“Like the scripted “Ask President Bush” sessions during the 2004 campaign, this town hall seemed to unfold in Stepford. The anodyne questions (“What else would you do to help take care of our veterans?”) merely cued up laundry lists of talking points. Some in attendance appeared to trance out …”
“However boring, this show was a dramatic encapsulation of how a once-invincible candidate ended up in a dead heat, crippled by poll-tested corporate packaging that markets her as a synthetic product leeched of most human qualities. What’s more, it offered a naked preview of how nastily the Clintons will fight, whatever the collateral damage to the Democratic Party, in the endgame to come…”
“Less than two weeks ago she was airlifted into her own, less effective version of “Mission Accomplished.” Instead of declaring faux victory in Iraq, she starred in a made-for-television rally declaring faux victory in a Florida primary that was held in defiance of party rules, involved no campaigning and awarded no delegates. As Andrea Mitchell of NBC News said, it was “the Potemkin village of victory celebrations.”
It could be, since there’s been no wailing out in the blogosphere, on how Rich, essentially, called Hillary and her husband lying scumbags, blinded only by their own, self-centered ambitions, the Hillary & Co. didn’t notice, or have a chance to exploit read Rich today.
They were kind of busy.
First, throwing their campaign manager under-the-bus, soon followed by her fourth consecutive defeat, in less than 24-hours, to Barack Obama, Obama taking the State of Maine’s caucus today.
Rich points out, both with Hillary’s Hallmark Moment, and out on the campaign trail, the Clinton’s exploitation of “race” (“The campaign’s other most potent form of currency remains its thick deck of race cards.”), the opportunity of some classic Clinton ruthlessness that lies ahead (“The question now is how much more racial friction the Clinton campaign will gin up if its Hispanic support starts to erode in Texas, whose March 4 vote it sees as its latest firewall.”).
And then there’s the delegates.
To borrow from Joe Pesci, it’s the delegates, it’s always the fucking delegates.
“That’s why you now hear Clinton operatives talk ever more brazenly about trying to reverse party rulings so that they can hijack 366 ghost delegates from Florida and the other rogue primary, Michigan, where Mr. Obama wasn’t even on the ballot. So much for Mrs. Clinton’s assurance on New Hampshire Public Radio last fall that it didn’t matter if she alone kept her name on the Michigan ballot because the vote “is not going to count for anything.”
Let us remind Barack Obama, the advice we gave him – and John Edwards – last month, on what he is up against;
“That someone needs to say again – and really accentuate – that he is running against THE CLINTONS!
Hunter S. Thompson, in his laser beam, spot-on “Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail”, about his view of the 1972 Presidential elections described the ego of a man running for president to that of “a moose in heat”.
Well, there’s two moose out there, ramming their antlers against anybody and anything that looks to be in their way on calling 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue home again.”
Read Frank Rich and “Next Up for the Democrats: Civil War” … It is such a exquisitely delicious thrashing!
Bonus Clinton Dirt
Barry Crimmins weighs in, less on David Shuster and much, much more on Chelsea Clinton with his “Hedging for a Hoedown” (and it’s worth clicking over for the Rush Limbaugh photo only)
Arianna Huffington has some background on Hillary’s, suddenly old-new, campaign manager with her blast-from-the-past “Who Is Maggie Williams?”
What have the Clintons ever done to you? I don’t even know where to begin response.
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p>First, the difference between Frank Rich and David Shuster is that Rich went directly for the candidate, while Shuster criticized Chelsea in a rather crass way.
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p>Second, does Rich KNOW the town hall was scripted and what is his evidence? If a candidate wants to bring up a point why doesn’t she just do it? I see no advantage to planting questions and I know they weren’t (at least my questions) at events I attended in NH.
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p>Third, as far as I know Doyle resigned voluntarily for personal reasons. Sure everyone wants to speculate that it has to do with recent results, but unless you have evidence otherwise take the campaign’s word for it.
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p>Fourth, the race card has been invented by the media who insist on breaking down the vote results along every perceivable line that divides us. I still don’t buy that President Clinton’s comments about Jesse Jackson winning SC was a race matter.
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p>Finally, MI and FL delegates should be seated or somehow reselected. To deny them full convention credentials disenfranchises millions of voters not to mention is politically dumb.
Christopher
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p>Thanks for reading and commenting …
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p>I disagree that Shuster was being “crass” (and I have a whole post on that – click on the link to check that out) …
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p>The Town Hall was a serious dog-and-pony show, but, she bought the time, it was her show to run and it is what it is …
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p>True, Doyle unlikely left due to recent results, but, I would venture to guess it was a push due to overall results …There were the rumors of major changes coming around the NH Primary but then Hillary, weeped and “found her own voice” so I guess they tabled the changes then (and, for my money, it’s the scumbag Penn and bagman MacAulife that should exit)
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p>And yes, the Media certain does their share of it, but the Clinton’s most certainly were sowing their own seeds on the Race Card front … And Ex-Pres Bill’s Jackson comments most definitely had a racial tone to it …That Obama was the “black candidate”, while Hillary is the people’s candidate …
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p>We still have the drama to play out, so we’ll see how it goes …
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p>The more Obama racks up wins, the more vicious, I expect, the Clinton’s to become …They don’t just play to win, they play to destroy any and all opposition
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p>Again, Thanks
Peace
JTD
Because it sure ain’t analysis.
It’s really hard to take you seriously…drink some koolaid, get some hope in your heart for heaven’s sake…your nastiness doth run over…
experience or policy positions, so they have to make up stuff about Hillary Clinton to convince themselves that they have made the right choice for president. How sad.
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p>I read Frank Rich’s column on Sunday. It is full of outrageous, unsupported charges and hate. What a waste of space in the Sunday NYT. He should be suspended or fired for writing crap. I also read the comments posted by readers, most of whom seemed just as appalled by the tone of the column as I was. (One poster explained that she attended one of the town meeting locations along with other undecided voters and the group wrote and selected the questions to be asked from that location before they went on the air.) The race issue, which was spun by the Obama campaign to win the South Carolina primary, and which succeeded beyond their wildest dreams with the help of the media, was taken to new disgusting heights by Frank Rich. Somehow Frank missed the Obama apology for pushing the race issue that he made at one of the debates.
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p>It is so hypocritical to say you are supporting a candidate because he will bring people together and then engage in exactly the kind of behavior that has the opposite effect.
Say Hey Open Society, as well as the other commenters
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p>Thanks for reading and commenting …
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p>Gee, I thought I was taking it, kind of, light on The Clintons … They do, as you know, have an extremely long trail …
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p>And it also works the other way .. If you say you don’t love Hillary, and/or offer any criticism, watch out …
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p>It may not be too long … Things are slipping away from her
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p>Anyway, thanks for weighing in
Peace
JTD