Over the course of Hillary Clinton's campaign, good ol' Bill has been there to campaign for her and reiterate what she has said. In my opinion, he's done more harm than good, and hasn't really paid any attention to the campaign at all... only the items that were exposed by the media. We all remember the Bosnian sniper fire that Hillary had said she endured. Bill said that Hillary was tired at night when she made the statements, but she had said it on three different occasions according to ABC News. But I wont go into the details of this story.
Hillary Clinton sat down with Bill O'Reilly a couple of days ago. There was a little discussion about taxes. O'Reilly is asking how high Clinton will raise taxes, she said about 36-39% for those making more than $250,000 and O'Reilly acts like he is complaining (or maybe he is) about it and trying to get her to slip up. Later during the tax convo, this is what happens:
Clinton: No, I'm not waffling. I'm saying I'm not going to impose additional burdens on middle-class families. And there are a lot of people...
O'Reilly: But I'm not a middle-class family. I'm a rich guy.
Clinton: Well, and you know what? Rich people, God bless us. We deserve all the opportunities.
When I heard that, (thank god for DirectTV), I hit the rewind button. I listened to it over and over, and yes people, she said that. Ok, so we now get a sense of the "elitist" side of Hillary Clinton. You can view this part of the interview here.
In West Virginia, while campaigning for his wife, Bill said this:
"The great divide in this country is not by race or even income, it's by those who think they are better than everyone else and think they should play by a different set of rules," he said. "In West Virginia and Arkansas, we know that when we see it."
(Thank you to Yahoo! news for the quote.)
Let's look at this for a minute. Of course, we know that he is referring to Barack Obama. The first thing I will point out is the "who think they are better than everyone else" line. Hillary's comments on O'Reilly proved this to put the Clintons into this category. (That was simple to put that one into perspective!) And now we have the "think they should play by a different set of rules" line. At the beginning of the election season when Michigan and Florida moved up their election dates, and violated DNC rules, they were punished and their delegates wouldn't be seated. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and everyone else agreed not to campaign in these states, heck Obama's name wasn't even on the Michigan ballot.
Now, Clinton wants the delegates in Michigan and Florida to be seated. She had agreed to the rules before, but of course, she wants to break them now because she is losing. That places Clinton into the potential "wanna-be" rule breaker party. So all Bill Clinton did was describe his wife, while trying to take a jab at Obama.
I think it is time for Bill Clinton to just sit back and let his wife handle things. He's caused a lot of controversy with the statements and actions of his wife - and it's hurting her campaign -- I know with all of this happening I'm very likely not going to vote for Clinton come November. (If she even gets the nomination that is)
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Bill Clinton... does he know what he is saying?
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Interesting events over night - Obama gains delegates, Hillary Claims lead
Over the past couple of days, the media has been doubting Obama has his bid for the White House. Three super-delegates have said otherwise. Oregon Rep. David Wu, Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry, and Audra Ostergard (Assoc. Chair of the Nebraska Democratic Committee) have all endorsed Obama. Meanwhile, Clinton has raised approximately $10 million since the Pennsylvania Primary. With all of this debate going on on whether Obama should drop out, or Clinton should drop out, you can see that neither campaign's fan base is giving up on their candidate.
New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson was on Larry King last night arguing for Obama. To me, this was shocking to see. I mean... CNN having someone on Obama's side being interviewed? It almost seems appalling. He said that the Clinton supporters think that "they are a dynasty" and they are "clinging to the throne."
After all of this, I woke up this morning and read that Hillary Clinton is claiming that she is in the lead of the popular vote. Sure, that is if you include Michigan and Florida. Michigan didn't even have Obama's name on the ballot, and neither candidate was allowed to campaign in Florida. If she wants to claim the lead and include those two states, then it should be done just how all of the other 50 states have done it. Both of them campaigning, both of them on the ballot, and both of them going after each other. Until that happens, you have no right to claim the popular vote lead.
So now that Clinton has some momentum going, do you think she will be able to do well in North Carolina and Indiana? Do you agree with Bill Richardson's comments? What is your opinion on Michigan and Florida?
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Up Next: Indiana and North Carolina -- Obama leads in both
We are two weeks away from the next two important states in the Democratic Race for the nomination. After Clinton took a convincing win in Pennsylvania by 9 points, Obama now needs to focus on Indiana. Only leading by 5 points in the latest polls, he needs to make sure that Clinton doesn't catch up to him, or even take the lead. It would be even better if he could widen the margin to 10 or so points. Obama has to keep his cool, and not make any slip ups while addressing issues brought up by the two front attack. He can't do what Clinton did in Pennsylvania and lose his lead, and make it come close. (He currently leads in North Carolina by 13 points)
Speaking of the two front attack, here is something to think about. Do you see John McCain attacking Hillary Clinton? Nope. You see him attacking Barack Obama. With this, you can see that McCain and his campaign, as well as the Republican Party are wanting to face Hillary Clinton since she will be the easiest to beat come November. They are worried about Obama and his momentum that he carries for long periods of time.
So, when you go to the polls for your primaries (if you are one of the few states left to do so), and you really want a democrat to be in office (or just don't want McCain in office), you should vote for Barack Obama. With McCain worried about him, he is obviously worried that Obama can beat him come November.
-- Just a note today --
Barack Obama Received 49 more endorsements today, a lot of them super-delegates.
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Edit: Discuss why you agree or disagree in the post above.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Obama rising, Clinton falling. Do or Die for Clinton
Today in Pennsylvania, we all know that if Hillary Clinton somehow doesn't win, she will be pressured to step down from the race. (But, she is 9 points ahead of Obama in the latest polls... but not everyone is surveyed of course.) Obama, I think has a chance to win Pennsylvania. There have been almost 23,000 new voter registrations (if I can recall the statistic well from last night), and as proven in other states, Obama has taken the majority of the new voters.
I really think Hillary Clinton hurt herself yesterday on Larry King Live. She made some very idiotic comments, trying to portray herself as Barack Obama. She called herself "the image of change" which is what everyone has been calling Barack Obama over this whole election series. Then, at the end of her interview, she told a story about a man who has been disabled for some time who told her that she was the reason that he will vote for the first time. I mean... do these sob stories really work? I can remember a while back when Clinton was falling behind, she broke out into tears at some breakfast or something... then her ratings started to rise again. Then, she comes out and attacks Barack Obama like there is no tomorrow (at yet continues to fail doing so). It's almost as if she is undecided as to what kind of campaign she wants to run.
I was hoping that the interview would have lasted longer. I was really looking forward to hearing more about her in comparison to Barack Obama. Maybe she would have put out there that she is the reason that there is hope for our country. (Wait... that's Obama's reasoning!)
What are your thoughts? Do sob stories work on you?
Another general question: Does anyone know a place on the web where I can find a "schedule" of sorts for when debates and interviews will take place? This way I don't miss any of them... I almost missed the one last night.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Obama going strong, Clinton millions in debt
Today, CNN reports that Barack Obama is still going strong on funds, totally $42 million. ($52 million overall.) This can't be said for Clinton's campaign. According to reports, Clinton only has $9 million in spendable cash for the primaries, while carrying over $10 million in debts.
Being the most crucial part of the race, and with it down to the wire, I believe that this will hurt Clinton's campaign greatly. She already borrowed money from herself for her campaign, and is carrying so much debt... I just don't think it is possible to get the win for the nomination.
Just a note in comparison: John McCain was behind both democratic hopefuls in fund raising for last month.
Obama really has the momentum, nothing is seeming to hurt him much... do you think this will be the "final axe" that knocks Clinton out of the race?