Networks Interrupt Clinton Speech For Obama

Sen. Hillary Clinton began giving a speech on Tuesday night shortly after Wisconsin's results came in. But within minutes, Sen. Barack Obama appeared in Texas to give his victory speech, and the networks cut Clinton off. Ouch. Watch it:

Comments

[teahead]

You think 20,000 screaming fans are going to wait for Hillary's boring, tired, worn-out speech to finish?

LOL!

The media wants to hear from a WINNER! Not a LOSER!

[Filinbills615]

WERD

[Jaxyl]

I agree, I was on the floor at that rally and the wait was long enough. I'm just glad they started when they did because my voice was starting to get hoarse by the time he started.

[wyorange]

Since Sen. Obama plagiarized from a supporter who was also using the change and words mean something rhetoric, you might to go and look at just how popular that elected governor is in Mass. now. Even with adding his support to Sen. Kennedy's and Sen. Kerry's, Sen. Obama was not a winner in Mass.

My question about the media is related more to one of bias than fairness. If you watched CNN, I think it was following the LA primary, it showed all of the candidates given their various speeches. If you watched that coverage, most of the candidates probably talked about ten minutes, but when it came to Sen. Obama his speech was nothing like the other candidates speeches but was his usual campaign speech which went on for I think well over a half hour. The commentators at CNN make a joke of it as his getting free air time for his campaign and didn't seem to think much of it. It appears to me this has been sort of the attitude of the corporate media the past couple of months; lets give the Obama campaign all the coverage they want, the heck with the other candidates. (Sort like the the exclusion of coverage of Sen. Edwards and the lesser candidates early on in the primaries. Most have become a lot like FOX, fair and balanced!)

[mcfried]

I think this maybe much ado about nothing but since we have nothing to talk about why not. I thought it was classless not to concede Wisconsin but it's not a slight to me so whatever. As for the cut away, meh seems like a network call although I am sure there was a little politial rangling involved. What I am interested to hear if any Hillary supporters out there from Wisconsin were offended ?

[Tankan]

A clear indication that Hillary is just like Bill, yesterdays news!

They have nothing relevant or inspiring to say!

[BardEric]

Thats because you arent listening.­..You guys are going to have to get over your delusion that BHO is the only hope for change.I can't fathom how anyone with 2 years in Washington(half of which spent campaigning for the presidency)would even know where to BEGIN working all this "change" we keep hearing about.

[brwnizofmine]

The natives were getting restless last night at the Obama speech. And it is getting a little old, you tire of hearing the same thing all the time. But, the polls didn't close until 9PM EST, people do have jobs, so I can understand people not wanting "O" to do a very long speech last night. I wanted him to shut up myself, so I could get on with my sleeping! :)

[TurnThePageGA]

Yeah, I think he is overreacting to the BS about his speeches not having beef. If you want to know his plans go to the website.

[thegreatgiginthesky]

So? Obama won. Clinton lost. Since when is it necessary to air the loosers speech over the winner?

[Kim445588]

Especially when the loser doesn't bother to congratulate the winner. She had a few minutes to acknowledge his win graciously, but decided to spend the time attacking him instead. In any event, the networks made the decision not Obama, and I'm glad they did because this is getting old.

[ariadne1]

i believe this is, at least by my count, 3 times that hillary refused to make a concession speech.

the networks usually go to the losers first for their concession speeches. hillary. who is running out of money, uses this time for free advertising by making her stump speech with no mention of having lost.

i believe this is called just deserts.

[partyofone]

She also used the speech and network time to trash Obama. Is thise a "woman thing"? I have never known a presidential candidate not to publicly acknowledge a primary defeat and congratulate the winner. Hillary is demonstrating some character weakness and chacteristic poor judgment. She is not a leader.

[Pikakae]

No, it is not a "woman thing", it is a "Hillary Thing". One of the first things you learn when you compete in a sport as a youngster is that if you lose, you congratulate the winner (whether or not you genuinely mean it!). I am a 60 plus year old woman, who competed in sports as a youngster and it never occurred to me to vote for Hillary...­.she is a horrid loser and besides, she cheats!

[TurnThePageGA]

And think the voters in the state for their support. But I guess you can't do that when the states you lose don't matter.

[jrterrier]

Do you remembers seeing Obama give a concession speech after Nevada? No, because he didn't. His campaign sent a fax.

His speech after NH sounded like a victory speech.

How many times has Obama stepped on an opponents speech. This is the second time. He did it to McCain on Super Tuesday. I had never, ever seen anyone do that to another candidate, except for Mitch Romney in Michigan.

Hillary called Obama to congratulate him last night.

[NYC07]

Hillary called Obama to congratulate him last night.

Only after the networks started trashing her for once again being ungracious- she only called him to stop the damage.

[TurnThePageGA]

He congratulated Senator Clinton in his NH speech.

[Independent voter]

hillary has no style, no grace.

A concession speech is out of the question for her since it bursts the inevitability bubble.

[AnninCA]

He never conceded Nevada. Yeah, he got more delegates. She got more delegates in Missouri.

When are you guys going to start looking at your candidate?

[lisakaz]

I think she is incapable of conceding anything and given she wouldn't and given the possible restlessness of Obama's crowd, I can't blame him for going on. If she can't be a gracious loser, why does she deserve any "consideration"?

[pleeezzze]

lisak...Pl­ease show me some kind of Consideration that has ( as of yet ) been shown to Hillary !!
That would be ,Especially by Obama Worshippers !!!

[Susan1968]

Oh - I forgot to add... I watched all 40-plus minutes of the B.O. speech.

I didn't faint, but I almost dozed off.

Seems he's not as inspiring when he doesn't have a teleprompter.

[Kim445588]

You wanted more meat (policy) discussion, now you complain that it's boring. :-)

[TurnThePageGA]

I think it is part of the Clinton strategy to get him away from inspiring his supporters. I wish he ignored them and the media and do what he do.

[Susan1968]

I wonder -- if Obama supporters are this nasty when B.O. is winning, how nasty will they get if he loses to McCain?

As a resident of Florida I'd like to point out that if my state's delegates were counted, my candidate, Hillary, may even be ahead of B.O. in delegates.

I'd also like to point out that, although Obama didn't give speeches in Florida before our primary, I received phone calls from the Obama camp both before and after my state's (uncountable) Democratic primary.

So this thing about Obama following the rules in Florida is not true. He did a phone campaign.

Hillary did win Florida. And Florida is important in a general election. So are Hillary's other state wins so far. These are states Obama needs to win in November.

I'd advise not singing Hail To The Chief to Obama just yet.

I'd also advise not insulting Hillary's supporters because YOU need US now. Don't take us for granted in November.

[Davidb36]

As another resident of Floridda I would like to point out that the candidates did not campaign here. It is disingenuous at best dishonest at worst, to believe that if the candidates had campaigned that Hillary would have done as well as she did. Add on top of that the disproprotionate ammount of uneducated hicks and old folks yearning for better days, that lets face it never existed. And you have an election that not only means nothing, it displays the worst of the candidate you promote. Liar, cheat. I hope you do not have children. If Hillary Clinton is the example that you want set for your them then you are not only a bad person you are a bad parent. Also, tell me if Hillary Clinton were not married to Bill would we even know her name. Probably not she would have been just another lawyer.

[Trollstakeyourmeds]

If Hillary Clinton hadn't been married to Bill, she would have been president long before he was. She is much brighter, (first in their law class, he was fifth). In addition, she could have been successful without all of the baggage that he brought her. And yes...if I had a daughter, Hillary Clinton would certainly be someone I would like her to emulate.

[mslindab]

From what I have read, it is DNC Chairman Dean who should be held responsible for the Florida situation. However, do you really think that if Barack Obama had actively campaigned in Florida as he did in Wisconsin the election results would have been the same? Consider that Hillary's campaign keeps using as an excuse for losing that Obama spent more time and money in a state. (most recently Wisconsin) It begs the question if she knows it takes more money and time to win, why doesn't she invest it? If you believe Hillary, Obama would have won Florida if he had campaigned there as he has never been short of cash as is her campaign.

[naschkatze]

Uh-uh. Howard Dean did not single-handedly make the ruling. In fact, there was a story just a day or two ago that Harold Ickes, the big Clinton supporter, was one of the ones who voted for it, and now, like Clinton who signed onto it, he wants to reverse it to favor her. If they want to reverse, they'd better have a revote. Obama's name, as you well know, was not even on the ballot in Michigan.

[Trollstakeyourmeds]

I was going to say this too. The Obama supporters aren't very gracious winners, are they. My significant other and I are barely speaking right now because he started out by saying the Senator Obama wasn't "black enough" for him and the rest of his friends in the A.A. community. Then yesterday, he called me bragging, saying, "Why can't that white woman beat that black man". All I said to him was, "Oh...so now he's BLACK enough for you". Then I hung up....(wel­l, said "goodbye" first...no­t that rude). The irony of all of this is that when we started out, I was the one defending Senator Obama, and he was the one criticizing him.

[Trollstakeyourmeds]

Oh...this reply was to Susan...do­n't know how the heck it wound up down here.

[teahead]

Hillary won a fucking beauty contest in FL.

Just like Obama won a beauty contest here in the WA state primaries yesterday.

Quit your goddam whining b/c your candidate is a loser and trying to break the rules.

You Florida voters are a bunch of dumbasses who can't get your shit straight.

[Eternal]

No, even with the split in Fl, Clinton would still be over 120 delegates behind.

[2008andbeyond]

Olbermann stated something about the Obama people being concerned that they had a SRO crowd that was beginning to get antsy. Add that to the early announcement that he would go on stage after the Wisconsin projection went public and I see a campaign more concerned with keeping its word and respecting its audience. How refreshing.

[jsinclair]

Good point. He let Hillary start in even though he'd said earlier that he'd speak as soon as results were called.

If he saw the crowd getting restless---and saw that she not only was NOT conceding (or thanking her supporters) but was using election attention to repeatedly TRASH him--it made sense to say, "Okay. I'll keep my schedule and speak now after all."

She had nothing new to say, but was just eating up his time in prime time.

That said, we all know his speeches are good and last night he combined specifics with inspiration, as people have wanted. However, he needs to be careful with length. It was almost Clintonesque (Bill) by the end.

Be careful!

[pleeezzze]

You sound like an absolute FOOL with your adoration of Bam Bam !!!

[FeloniouslyAnnoying]

Oh big freaking deal, he did win, I think his victory speech was more important.

I would expect them to do the same if clinton was giving a victory speech.

[jinjinpinti]

It all boils down to the old saw: "Everybody loves a winner!"

[ntdev]

Yes, Let's celebrate for the Uniter Obama, whose followers are blaming Hillary for splitting the Democratic Party. I guess Uniter Obama can certainly win the hearts of independents and Republicans even without Democrats on his side.

Wait a second, is he running for the nominee of Democratic Party or what?

[markkraft]

But didn't you hear that Obama won the majority of Democratic voters tonight... and independents by a nearly 2-1 margin?

You're a minority now... the cynical fringe of the Democratic party!

[Ping]

Obama got more votes tonight than all of the Republicans combined.

[Cunningham]

Who will you be voting for after Obama wins the Dem nomination?

[naschkatze]

Knock us independents all you want. You can't win the general election without us. And what are you saying, that independents should have no voice in who becomes the president of this country? Just one branch or the other of the one party system we have?

[SFreeborn]

I was listening to Hillary's speech at the time. It was flat, dull and made her sound like a has been. I agree with Donna Brasile, she ought to fire her speechwriters. The networks had a choice between a "Fired Up!" speech or a tired one. Of course they went with what was winning and exciting. Obama wasn't in charge of the network's choices, except by virtue of his commanding lead.

All that whining is really shrill folks. But that is the awful sound that happens with a loss that inflicts ego damage. We all like to "be right" and losing is hard.

Let's try to keep it civil folks, we are in need of a winning Democratic coalition at the end of this process and not a pack of pissed off partisans. We've got to get over it and get on with it.

[Trollstakeyourmeds]

"Let's try to keep it civil folks". Sorry, Obama supporters lost that one a long, long time ago.

[pleeezzze]

SFree...Wh­y do you say one thing and Do another ???
I for one DONOT like Obamas Yelling ,when he talks !!
Like I said before ...Billy Graham gave good speeches too and thats how Obama comes across,simply Preaching !!! Put him in the pulpit !!!

[willshirea]

It would seem that Obama's campaign could use more decorum and take into consideration that another candidate is speaking, thereby delay the start of Barack's speech.

This is at least the second time he has (intentionally?) interrupted a rival on a primary night (McCain). It just seems a bit rude, regardless of the psychological impact they are going for, they should try to be more polite.

Remember half the country is voting Republican, and half the Democrats are voting for Hillary. That implies Obama has about 1/4 of the voting population in his corner, being respectful toward others could go a long way.

[PeaceChristBwithU]

The practice on election night is for the looser to give a short concession speech, after which the winner then gives a more significant speech in view of the win. That has not happened in this campaign. The Clinton folks use the opportunity of mandatory coverage of a concession speech, but they never actually give a concession speech. They take the opportunity to give a 30 minute stump speech which rarely or never mentions the loss. The Obama people had let it known that they would come out as soon as the race was called. But seconds after it was called, Hilary took the stage. But sorry, no concession speech - just a chance to make Barack wait until viewers had gone to bed. Good for him in simply taking the stage as planned! I would not have done so if Clinton had attempted to be gracious, but since she did not, why should she have 30 prime time minutes? It was metaphorical - Hilary brushed out of the way for Obama - but she brought this humiliation on herself.

[Ping]

The etiquette is to call your opponent and ask if its ok to go on first to give a concession speech. Absent that bit of professional courtesy, anything goes.

[GreatGoodKid]

Hillary didn't congratulate the victor, again. She is rude. She is only getting what she dishes out. She deserves to be pre-empted. She should've congratulated her opponent like a good sportsperson.

[markkraft]

I suspect that he wouldn't have interrupted her concession speech for Wisconsin, but unfortunately, she wasn't concedeing.

It's a shame that she didn't take the opportunity to thank all the people in Wisconsin who helped her campaign. If you fail to deliver for Hillary, it's like your state doesn't even exist. Not big enough, not blue enough... etc.

[trinity29]

Thats the part that makes me sad for those who worked for Hillary. She needs to thank her supporters otherwise the very same people will abandon her if she wins the nomination. But apart from political calculations, I also think that people who are working for Hillary, including herself, are a bit morally bankrupt to not see how this comes across as snubbing your own supporters, voters, and volunteers.

One thing I noticed in both speeches tonight was that Hillary's speech contained many, I's and me, and I's and me. Whereas Obama's had, we, American people, together, united, repeated several times. It was almost that the people won, their voices won, their political wills won and Obama is just a symbol of the will of the people. I think its easier to get on the Obama bus if you feel that somehow you matter to this person and your efforts and voices are considered.

[Cunningham]

Obama was rude? Hillary offered no congratulations, she offered nothing but nasty swipes at Obama. She has no class.

[ChimpmasterDJ]

Exactly right, Cunningham.

When Obama told Hillary she was "likable enough", people got into a tizzy, saying he "damned her with faint praise" (well, they would've said that if they hadn't been uneducated Clinton supporters), but in reality, Obama was flattering her.

[Cedman]

I agree that decorum is needed. This is the THIRD consecutive time she has failed the basic decorum of giving a concession. She did not thank the people of Wisconsin who worked for her and voted for her. She did the same thing after the Potomac primaries and Louisiana,etc. She has been criticized publicly and responded publicly to her lack of decorum yet, she did it again last night. She asked for it and she got it.

[semorg]

Obama campaign had announced they will take the floor when the election results are out. It was known by Clinton's campaign but they tried to play dirty as usual and paid for it.