Josh Marshall on the "Silliness" on Bill Clinton's Texas Argument

[mod mom]

-snip

In a conference call with Texas supporters, as reported by ABC News ...

"Right now, among all the primary states, believe it or not, Hillary's only 16 votes behind in pledged delegates," said Bill Clinton, "and she's gonna wind up with the lead in the popular vote in the primary states. She's gonna wind up with the lead in the delegates ."
"It's the caucuses that have been killing us," he added.


Support for Bill Clinton has been a foundational part of my political identity. But I just find this sad. Perhaps especially because of that. Newsflash: Mitt Romney is ahead in the popular vote among the states that he won. It's not quite that silly. But it's close. Hillary's ahead if you lop off half the nomination process. And that's the thing, she's not even a ahead among primaries. As I've noted previously, I'm a bit of a caucus skeptic. But even among primaries she's not ahead. The only rationale for a dim view of caucuses is their relatively low turnout compared to primaries. But it's really not clear to me what the rationale is for writing off the votes of the people who actually participated in.

But this is the essential silliness of this argument or perhaps its purpose, that it pulls you down into this rabbit hole of nonsense that momentarily distracts you from its essential ridiculousness. It's like the Patriots on their final drive against the Giants saying that if you went by just touchdowns they were actually tied.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/186162.php

--Josh Marshall

[mod mom]

1. this is significant to me as a regular reader of TPM because I always thought Josh

had a slant toward Hillary.

[Elidor]

2. I've always considered him to be pretty objective

Obviously, he's long been a fan of Bill, but I've never felt that he was pushing a candidate. His insights into the power plays have been invaluable.

[mod mom]

4. I would like to see him as a regular pundit for an MSNBC political show-like Rachel Maddow.

I love watching his video pieces.

[Elidor]

5. It's especially unfortunate that Bill is peddling this stuff

Because he is the person who is finally going to have to tell Hillary that it's over. Until he realizes that himself, this is going to drag on and on.

[milkyway]

9. According to Jonathan Alter, Hillary will have to be the one to tell Bill that it's over.

He said on Countdown last night that he's been told Hillary is more realistic about her chances, and that Bill is the one more likely to dig in against all odds (I'm completely paraphrasing).

[Big Blue Marble]

3. He used to have a slant in her direction.

I have watched that change over the last two months. I read about Bill's comment yesterday.
It is beyond ridiculous. The Clinton's are screaming about disenfranchising Michigan and Florida
but are willing to discount all the caucus states that Hillary has lost. This is the height of
entitlement and the definition of chupaz.

[Ichingcarpenter]

6. Josh knows his stuff, I've followed him since 2003

He always has a cooler head than most and tries to maintain journalistic integrity.

I myself, would not call Bill's shit 'Silliness' these days.

[mod mom]

7. Josh also uses "down into this rabbit hole of nonsense" but I didn't want this to become flamebait.

[Major Hogwash]

8. I have no respect for Bill Clinton anymore whatsoever.

None. Zip. Zero.

I don't give a damn if he is a Democrat, so were Joe Lieberman and Zell Miller at one time.