Democracy Has Prevailed.

April 19, 2008

How NOT to Make Friends and Influence People

From Huffingtonpost. They have Senator Clinton on tape saying this:
Moveon.org endorsed [Sen. Barack Obama] -- which is like a gusher of money that never seems to slow down.
And then

We have been less successful in caucuses because it brings out the activist base of the Democratic Party. MoveOn didn't even want us to go into Afghanistan. I mean, that's what we're dealing with. And you know they turn out in great numbers. And they are very driven by their view of our positions, and it's primarily national security and foreign policy that drives them. I don't agree with them. They know I don't agree with them. So they flood into these caucuses and dominate them and really intimidate people who actually show up to support me.
First things first. According to Eli Pariser:
Senator Clinton has her facts wrong again. MoveOn never opposed the war in Afghanistan, and we set the record straight years ago when Karl Rove made the same claim. Senator Clinton's attack on our members is divisive at a time when Democrats will soon need to unify to beat Senator McCain. MoveOn is 3.2 million reliable voters and volunteers who are an important part of any winning Democratic coalition in November. They deserve better than to be dismissed using Republican talking points.
Then there's Jane Hamsher over at Firedoglake:

The Huffington Post has Hillary Clinton on tape disparaging Barack Obama and his support from MoveOn, saying that the organization "didn't even want us to go into Afghanistan.

I've tried to stay out of the pie fights of late, but as a long-term defender of MoveOn and other progressive organizations -- this is completely unacceptable.

A couple of things here. As Keith Olbermann pointed out last night, the irony of Senator Clinton disparaging moveon.org is thick as thick can be.

Does anyone remember how Moveon.org got started?

It was an online petition defending President Clinton against Republican impeachment.

It's raised millions of dollars for Democratic candidates and is an exceedingly important part of progressive grassroots political activism.

All-in-all, not a good move for Senator Clinton.

16 comments:

Sherry Pasquarello said...

yes, it was and she knows that. me? what she said really pisses me off. i always supported going into afghanistan, most people did.

Maria said...

Hillary Clinton voted NAY to condemning the MoveOn.org Petraeus/Betray Us ad.

And, Obama? He didn't vote at all.

Anonymous said...

Maria;

Yea, so?

She's still been caught using a Republican talking point to mislead at least one group of people about one of the left's more important grassroots progressive organizations.

How does her vote (which by the way occured months before) change any of that?

Maria said...

Just to be clear, it wasn't like he didn't vote because he was out of town or something, he voted moments earlier on another bill:

"Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, another contender for the Democratic nomination, did not vote, although he voted minutes earlier for an alternative resolution by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. That resolution condemned the MoveOn ad as an "unwarranted personal attack," but also condemned political attack ads that questioned the patriotism of Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., and former Sen. Max Cleland, D-Ga., both Vietnam veterans."

Anonymous said...

Oh, Maria.

You're leaving out some important stuff, aren't you?

Take a look.

But curiously absent from the vote was Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, also a Democratic candidate for president, who had canceled a campaign appearance in South Carolina so he could be in Washington for votes.

Mr. Obama issued a statement calling the resolution, put forward by Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, “a stunt.” Mr. Obama said, “By not casting a vote, I registered my protest against these empty politics.”

Mr. Obama had voted minutes earlier in favor of an extremely similar resolution proposed by Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California.

Hmm. Perhaps he didn't vote on the Cornyn resolution because it was "a stunt."

Anonymous said...

Maria,

Are we intimidating you in our attempt to vote?

Anonymous said...

Howard Wolfson elaborated on Senator Clinton's comments by explaining she made the comments because Moveon.org intimidated people at the Nevada and Texas caucuses.

This was a bizarre claim since Moveon.org had not endorsed Senator Obama by the Nevada caucuses and Senator Clinton's taped comments were made before either part of the Texas caucuses.

Kim

Anonymous said...

Retired Millhunk says:
Maria I have a great idea, why don't you take a leave of absence till say Feb. 2009, and let Kim if she would, take over your spot. It would be refreshing to get some truth, facts, no whining and common sense for awhile.

Anonymous said...

Whether Barack voted for on teh resoultion over the Petraeus/Betray Us ad is not the point.

He's not the one trashing them.

Anonymous said...

" Maria should should take leave of her own blog and let Kim take over. "
Why should Maria leave her own blog? Why doesn't Kim start her own blog? Or, maybe you could start your own blog?

Anonymous said...

I quit move on once they endorsed Obama. Let's face it the Democrats are divided. Blame who you want but I do not blame Clinton.

Anonymous said...

John K. says: Blame Operation Chaos and Limbaugh! He divided the Democrat party. He is the man!

Maria said...

Retired Millhunk,

BITE ME

Anonymous said...

Retired Millhunk says:
Maria, why so full of hate. Venom everywhere. You try to pass yourself off as a liberal but you're just like Hilliary a pro choice Neo- con. Did you renew your Trib Review subscription again?

Maria said...

Do you have any clue how the more obnoxious Obama supporters like you have turned off people to your candidate?

Anonymous said...

Retired Millhunk says:
Maria do you know how many Clinton supporters you and your ilk have turned off via your hate filled rants toward Obama? She had more than a 20 point lead a month ago now it's down to single digits due to people such as yourself. Shame