Wow... the Clinton People Never Stop Spinning...

I don't know what it is with these people but they are just boldfaced liars and spin so much that sometimes I think the Clinton house has to rest on a perpetual Merry-Go-Round just so that they never have to leave their comfort zone.

After the brouhaha over Bill Clinton's angry Bill Richardson comments in the meeting with California Superdelegates, Bill Richardson wrote an Op-Ed defending his decision and maintaining his respect for the Clintons.

Although this line managed to slip in there:

I, of course, called Sen. Clinton prior to my endorsement of Sen. Obama. It was a difficult and heated discussion, the details of which I will not share here.

That line made it clear that the Clintons were pretty angry with Bill Richardson for his decision. Although ABC News would later uncover that in the conversation Hillary asserted that Obama "cannot win".

Now I have no problem with candidates saying they have a better chance of defeating the opponent from the other party. I have no problem with them believing they are more qualified and even pointing out their qualifications in commercials and stump speeches. Barack Obama has said he feels he is the candidate that stands a better chance against John McCain.

That to me is fine. It's not disqualifying Hillary's chances altogether. It's just saying he thinks he would do better than her. And statistically that statement is possible even if Hillary beat McCain head to head that Obama might have polled higher. That doesn't mean he thinks she would lose to him or at least he would never openly admit that. And it doesn't mean he's campaigning in a way that says, "if you nominate Hillary, we will lose in November".

However that's exactly what she has basically been saying by trying to imply that Obama isn't "ready from day one", is unable to answer the hypothetical 3am call, is less qualified than John McCain.

To blatantly campaign in such a fashion only shows your indifference towards doing what is best for the party. Should she lose the nomination and chances are incredibly high that this will happen, she has declared that there is no way the Democrat will win and in repeating that meme before Obama is the candidate she is helping reinforce that notion to undecided voters for the General Election.

It's rather low and despicable at the very least.

But in typical Clinton fashion they lie and spin their way out of what they said and try to blame Richardson of all people. Just like how they tried to claim that the pro-war, pro-long term bases Hillary is somehow the "peace candidate" who will actually get us out of Iraq (as opposed to Obama, who has been against the war since day one, I guess), they have taken something they are clearly guilty on and tried to lie their way out of it by claiming the exact opposite of what happened.

It makes the already completely bogus "flip-flopper" John Kerry accusations from the last presidential campaign cycle look so unbelievably pale in comparison just by the level of deception and the speed and force of how these about-faces are done by her campaign.

From Salon.com:

Time's Mark Halperin reports on the account of one unnamed "Clinton associate" who says it was Richardson, not Clinton, who suggested that Obama could not win in the general election. Halperin quotes this Clinton associate as saying, "Bill Richardson is clearly embarrassed that he broke his promise to them. He should come out and tell the truth and admit that he told both Clintons that Obama wasn't ready and can't win."

It should be noted that Mark Halperin has been anti-Obama for some time and more notably anti-liberal.

To clarify here Bill Richardson had openly questioned Obama's "inexperience" while he was wavering between Clinton and Obama for the endorsement. But after he heard the "race speech", the wavering ended and he saw the leadership Obama could provide.

Since that point there is no question Richardson supported Obama outwardly by doing the public endorsement and publicly defending Obama from attacks. In politics you don't do those things publicly and then go to the other candidate and say he can't win. When you endorse in the fashion Richardson did, you tie your horse to that candidate's wagon. If they fail, you have damaged your own political career to some degree. Al Gore suffered a good amount of political damage when he endorsed Howard Dean and Dean subsequently lost all but his home state in the primaries. It took the success of "An Inconvenient Truth" to erase that from memory.

So to say that Richardson said otherwise after the endorsement is complete and utter lies.

Just to reiterate here's the context of what was said in the conversation between Richardson and Clinton according to the ABC News Report:

Sources with direct knowledge of the conversation between Sen. Clinton and Gov. Bill Richardson, D-N.M., prior to the Governor's endorsement of Obama say she told him flatly, "He cannot win, Bill. He cannot win."

Richardson, who served in President Clinton's cabinet, disagreed.

If he didn't disagree then he's completely stupid for possibly damaging his own political career by endorsing someone who he believes "cannot win". Of course the reality is that the Clintons, much like their Bush friends, have no connection to reality. That connection seems to have been severed at the very latest in the mid-1990s.

-Rp

Destroying Your Image

There used to be a time just recently actually, where you could look at what a complete disaster George W. Bush has been as President and then you'd look back at the Clinton years as the "good times".

Bill Clinton may have run down his reputation by beating Republicans in Presidential races and may have angered some Republican voters by cheating on his wife (not that most of the Republicans haven't been caught doing worse now) but the majority of America looked at Bill as the way more competent President and in fact some were wishing he still were considering how Dubya has flubbed things.

Then he starts to campaign for his wife and starts to show his angry side. There's something wholly unlikeable about a politician yelling at you and telling you that you are wrong if you don't show loyal lockstep. It's damaged his legacy pretty badly, as recent polls show.

It appears he blew his top again at a meeting with California Superdelegates when it came to defending longtime Clintonite and Democratic Party Traitor, James Carville over the indefensible comments he made about Bill Richardson for endorsing Barack Obama.

From the SF Gate:

The Bill Clinton who met privately with California's superdelegates at last weekend's state convention was a far cry from the congenial former president who afterward publicly urged fellow Democrats to "chill out" over the race between his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Barack Obama.

In fact, before his speech Clinton had one of his famous meltdowns Sunday, blasting away at former presidential contender Bill Richardson for having endorsed Obama, the media and the entire nomination process.

"It was one of the worst political meetings I have ever attended," one superdelegate said.

According to those at the meeting, Clinton - who flew in from Chicago with bags under his eyes - was classic old Bill at first, charming and making small talk with the 15 or so delegates who gathered in a room behind the convention stage.

But as the group moved together for the perfunctory photo, Rachel Binah, a former Richardson delegate who now supports Hillary Clinton, told Bill how "sorry" she was to have heard former Clinton campaign manager James Carville call Richardson a "Judas" for backing Obama.

It was as if someone pulled the pin from a grenade.

"Five times to my face (Richardson) said that he would never do that," a red-faced, finger-pointing Clinton erupted.

The former president then went on a tirade that ran from the media's unfair treatment of Hillary to questions about the fairness of the votes in state caucuses that voted for Obama. It ended with him asking delegates to imagine what the reaction would be if Obama was trailing by just 1 percent and people were telling him to drop out.

"It was very, very intense," said one attendee. "Not at all like the Bill of earlier campaigns."

When he finally wound down, Bill was asked what message he wanted the delegates to take away from the meeting.

At that point, a much calmer Clinton outlined his message of party unity.

"It was kind of strange later when he took the stage and told everyone to 'chill out,' " one delegate told us.

"We couldn't help but think he was also talking to himself."

Yeah because questioning James Carville is beyond reproach, especially after the crap he has pulled since 2004. Like sabotaging the Kerry Campaign on election night in 2004, or slandering Howard Dean after his 50 state strategy from the DNC helped Democrats win the 2006 mid-terms in a landslide and win in places they never win in.

Of all the people to be calling someone a "Judas". Here's the guy who stabbed his own party in the back to help Bush win. We'd be talking about the re-election of a President Kerry and would likely not be talking about economic collapse, continued participation in Iraqi Civil Wars and would have taken actions to extend our children and grandchildren's futures by helping to take real actions to curb global warming.

But no, we got four more years of the most scandalous, crime ridden Presidency of all time. Thanks very much in part to James Carville.

Defend THAT Bill.

-Rp