Hillary Endorses McCain…Again
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, Hillary, McCain“I think that since we now know Sen. (John) McCain will be the nominee for the Republican Party, national security will be front and center in this election. We all know that. And I think it’s imperative that each of us be able to demonstrate we can cross the commander-in-chief threshold,†the New York senator told reporters crowded into an infant’s bedroom-sized hotel conference room in Washington.“I believe that I’ve done that. Certainly, Sen. McCain has done that and you’ll have to ask Sen. Obama with respect to his candidacy,†she said.
And in case you missed it, here’s what she said a few days ago…
“I think that I have a lifetime of experience that I will bring to the White House. Sen. John McCain has a lifetime of experience that he’d bring to the White House. And Sen. Obama has a speech he gave in 2002.â€
Okay, fantasy politics role playing time…let’s say that somehow she wins this thing. I know, it’s HIGHLY unlikely, but with Michigan and Florida most likely re-doing their contests, it has become much more likely. So let’s just say she pulls it out. McCain can easily take these sound bytes and use them against her in the general campaign. I can just hear the commercials now…”Hillary Clinton thinks John McCain is ready to be Commander in Chief, but is she?” After that, he can also use her war votes to claim she’s a flip flopper…and so we see a rerun of 2004: John Kerry 2.0.
Long story short, she does herself no favors by employing this strategy. It’s dumb. But then again, I guess it’s par for course with this campaign.
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March 6th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
No, its smart. Hillary is herself a living-example that politically people have memories like goldfish. She is framing the general election to her advantage in the primary. When the general election comes around she will reframe it. Have you learned nothing from Rove? It is not about ideas, it is about perception. Ideas last, perception is fleeting. This is really a creative way of launching the electability issue.
Pisses you though doesn’t it. This bitch just refuses to go away and to let the dream come true. She just keeps coming and coming and coming…she is the Anti-Hope.
March 6th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
No, its dumb. The point is to WIN the general, not just get there. That’s why candidates always have to be careful about what they say in primaries. She can frame this issue all she want, but she harms the Dems chances as a result…although I know that doesn’t break your heart. :-)
Honestly, though, if Hillary gets the nod, I’m seriously considering voting for McCain. Hand to heart.
March 6th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
My guess is she’s creating a safety net for herself, and as an alternative will either run as an independent or with McCain if she loses the dem nomination, its clear to me that she wants to be president no matter what and doesn’t see that happeneing if Obama wins the nomination
March 6th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
She’s not going to run with McCain. Do you actually think Republicans would vote for a ticket with Hillary Clinton on it?
March 6th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
Yes they would, rather than give it to a democrat, and the number of Latinos and women who would defect with her to the ticket would more than make up for some lost right wingers
March 6th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
Tony…did you not read the post?
March 6th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
The uglier and more unscrupled Hillary behaves, the less able I’ll be to vote for her. If this is the only way she can win, I’ll have to vote for McCain or write in someone else. And just in case Hillary does win the nomination…don’t discount the possibility of lots of folks writing in Obama out of sheer spite.
But the unscrupulousness is only part of the problem for Hillary. The other part is “what important foreign policy accomplishments can she point to?” When one of her on-air operatives was asked this, he drew 5 seconds of totally dead air, and then a lot of dissembling. She was the president’s fricken wife, not the VP. Did she sit on top level briefings? Did she sit by the red phone? Nope.
March 7th, 2008 at 12:32 am
Justin, they do have to be careful about what they say, but only to the extent that it going to hurt them politically. It is smart because she puts herself in parity with John McCain on national security. She doesn’t over shoot and say that she has more experience that McCain in these matters. THAT would be stupid, he was a POW for goodness sake. He is infinitely qualified to lead the U.S. military. By putting herself as an equalivent, rather than a superior, she maintains a shred of credibility, increases her argument that she in qualified to lead the military military by comparing herself to McCain AND diminishes Obama. She isn’t going to beat McCain on national security and she knows it — so she goes for equivalency and beats him on a domestic platform. It is smart.
If its Hillary v. McCain, I may seriously vote for Hillary. I don’t want the Republicans to take the blame. Again.
March 7th, 2008 at 11:44 am
The reason she’s doing this is simple: neither she or Obama can win the primary without superdelegates, and superdelegates are expected to weigh the head to head matchup polls heavily in deciding who gives them a better shot of winning the general election.
Obama vs McCain numbers WILL be affected by this type of rhetoric, even if she’s only managing to convince her own followers. Sure, she wants to win in PA, etc, but she knows that the real contest for the nomination is going to be at the convention.
March 7th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
I’d like the late-night comics to come out and say “John McCain got two important endorsements this week; one from President Bush and the other from Hillary Clinton!” I think that would tie her to Bush and the wrong side of most Dems. Even better, I wish Obama would say it in his campaign, over and over and over.
March 7th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
The simple fact in all of this is that Barak Obama has done nothing. He has accomplished nothing in his political life. He has succeeded in doing nothing and therefore he has nothing to answer for.
We can point to him and say please explain yourself because he has done nothing. Gosh. I feel for Hillary. She is running against a ghost. Now you see him. Now you don’t.
March 7th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
Kissinger…at least Obama has done nothing to help the Republicans. All the down-ticket Republicans are trembling in their boots if Obama is nominated. New Democrat voters will overwhelm them. However, if Clinton is nominated, Republicans will come out and vote against her, and many Democrats will stay home, dispirited with the same ol’ same ol’. I thought the Democrats might actually win this year, but trust us to do our best to lose, even in this environment.
March 9th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
The more of this crap HRC pulls, the less I want to vote for her. I used to say I could be happy with either of the Dem candidates, but this campaign is showing us what she’s really made of. Hillary is the more-of-the-same candidate: more bullshit politics, more division, more character assassinations, more bashing. She goes after this stuff because there isn’t much difference between hers and Obama’s policies. Note that Barack doesn’t. The difference is in their character. Barack can’t afford to fight dirty because his campaign is about changing that. Hillary continues to make it clear that her campaign is about one thing: Hillary Clinton’s personal right to the White House. She thinks it’s her turn. What a creep she is.
March 14th, 2008 at 9:19 am
[...] Hillary Endorses McCain…Again [...]
March 14th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
Hillary’s tactics are despicable. I will never vote for her. Many, MANY Democrats will not vote for her due to her pathetic character. Many Republicans will come out and vote against her. She is handing Republicans all the slime they need to go after Obama, after all if a DEMOCRAT says these things about the guy, well…
She is handing the election to McCain.
April 24th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
I do not understand why it now acceptable to allow voters to switch candidates or just stay home just because their candidate is not put in the general election. I am exceptionally disappointed in the democratic party and its leadership. I am not a Hillary Clinton supporter and vehemently disagree with her horrific politics of divide and conquer.
I truly do not believe that anyone would be allowed to cheer on a member of the other party over one of its own at any other time. I will not try to reason why this is acceptable now, but it needs to stop right now.
The Democratic National Party should step in and tactfully deal with this. Also, i would like to see Senator Obama take a harder line with Senator Clinton. While I admire his integrity and tactfulness, i want him to take the offensive. How could we trust a woman that will openly and obviously lay a “friend” and fellow party member so viscously on the dinner table.
the party needs to stand up and do what is right. Howard Dean is calling for the super delegates to make their choices to help resolve this. I am calling for Howard Dean to be the leader of your party, the single party that it is.