Nobody likes a quitter

[Lannigan]

I just have to say it...

Was anyone else as pissed off as I was when John Kerry conceded so quickly to Bush in '04 (after allegations of fraud, particularly in OH)? How about when things were pronounced "over" in 2000?

I would be really ticked if Hillary quit. NOT JUST because I'm a supporter, but because this thing is SO SO SO close. It needs to play out. It seems we're almost split down the middle here and it wouldn't be right to call it over as of now.

Anyone agree? I know plenty will disagree.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

1. Nobody likes a loser.

Edwards dropped out with more dignity when it was closer than it is now.

It's really not that close.

[Joe the Revelator]

2. Its not that close at all, really

Do the math, it stopped being close when Hillary stopped being able to beat him in delegates.

Also, conceeding an election when the results were in question is a lot different then conceeding a nomination that you lost months ago.

[backscatter712]

8. The math is clear.

Hillary can't close the delegate gap.

Her only chance is to steal the nomination with superdelegate games, and even the superdelegates aren't buying it.

[EmperorHasNoClothes]

3. I honestly don't mind her staying in the race

It's her tactics that bother me. If she wants to stay in and debate the issue, that's fine. But spending her time throwing attacks at Obama is not helping anyone but McCain.

[Texas Hill Country]

19. Those arguments will be used anyway, and anyone that buys them now, will also buy them in GE...

it is not like that is gonna make a difference in the GE at all...

crap like this happens all the time in primaries... hell, Romney called McCain a liberal many a time... are they freaking out like you people are, no. Do they get their panties in a bunch the way you people do, no.

Why, because the reality is that you not only have to point out your own strengths, but your opponents weaknesses, and Obama has plenty.

Plus, Obama has slung plenty of mud through his website and surrogates, he just never did it in his speeches so that he can claim some sort of moral superiority... it's total BS.

[EmperorHasNoClothes]

31. "you people"???

nice.

[Exilednight]

32. So your argument is "repugs do it, so we should do it too"? n/t

[tabasco]

21. I don't mind if she stays in as long as she releases her tax records and WH records.

Hiding those records from Democratic voters will only help the republicans if she were to become the nominee, when she would have to release them.

There must be some stinky stuff in there or else they would have disclosed by now, rather than taking the heat for non-disclosure.


And yes, if she stopped the sliming and stuck to the issues.

[TSIAS]

4. I'd disagree that the race is close

Ohio is a good example. While Clinton won by a significant margin of 10 %, she only gained 9 delegates from that victory. It's hard to see how she can get within even 100 pledged delegates. Clinton may win PA, but Obama will make up a lot of that ground in NC.

[Cha]

5. hilary's not a quitter she's a drag

on America.

[SoonerPride]

7. Just don't imply she's IN drag.

That'd get Ferraro mad.

[Cha]

16. Sorry, I missed that particular

ferraro comment.

[SoonerPride]

6. Losers never quit and quitters never lose

That'll make a good Hillary bumper sticker.

Buy several.

[leftofcool]

9. I agree. Kerry was weak

[AnarchoFreeThinker]

10. errrr, welcome to DU. there's still no math entrance exam, I guess.

[geek tragedy]

11. It's not that she's campaigning.

It's that she's diving into the gutter while campaigning and trying to tear the party apart.

[democrattotheend]

20. I agree

I have never called for her to drop out, but I have called for her to end the negative attacks, particularly the ones that will hurt Obama if he gets the nomination, such as giving credibility to inevitable Republican attacks questioning his preparedness to be commander in chief.

I think those kind of tactics are harmful to her chances in November as well. Everyone knows that if this election hinges on national security, either Democrat will lose. John Kerry was a decorated war veteran and he http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/pages/results/states/US/P/00/epolls.0.html">lost 86-14 among people who considered terrorism their most important issue. And he was running against a draft dodger, not John McCain.

So any way you look at it, putting the focus on national security and readiness to handle a crisis hurts our party's chances of taking back the White House.

[booley]

12. depends on what your quitting

When Kerry conceded when there were (once again) seriouse questions about the elections and it became clear that (once again) Shrub cheated, it only served to validate that dirty tricks.

Hillary on the other hand isn't fighting for democracy or against republicans. Al she is doing is using Rovian tactics and hurting the chances of the party over all.

[thoughtcrime1984]

13. The two situations are very different, of course people will disagree

Kerry should have fought harder, Hillary should quit while she's ahead.

[democrattotheend]

14. I think Kerry did the right thing in 2004

I know I am going to get flames for this, but while I certainly believe there were irregularities, many of them involved people being unable to cast a vote in the first place, and I don't believe a recount would have made up 100,000 votes. In 2006, when George Allen considered a recount in Virginia, they said it was unlikely it could yield him even 1,000 votes.

Gore had a very good reason to contest Florida in 2000, when he had won the popular vote and was down in Florida by a margin of 537 votes. Contesting Ohio with a difference of 100,000 votes and Bush ahead in the national popular vote would have been a much tougher case to make to the American people. Bush had the legitimacy of the national popular vote in 2004, and 100,000 votes is a lot different from 537. If Kerry had contested Ohio, it would have made it look like Democrats are just sore losers who can't accept the results of elections. If anything goes wrong this year, we'd have less credibility contesting it if we had contested the last 2 presidential elections.

Last year, Kerry got choked up in the Senate when he announced he wasn't running again. I can't imagine he failed to contest Ohio because he didn't want the presidency badly enough. I don't think he would have conceded if he thought he had any realistic chance of changing the outcome.

[Lucky 13]

15. Sigh...

There's nothing admirable about her staying in for spite and trashing our nominee and our party. I can't wait for the Special Comment from KO tonite. You guys are in some massive denial right now and have stopped being able to face reality. You probably won't really be able to hear what Keith's trying to say tonite... but I hope you try.

[AnarchoFreeThinker]

17. peace, Lucky. welcome to DU.

[Spider Jerusalem]

18. It isn't close.

She needs 64% of all remaining delegates in order to take the lead. She needs to win every remaining state by commanding margins exceeding those she's only achieved thus far in her home state of Arkansas to have any hope at all. The odds that this will happen are slim to none.

To make an analogy, in simple and vivid terms: For Hillary, it's game four of the World Series. She's lost three straight. Bottom half of the ninth, two outs in consecutive at-bats, the score is 1-7. She needs a home run from every remaining batter and no strikeouts to win. It can be done...but it's not likely.

[Lannigan]

22. Where's a good breakdown of the count?

And I mean GOOD?

Popular vote AND superdelagates...and without superdelagates...because it all looks like funny math to me.

The reason I say it's 'close' is because, especially in the "big" states, the margin (%) is so low.

[Lannigan]

23. And I can't spell DELEGATE!!!

sad so sad

[Spider Jerusalem]

24. Here...

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/democratic_delegate_count.html

And a delegate counter tol you can use to see what the delegate totals look like by trying to guesstimate the numbers for upcoming races here: http://www.forbes.com/2008/02/27/obama-clinton-election-oped-cx_jb_0227delegates.html

[zulchzulu]

25. I prefer a quitter to a poor sport

Hillary knows she can't win. So she endorses OUR OPPOSITION.

I'm more than happy to watch people who support her ugly campaign throw money at it though. They deserve to throw money down a rat hole as far as I'm concerned.

If you can't see that Hillary Clinton should drop out by now, then there's nothing I can do for you. Imagine if Obama had lost 12 races in a row?

[XemaSab]

26. We're not split down the middle and it's not close

n/t

[cali]

27. Stop deceiving yourself. It is not that close.

That said, Hillary has every right to stay in until she's completely defeated. A moment I'm looking forward to.

[JimGinPA]

28. I'd Like HRC Much More If She Were A "Quitter" This One Time

:shrug:

[dchill]

29. How close do you think it is?

Hint: Don't listen to the Clinton campaign, check any news site. She can't do it without cheating.

[XemaSab]

30. Spitzer's out, BTW

:P

[not_too_L8]

33. I heard this somewhere...

winners never quit, quiters never win, but those who never win and never quit are idiots

[Medusa]

34. Judging by her failure to lock up her "inevitable" nomination

I'd say the real problem is that NO ONE LIKES HILLARY!

[mtnsnake]

35. I agree about Kerry. What an embarrassing campaign that was

right from the start when he couldn't even get the balloons to drop down from the ceiling on opening night to when he dorked out during the campaign going goose hunting to impress the gun people (yeah, that worked) to his lesbian gaffe to him not fighting back against the swiftboater's lies to him quitting on us so soon after he lost to an imbecile. Kerry is a good Senator and a war hero but horrible campaigner. Let's hope we never have to go through that ever again.