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"Stop Talking About Hillary!"
The fun never stops with the Legion of the Unhinged!
Despite the fact that since the day Clinton conceded the vast majority of posts, articles, opinion pieces etc in these pages--by the TPM staff!--have been about other things and other people, despite the fact that TPM continues to cover news around the world and at home in addition to being and, understandably, acting like a blog, despite the fact that Josh continues to put up interesting, informative and humorous video spots...despite all this, there is just no pleasing some people.
Now, that may sound pathetically obvious. And it is! You know...Can't please all the people all the time, right? Yeah, but this is not just about that. This is borderline insanity. (Which has its own level of humor and enjoyment!)
In the last few days Greg Sargent posted a couple pieces about Hillary Clinton. (Most of his posts during this time were NOT about her, but let's not get bogged down in actualities here!) One of the pieces on Clinton was how she was going to be having a little get-together to help raise money for Obama. So not strictly about her! Nevertheless...like clock work, the unhinged insanity rolled in. Not just in the comments section. Readers posts, too. And given the large population of the unhinged in these pages, the "recommends" shot right up there. "Whoo-hooo!" "Me too!" One of the more rational Obama supporters even went so far as to post a blog saying hey let's chill out here. Well, as you can imagine, that did not sit well with the "real" Obama supporters! Too funny.
Working the refs. Scream and yell "unfair!" or "what about me?" often enough and even the most unbiased, fairest, ethical referee in the world is going to start adjusting his/her calling behavior. The Unhinged are no different than the Republicans in this respect. The Republicans have been working the refs in the MSM for decades...and it pays off! It's a winning strategy. I see why the the Unhinged would want to copy them. My hope is TPM will remain unmoved. My hope is that Sargent and Marshall and Kurtz, deep down inside are laughing their collective asses off at these sad, pathetic folks and continue on as they have been. Covering whatever they feel like. Be it real, hard news or fluff. Be it about Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. Be it comedy or tragedy.
The idea that so many of the Unhinged become so freaked out over these occasional posts about Clinton gives me great pleasure. I suspect, I hope, the same goes for the TPM gang...though they are of course far too dignified to admit it publicly.
In the meantime, and I mean this sincerely...
Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton!
Heh-heh-heh. ;^}
Comments (20)
Anyone have a good recipe for cheesecake? I like it with cherries from a tin.
June 18, 2008 8:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
Something very special about canned cherry pie filling on top.
Personally, I can get my cheesecake fix with a good ole Sara Lee right from the grocer's freezer...
Mmmmm delishy-oh-so!
More recipes, please!
June 18, 2008 9:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
I hope you understand that you are responsible for several knees jerking and getting implanted in their respective foreheads.
tsk, tsk
June 18, 2008 9:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm so sorry.
June 18, 2008 11:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
I've noticed that since Sen. Clinton's concession, there's just less overall INTEREST in this election. I fully realize that that applies to ME (of course): As a Clinton backer of long standing, it's natural and expected that I would feel that way. What has actually SUPRISED me a little, is the extent to which Obama supporters have fallen victim to that same lack of interest.
I see it in here all the time: People keep TRYING (often obviously and painfully stretching) to work-up a healthy HATE for Sen. McCain, but it just isn't taking. It's strange (and somehow, revealing) that even in defeat, the Clintons remain the "story". As you said, one minor post in here with "...Clinton..." in the title rouses the slumbering populace to almost-forgotten levels of fury and eloquence, torrents of raging comments: "Hurray, we can STILL fight the last war!" Then, back to sleep thru what has become the dullest General Election of our time to date.
Sen. Obama in counterpoint to Clinton seemed mildly INTERESTING. They were genuinely engaged adversaries. "Not her" was one of his best arguments. I don't think even I realized the extent to which that might be his ONLY argument.
He and McCain and their respective minions are out there SOMEWHERE, I suppose. They're saying "candidate" things, hunting-up things to "disagree" over, stick-walking and shadow-boxing thru their paces, etc. There's just no FIRE: Sen. Clinton has taken the oxygen and the fuel out the door with her.
Post-partisan world or not, it STILL seems to take a Clinton or a Bush to put any real MUSTARD into one of these things. I know it's a long time til November (at the current rate of excitment, it's going to seem a LOT LONGER), but if the pace doesn't improve significantly, we're all going to be bored to death by "The most important election of our time (until the next one)" long before the Al Quada get us.
June 18, 2008 9:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
I don't think it was even one of his arguments let alone one of his best or only arguments. Sure, many of his supporters used it, and it was a weak argument, but I don't see how you can attribute it to him personally.
Yes, Clinton is more interesting than McCain, and possibly even more interesting than Obama. There's definitely been a lot of Clinton drama (as well as a significant amount of McCain drama) whereas the McCain drama, while not absent (e.g., Hagee), definitely doesn't get much air time.
As for certain TPMers excessive focus on her (and I'm referring to those who don't like her—I can hardly fault her fans for still focusing on her from time to time), take it as a sign of respect, if disguised as its somewhat ugly stepchild known as fear.
I respect her without fearing her, look forward to additional support of her towards Obama, and think she's handling the transition from primary to general just fine. I do wish some of my compatriots would stop giving her negative attention, but what can I do?
June 18, 2008 10:19 AM | Reply | Permalink
It's not lack of interest, it's that the immediacy is gone. "If it's Tuesday, there must be a primary somewhere" is over. There are more varied issues, we're back to spending more time on the Bush administration (which always irked me that the primaries were more important than the crooks in the White House).
There isn't a "game of the week", so it's less intense.
June 18, 2008 2:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well-stated, and I do find the carping to be both amusing and disappointing at the same time.
June 18, 2008 10:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
Likewise. I constantly waver between pulling my hair out angry to this only deserves mockery laughing out loud.
The above was my mockery mood! ;^}
June 18, 2008 11:08 AM | Reply | Permalink
One_Wilson mentions mustard? But no relish? Is it "catsup" or "ketchup"... How about BBQ sauce? Horseradish cream? Salsa? Chutney? Kimchee?
By the way... Where has Hillary been enscounced these days... not at the Senate yet... still waiting at Whitehaven? or chillin' in Chappaqua? hanging out in Harlem?
June 18, 2008 10:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
From the news I g=heard she's been staying off radar & getting much needed rest after a ghard fought campaign. Can you blame her? Oh and she's comign out of hiding to urge her fundraisers to donate to Obama. But feel free to continue to denigrate and mock for no prpose whatsoever. It's so very very helpful.
FYI: Follow the leader.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/06/17/obama-defends-clinton-at-michigan-rally/#more-7925
June 18, 2008 10:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hey dijamo!
You just know I'm going to have to post a "Barack! Stop Talking About Hillary!" blog pretty soon. ;^}
June 18, 2008 11:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
And you know if Hillary disappears from the radar and is nowhere to be seen, they'll be blaming her for sabotaging his campaign by not being actively tryi gto unite folks. If she's out there trying to unite folks, they want her to go away to some dark dungeon never to be seen again. I don't get it - I've never seen anything this illogical.
June 18, 2008 2:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ah yes, very good point.
June 18, 2008 3:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, I'd like to think that you're talking about two different groups of people. I personally am in pretty much the opposite situation—if she's out helping I'm happy, or if she's somewhere resting I'm happy. I assume that she and Obama have discussed plans for how she can best help (within constraints of how much she might feel she needs a break), and I trust that she's working with him and the DNC to make sure he's our next president.
June 18, 2008 5:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for your permission for mocking and ribbing, dijamo -- as if I or anyone else needed it...
Illogic is the instant beatification of Saint Hillary... (see dijamo's comment below)
(follow the leader? in your mamma's dreams...)
June 18, 2008 3:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hillary Clinton had 22 DEBATES to "find her voice" and let the voters know all sides of her personality, issues, and what she had to offer. The voters’, the delegates’, and super delegates’ consensus was for Obama as the Democrat's Presidential Nominee. You can STOP trying to rewrite current history and STOP Disney-fying the last six months of Hillary’s political campaign. You can also STOP the wishful thinking and "what if's." Yes, I believe Hillary did grow and learn from her experiences while campaigning. She grew in stature and self-confidence but more importantly, Democracy also survived the lap-dog media, racial/racist rants, including some ugly allegations she and her supporters tried to pull over on the public regarding Obama as person (and less about the issues). Hillary Clinton, at best, is a Democrat by name and party affiliation only - that’s what we can remember best about her.
June 18, 2008 10:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
The Clinton collapse was pretty hard to ignore, she had so many advantages, name recognition, big money donors, the establishment was beind her, and yet she lost.
My opinion is that she lost the minute she voted for the Iraq war as it pretty much made it impossible for her to run against the war in the general election, which made it unlikeley that she would win or if she did win it would have been very close.
It is good to see people who were right about the war and right about the need to negotiate with other countries getting the recognition they deserve; in addition Obama's health plan would work great for me.
The other thing about the Clintons was the trainwreck feel of her whole campaign. Almost anyone could see the problem with the inevitibility strategy, one early primary or caucus loss and she was no longer inevitible. Plus, watching the campaign go after Shuster while they were losing primary after primary showed how messed up Clintons priorities were throughout the process. All the alcohol she was consuming was also pretty hard to ignore. In the end she was more a sideshow than a real candidate and while entertaining I think she was also a little scary. It was sort of like watching an episode of intervention complete with a host of enablers.It is hard to not talk about the fall of Hillary Clinton as it is probably one of the biggest falls from grace in the history of American politics.
June 18, 2008 10:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
I've noticed that since Sen. Clinton's concession, there's just less overall INTEREST in this election. I fully realize that that applies to ME (of course): As a Clinton backer of long standing, it's natural and expected that I would feel that way. What has actually SUPRISED me a little, is the extent to which Obama supporters have fallen victim to that same lack of interest.
Well, sure. A few weeks ago we were at the climactic end of a dramatic and intense nomination battle, and now we are at the much less exciting beginning of the general election campaign. You can expect the lower levels of interest to remain throughout most of the summer, and only pick up again following the conventions, and during the fall campaigns. I'm not sure why you would be surprised.
June 18, 2008 11:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
Look, Hillary has suspended her campaign, she is now on a month long vacation from the Senate. She is going to hold a joint fund raiser with Obama next week to merge her large donors to Obama's campaign. This is all the news we need to know regarding Clinton at this time.
As a woman who for over 40 years has wanted to see a woman President take the office of President of the United States I was very saddened that I could not vote for this woman. Mainly because she does not share my values. Two, who could have expected that an inspiring charismatic candidate like Obama would have come along to upstage such a seasoned candidate as Hillary.
Obama won, Hillary lost. She is now old news. So is all the analysis as to why she lost.
So my vote would be to see more posts regarding the wonderful candidate the Democratic Party has now and how every Democrat can assist in getting him elected.
It is sad that so many seem to not want to let go of Hillary. But the longer people continue to post on her, the longer it will be for the Democrats to fully invigorate the electorate to vote for Obama.
She is now the past and Obama is the future. Let's start looking ahead.
Enthusiasm will grow again. As the election draws nearer and summer wains, the candidates will be in full swing after the conventions.
In my opinion, in the mean time it is every Democrats responsibility to inform people in their own lives of what a disaster a McCain presidency would be. And explain how the Democrats are the ones with the best plans to heal the country after Bush, end the war in Iraq, and provide the environment that will stimulate the economy and create jobs. Democrats are the ones who care to provide for the general welfare of the American people from healthcare, environment and global warming, to alternative energy, and education.
Democrats are superior to the Republicans on all the issues today that Americans care about. But the mainstream media will not inform the people of that fact. We the people must use our voices to spread the word. Now is our time.
Say goodbye to Hillary and hello to President Obama! Yes WE Can!
June 18, 2008 12:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
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