So-called "former Clinton supporter" Carmella Lewis at Unity event. Is she a Republican plant?

[CTyankee]

From today's New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/28/us/politics/28obama.html?_r=1&ref=politics&oref=slogin.

Is this lady just one of those drama queens the press loves to single out as a new McCain supporter or could she be part of a Repub. dirty tricks campaign?

She turns up on other events on Google. So what if she gave $2300 to Hillary?

I'm suspicious. I wonder if there are any other ways to do some research on this individual...

[Adelante]

1. PUMA has Republicans doing mischief

But it is not a trick group. It's for real. I know a number of Democrats who have been with PUMA from the beginning. I don't know Carmella Lewis, though. Was she the PUMA who fainted and David Axelrod gave her water?

[CTyankee]

7. I didn't see that in this article, so I don't know. However, I am still suspicious.

This PUMA group may be pumped up by Republicans masquerading as former Clinton supporters to embarrass/discourage Obama supporters. What proof do we have that PUMA is by and large a real political entity?

I just hope some inquisitive journalist out there is doing research on this "group."

If you have some further info, I'd like to read it...thanks!

[Adelante]

18. PUMA

PUMA tried to disrupt the unity rally yesterday:

http://pumaaction.com/

But there were only five or six of them protesting, according to the Concord Monitor, although there could have been others in the rally crowd.

-snip

Four or five women from Massachusetts clustered near the press entrance to protest for Clinton, who they said is the real winner. The women, who met online on a website for PUMA - Party Unity My (A--) - held homemade signs that said "Hillary: People's Nominee" and another that showed Clinton being run over by a bus.

"We obviously believe Hillary won," said Robyn Miller, a 49-year-old poet from Quincy, Mass. "She did win."

Miller, who said she would vote for McCain, said she's "essentially homeless" these days, because all of her friends are Obama fans.

PUMA focuses on the media, though, not getting crowds of people showing up (I'm not sure they could).

This Connecticut newspaper report gives an idea of their tactics.

-snip

But eventually Stone-Oks acquired an audience, for herself and for an ally, Sharon Chang, largely because they seemed to realize that Chang was what the vast array of media was looking for: A quotable detractor of the nominee who would say she'd rather vote for Republican John McCain than anyone other than Clinton. (That threat meant less coming from Stone-Oks, who conceded that she was a Republican anyway.)

”You're familiar with 'puma?'“ Chang asked the veteran reporter David Lightman of McClatchy newspapers, gesturing to the logo of the sneaker company on her shirt, but meaning something very different.

When Lightman raised his eyebrows, Chang spelled it out: “Party unity, my ass.”

But while the diehards did a good job of attracting attention from reporters and from those immediately around them, unity seemed to be breaking out all over.

Here is the bit about David Axelrod, which is rather amusing in an ironic way:

When a compatriot of Lewis' felt faint during Clinton's address, those around her held out campaign signs: a Clinton-Obama canopy. A mustachioed man in a dress shirt leaned forward from behind the tangle of CNN's cables and tripods to hand Lewis a cup of water, which she accepted immediately, not recognizing David Axelrod, Obama's chief strategist.

The Washington Post did an in depth article on the umbrella group (there are several PUMA-like groups, designed to make it look like a huge movement) a few days ago which will give you a better idea of where they're coming from. Here is PUMA's website.

It's not about John McCain and it's not about Republicans. The GOP can exploit these groups, but I would say it's a mutual exploitation. PUMAs use John McCain to devalue Barack's nomination; that's the primary goal. It's not about November except as a threat, whether or not they do end up voting McCain. It's about August, and getting Clinton the nomination through whatever means it takes.

Unity is okay by me, but PUMAs are the opposition, as far as I am concerned, and they shouldn't be let off easy because Democrats don't want to believe other Democrats would do this.

[papapi]

11. P.U.M.A. - Pathetic Unhinged Miscreant Asswipes

[Peacetrain]

2. Well if people are that dumb.. we are probably better off

having them go back to the other side :).. seriously.. I was watching some show this morning (abc morning news) and there you have a puma person going on about voting maccain.. the reporter asks her about not following Hillary who has asked that her supporters support Barack.. and the truth came out.. she was NOT a democrat.. she said she was independent who was supporting Hillary.. and even if Hillary asked her to support Barack..she would not.. even if it meant going against all party principles..

[mrreowwr_kittty]

3. No. Most of these people are Dems.

They are not nearly as large a group as the MSM is making them out to be but in every election there is a small percentage of each party that goes against the nominee. From what the polls are showing right now the percentage of Dems who say they are voting McCain is roughly the same as voted for Bush in 2004. The only reason the PUMA people are getting so much attention is the MSM wants to keep the horserace going. If they were fair (which they are not) they would be airing stories about all the disgruntled Republicans who aren't supporting McCain, and the lackluster support in general that he's getting from the rest of his party. The man could barely get elected as a State Committeemember in his own District!!

[CTyankee]

8. I did hear one reporter (I think on Hardball), a woman, who said that the real story is about the

Republicans who are planning to vote for Obama in November. She said that it was a far greater number than the former Clinton supporters who will vote for McCain. Nobody else on the panel was talking about it.

[Blue_Roses]

4. how old is this lady? pretty immature

to stuff tissues in her ears so she doesn't hear him speak.:eyes:

[papapi]

9. Believe it or not, she's 57!

[Blue_Roses]

22. here she is...looking

very disgruntled:eyes:



Carmella Lewis, second from right, of Denver, Colo., plugs her ears as Sen. Barack Obama speaks to supporters in Unity yesterday afternoon. Lewis, a delegate pledged to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, attended the rally with fellow Clinton supporter Freda Smith, left, of Salem, N.H., to shout support for Clinton.

[ErinBerin84]

5. she lives in Denver, but showed up at the NH event?

Stuffing her ears with tissues...fucking weirdo.

[shraby]

6. Who in the hell would go from Denver to

NH to a Democratic campaign rally then not listen unless it's for the express purpose of Republican propaganda. Otherwise, I'd have to say she is a tad unhinged.

[CK_John]

10. Follow the money, who provide the plane ticket. n/t

[CTyankee]

12. Yep, that was one of the red flags for me too.

It's one thing to raise hell in your own city, but having the money and time to fly more than half way across the country just to stick kleenex in your ears at a Democratic rally is quite another.

If she is a looney tunes, I wonder what she was doing before Hillary Clinton came along. Maybe she was a variation of the "celebrity stalker" genre and her family doesn't know she's off her meds again...

[ErinBerin84]

13. exactly

[Born_A_Truman]

14. Amazing how the reporter happened to find her

Just picked her out of the crowd?

[CTyankee]

16. Sure. They know that the press will give them some publicity.

That's the point. Fits the profile of repub plant or crazy person seeking attention...

[blondeatlast]

17. Isn't it just? What a "coincidence." nt

[Adelante]

19. PUMAs approach the press, not the other way around

It's how they do it.

[blondeatlast]

21. It figures, they aren't at all what I'd call reserved. She's pretty good at it,

it seems, see my post below.

[CTyankee]

23. Do you know some of these PUMAs? I mean, actually talked to them?

I'd like to know if my repub plant/crazy person theories are accurate.

Jes' curious...

[Adelante]

24. So do you

Some of them are DUers. Others I've known from other sites. For years. But you're not inaccurate. There are Repub plants, I'm sure, but they do not make up very much of the membership, no more than they do here. As I said earlier, this is a mutually exploitative relationship: Republicans are using PUMA and PUMA is using Republicans. It's about devaluing Obama's nomination, not about electing John McCain. That's a pretense, a PR weapon. The whole damned thing is PR, for that matter. It's all about weakening Obama for August.

Edit: To answer your question, I have two friends of over 30 years standing who live in NYC with whom I have emailed (I live in Mexico now) about PUMA. They both told me outright that its purpose is to break Obama for the convention. They believe Obama's nomination was stolen from Hillary. Neither of them will vote McCain in November, but both are involved with PUMA, at least to the extent they have signed up at websites. I have also met a few other PUMA members in real life, so I know they are Democrats, who do swear they will vote McCain or stay home if Hillary isn't given the nomination, but for them, too, it's about vindicating Hillary by damaging Obama for the convention, not about electing McCain in November.

[CTyankee]

25. OK, I get all thatyou are saying (and agree totally) except where you say

that PUMA is using Republicans. I suspect you mean that they want to "get" Obama for the awful things he did to Hillary and this is their way of doing it. Any way I look at that, it still points to disturbed individuals, along the lines of celebrity stalkers.

Maybe I'm putting more intothis than I should be (LOL), but I voted for Hillary in my Feb. primary (my original candidate was Edwards and he was not on my CT ballot). I have lots of friends who voted for Hillary, mainline Dems, prochoice women, union members, etc. I don't think a single one of them would ever consider voting for John McCain, much less joining up with PUMA.

So, I'm confused...

[Adelante]

26. I agree that it's a small number who will vote McCain or join PUMA

The vast majority of Clinton supporters I know have gotten behind Obama and wouldn't dream of voting for McCain. Obama's got 64% of Clinton voters supporting him as of last week and that's up from 53% three weeks ago. He's leading McCain with women, Hispanics and lower income voters, which was Clinton's bloc. We have to remember that Reagan Democrats who voted for Clinton in the primaries were always as likely as not to vote for McCain in the GE, in any case, so I don't know what part of that errant 25% is made up by PUMA types, although they will claim it, just as they continue to claim 18M Clinton voters, despite 64% or more having transitioned to Obama. Anyway, Obama's pulling high 80s-low 90s among Democrats in most state polls. That's why I say PUMA is mostly a PR stunt, though it has real people who feel very strongly.

[newmajority]

27. "it's about vindicating Hillary by damaging Obama for the convention"

If that's the case, then they should receive a pizza delivery immediately. They are working to defeat the Democratic nominee.

[Adelante]

28. I don't see them doing it much on this site

But, yeah, they're the opposition, as far as I see it.

[CTyankee]

what I don't get is women who back a candidate that is prochoice and then turn around

a candidate that is the polar opposite on choice. This is why I think these people are irrational and in need of medication...

[Adelante]

30. Absolute insanity

That is, if they mean it.

[CTyankee]

31. Well, yes, then back to my other theory: repub.plant

If my conjecture is accurate, it would be interesting to see a PUMA meeting of the two groups. The repub. plants acting rationally out of desire to see their candidate beat Obama (or at least weaken him, as you suggest) and those that are out of counseling and off their meds. That's gotta be some scene...:rofl:

[CTyankee]

29. what I don't get is women who back a candidate that is prochoice and then turn around

a candidate that is the polar opposite on choice. This is why I think these people are irrational and in need of medication...

[PatGund]

15. How interesting....

Traveled all the way from Denver....just to stuff tissues in her ears and state she's voting for McCain.

Plant, made up, or unhinged is my guess

[blondeatlast]

20. She's a busy, busy gal; check out this Google search for '"carmella lewis" obama clinton':

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rls=com.microsoft%3Aen-us%3AIE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7GGLH&q=Carmella+Lewis+clinton+obama

Seven pages of stuff that directly relate to her.

[sniffa]

32. I wonder about another, Laura Smith

Laura Smith, 55, who lives in Connecticut and New Hampshire, is carrying a sign that declares, “The Democratic Party is a house divided” and another that says “Puma: Party Unity My A**.”

She said she volunteered for Clinton during the primaries, plans to travel to Denver for the Democratic National Convention, and plans to vote for Republican John McCain in protest.

“I think it's important for everyone to understand that everybody is not falling in line for Obama," said Smith, who said she believes that Obama is far too inexperienced to be president. "There are thousands of us out there, we communicate on the Internet, we don’t buy his story.”

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/06/thousands_gathe.html

[Adelante]

33. Well, at least they're not "millions" anymore nt

[Faygo Kid]

34. Hillaryclintonforum.net and HillaryIs44.com would explode in joy if Carmella's wish came true.

You know what I'm talking about, and so does Carmella.

If they think their unbridled joy at its happening would be without blowback, they have another thing coming.

I am fucking sick and tired of these haters. Worse than the Freepers.