Hillary Clinton: To Preserve Your Dignity, Drop Out of the Race Now

[RainDog]

Harry Reid is now on the record, at Huffpo/Kevin Drum saying that "things will be done" (gotta love that political passive voice) to resolve the democratic nominee "problem" before the convention. The "problem" is Hillary. She does not have the votes, cannot get the votes, and now all she is doing is destroying her reputation and her husband's among at least 51% of the democratic party.

Maybe I shouldn't say this. For the first time in my life, my vote might actually be considered when nominating the democratic candidate. NEVER before in my life has my vote mattered. ALWAYS before, candidates have conceded in order to build a strong campaign for the nominee.

Once in my life I was able to vote for a candidate of my choice for president. EVERY other time I took one "for the team" and voted for the nominee, even if I didn't like the candidate all that much. Hillary supporters, you who claim you will not vote for Obama - get over yourselves. How many others in this nation have repeatedly, as have I, "voted one for the team?" What makes you so special you cannot do this too? I'll stop this direction in this post because I do not want to indulge the anger that I feel toward Clinton anymore.

I just want her to do the right thing. For the party. Not for herself or her husband's ego. Carville can go stew in his pink pepto-abysmal house with his little Cheney staffer....what a joke for him to talk about someone who supports a candidate he doesn't like. The tactics that he has used, along with other surrogates, will only insure that Clinton will become the most hated non-winning democratic candidate-wanna be (maybe after Lieberman, but doubt it) in all of modern history, with absolutely nothing to show for it. Such are the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.

I'd mentioned this in passing before, but I really do see Hillary as a Hamlet character. She was groomed for the presidency, to be the "heir" of the Clinton dynasty. Her husband's enemies assassinated his character. Yes, there was a "vast right wing conspiracy" with too much control over media and message.

Hillary answered a call to avenge her family after this assassination. She made fatal mistakes based upon incorrect assumptions and injured the wrong party. This has led to her demise as a viable candidate. If she continues to try to take Obama down with her, she, like Hamlet, will give the opening to the Fortinbras McCain to take back all ground gained by her party.

In the past, people talked about Hamlet as a "freudian" story. Freudian explanations are, frankly, ludicrous... a projection of his time and his neuroses, not anyone else's. More recently, Hamlet has been recognized as a story about the rightness of murder, even if it is to avenge another wrongful death. Is rage and a lust for revenge a ghost that haunts us and ruins us if we fail to understand its destructive potential in our own lives? --and in the lives of those we claim to care for?

Hamlet was a tragedy. The thwarting of Hillary Clinton's presidential run at this time is also no doubt a tragedy, especially considering the revenge that would be so sweet if she were the candidate in place when neoconservatism and Newt Republicanism were defeated. But this is not her fate.

For the sake of the party and nation she would like to represent, it is time for Clinton to remove herself from the primary campaign. She needs to do this in order to make peace within the democratic party. If she does not do this, she will not win the nomination and will lose any future possibilities for a presidential campaign because of the powerful enemies she will create.

Ms Clinton, please drop out now.

[mac2]

1. Keep your dignity by not posting any more of these

As a candidate she can do what she sees fit.

McCain is now head to head to Hillary and Obama. I knew neither could win. Edwards was a better choice but you forced him out of the race.

[RainDog]

3. I was an Edwards supporter

I hardly forced him out of the race.

It would be nice if this forum didn't have so many people who are full of no knowledge who make stupid claims. C'est la vie.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

55. front loading the primaries hurt candidates like Edwards

and helped Clinton. Little did anyone know that Obama would know how to deal
with this situation.

[RainDog]

6. one last note

If you also actually had comprehended my post, you would also have noted that at no time did I say that she couldn't do what she wanted. That, in fact, is the whole point of the post... and a look at the consequences of her actions.

My dignity is perfectly intact, thank you. Your capacity for comprehension, however, is seriously in question.

[mac2]

17. She just needs a big push?

My comprehension is not destroyed by your rudeness. Seems no one should disagree with you eh?

[HCE SuiGeneris]

37. "I knew neither could win. Edwards was a better choice but you forced him out of the race."

Dignity? Perhaps a mirror is in order...

[SammyWinstonJack]

38. Edwards was the best choice and no one cared much that he was forced out, in fact many here

called on him to drop out. :mad:

[RainDog]

43. Hillary supporters told me he should drop out

and I made a sarcastic post here calling for her to also "go home and take her husband with him." you can search DU and find it because a Clinton supporter noted I was echoing her and that, yes, it hurt when it was put back to you.

So it wasn't just Obama supporters who called for Edwards to drop out.

And it wasn't anyone on DU that had the tv stations refuse to even acknowledge Edwards was in the race. Please place your rage in its appropriate container and hurl it at your tv. we now return to gd-p's regularly scheduled coal raking.

peace to you... please, again, read my OP. it is not mean to Hillary. I do have words to say to her supporters, however.

[Life Long Dem]

51. I prefer Obama.

Edwards did vote for the war. Obama has the advantage of being against the war.

I had my fears about Obama getting the white vote, but after Iowa and the Midwest I felt that was no problem anymore. I think that's what a lot of people were waiting to see, including the Kennedy's. From Super Tuesday it's been history for Clinton.

[Yael]

2. I believe it is too late

I also believe that her senate seat is in jeopardy. I know I will help fund the D who runs to unseat her.

[Mooney]

10. I will give up my lunch money to do the same.

My one regret is that Grandpa Al Munster could not live to unseat her.

[question everything]

33. Yeah, go after her. With vengence.

If she loses this race you don't want a very effective woman in the Senate.

How typical of the Obama supporters. They are so full of rage that they are willing to kill the party just to keep the Clintons off. Never mind that he was one of the best Presidents in our recent history. Or, do you admire Reagan, like your idol?

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

53. on MSNBC talk of Hillary as next NY Gov

since the new one is having lots of trouble anyway.

[Mags]

4. get real, 22 % want Barry to drop out , the same as Hillary

why can't you folks play the game until the end? Scared? I know Barry is scared about Mi and Fla voters counting, but I would have never guessed that his folks were scared to make every vote count. Thought they wanted them to count in 2002, guess that was a mistake, like they think it is now.

[RainDog]

9. so it's okay for Hillary to change the rules to suit her?

these arguments from Hillary supporters are tiresome and worthless.

The "game" is over and she has lost. She cannot win anymore. All she is doing now is playing spoiler and accruing more and more enemies within the democratic party. If she were really smart, she'd recognize that.

Your arguments about votes counting are so much bullshit. I cannot believe you can equate a primarcy campaign in which Clinton has already lost with vote tampering. Get some integrity. You need it and so does Clinton.

[NanceGreggs]

5. Very well written and thoughtful piece.

:kick: and REC'D!

On a purely personal note, LOVED the line "Carville can go stew in his pink pepto-abysmal house with his little Cheney staffer."

Not necessary to be sure - but so glad you added it!

[RainDog]

16. Thank you

that means a lot to me coming from you because of your many thoughtful pieces that I have enjoyed so often.

[question everything]

7. You obviously are not a supporter of her so why should she listen to you?

Would you say the same to Obama? No, of course not. Obama walks on water, can do no wrong.

And, of course, now your side is resorting to blackmailing: if Obama is not the nominee, black people will not vote for Clinton. Screw you and your blackmailing tactics. Even if we lose.

Or now you call us, Hillary supporters, racist, because your crowd read someplace that some will not support Obama because they are racist, so, as "smart" as you are, you draw the conclusion.

When you have something of substance to say, come back.

[RainDog]

11. You do not know anything about me

I'm not calling Hillary supporters racist... where in this post do you read that?

Are you assuming that I am this or that because I don't support your candidate, or are you just to lazy to read what I wrote and judge it on its own terms?

[mac2]

18. We know you are rude.

[RainDog]

19. Glass Houses, my dear

and now time for the ignore button. ta ta

[question everything]

35. By now all of you are interchangeable

One of you write that we are racist, another that she should drop, yet another that we will lost the African American votes, and yet another - on this thread - that if Hillary loses this race she will work to keep her out of the Senate.

All hateful posts.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

39. Love that broad brush. Quite effective at causing division.

Well done.

[RainDog]

40. You are full of bile

My op was about reality. It was not hateful to Clinton at all. I did have words for her supporters, however, and when those of you on this site chose to attack me rather than address the op, you got back the same. (and then, sniffle, sniffle, I'm just... rude.... but you're not rude nor imbecilic to say "we're all alike" and "we're all racist." )

Yep, white, middle-class mother of two who voted for Clinton for two terms... I'm that stereotypical Obama supporter in your little pin head.

I've stayed out of gd-p for the most part, because of ppl like you. When I have something to say here, however, I will. If you want to engage in lying smears about those who have a different opinion... it's almost like being in an alternate Karl Rove reality!

and now you, like your buddy on this thread, can go to ignore land ) -that's an REM song, fwiw. someone on YouTube put it to footage from The Birds...

[Asgaya Dihi]

24. Why should she care what he thinks?

Because he's an American and a Democrat. We are just trying to get rid of an administration which thought like that. They only cared about their 51% and the rest of us could go hang, we lost. The idea of any dem taking the same "only listen to supporters" stance is nauseating and personally I'd think the combative stance of the Hillary camp has a LOT to do with why they are in this position.

We don't want tough, we've had years and years of tough, we want smart. It's about change, not more of the same, and she's had plenty of time to figure that out with plenty of people saying it. If she hasn't heard it that's nothing anyone else did to her.

[RainDog]

28. Actually, I am also a "she." A white, middled-aged she.

but thank you for acknowledging that, at stage, Cllinton and camp need to take the initial steps to make peace with the rest of the democratic party.

[Asgaya Dihi]

32. Apologies for that

I should have thought to check the bio before I posted, some nicks here aren't obvious. Mine could confuse the hell out of some too I'd guess. Web search might find either a male wolf or a female Cherokee Chief with the same name ;) Personally I don't care which people think it's from. I like both well enough. White middle aged he here, married since 1980 and with two sons, one grown and the other still being a pain in the ass :)

That's a great name btw, my wife is a dog groomer and I used to work with them when I was a kid, still would if I could make any money at it.

[RainDog]

36. If I had a dog I'd name her/him TomWaits

Rain Dogs

milder fare:

Alice

Hold On

It gets weirder, tho...

Going Out West

Jockey Full of Bourbon

his work has been covered by hundreds of artists.

[rucky]

42. I thought of him over Easter

when I saw a chocolate Jesus

[RainDog]

44. yep. posted a link to that one here from YouTube.

Tom is my primal scream embodied.... :/

[Asgaya Dihi]

46. Very cool looking

Weird as it may seem I'm not sure I've ever even heard him before but I do like the description on wiki... Rolling Stone magazine called Rain Dogs Waits' "finest portrait of the tragic kingdom of the streets" Heard of him of course, just never really listened to him.

Seem like something I might like. For the last decade and more I've been pretty wrapped up in activism, drug war mostly, don't watch movies, go out to eat, or get into any other types of pop culture really past what glimpses of it pop up on video sites. That's pretty much my entertainment, documentaries and the odd funny clip ;)

I'll look into this though, thanks for the pointer.

[Noirceuil]

8. Why...

should an intelligent, highly qualified woman who is well-versed in foreign and domestic policy drop out and hand the nomination over to an unqualified guy who thinks being a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago qualifies him to lead the nation? Hillary is here to stay and she’s taking this thing to the convention floor where every stooge will be forced to account for their Kool-Aid drinking on Live TV. Deal with it!

[RainDog]

14. You can also deal with this

It is mathematically impossible for her to win the nomination.

Your smearing of Obama says more about you than him or me. Sad, really. Why should a woman well-versed (but not experienced) in foreign policy have to be defended by trying to tear down her fellow democrat? Are you also one of those who side with McCain over Obama, as in her foreign policy quip that was the FIRST TIME EVER that a democrat so tried to tear down one of her own to favor a republican?

You know how I deal with that? By noting that such actions make her unworthy of the nomination.

[That Guy 888]

20. Because of her Bosnia stories...

My mother and sister (both strong Hillery supporters) feel that her odd fantasy about running to armored vehicles while dodging sniper fire ended her campaign. When missing sleep causes you to "misspeak" like that on four separate occasions, you don't need "Kool-Aid drinking stooges" to derail your campaign.

[Mooney]

12. Your premise is flawed.

She never HAD any dignity, so there's none to preserve. At this point, all she can hope to preserve is her own future political viability, and every day she prolongs the inevitable she makes it more likely that her future will be spent asking people if they want fries with that.

[FlyingSquirrel]

13. Rec'd because you brought a new element to the traditional call

for her to drop out. "Taking one for the team", the states that vote later and don't get to help choose the candidate and yet still vote for the one chosen as the nominee.

I don't think she'll drop out though, because she still has a bloc of support in the superdelegates. Her superdelegate lead's been holding now for a couple of weeks.

I do think that by the time Puerto Rico rolls around, however, she'll be forced to concede because by then she'll probably be so far behind that even counting MI and FL in the most beneficial way to her would not give her the necessary majority.

It's all downhill for her, and it is a tragedy as you've said.

But take courage, those who think it could end in a destructive battle at the Convention:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5290015

[totodeinhere]

15. Your message is the one that the party leaders need to take to Senator Clinton.

In this day and age, 61 is relatively young for a politician. If she doesn't destroy her political career with this futile quest of hers, she should have plenty of opportunities in the future and she should be a major player on the political scene for years to come.

[cooolandrew]

21. Yes, in concede she stands to win. WInning back global and party respect.

The strategy is not hindering Obama at all but more just ending up a self imposed attack. Turning up theh heat has only been upon herself in the end. It's wiser for her career to ease down.

[loveangelc]

22. k

[marshall]

23. Hillary has a very high threshold for humiliation

Appealing to her sense of self dignity is a losing argument. She's in this to win, however she can, whatever the cost.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

54. well those are some true words

dignity no.

power and money - yes.

[Name removed]

25. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Splinter Cell]

27. YOU'VE FREAKIN' LOST....SHUT UP YOURSELF

[PseudoIntellect]

49. It's 30 to 14.

And I think almost ALL Democrats are begging for a Dem on 1.20.09. (the end of an error)

[midnight]

26. Can Harry Reid resolve the problem with taking

Impeachment off the table? I would think that would be much more important than letting the democratic process of this primary play itself out.

[Perry Logan]

29. Delete.

[Vinca]

30. Hillary is turning into a caricature and a joke.

She might have continued with dignity if she hadn't made up the war story, but now she's fodder for comedians. It's embarrassing to watch her.

[depakid]

31. Want another tragedy- or do you want to win?

Let's hope that the superdelegates keep that in mind at the convention.

[RainDog]

34. The call has now begun, in all sincerity

Richardson
Leahy
Breedeson

I would think it would be better to decide on my own, or at least with that appearance, than to face leader after leader telling me to go if I were in Clinton's position.

[rucky]

41. She should campaign positively and low-key until after NC

then gracefully endorse Sen. Obama.

I agree w/ Crisco that we need to give her a chance to leave with her pride intact. If it looks like she was forced out (even though she deserves it)- it's not good for the Dems. Hillary supporters will not be pleased if the exit doesn't appear to be on anything but Hillary's terms (publicy, at least).

[RainDog]

45. REM's Ignoreland - just b/c it's friday

I linked to this above just as a word joke, but I think this would be a good one for our freeper friends (And that's NOT any Hillary supporter, unless you think you fit the category... I don't assume this, however.)

Sooooo, I'd like to dedicate this to the neocons. It has a good beat and you can dance on their graves to it!

-Ignoreland-

These bastards stole their power from the victims of the Us v. Them years,
Wrecking all things virtuous and true.
The undermining social democratic downhill slide into abysmal
Lost lamb off the precipice into the trickle down runoff pool.
They hypnotised the summer, Nineteen seventy-nine.
Marched into the capital brooding duplicitous, wicked and able, media-ready,
Heartless, and labelled. Super U.S. citizen, super achiever,
Mega ultra power dosing. Relax.
Defense, defense, defense, defense. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ignoreland. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ignoreland.

The information nation took their clues from all the sound-bite gluttons.
Nineteen eighty, eighty-four, eighty-eight, ninety-two too, too.
How to be what you can be, jump jam junking your energies.
How to walk in dignity with throw-up on your shoes
They amplified the autumn, Nineteen seventy-nine.
Calculate the capital, up the republic my skinny ass.
T.V. tells a million lies. The paper's terrified to report
Anything that isn't handed on a presidential spoon,
I'm just profoundly frustrated by all this. So, fuck you, man. (Fuck 'm)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ignoreland. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ignoreland.

If they weren't there we would have created them. Maybe, it's true,
But I'm resentful all the same. Someone's got to take the blame.
I know that this is vitriol. No solution, spleen-venting,
But I feel better having screamed. Don't you?
They desecrated winter, Nineteen seventy-nine.
Capital collateral. Brooding duplicitous, wicked and able, media-ready,
Heartless, and labelled. Super U.S. citizen, super achiever,
Mega ultra power dosing. Relax.
Defense, defense, defense, defense. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ignoreland. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ignoreland.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ignoreland. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[apocalypsehow]

47. Excellent OP. K & R.

n/t.

[StevieM]

48. It's interesting that in order for Hillary to have dignity she has to give the Obama people what

they want. If they don't get there way, then she's a bad person. What a great guy Obama is.

Steve

[TheDeathadder]

50. Save Obama Stop The Primary

Why are you guys so scared about letting Cream Puff Obama finish up the Primary? Don't worry when things get tough again they'll ship him off to the Virgin Islands. McCain's got no chance of winning with the GOP State Parties out of money and still full of scandels...no chance of winning unless he goes up against a Cream Puff...you know? Like Obama.

[Beacool]

52. Another wordy post about the same thing.

She won't drop out and the millions of people who support her DON'T want her to drop out!!!

Why is that so difficult for you Obama supporters to understand?

It's not a coronation and everybody should vote before this is decided.

Not everyone is enamored with Obama, actually half of the party is NOT and we will fight until the end for Hillary.

[Voltaire]

59. It WAS a Coronation

Until Obama showed up and clocked her! It was all cool before that though right. Do you folks who are screaming about counting all the votes ever fucking realize that the Clinton campaign never had any intention of ANY state casting a meaningful vote after Super Tuesday????

No I won't call you guys freepers. Its an insult to freepers most of the time.

[mckeown1128]

56. Kick. nt

[mtnsnake]

57. I agree Obama should drop out now instead of waiting until he gets throttled in PA

Not only would it be good for unity but it would save him some awful embarrassment coming up.

[Whisp]

58. her dignity is gone, i.e. if she had any to begin with.

"Hillary Clinton, a dignified woman."

does not compute.