Those polls were taken at the same time Obama was perceived to be the automatic nominee, in the last two weeks of February. Now that there's a little doubt and Obama isn't riding an enormous wave of momentum, the polls have leveled off. Polls have a funny way of being influenced in the short-term by perception. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I don't care who wins -- Obama or Hillary. I don't care if Hillary goes negative on Obama and he wins. I don't care if Hillary wins the nomination through superdelegates. The Democratic nominee will win this election regardless of circumstance, and it won't even be all that close. I'll bet anyone on this board anything they want on that. I am not concerned in the slightest with electability.
For liberals to vote McCain over Hillary or not vote is counterproductive. We've seen this before with voting Nader instead of Gore. With McCain you get more war, maybe Iran or Venezuela, who knows where? and no health care. Different supreme court judges. These lead to real deaths, real suffering. These are much more real evils than dirty campaign tactics. If there were ever a spot where super delegates make sense, may be it is now if Hillary continues with the praise of McCain and downing of Obama. There should be a campaign to convince the super delegates soon to all go to Obama to prevent Hillary from ruining the race. Where are Gore, Carter, Mondale, McGovern (who supported Hillary) Dean etc. Kerry?, Richardson, Edwards, Dodd, Pelosi, Sheila Jackson Lee, a Hillary national co-chair I believe etc. ? That being said, I do think there is a campaign by the Obama folks and media such as Keith Oberman to react a bit hysterically to Hillary's remarks. Part of this is anger and part of it is a tactic, too.
I too was an Independent that voted for Hillary in this recent primary and is getting second doubts about my decision. I don't expect any less from the Clintons because they have always played dirty politics even before Karl Rove. Ask Rick Lazio in NY when Hillary was running for Senator.
ding ding. I find this particularly amusing given how Obama's folks in the same breath claim to want a different kind of politics...
I got news for you folks, Barack Hussein Obama can not be said to be morally superior to Hillary, as far as this campaign has gone. He's been on the giving end of quite a few negative attacks. Look at his Wal-Mart smear. Look at his Ohio false propaganda mailings. Look at the thuggery that goes on at the cauci by his supporters. The list goes on and on. I will never vote for Barack Hussein Obama, the Middle East's choice for President.
His mailings were issues oriented and weren't actually a false smear contrary to Hillary's loud whining about it. The Wal-Mart thing was. What a few supporters did at a disorganized caucus has nothing to do with Obama.
Took you all of these years to figure her out? Some like Cat don't get it. They think she will somehow transform into a politician who will work with effectively Republicans? She's polarizing her own Party now... oh yeah, she'll work great with Republicans. She has that easy-going personality, ya know. I've always said that Hillary is the Republicans' best hope after the Bush fiasco. With so many who feel so strongly against her, its the only thing that the Republicans can hang their hat on to motivate the masses. And what she's doing to the Democrats' party is more than they could have hoped for. For many years both parties have been waiting for someone who showed some signs of a true leader and visionary, someone creating hope and bringing in huge numbers of disaffected voters, new voters, independents and even Republicans. The Democrats may have finally found one, and they may choose a self-serving, lying Clinton instead? Amazing how that Party can't help but trip over itself.
I won't sit the election out, and I won't vote for McCain, I'll just vote for the socialist ticket or some other third party. I did it during the 90's, and in 2000. I think we've seen too much of the dirty underhanded dishonest style of politics lately, and I won't be a party to it. If it were just a couple of incidents that would be fine, but the way Hillary has time and time again, played the GOP fear card that all the Democrats had the good sense to decry when the GOP tried that in 2006, was purposefully(IMO) vague about Obama's religion, when she knows darn well, he's a Christian, basically says that McCain would be a better CnC than Obama, and all the rest, it's just too much. I feel bad about it, because I do think a lot of the criticism she gets, and how zealous some of her attackers are is because she was a woman. A man could much easier get away with a lot of the same ambition, and power plays that she tries, without near as much negative flak. But I won't vote for someone just because they are treated unfairly, especially when their own campaign has become a shining example of sleaze itself.
So you have become a conspiracy-file as well huh? What do you think? Did they really land on the moon, or was that all a big hoax filmed in a studio? What's the govt. doing with the alien and UFO that landed in area 51?
You guys are all over the map. It's hilarious, really. When Hillary does well in Texas, the credit goes to Rush Limbaugh and Republican talk radio tactics. Now Republicans want to work with Obama? Messages of hope and change work with a few voters, but in Washington, it comes down to politics and policy. Clinton is a more moderate politician than Obama. This really isn't debatable. I think TJ, bigtexxx, and every Republican on this board would agree with me that Obama is the more liberal of the two candidates. Yet Republican politicians are going to overlook the common sense, policy aspects of their jobs? Voters might, but Republicans in Congress won't. Clinton supporters aren't allowed to think of Hillary as a leader or someone who creates hope? Also, when's the last time so many rural voters have come out to vote for a Democratic candidate? Oh, that's right, the only new voters that count are those that support Obama. Yeah, what she's doing to the party is terrible. She's bringing in millions of voters, including many new voters. She and Obama are getting hours of free publicity every day. She's given a party without a great candidate in years two great candidates in the same election cycle. She's helped to energize the base to outnumber Republican turnout by 2-to-1 and 3-to-1 margins regularly, and this happened before McCain had sewn up the GOP nod as well. How horrible. I don't care if Clinton goes harshly negative every day from here until June and Obama becomes the nominee. I don't care if superdelegates push Clinton over the threshold and she becomes the nominee. Whatever the circumstance, the Democratic party will win huge in November, and it will be united. End of story. A small part of me almost wants to see these "doomsday" scenarios happen to laugh at the hysteria that ultimately means nothing...
Cat - you may be totally right. it's just not the sense i get. and i, for one, would never vote for hillary clinton. mine is just one vote, of course.
"I will will not vote for the Democratic party if Hillary is the presidential candidate." Where have I heard this before? Oh yeah... "I will never watch another Texans game if Mario Williams is the #1 pick."
I don't know if Republicans want to work with Obama, but I know Hillary doesn't want to work with anyone else. It's obvious to anyone that's her nature. 'More liberal' does not mean less open to negotiation, less open to be reasonable, or more likely to act like the queen b*tch (sorry, got carried away for a sec). The Clintonites have always truned a blind eye to the Clintons, but I guarantee you that you will see those 'strongly unfavorable' to Clinton, those be Republicans, Independents... many who have built those sentiments over many years... and now apparently even staunch Democrats, work diligently to defeat her. I'm glad that the Republicans have offered a trustworthy moderate with strong convictions (even though his strong convictions wrt Iraq will continue to be his achilles).
I swear at the beginning of the campaign I was open to supporting Clinton in the primary. Now, I'd still vote for her in the general, but that idea has become a lot more distasteful. I may just hate Mark Penn and her other surrogates, though. (still love you, chelsea, don't go nowhere)