Hillary on her losses: A little condescending?
Campaigning in Maryland, Hillary answers questions about a bad weekend in which she lost badly in Washington, Maine and Nebraska caucuses, and a primary in Louisiana:
"These are caucus states by and large, or in the case of Louisiana, you know, a very strong and very proud African-American electorate, which I totally respect and understand."
Except, she apparently doesn't respect and understand it enough to contemplate the possibility that the vote had nothing to do with racial identity, and some of the African-American electorate just thought Obama was a better candidate.
More: "Noting that 'my husband never did well in caucus states either,' Clinton argued that caucuses are 'primarily dominated by activists' and that 'they don't represent the electorate, we know that.' "
How do we know that? The candidate who wants to seat delegates from Michigan -- where she was the only person on the ballot! -- now says caucuses are unrepresentative?
Elsewhere, we see the campaign putting out the suggestion that it has lost in caucus states because it didn't have the money to spend organizing.
But: They didn't start running out of money in December, did they? And wasn't the whole point of the $5 million Hillary loan to make sure they would have enough money in January? It seems more likely that, based in New York and the Beltway and already spread to exotic locations like Iowa and New Hampshire, they just couldn't imagine places like Nebraska would matter.
Right now, maybe the Clinton campaign needs to learn the cliche every Major Leaguer has memorized: "No excuses. They beat us. We have to play better."
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Comments (2)
I disagree with John Riley on these 3 points. They are:
1) "the vote had nothing to do with racial identity"
You're kidding about this one, right? If not, have you been living under a rock?
2)"caucuses are 'primarily dominated by activists' and that 'they don't represent the electorate, we know that.' "
How do we know that?"
Because Obama himself has stated similar thoughts on many occasions. He claims his supporters are more motivated and enthused, and more willing to attend caucuses.
3)The candidate who wants to seat delegates from Michigan -- where she was the only person on the ballot! -- now says caucuses are unrepresentative?
Every one knows, that there was a huge effort by Obama supporters, to get Michigan voters to place their vote for "undecided". It actually got around 40% of the vote...so unless you have been living under a rock, as I asked before, you would know that a vote for undecided, was supposed to be the same as a vote for Obama.
very good analysis above. i couldnt believe it when riley, who apparently couldnt resist himself, chose the cheap anti clinton shot over reality. Too bad. Bile over objectivity aint the way to go for a pro.