Irregular Times Diaries: Unfit Discussion
In a time of the spring, old paths are obscured and new growth begins.
Irregular Times Diaries: Unfit DiscussionIn a time of the spring, old paths are obscured and new growth begins.
I’ve got a theory about Bill Clinton’s obnoxious behavior, coming up with inaccurate and crude slurs against Barack Obama. I think he knows that he looks like a jerk, and I think he knows that it disgusts voters, and I think that’s exactly what he wants.
The Hillary Clinton for President campaign has never sought to build a real network of grassroots support - not of the kind we saw developing in 2004. They know too that Barack Obama is attracting new voters to the presidential primaries, and that new voters are those who are the most likely to lose their resolve and not show up to vote when they become discouraged.
Hillary Clinton’s support, on the other hand, tends to come from the institutional Democratic Party and its extensions at the state and local level. Longtime Democrats who have been regular voters are more likely to support a candidate who reminds them of Democrats in the past, rather than someone who challenges Democrats to break with the past.
If voters are getting turned off by Bill Clinton’s smarmy attacks against Barack Obama, and want to stop participating in the 2008 presidential primary elections, it’s more likely that those who walk away in disgust will be Barack Obama’s supporters. I think that Bill Clinton knows that, and is purposefully trying to create low voter turnout in the Super Tuesday primaries, so that Hillary Clinton can win.
Consider how, every time that one of Bill Clinton’s stupid comments gets publicity in the news, he doesn’t apologize and back off. He comes out the next day and says something even more outrageous. Bill Clinton knows exactly what he’s doing. He’s trying to drive everyone out of the Democratic primaries except for the people who are supporters of the establishment Clinton machine, and will put up with anything that Bill Clinton does.
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January 24th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
I’m sad to say it, but that sounds about right.
January 24th, 2008 at 9:12 pm
What “obnoxious behavior” is this? Did I miss something? Don’t tell me he’s getting more blowjobs.
January 24th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
Bill Clinton claiming that Barack Obama “took a hit job out” on him was really far out, Iroquois.
January 24th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
Do you have a link? That sounds like it belongs in some kind of context.
What I have heard is some unfair and aggressive tactics on the part of Obama campaign in Nevada. One a flyer in Spanish claiming Clinton was against Hispanics. The other was some claim about the Clinton lawsuit against forming caucuses in the casinos during working hours. The Obama campaign claimed Hillary was anti-union, but it turned out that those casinos in the lawsuit had unions which had endorsed Obama. Not exactly truthful on the part of the Obama campaign. They must expect that people won’t bother to follow up on those things and that they can get the lie to stick. I have always thought a lot of Obama, and I hope this is from his staff and not from him.
The main problem seems to be that Bubba is an effective campaigner, and by implication, Michelle is not. It’s true when she went to Nevada to campaign, she couldn’t pronounce “Nevada” correctly.
January 25th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
All right, I found the reference.
It was a reply to Obama calling Hillary the “senator of Punjab”, apparently a slam on Hillary’s Indian-American constituents. And Bill Clinton’s remark looks like a slam on Obama’s connection to Chicago shady character Tony Rezko, apparently a financial contributor to all of Obama’s campaigns.
I notice you criticize one but not the other.
What I found was really tacky was Obama pretending that Hillary’s remark praising LBJ’s role in the civil rights movement was racist. Is it really racist to claim that someone white did something for civil rights? LBJ DID sign that voting rights bill. And I believe it was JFK who actually did all the political groundwork to make it come about. This is the sort of “all white people are oppressors” kind of attitude that stifles political discussion and makes white voters think twice about voting for a black candidate once they are in the privacy of the voting booth.
January 26th, 2008 at 10:12 am
[…] Bill Clinton’s comment is also a not very subtle warning to the activist progressive Democratic grassroots: The Clintons will run a “civilized” campaign, which means that the backbone gets thrown out the window. Uppity grassroots Democrats who demand strong action against the Republicans will not be tolerated. Progressives will be shut out of the process. This confirms my suspicion that Bill Clinton is determined to keep new Democratic voters out of power. […]
January 26th, 2008 at 10:14 am
Uh, Iroquois, OBAMA never called Hillary the “senator of Punjab”. That reference is to a comment by an Obama staff member, which was immediately denounced and retracted by Obama himself.
Have you not heard that Hillary Clinton herself was photographed with Tony Rezko?
January 26th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
Oooh! Oooh! Where’s the picture?
But aren’t you going to criticize Obama’s surrogates for their raucous doings? I mean, Obama fusses about Hillary’s surrogates, then unleashes his own. Actually, I think it was Obama who took the gloves off first in Nevada.
It seemed to me when I read the transcript of the debate, every time Obama tried to weasel out of talking about his record, the audience applauded. Hillary even had to say it was appropriate to question his voting record on the issues, even though some of her questions were weasel questions, and quite skillfully crafted too. Still, is there a different standard for Obama than for the other candidates? He seems to expect one.