You know, I haven’t been to North Carolina for years. I’ll bet spring is really pretty there. Hmmm, Brook has been saying for some time now that she would like to visit Williamsburg in VA and that’s really close to NC and, heck, I haven’t been to Kitty Hawk since I was 5 years old when my Dad took us to see the Wright Bros. Monument. And the BFF went to school in NC. So many good reasons to visit.
Anyway, I like to look forward, not back. There’s not a lot you can do about the past. You can’t unsay things you regret later. You can only learn from your mistakes and move on. With that in mind, here are a couple of posts from around the blogosphere that reflect on things better left unsaid:
- Jerome Armstrong has another memo from the other side, this one from an Obama delegate in PA who recaps the fatal mistakes that lead to Obama’s humiliating loss in PA (did I do it right, MABlue?). This one is a doozy. Some of the dumbass things include going to San Francisco and dissing small town voters, debating very poorly and not passing around “street money” in Philly. As to that last one, I know for sure they did it in NJ, but either Obama is watching his spendthrift ways lately or he just takes his African-American constituency for granted (I think it’s a little of both) but he didn’t pass out enough cash to ward leaders and volunteers. Now, I have to pause for a second and say that as far as I know, Clinton’s campaign doesn’t do that. For one thing, the money is very carefully budgeted and there is no waste. I’ve never been offered cash for volunteering and I don’t know of other volunteers who have been offered it either. Yeah, we Clinton supporters are in it for the fame and glory. But seriously, how sad is it that you have to pay your volunteers to GOTV? Shouldn’t they *want* to do this for altruistic reasons, like, maybe they believe in the candidate? But I think the more egregious thing about the street money issue with Obama is the campaign was aware of this custom in Philly and chose to spend its money instead on $11 Million in advertising. As the delegate alludes to in his memo, the Obama PR operation gets paid per ad in a way so that there is an incentive to produce more ads and consequently more money for the PR firm. It’s a racket. There’s probably a cost-benefit analysis somewhere that shows how many ads deliver the greatest punch. Obama’s campaign exceeded this number many times over. And his campaign contributions went to pay the PR firm instead of going into the hands of the volunteers who would have flushed out the voters on primary day. I don’t know about you but the overall sense of the campaign just looks like a racket to make money for some very enterprising individuals connected to David Axelrod. And everyone thought Mark Penn was bad. He might be a loathsome person but at least he knew how to win the big states for Clinton.
- In Metaphor? No, Murder, Anglachel recaps what she wrote previously about Keith Olbermann’s room scenario. She’s got a point in that Keith’s frustration with Hillary’s tenacity is starting to make him indiscreet and he’s blurting out what he’s really thinking. But Anglachel and I know that while Keith is unlikely to act on that frustration, there will be some listeners who think it’s a great idea. I think Hillary has pretty good secret service protection. I have a feeling their monitoring tools are much more sophisticated than we think. But that’s not to say that someone won’t flip out and try something. She’s not a large woman. And who’s to say that this comment won’t encourage men to let down their guard in everyday situations? This genie is out of the bottle. Keith can’t unsay it and I doubt that any of us can influence the network to take these things seriously. But Obama and other party leaders should step up to the mic and say enough is enough. It’s getting dangerous for women in the public forum when stuff like this goes unchecked.
I have an idea that I hope a couple enterprising readers will take me up on. I’d like to read “on the ground” reports from North Carolina and Indiana so we can live vicariously. Are there any Conflucians that are volunteering for those two states who would be interested in contributing a post or two? Let us know in the comments and make sure your email is the one you actually use to get email so we can contact you. (no, we will not broadcast your address to the world)
Filed under: Media, Presidential Election 2008 | Tagged: Keith Olbermann, Anglachel, Obama PA delegate memo, Jerome Armstrong
We have absolutely got to call Olbermann in for the comments he made.
Metaphorical or not, he should be fired.
I saw a piece yesterday where the police in Evansville, IN are investigating an Obama supporter for possible threaats against Hillary on his Facebook page. Olbermann is an ASS! All it takes is one lunatic to take his words to heart.
sarah: Yes, he should be punished. But ask yourself, who has the bigger stick? A bunch of pissed off stupid old women or Obama himself for whose benefit the comment was made? I think it’s time fo the party to put an end to the dangerous talk. They let the media get away with trashing Hillary in debates until it came back to bite Barry in the last one. What is it going to take for them to realize the media has gone too far in making women worthless obstacles who should be dispatched when they become inconvenient? The power is with Dean, Obama, Kennedy and others to demand that Keith is punished. Otherwise, the party is not what we thought it was.
hey, I’m in chapel hill nc. my partner and I have been volunteering and going to events. We saw Hilary with Maya Angelou last week, and I went and saw Bill on Wed. I have some great pics. My partner is in raleigh right now at a “salute our troops” parade. I also got Hillary to sign my I heart hillary t-shirt and bill to sign a hillary placard : )
Anyway Chapel Hill is the belly of the beast so to speak, nothing but Obama bumper stickers, except us of course. I did see my first hillary sticker on another car this week, so thats encouraging.
One thing I’ve been wondering about since I live in a college town. So much emphasis has been put on the fact that NC is full of universities and that will be a boon to Obama on election day. I’m not sure, though. Classes and graduation are over by May 6, so those students are all going to be back home. We do have early voting, so they may have already voted. but this is the first primary when school is not in session and I wonder if that will have an impact. Any thoughts?
Sorry to jump in here with a non related topic but I just saw this headline “Edwards backers team up with Obama (in NC)” and was very disappointed. This certainly will be a set back for our girl but that hasn’t stopped her yet. RD I think a visit to NC at this time of year would be beautiful!
Anybody have a different take on this info?
“Edwards backers team up with Obama (in NC)”
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/edwards-backers-team-up-with-obama/
I don’t know how anyone can consider KO’s comment anything other than an incitement of violent anti-female hate. It’s not political (Clinton is more progressive than Obama in policy, rhetoric, and action); his claim that she’s destroying Obama are refuted by basic reality; this is the closest contested election in modern political history; emotions are already raw; she’s not breaking any law, let alone committing treason; the voters want to vote; you can’t remove gender from the equation; and she is the first serious woman presidential candidate.
Can you imagine if he spewed racially charged, inflammatory rhetoric against either Rice, Powell, or Gonzales? Regardless of the fact they have helped an administration commit impeachable offenses, we would never tolerate such hate speech. And yet when it comes to gender, it’s always somehow understandable.
Bigotry is inexcusable–no matter what.
Gary,
Thanks for your comment. I’d love to see your pictures. On the college students, my guess is a lot of the ones from out of state will have voted already. I think the same will be true in Indiana. Of course, in Indiana a lot of the students at the big state universites are from Indiana. I’ll check with my parents and find out when the colleges let out there. I know the college I’m at in Boston finishes classes early next week and finals will be over by mid-May.
elixir, I don’t know how much stock I would put in any of that. Most of it is theatrics (people who already were backing obama) and some of the stuff has just been downright untrue. you probably dont remember, but about a month ago the msm was reporting that the entire Dem congressional delegation from NC was going to come out for Obama, never happened.
@Exlir: Depressing news. How will Obama “change” the tone in Washington, let alone work on behalf of the working class? The man is the anti-thesis of both.
I hope Edwards endorses Clinton, but I doubt it.
Gary, I do remember that. I guess this seem heavily orchestrated at a critical time. I’d love to hear John Edwards take on this but I don’t think it’s going to happen. So you think it’s the BO campaign spinning?
Thanks for the soothing words, Elixir
bboomer, I’d love to share the pics if I can. About the students, when I was waiting to see Hillary at wake forest, many of the students seemed unsure about the voting process. My theory is that the youth vote is over exaggerated anyway. Most polling I’ve seen puts 18-30’s at over 20%, but exit polling hasn’t shown them to be over 16 in any state so far. (that’s why I think so many got PA wrong) I think they are valuable in that the ones that do vote are very eager this time around and that helps organizationally. Even though most NC students are local (state residents) I think they may have been consumed by finals and projects to particpate (I can only hope). I know obama is throwing a concert in Chapel Hill on May 2, but that’s after exams, and students (most) will be gone.
the only thing that throws a wrench in the works is early voting. I just found out too that you can register at the site if you vote early (though you can’t change parties) even though the deadline was april 11th. Doesn’t seem right to me, but the whole voting early thing to me seems a little wrong….
I’ve been living at the Fayetteville, NC, regional headquarters for the past month (except for during this period of law exams…grrr!). Sen. Clinton has been here two times, and both times I’ve either gotten autograph or picture. President Clinton did one of his monster multiple town events one day, and we followed him around for half of it (Pembroke and Laurinburg).
In Fayetteville, we’re having our Dogwood Festival this weekend. It’s pretty huge downtown, and we managed to get a booth separate from the campaign ~cough~, so we’ll have volunteers selling t-shirts, giving away stickers, buttons, directing them to the HQs office downtown, and reminding them to vote early!
We’ve definitely been targeting the women born before 1919. One fellow volunteer yesterday was telling me how he gave a ride to one 93-yr-old woman to vote. Priceless!
There’s a great article in the Raleigh paper today, News & Observer about where “our” constituency is:
http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/story/1050672.html
Obviously we need to go after EVERYONE, but if we can get the “small town” NC, it’ll be competitive. I don’t know how my county will go, but I do have to say the Clinton campaign seems WAY more visible here (maybe I’m too biased!).
I think its hard to tell what the Edwards’ will do. What most people might not realize is that they don’t get very favorable coverage by the local media. Most North Carolinians look upon anything or anybody who is from Chapel Hill with disdain (except Dean Smith and the heels of course). I remember when the NC legislature was debating on where to put the NC Zoo, Jesse Helms commented that they should just put up a fence around Chapel Hill and be done with it. My expectation is to hear nothing from them….or possibly a hillary endorsement by Elizabeth (we can only hope)
I have to say too that a lot of us were upset that Edwards gave up his senate seat to run for president after the pure HELL we went through to get a dem in the senate from this state….
I am not sure that the HRC campaign didn’t expend street money in Philly. It is the “norm” there and not illegal. Nutter knows this, and I suspect that he ran an aggressive, Philly-style GOTV program. I don’t know for sure that they used this tactic, but it wouldn’t surprise (or upset) me if they did.
BO gave out the money. He waited until the last possible moment but he gave. This is just excuse making.
RD, I’m trying to arrange my trip to Indiana right now; my plan is to arrive the weekend before and stay through election day. {Spent last week in NE Philadelphia; it was awe-inspiring.} I’d be happy to send in on-the-ground reports for you to use as you see fit.
Cheers,
Klio
Arrrghrrrrrrrr!!!
It started to take the profile of a great day.
Here was I, enjoying my (insane) daily dose of caffeine, having read The Confluence where riverdaughter brilliantly reminded us of that Obama suffered a humiliating defeat in PA, and then I came across this tripe:
Democratic party fears racial divide
The protracted and increasingly acrimonious fight for the Democratic presidential nomination is unnerving core constituencies — African Americans and wealthy liberals — who are becoming convinced that the party could suffer irreversible harm if Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton maintains her sharp line of attack against Sen. Barack Obama.
Clinton’s solid win in the Pennsylvania primary exposed a quandary for the party. Her backers may be convinced that only she can win the white, working-class voters that the Democratic nominee will need in the general election, but many African American leaders say a Clinton nomination — handed to her by superdelegates — would result in a disastrous breach with black voters.
“If this party is perceived by people as having gone into a back room somewhere and brokered a nominee, that would not be good for our party,” House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn (S.C.), the highest ranking African American in Congress, warned yesterday. “I’m telling you, if this continues on its current course, [the damage] is going to be irreparable.”
That fear, plus a more general sense that Clinton’s only route to victory would be through tearing down her opponent, has led even some black Democrats who are officially neutral in the race, such as Clyburn, to speak out.
What a pyramid of sh*t!
The article is so full of lies, distortions, ignorance, blackmail, I don’t even know where to start.
I have to catch my breath, so Conflucians have at it.
Geeeez!!!
Gary, I hope that the Edwards family receives a Harry and Louise mailer from Obama as he’s sent out everywhere else. That might pis* Elizabeth off enough to at least make a public statement about it.
I don’t know how Edwards’ supporters can back Obama when John and Elizabeth have both said that they prefer Hillary’s health care plan. In fact, I was a John Edwards supporter before he dropped out of the race, and I took up Hillary’s banner because she was the closest to John on a lot of issues—not just health care. It would be my wish for one or both of them to give Hillary their endorsement.
RD, it is a beautiful day here in N.C. Where I am in the southeastern part of the state, there’s not a cloud in the sky. The only problem is that it’s already getting hot. Spring only last about 3 weeks here and then it gets hot.
The Fayetteville campaign office today is planning to make 100,000 calls on Hillary’s behalf starting at 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. tonight. My sister has volunteered to take two hours today. Last Saturday, she and I went to our county Democratic convention and represented Hillary. I got to speak and told everyone why I’m supporting her. I was so thrilled to be able to do that (as a hometown girl), because the Obama camp sent a guy down from Durham (about 2.5 hours away from us). I knew a lot of the people there, and a lot of them had smiles on their faces while I was speaking, so I took that as a good sign.
Gary and captsfufp,
I hope you’ll take Riverdaughter up on her offer. I’m sure she’ll contact you now that you have posted what you are doing. As she said, make sure the e-mail you use when posting is your real one. No one else can see it.
I’m from Indiana, but I don’t know enough about what is going on there. My mom is in the League of women voters and and knows local people who support Hillary. She knows an IN rep too. I’ll ask if she can get in touch with her friends and get some on-the-ground info. I do know that all of the state party structure supports Hillary, and my mom told me that all the local officials in Muncie support her. Indiana’s democraphic make-up is really perfect for Hillary. I would be shocked if she doesn’t win the primary.
I’ll post some “on the ground” stories! I am Gretchen from “the Hillary Clinton Army” and I am bringing the Hillcar to North Carolina … per order of Hillary! I’ll be there with the Hillcar starting this Monday! I am working on getting an army of “Hillarys” in NC. Using Hillmasks and pantsuits we can take North Carolina by storm! Anyone want to join in the fun? More info soon to come at http://hillaryclintonarmy.blogspot.com/
my email is good, if RD sends me an email I’ll send some of those pics
MA Blue: Does that also mean giving the nomination to Barry is a disastrous breach with white voters? I think this is the start of the Hillary Clinton takedown. The Pennsylvania win and the $10 million in donations to Clinton are scaring the Democratic Party.
I am hoping that the combination of Obama’s humiliating loss in Pennsylvania and the GOP’s ad attacking his association with Rev. Wright will work miracles in the Tar Heel State.
I think those Wright GOP ads could hurt him among independents in NC. The media have been airing those GOP ads which amplifies its reach and the way Wright says G-D America is really abrasive. I think most people are used to mild mannered preachers in their churches and that video is quite jarring.
Quote from Anglachel what (did) he envision(ed) that super delegate doing to ensure Hillary did not return.
What he envisioned is, I think, worse than just a simple quick death.
The depth of misogyny shows in that it is the process of trapping and terrorizing a woman that is so appealing. To him and all the other men out there who respond to his comments with cheering, whoops and hollers to such an idea.
Not just a shutting out of a problem (that would be bad enough !!!), but the enjoyment of the process of causing terror to women.
It shows how much ground-work has been done in the media, and how much hatred for women still lives in the American male mind, that he can get away with these comments – that people will step up and defend them as a joke.
(I tried to post this at Anglachel’s but don’t have googleID)
Apropos of absolutely nothing other than the fact that it’s Saturday and I’m watching the Eastern Phoebe off my screen porch, researching its natural history, I learned the following which some of you might appreciate:
“Female always initiates copulation, in the morning only, during the male’s pre-dawn song.”
Reporting from NC –
gary commented that he is in the belly of the beast in Chapel Hill… I am a few miles up the road in Durham and it is a tough town for Hil as well. However, the volunteers and staffers are working hard and are all sleep deprived.
Last night I was told that internal polling shows that Obama’s lead has dropped from 20% + to just 8% in NC. Keep making the phone calls please.
Reading these comments have made me feel so confident about the next two primaries! Thanks to Gary and the others offering firsthand insights of the current happenings in their respective states. Great insights and descriptions!
Last night I was told that internal polling shows that Obama’s lead has dropped from 20% + to just 8% in NC. Keep making the phone calls please.
Beautiful! Will you *die* if she wins NC? I read somewhere it would take her winning 2/3 of white voters – which I’d think was an uphill climb if she hadn’t done exactly that in my own state of Tennessee back in Feb…
RD, you’ve made a good point about Obama’s ads that I’ve been thinking about lately. I live in Oregon, and Obama started TV ads about a week ago. They run constantly. Last night I was watching Hannity and Colmes and during that hour there were 5 Obama ads, all the same one. This occurs on just about every station I watch at all hours of the day. I am so sick of them already, after just a week, that I immediately change the channel whenever he comes on. This is extreme overkill as far as I’m concerned. If he did this in PA, and I bet it was even worse there, then I would bet he lost some votes because of it.
Another point is the ads themselves. They are him standing in front of a large, noisy crowd shouting his normal vacuous “Unity Pony” talking points. Nothing about policy. And the ads are always all centered around him, not anyone else. In contrast, Hillary’s ads seldom center on video of her. They generally show problems and then talk about how she would solve them. Her ads are “you” oriented, his are oriented on himself. Quite frankly, I would bet they turn off undecided voters big time because they have that rock star “look at me” mentality to them. They are arrogant and vacuous, just like he is.
I have yet to see any Hillary ads yet in Oregon. But I have seen all her ads on her site, so I know what they are like. I hope she starts running some soon. The contrast is really apparent, and I would be willing to bet that Obama’s turn a lot of people off, particularly since they are so frequent that you can’t get away from them.
I just heard that Hillary has challenged Obama to an unmoderated debate, just the two of them discussing issues and questioning each other. now that would be interesting. anyone think he’ll accept?
Riverdaughter – what a great idea to invit people from NC to chip in theri thoughtss from on the ground there.
I hope some great people take you up on it!
kiki asks: “anyone think he’ll accept?”
Answer: NO!
That was another episode of “simple answers to simple questions”.
Not enough has been written about how much of the Obama campaign is a business move by rival “Democratic” consultants in campaigns, PR, and fundraising to break the Clintons. I think alot of the congressional Obama endorsers were sold the story that Barack and Michelle would be superstars on the fundraising trail for them, so destroying the Clinton brand was no big deal. I just don’t see the Obamas going to 20 fundraisers a month for other candidates like the Clintons do. Whatever their issues or future success, the Obamas just don’t seem to enjoy campaigning. The money loss from hurting the Clintons is what’s really going to criple the Democrats. They may have lost 10 years of the Clinton cash machine.
On the other hand Bill and Hillary will have more free time…
hey riverdaughter,
just wondering what yourthoughts on this remark by obie are…
“I think one of the things that we’re gonna have to do during the next several weeks is just remind people of where I come from, because it’s true that both the Republicans and my opponents to some degree have been trying to paint me as, you know, this elitist – out of touch,”
“both the republicans and my opponents”
…i thought it was funny…
ps…i read where one of hillary’s money guys switched sides and crossed over to the obamanation…any remarks on that?….
I will be helping with a rally in Charlotte this Monday afternoon.
I saw those poll results, too. It seems she is ahead in this area of the state which surprised me.
http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReport.aspx?g=7e1ed059-9ef0-4a2c-a2a6-3cbef8ca9803