they just walk off the field and go home?
Go Hillary! You don't stop till the final tick of the clock.
Not quitting, that is a change we need in the loser attitude that some of this country seems to have. She may win, she may lose. But, if you quit, you lose.
DM
You know, even if Hillary does not win the Democratic nomination, as long as she sticks in there till the final tick of the clock-that is a good message to send to the citizens of the USA.
Her campaign may be about $20million in the hole, but she is punching out to the end.
Gotta admire that...
DM
Howard Dean (yeeeaaahhhhooooooo!!!!) was on Leno last night. It was kinda refreshing to get his point of view being in a prominant position with the Democratic party.
anyway, it weeded out the b.s. a bit.
DM
Add your comment, speak your mind
(Or ping: http://blogcritics.org/mt/tb/76740)
It's quite amusing watching a good portion of the Democratic party that used to support and adore the Clintons turn on her. They've been saying"well look at the would ya, she's still in the race even though she can't win and can only hurt Obama an dhis chances....that not A-ok with me gosh darn it, she must not really care about anything but her self....gee I had no idea she could be like that."
Are you f-ing kidding me? Before Obama came along Hillary was a saint who could do no wrong and loved this nation more than anything, especially herself and her own ambitions and now suddenly overnight she's turned into this self serving conniving power hungry win at all costs devil?
Or is it just more likely that that's who she's been all along and until this point it was ignored by the people who agreed with her political views because she viewed as someone with the ower to advance those views.
You won't get any arguments from me about the intelligience, work ethic, or determination of Bill and Hillary because they both have these in spades. However when push comes to shove neither one of them has any honor or ability to put the need's of others or of this nation above their own political ambitions.
All the clintonscare about now and have ever cared about is their own quest for power and building a legacy.
It's obvious what Hillary's gameplan is now. She is going to stay in the race as long as politically possible so that she can bash Obama enough to cost him the victory in 2008 so that she can run against Mccain in 2012.