The Demarcation Line

[grantcart]

At 1:32 on 3/21/08 PM EST we crossed THE DEMARCATION LINE when Jim Vandehei and Mike Allen published "Story behind the story: The Clinton Myth" in Politico.com

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0308/9149.html



It asserted that "As it happens, many people inside Clinton’s campaign live right here on Earth."

It asserted that "Her own campaign acknowledges there is no way that she will finish ahead in pledged delegates."

One day later there has been no denial from the Clinton campaign that the basic premise of the article was a fabrication. The Clinton campaign is implicitly acknowledging that it intends to take the nomination of the party by undermining and casting aside the verdict of the primaries and caucuses.


Obama has a pledged delegate lead of 157 and with only 10 primaries left it will only be slightly diminished, if diminished at all, because of the size and number of the states left and the fact that even a substantial win yields less than a dozen delegates. Even casting aside the rules established at the begining of the campaign and revoting in Michigan and Florida would not change this reality.



Since Feb 5th Clinton's lead of 97 Superdelegates has been reduced to 35.


The only way for Clinton to become the nominee is to convince the party that the current leader and virtual presumptive nominee of the party is so detrimental to the party and to the nation that an intervention is required that all the fundamental rules of the Democratic Party in terms of process must now be set aside, that the party must undo the results of a long and exahaustive primary and caucus schedule and say "The will of the people must be disregarded for the sake of the party and the country".



This has created a great divide in the party, a chasm so deep and wide that in approaches the Grand Canyon in its scope.


On one side of this demarcation side are the following people:

- - supporters of Barack Obama

- - supporters of other candidates who have come to Obama by default and stay with various degrees of enthusiasm

- - Democrats who are more or less neutral but support the will of the people as determined by the rules in the primary/caucus process

- - Clinton supporters who feel that theirs was the better candidate but believe that the integrity of the process and the unity of the party is more important than the candidacy of a particular candidate.


On the other side are
- - Clinton supporters who believe that Obama's candidacy is somehow so flawed that it must be stopped by any means (flawed even though he has had remarkable electoral success against the strongest field of democratic candidates ever fielded).

- - Clinton supporters who feel that they must remain faithful and pay no attention to the serious implications raised by the admissions of the Clinton campaign.

- - Those that hate both candidates who hope that an implosion brings in a 'white knight' candidate.

- - Neutrals who want to be in the final arbitration and are willing to maintain a fiction that the electoral will of the primary is not yet clear.



That demarcation line runs through our party and thru DU. After the nomination is finally settled either the candidate who leads in

delegates
primary wins
caucus wins
popular vote in contested primaries
donors
money raised
endorsements by Senators and Govenors

will be made the nominee of the party or it will be ripped from that campaign and a civil war will be ignited in the party.


Up until yesterday it could be argued that the Clinton campaign was in denial that they just did not comprehend the math. That is no longer possible. A much more menacing spector of selection by party fratricide remains the only possible option of an increasingly futile and cynical campaign. The divide by that demarcation line in many cases will be irreconcilable. The time for decision for the remaining fence sitters and Clinton supporters is at hand.


The myth that they have a chance of arriving in Denver with a majority of pledged delegates selected by primaries and caucuses has been abandonded by the Clinton campaign itself.



The final legacy of the Clinton 'dynasty' to the Democrat Party is this demarcation line.

[grantcart]

1. kick

[HCE SuiGeneris]

2. Time to coalesce.

K n R

[grantcart]

11. tks

[bhikkhu]

3. K&R - marking one small step:

Hillary's campaign admits "there is no way she will finish ahead in pledged delegates". At least they are admitting that, and hopefully all the rest will follow soon enough.

[grantcart]

4. ah bhikku how typical of you to find the positive potential. May your optomism be

affirmed and my cynicism be misplaced.

[BumRushDaShow]

5. K&R

The sooner the Clinton campaign steps down, the sooner the DNC can get on with the business of framing the issues of restoring a destroyed economy, ending the meaningless wars overseas, and propelling the U.S. back to its rightful place in the world.

[grantcart]

19. It maybe the longest 10 months in American history if the economy keeps falling

[Road Scholar]

6. K&R

:toast:

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

7. Clinton campaign finances + Richardson endorsement = Demarcation Line

Jonathan Alter said a few weeks ago that there was no way for Hillary Clinton
to beat Barack Obama, that she would have to win each and every future contest with at least 60% of
the vote. Only if somehow the Obama campaign was "mortally" wounded could she
even hope to win.

At Politico they said that the media had been propping up the Clinton campaign
in order to continue the high ratings for the news shows. Ratings have been through
the roof, and they didn't want to lose the gravy train.

As a major attempt to take Obama down, the snippet of his black pastor's fiery sermon,
minus the rest of the service - was released to the media in the hopes of inciting
racism and in an attempt to ridicule Obama and make him look scary or silly.

Obama gave a "race speech" that some say is much like the "religion" speech that John F Kennedy gave. This didn't stop Faux news from playing the same video snipped 24 hours a day, each day, even to the point of two hosts of their shows revolting!

Some forces that support Obama, that which we are uncertain of, have intervened and
have "tilted" or "rebooted" the media and rebooted the democratic party.
Wild Bill had gone too far, even pushing close friend Bill Richardson to have to publicly
step away from Hillary Clinton, and to stand up for the junior senator from Illinois,
Barack Obama.

Here we are, and Hillary has a choice, save the party and encourage unity,
or continue on with this wretched campaign that is demoralizing to us all, and
which is greatly strengthening our opposition.

The future of our country is at stake - we need a nominee who can draw votes for the
down ticket.

Now Clinton surrogate James Carville, known middle man and one who plays both sides against
each other, has attacked Governor Bill Richardson, a statesmen - and called him a Judas, because
Richardson is acting to bring about party unity and save the Democrats chance to win the White House.

Its ours to lose, we have a good candidate who has vision and very little baggage = running against an old man whose campaign depends on his foreign policy ability, an war hero opponent who confuses the different sects in Iraq, and who confuses which country is doing what. Because to this old man,
they all look alike.

Its ours to lose, and Bill Richardson has signaled the elders of the party - take action now
to prevent the party from snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

[grantcart]

8. all of your points are accurate

what I think makes the politico article so defining an so significant is a very particular point:


The are admitting they have lost the primary and caucus campaign.



I think it takes a while to understand the full dimensions of this. They are not holding on to some fantastic scenario that gets them close, they are going to try and undermine the validity of the entire process.

[Voice for Peace]

9. Line of Demarcation

line of demarcation
n.

A zone of inflammatory reaction separating gangrenous from healthy tissue.

[grantcart]

10. somebody hand the doctor a scapel

[WillyT]

12. Exactly grantcart, Exactly !!! - K & R !!!

Remember when, in the early part of this primary process some talking head noted, that with Obama you hear "Us" and "We", with Clinton you hear "I" and "Me".

It has always been so. And it continues to this day.

:shrug:

[grantcart]

13. yes and it should be noted that a number of courageous Clinton supporters have

refused to cross this line. In many ways they are the unsung heros of this stage of the campaign.

[hogwyld]

14. You forgot something in your Hillary supporters list

GOP, Rush Limpballs, and other agent provocateurs that want this thing to continue and to damage the dem chances against McLame.

[grantcart]

15. all true but I was aiming more at sincere democrats who are reflecting on how Hillary can win

[grantcart]

16. evening kick

[Binka]

17. Kick Grant

Not much time to type, I've a sick kiddo that needs extra Mommy arms tonight! :hi:

[grantcart]

18. sorry to hear hope its better tomorrow

[grantcart]

20. graveyard kick

[KAZ]

21. K&R. Excellent post!

[grantcart]

22. tks