Pew Publishes My Emails!
05 June 2008 10:46 am by Taylor Marsh
BY TAYLOR MARSH
Well, not really. But if you want to see what I’m getting in droves this is
it:
The woman who shouted “McCain in ‘08″ at the Democratic rules committee
was speaking for a multitude. After mounting for months, female anger over
the choreographed dumping on Hillary Clinton and her supporters has exploded
— and party loyalty be damned. That the women are beginning to have a good
time is an especially bad sign for Barack Obama’s campaign.“Obama will NOT get my vote, and one step more,” Ellen Thorp, a
59-year-old flight attendant from Houston told me. “I have been a Democrat
for 38 years. As of today, I am registering as an independent. Yee Haw!”
The truth many aren’t willing to acknowledge, especially on the Obama support
side, is that without Hillary Clinton’s coalition Obama cannot win. Right now,
they’re in no mood to even consider the option. The discourse around here doesn’t help. Tweaking Clinton supporters is a mistake; a gigantic miscalculation. Lurkers read what Obama supporters are writing and vice versa. The lack of civil discourse directed at Clinton supporters around here is a prescription for disaster. That said, Clinton supporters have a hard road to walk across. If we’re to beat the Republicans that effort must be made, though it will likely take a long time to complete.
Would a vice presidential offer do the job? Would that be enough to bring her
supporters to the Obama side? No one knows. The truth is that things are raw,
very raw right now, with 18 million people heartbroken over Hillary not getting the
nomination.
There is a lot of work Obama’s team needs to do, a lot. But when you think
of what John McCain would mean to this country and how diametrically opposed
Hillary’s views and philosophies are to his you’ve got to wonder what the support
for Hillary is all about at its root for the people actually considering to vote for McCain.
Hillary Clinton has never been a vanity candidate. She’s a political celebrity,
but her purpose lies in implementing policies that change the lives of people.
That’s why so many voters in Appalachia came out by the tens of thousands to
vote their pocketbook, providing a window into the magic she could spin in a
general election contest. That is not to be this time around. But that affect
is at the heart of who she is. How supporters can ignore the foundation of her
life, implementing Democratic Party ideals so that all Americans benefit in
the good life, to vote for a Republican like John McCain, is beyond me.
If anger is going to be the guide for some of Hillary’s supporters, inspiring
them to vote McCain, the outcome for this country is bleak. Because there are
times when how we’re feeling must be put second to what’s best for the future.
John McCain, as good a man as he is, is not a man of the future. He is a man
of the 20th century leading a party that has run aground.
An historic Democratic primary saw the first viable woman to become commander
in chief pitted against the first viable African American. Republicans simply
cannot compete on that score, especially when at the foundation of both candidacies is a political party of civil rights, innovation, equality, military superiority partnered with diplomatic prowess, economic responsibility, and transparency in government. Now, Democrats don’t always rise to our own standards, but Republicans don’t even have them. There is no way they can beat us. That is, unless anger is your guide.
