That Outrageous, Delusional Clinton Speech

[babylonsister]

That Outrageous, Delusional Clinton Speech

I'm sure plenty of people had strong reactions to that speech Hillary just gave. For my money, the two most outrageous sentiments expressed were (and this is from my rough contemporaneous notes):

1.) "What does Hillary want? ... I want the nearly 18 million Americans who voted for me to be respected, to be heard, no longer to be invisible." Then, a little later, "...Opportunity--that's what I want for every single American… It is a fight I will continue until every single American has health care, no exceptions, no excuses."

When Hillary says she wants her 18 million voters to be respected and heard, but opportunity and health care for every single American, she seems to be saying, pretty unambiguously, that not giving her the nomination--not privileging the will of her voters--would be an illegitimate outcome. (Otherwise, why not say you want every single American "respected and heard"?) That's a pretty inflammatory comment.

2.) "To the 18 million people who voted for me, and many other people out there… I want to hear from you… I’ll be consulting with supporters and party leaders, to determine how to move forward, with the best interests of our party and our country in mind."

So she's going to leave it to her voters to decide whether she should accept defeat after having, you know, lost? What if every losing candidate left it to their supporters to decide whether or not to accept the outcome of a race? Who would ever accept defeat?

What good could possibly come of this? With Hillary proclaiming herself the legitimate winner, they're clearly going to say "keep going." If she actually does keep going, that's a disaster for the Democratic Party. And if she doesn't, you've just drawn a ton of attention to the fact that a large chunk of the party doesn't accept Obama as the legimiate nominee. No, worse: you've encouraged them to think that, then drawn attention to it.

What a disaster.

Update: Here's the precise version of the first quote:


more...

http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_stump/archive/2008/06/03/that-outrageous-delusional-clinton-speech.aspx

[Mme. Defarge]

1. IMO, anyone surprised by her latest move

has not been paying attention.

[2008]

12. In my defense...

...there's no way of knowing how low a person will sink until they sink that low.

For example, today I'm of the opinion that she will not take this all the way to Denver, thus destroying our chances in November (along with her own political career).

Call me naive, but she'll have to sink that low before I can believe she's capable of it ... just like I had to see what she did last night with my own eyes before I could believe it. (I arrived home after her speech, and truly thought DUers who described it were either exaggerating, lying or trying to be funny. Then I saw the replay.)

[Mme. Defarge]

13. Well, I confess,

that was a bit of bravado on my part. I have actually been increasingly more aghast at each more outrageous gambit. And, to be even more candid, I suspended my disbelief over the weekend and hung my hat on Lawrence O'Donnell's prediction that she will concede and fall in line by June 12th. Lte's hope that's the case.

Still, all of the signs have been right before our eyes the whole time.

[Cha]

20. Well, I haven't been surprised..I had

hilary's number months ago and before that.. years. The surprise would be if she did something for altruistically for something other than herself.

[Psyop Samurai]

15. You raise a very important point...

This is the dynamic that places us at a disadvantage to psychopaths, and against the BIG LIE.

We assume that no one could be that brazen, and the assumption is completely rational.

Unfortunately, it is also incorrect.

They KNOW what our assumptions are. They KNOW that we will always be caught off guard. They KNOW that we will be left bickering among ourselves in a fabricated reality.

We've ALL been naive (though many of us no longer are). We need a new definition of knowing, one that involves pattern recognition, and trust in ourselves, not the "received wisdom".

Yes we can.

[robinlynne]

17. They won't let her. Superdelegates are switching to Obama, and undeclared superdelegates

are endorsing Obama. The wider the margin between them, the less she can play this game. And I think more people will un-endorse her if she keeps on playing it.

[roguevalley]

19. she has as much control over those 18m voters as I have over a

handful of sand. the longer this goes, the less she will have. these are people, not poker chips. she's nuts.

[mitchtv]

2. The disaster will be if the Clinton bashing doesn't stop

I think the race is over. COOL IT!

[Raejeanowl]

4. Agreed n/t

[babylonsister]

5. Hey. Don't you tell me what to post. Write to your gal and

demand she concede, then there'd be no need for articles like this. :eyes:

[mitchtv]

8. already have

last night was a victory speech for the Sodaks. Jesus Christ. I'm sure she will do the right thing.

[endarkenment]

10. Well that is a novel interpretation.

Are there 18,000,000 south dakotans? She had a national spotlight and a one time opportunity to reframe this entire thing between her and Obama and she chose instead to do the wrong thing and keep the delusion alive. Why are you sure she will do the right thing? She has shown no evidence of that since 2/5/2008.

[ladjf]

14. I've posted for years on DU and have never seen so many

posts that tell other posters what they should or should not be posting.

[babylonsister]

16. Amazing, isn't it. Makes me more determined to do what I want. nt

[stillcool]

3. It becomes more apparent every day...

that the Clinton Campaign has nothing to do with the Democratic Party. If she will not exit on her own, she needs to be shown the door. Who knew we would need a bouncer?

[babylonsister]

6. No kidding! Get the hook before she embarrasses herself further. nt

[robinlynne]

18. Doesn't she see she is ruining her own future this way?

[DeepBlueC]

7. I think you have misunderstood

What I heard is that she wants Obama to embrace the concerns of the constituency she has assembled, among other things, universal health care, not health care "for everyone who wants it" which is what I heard him mentioning. She has a lot of support and she continued to gather support even as the primaries were ending and Obama's victory was a foregone conclusion. Those people in South Dakota and elsewhere had good reasons for voting for her and she wants to bring these forward to the nominee and to the Democratic leadership. That's what I heard. I for one would like to see her nudge Obama's policy on health care toward the universal single payer model and I hope she uses the influence she has to have a say in the formation of the party platform. It is a PARTY platform, after all, and even though she lost the primary she still speaks for a big segment of the population that we will need to win the GE. She ought to be heard and I support her continued efforts to use the weight of her support to influence the direction that the party moves. There are all kinds of decisions being made now that the candidate presumed. It does not end with one candidate and one voice. We are, I hope, about to dispense with the Last American King. People who are telling her just to go away might consider if they want to say the same thing to the 18 million Americans who supported her in the primary. They still have a voice in the party and Hillary still speaks for them on the many issues that are still in play.

[northernsoul]

9. Isn't this kind of like a losing sports team

trying to have their fans, rather than the score of the game, be the final arbiter of the outcome?

This is just bizarre.

[guruoo]

11. Hillary who?

"We have an election to win and it isn't against Hillary Clinton."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x6272591