Even after Hillary thumped Obama by a margin of greater than two-to-one in West Virginia, the last Democrat to drop out from the presidential race this year, John Edwards, has thrown his support to his party’s frontrunner. Â Even if all 29,196 of Edwards’ Mountain State votes went to Obama, the Illinois Senator still would have lost by a smaller margin, but still 2-to-1.
Citing yesterday’s vote, Clinton campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe said in a statement, “We respect John Edwards, but . . . this thing is far from over.”
McAuliffe may actually be right. Â At least this one time, his interests (electing a Clinton) coincide with those of the electorate, well, that is, his party’s electorate. Â The voters seem to be speaking in a voice at odds with the party’s leadership, at least in West Virginia and quite possibly Kentucky as well.
As more and more questions are being asked about the likely Democratic nominee and more and more party leaders rally round him, the party’s rank and file doesn’t seem to have gotten the message and shows considerable anxiety about their standard bearer in this fall’s contest.
Iowa is 96% white and went for Obama. And WV doesn’t exactly describe the nation, by history or demographics.
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I’m sure the Democratic party appreciates the Republicans’ deep, deep concern over the D nominee, but it’s funny how all of this Republican concern happens to find a “cure” in nominating Hillary Clinton, which the GOP wants so, so much, as much to stem the expected downticket GOP losses as to hold on to the White House.
Edwards wants two more seconds in the lime light before we all forget what nice hair he has.
As for the Dem party leaders – they are elitist, they have decided that Blackness trumps female – so she better just get out of the way. Oh and yeah, they suddenly discovered that that the Clintons aren’t nice people.
Who cares what the rank and file card carrying voting Democrat wants. The blowout in WV has never happened before, this is big news, the little people are trying to say something – but why should the leaders listen to them. They know what’s best for America, not those pesky little voters that haven’t gotten the message that Hilary is toast.
Obviously not the DNC. Say what you will about Republicans, but my vote was counted.
torrent, if you think I want Hillary to win the Democratic nomination, you obviously haven’t been reading this blog. Last Friday, I explored why she lost. And a week ago, I saw the race was “over” as the Clinton luck had run out.
I may well have been wrong about that.
You just can’t dismiss the presumptive nominee getting barely one-quarter of the vote when the media has written his opponent off — and she gets two-thirds of the vote.
Iowa is 96% white and went for Obama.
Iowa is a caucus state.
This might be unfamiliar to you, torrentprime, but working-class people, unlike the rich liberal elite and unemployed college students who seem to go for Obama, don’t have TIME to go to four-hour caucuses on icy winter nights. They have to work, feed their children, get some sleep, etc.
What will be amusing as hell is when the caucus states where Obama “won”, the vote count end-swaps when working-class voters can actually make it to the polls — as we’ve seen happening in West Virginia and so forth.
I am always amused when liberal Democrats build a strategy around working-class people being idiots — and realize too late that working-class people recognize a) hot air and b) people who think their skin color excludes them from competence or performance standards.
Add to that the fact that Obama has publicly mocked their beliefs and their way of life, as well as having a spiritual mentor whom he obediently served for twenty years who claims that they are the cause of all black peoples’ problems — and who has let slip the most impolitic fact of all, that Obama is just saying what he has to say to get elected and that he really agrees with Wright.
So NDT, are you going out on a limb and predicting a McCain victory?
I haven’t been to a blue-collar bar in awhile (partly since I don’t go to bars), but I’m trying to picture how Obama must play when he comes on the TV screen. If he’s not reading a speech, he’s usually sort of whiny and entitled. In some shots, he seems to have gross little moobs. He strikes me as wimpy – and I’m gay and built like him (minus the moobs – I have pecs), so that’s saying something. Hmm…
What does Edwards bring to Obama, the Breck Girl vote?
Torrentprime:
If it is Obama or Hillary, I will take Hillary. She is a known quantity and I know she can be pushed into compromise. Look at how she has backpedalled on closing down troops in Iraq. She is a weasel and fairly predictable.
Obama is high on himself and an unreconstructed limousine liberal. He epitomizes the concept of dispenser of privilege through the system of Noblesse Oblige. But worst of all, he hides behind his skin color. He allows the issue of race to be thrown into the mix any time someone opposes him or his rhetoric.
I am perfectly at ease with a black president, but not THIS black man. But the liberals and the press are hard at painting any opposition to Obama as a measure of race bigotry. That type of demagoguery should trouble every honest person. But, for those who seek power under any means, it is just a useful tool. Typically of liberals, the ends justify the means.
When Clinton ran in 1992, the MSM refused to look at his personal history. They even formed a Greek chorus that chanted “Character doesn’t matter.” Now the MSM has formed a revised Greek chorus saying that Jeremiah Wright, William Ayers and Tony Rezko are just a lot of right wing strawmen being thrown in the path of the Messiah to try to sully his path to glory.
Couple this with my utter disdain for John McCain and you have a life long Republican who expects to suffer through four years of White House chaos. That includes a McCain presidency.
When I was a young man, there were plenty of conservative Democrats. Unfortunately, they were also race bigots. If the Democrats shift to conservative principles and stay away from the bigotry, I will shift parties. But it won’t be the party of Reid, Pelosi, Kennedy, Obama, etc.
Torrentprime, you had best sober up about how the Democrat party is expanding. It is electing a lot of Blue Dogs who will soon enough find a voice and power against the party leadership. You need only go back to the Reagan years to see how a neutered majority party tries to eat its own.
Edwards as VP?
I think the Dems are just trying to keep the spotlight on them until the convention, then all hell will break loose on McCain.
Edwards has always been disengenuous and weak …
What a hypocrite … does he actually expect us to believe his commitment to poverty, when in reality he flaunts his huge multi-kazillion dollar compound
(house) directly across the street from poor people … not to mention his $400 hair cuts, which could feed a family of four for four weeks! Then he waits till Obama is way in the lead, before endorsing him. What weak character … or, rather lack of character. I doubt his endorsement has any value … and, anybody who values his endorsement, doesn’t have any values.
Given the number of open primaries and easy registration, I’d say that the GOP system is flawed as well. I don’t believe that McCain reflects the will of Republicans but he is their candidate now so I guess there’s no use crying about it. The GOP should look at ways of reforming their system though. As for the DNC, they’re so screwed up that it will take a lot of fighting to straighten it out. That, of course, I’m lovin’… 😀
A lot of pundits had been mentioning that Edwards and his wife Elizabeth were probably leaning toward Hillary, especially Mrs. Edwards. But Edwards, who I think would sell his soul to the devil, obviously saw which bandwagon was moving past him and decided to hop on before it’s too late. It’s becoming obvious that Hillary won’t be in a position to name Edwards as Attorney General.
Let’s be clear. Obama won by 60% or more in 15 states. Hillary in 2. The WV victory was expected and doesn’t really change anything. She’s behind and can’t catch up.