I'm from Connecticut and was active with the Lamont campaign for Senate. I was caught by surprise when, following his loss in the primary election, Lieberman declared an independent run. To me, Clinton's actions and similar sense of entitlement lead me to suspect (to FEAR) she'll run as an independent. I bet she's privately considering it.

Posted at May 21, 2008 5:13 PM in response to Hillary: I Might Take Fight Over Florida And Michigan To Convention!

This, I believe, is her strongest argument. It also happens to be her only argument.

Posted at May 21, 2008 1:42 PM in response to If Hillary can say she's won the pop. vote, why can't Obama say he's won a majority of delegates?

Everybody stop. Stop. Listen. Clinton deserves the nomination. Period. She deserves it just for being who she is. The wonderful person that she is. Think about it. There's no need to bring in numbers and math. You know in your heart she deserves it. So why not give it to her?

Posted at May 21, 2008 1:41 PM in response to If Hillary can say she's won the pop. vote, why can't Obama say he's won a majority of delegates?

Hillary's on Lost? I thought she had already eaten by the black smoke monster... God, I'll never catch up to this show!

Posted at May 20, 2008 10:24 PM in response to Why Hillary Lost

That's good advice, for us all (as tempting as it may be to piss 'em off).

Posted at May 20, 2008 8:48 AM in response to An Invitation to Angry Hillary Supporters

I like your optimism and I hope you're right (about us not needing to persuade the most embittered Clinton supporters to vote Democratic in the general election). I only want to be careful that we not overlook the problem: we need to make up their votes, that's for sure.

Posted at May 20, 2008 8:18 AM in response to An Invitation to Angry Hillary Supporters

I like this argument: that Obama suppporters are only interested in party unity insofar as it helps our candidate... My response would be: of course, that's the benefit of winning the nomination, silly.... Clinton would have had the same benefit had she won. The party selects one candidate to run in the general election and rallies behind that person. This is a reality you have to deal with, sorry folks.

Posted at May 20, 2008 7:14 AM in response to An Invitation to Angry Hillary Supporters

Les, sure, it's fair to say that many Clinton supporters have been unfairly accused of racism. (Although I insist that evidence of actual racism in this process is abundant, and that racism is abhorrent, no matter the amount.) Such false accusations are as "non-rational" as false accusations of sexism against Obama supporters, and clearly play no role in uniting the party.

However, most of the burden is on Clinton supporters to convince fellow Democrats why the outcome of the primary process should be overruled. You can't simply say that Obama's "thin resume" is enough reason to overturn his nomination. Explain to me why the results of the primary process should be overruled, or why it makes better sense to vote John McCain in the fall, using a rational argument. My sense is that you can't.

Posted at May 20, 2008 6:50 AM in response to An Invitation to Angry Hillary Supporters

I would love it such a post were made. The problem is, of course, that there has been no initiative on the part of Clinton supporters to have any kind of rational debate on this issue whatsoever. If Clinton supporters would do exactly as you suggest, and articulate specific reasons why the nomination must be denied to Obama at the convention, why Democrats should vote for McCain in the fall, then we would be one step closer to uniting the party.

And, by the way, I wonder even there can even be such a thing as an "angry" Obama supporter. If "angry" in this context means "angry to the point of not supporting the nominee of the party," then there could only be "angry" Obama supporters if Clinton were the presumptive nominee and Obama supporters were refusing to support her in the fall...

Posted at May 20, 2008 4:36 AM in response to An Invitation to Angry Hillary Supporters

I think we have a really big problem on our hands, and that anyone who says "don't worry about it" is really overlooking the extent of the problem. It isn't a surprise to me (who has sadly spent the last weeks trolling pro-Clinton websites) that no "angry" Clinton supporter has yet accepted this invitation. I haven't ever seen a rational argument given by a Clinton supporter for not supporting Obama in the fall: there's simply no rational justification to be made, and yet about 35% of Clinton supporters hold this non-rational position. So, how do we talk to them? How is an exchange possible, given the circumstances? This is a huge problem, which isn't simply going to go away with time, and we need our best minds focused on solving it.

Posted at May 20, 2008 4:02 AM in response to An Invitation to Angry Hillary Supporters