Hillary was not my first choice in this primary season, nor my second, nor my third. Yet I find my self becoming hard in my support despite my late and reluctant support for her mostly in reaction to the Obama supporters and some in reaction to the Obama campaign.
This first point might seem small but to me its indicative of an over
all trend. The constant attack on Clinton for being the only one on the
MI ballot. This lie is used to claim she is unethical, devious,
unwilling to keep her word and/or play by agreed upon rules. Spreading
this lie is not confined to the hate Hillary machine that has taken
over so many of the blogs I read. Its the meme spread by the MSM. I saw
Daschle, a major Obama supporter, attacking Hillary with this lie.
Saddest of all, the only tv pundit I've seen tell the truth is George
Will, a republican. I never thought I'd see the day when I was looking
at republicans as truth tellers about the democrats.
From the top of the Obama campaign, throughout the MSM to the least
obama supporter the lie has become accepted truth. I choose this
specific example because its the most easily proven. Edwards, Obama,
Richardson, Biden removed their names. Kucinich, Clinton, Dodd, And
Gravel did not. One theory is they removed their names to pander to the
Iowa voters at a time when each were looking for a good showing
against Hillary, the presumptive front runner, to gain momentum in
Iowa. While I don't have 100% faith in it, there is credible story line
I saw quite often at the time that Edwards, Obama, and Kucinich cooked
up the scheme and revealed it at the last minute in the hope that even
if Clinton wanted to follow suit she wouldn't have adequate time.
Thereby hurting her in Iowa. That Kucinich announced he was removing
his name but didn't have time to file the paperwork and was on the
ballot adds credence to that story.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/10/09/michigan.primary/index.html
While Dodd's campaign is "committed to the importance of Iowa and New Hampshire going first," Dodd will not withdraw from the ballot, said Dodd's communications director Hari Sevugan.
"It does not benefit any of us, if we are the nominee, to pull our name
off the ballot and slight Michigan voters," Sevugan said.
Hillary's statements at the time were basically the same as Dodd's. At
least cynical pandering by Obama and others or perhaps an underhanded
scheme to tar an opponent has been turned into an attack on hillary.
While some are simply spreading the talking points from the media out
of ignorance, I'm convinced that some are deliberately spreading the
lie or at least letting happily it pass without correction. That no
rational Obama supporters feel any need to correct clearly false
information makes makes you complicit it the spreading of it.
The second point I'd like to bring up is the so called gay bash tour.
http://rodonline.typepad.com/rodonline/2007/10/barack-obama-ca.html
For most candidates this would be a deal breaker for me. I understand
the difficulty of the issue and I accept a candidate keeping silent.
But to deliberately use homophobia to get votes is a republican tactic.
When confronted on the issue obama released a statement saying he
disgreed with their (the gospel singers) words and beliefs. he hired a
minister who supported gay rights who came out before the concert, said
a prayer which contained no reference to gay rights, and was not seen
again. Totally insufficient and my vote would have been gone at that
point. But the LGBT community seemed to give him a pass and since its
not a personal issue with me I followed their lead on this. But that
doesn't mean his use of a republican tactic disappeared.
Third, after using homophobia to pander for the black vote he played the race card.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/064146.php
Hillary's statement about MLK and LBJ was in no way disrespectful of
King. It was a historical fact that was spun to get the black vote to
switch to obama. That's politics, the old style, of which obama and his
campaign team is a master of.
Fourth, Farrakhan. While I agree that Clinton pushed it too hard in the
debate I totally disagree with the overwhelming posts here that think
he was unfairly attacked. In the blind defense/offense that is the hate
Hillary machine attempted to crush Hillary for going to far there was
little acknowledgment of the racism of Farrakhan.
For me and others for whom Farrakhan is not history this was a fair
question. For any other candidate belonging to a similar white church
would be another deal breaker. If any white candidate belonged to a
church that gave an award to David Duke no words, no rubuke or renounce
would spare that candidate. They would have to leave the church and
after being a member for 20 leaving when the issue came up during an
election might not be enough.
Obama was not attacked unfairly with that question, he got a pass, as
have other black leaders. He got a pass because liberals know that
discrimination still exists. That we are still a racist nation. We see
the statistics on poverty, incarceration rates, we even understand what
someone means when they say they were stopped for DWB. We know that for
all our efforts liberals have fallen short of the goal. The vile racist
Farrakhan provides services to the black community that mostly should
not have to be provided if we were a freer nation and at the very least
should be provided by the government.
For those who say the comparison to Duke is not apt or that Farrkhan
and the NOI is not significant enough I offer this. In 1995 Farrakhan
and the NOI called for a million man march on DC. Nearly that many men
showed up. I doubt that Duke could get a million men to march on
Washington. In 2004 the March for Women's rights has barely more than a
million and this was with major stars participating and both men and
women participating.
So Obama gets a pass that I and many others would not give to any
politician belonging to a church that honored David Duke. All we ask is
that he clearly reject the racist in the hopes that the racism will not
spread.
Now I will admit that Ferraro's statement was racist though more stupid
and ignorant. It needed to be dealt with. But let's put it in context.
It was the last tatters of ignorance of an old women born in a
strikingly different culture then today who has done much to further
the cause of minorities throughout her life. The character
assassination of this good women on this board by the hate Hillary
machine was difficult to watch especially when just a few weeks ago
those same people attempted character assassination against Hillary
with almost no mention of the overt, vile, totally over the top and
dangerous racism of Farrakhan. By your silence you gave the nod to
Farrakhan. What a perversion of liberal principles for the sake of
nothing but a win.
Last this Fl revote. Again I'll point out the lieing. Surely there are
many here who know that when the DNC sanctioned Fl and MI there was
always several ways to get them seated. Most articles and blogs I read
at the time fully expected them to be seated since few thought the
contest would last this long. I believe the plan all along was to seat
the delegates. The punishment was clear in the pledge from the
candidates. Do not campaign or spend money in the states.
No rules have been broken. Each state has always had the option of
submitting a plan for a revote or petitioning the credentials committee
to be seated.
But that is immaterial in my view. I didn't get asked what date the
primary should be. I didn't agree to the sanction. I didn't sign any
pledge. I didn't agree to be disenfranchised. Obama is using
republican tactics to take away my vote. There is credible evidence
that he is slowing and impeding a revote. That every vote be counted is
a core democratic principle I didn't give up. Neither Clinton, Obama,
or the DNC can give it up for me, they can only take it away. If Obama
wants my vote in the GE he must stand for that principle, work to see
it manifested. If winning is more important than that only my concerns
about the Supreme Court will cause me to vote for him.
Obama has gotten too many passes from me already. He is an old style
politician, a master at it. I can accept that if it wasn't accompanied
by this holier than thou attitude and nonsense about new politics. And
if it wasn't accompanied by the hate Hillary machine I see on the net.
I don't think many will read this far but I could go on for another few
pages. And I doubt many will hear me. If people trashed Krugman for
pointing out the viciousness of some Obama supporters who would listen
to me? At one point I could have easily accepted Obama as the nominee.
But now I almost don't care how Hillary wins and at times all I see
between me and a vote for McCain is the supreme court. If I, who came
to Hillary reluctantly when my other choices didn't pan out, am now so
hardened I wonder how those who started with her feel. I'm wondering if
its still possible to pull back from this brink and whether McCain will
be the next president.