Clinton Compares Florida, Michigan Situation To Zimbabwe Elections

Hillary Clinton is pushing harder and harder to convince the DNC to count the votes held in Florida in Michigan. And with reports suggesting that she is just going through the motions of the election, Clinton has apparently decided to ratchet up the rhetoric. During a rally in Florida yesterday, she not only compared the current situation to the 2000 election, she also referenced rigged elections in Zimbabwe:

Desperate to get attention for her cause to seat Florida and Michigan delegates, Hillary Clinton compared the plight of Zimbabweans in their recent fraudulent election to the uncounted votes of Michigan and Florida voters saying it is wrong when "people go through the motions of an election only to have them discarded and disregarded."

"We're seeing that right now in Zimbabwe," Clinton explained. "Tragically, an election was held, the president lost, they refused to abide by the will of the people," Clinton told the crowd of senior citizens at a retirement community in south Florida.

"So we can never take for granted our precious right to vote. It is the single most important, privilege and right any of us have, because in that ballot box we are all equal. You're equal to a billionaire. You're equal to the president, every single one of us."

Steve Benen, for one, isn't exactly pleased with Clinton's comparison:

I'm 35, and have been following politics for quite a while, and I've never been so disappointed with a politician I've admired and respected. Yesterday's tactics weren't just wrong, they were offensive. For that matter, they seem to be part of a deliberate strategy to tear Democrats apart and ensure a defeat in November....

Instead of trying to help bring the party together -- Election Day is 24 weeks away -- Clinton went to Florida to argue that if Barack Obama is the Democratic nominee, his nomination will be illegitimate. And if the DNC plays by the rules Clinton used to support, it's guilty of vote-suppression -- comparable to slavery, Jim Crow, and Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe.

Meanwhile, the Obama camp has suggested their willingness to find some form of compromise. David Axelrod told NPR:

"We are open to comprise [sic]. We are willing to go more than half way. We're willing to work to make sure that we can achieve a compromise. And I guess the question is: is Senator Clinton's campaign willing to do the same?"

Axelrod continues: "Well, obviously, any compromise is going to involve some give, and that means if there's something on the table, we're willing to consider it. That may include us yielding more delegates than perhaps we would have, simply on the basis of the rules."

Comments

[US55588144]

Hillary is right, She won Florida by over 300,000 votes and deserves the lion's or should I say lioness's share of Florida's delegates. She won Michigan overwhelmingly against the toughest candidate, "uncommitted". Obama removed his name from the ballot so he deserves no Michigan delegates. If the Democratic party fails to resolve Florida and Michigan fairly, you can say hello, President McCain!

[provoice]

Over and over I have heard the statement that Florida democrats "made their bed by defying the DNC rules about the primary"... yet very few people have pointed out the REAL problem... certainly not the Press!

THE REPUBLICAN CONGRESS IN FLORIDA VOTED THE EARLY PRIMARY TO SCREW THE DEMOCRATS... AND IT WORKED BECAUSE TOO MANY STUPID PEOPLE BELIEVE IT WAS THE DEMOCRATS FAULT!

At this point, the ONLY way to have a fair settlement of the problem would be to allow both Hillary and Obama actively campaign here in Florida for a few weeks, and then hold another primary. At the time Florida held it's primary, Hillary was the PRESUMED candidate in the national Press.

[hhkeller]

Ten times more democrats voted in the Florida and Michigan primarys than in all the caucus states combined. Clinton has some nerve to want them counted. Why give the nomination to the best candidate when we can give it to another fast talking guy with no record of success.
So Bush, So Gore.

[LeviCro]

every time I think my opinion of HRC cant get lower.. she goes and finds a way to make it drop.. amazing.. right about now I have her lower than pond scum...

[US55588144]

My opinion of Obama started lower than that and has kept falling.

[AnnieinOR]

Florida and Michigan were well aware of the consequences of their actions, and Hillary and Co voted to penalize them in August of 2007.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/22/205539/823/878/520861

another JedReport compilation - excellent

[TribunusPlebis]

Hillary Clinton abandoned any respect for the truth when she compared the Democratic Party's refusal to accept the results of the Florida primary (conducted in violation of the party's rules) to the actions of the Zimbabwean dictator Roberto Mugabe's falsification of election returns a few weeks ago. For the past five years, brave democratic dissidents and protesting Zimbabweans who are both white and black have been arrested and beaten by Mugabe's security forces, women activists have been raped and killed, and entire neighborhoods known to be politically opposed to Mugabe have been bulldozed. Nothing approaching such repression has happened in the United States since the lynchings and killings of blacks in the South, at the height of segregationist fury in the early 20th century. For Senator Clinton to equate the Democratic Party's actions on the Florida primary dispute with the murderous brutality of an anti-democratic tyrant is more than an exaggeration, it's an insult to the party she wants to lead and the intelligence of her listeners.

[AnnieinOR]

Governor Paterson's own feelings regarding this on audio courtesy of TPM:

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/

he happened to be at the original meeting - and Hillary had 12 supporters vote to disenfranchise the Fl and MI voters (her supporters were the majority)

[neocon666]

Soon she'll be dodging sniper fire from Obama supporters.

[wolfi101]

Between Hillary's Scorched Earth Policies and Tammany Hall tactics... I don't know, how anyone can take this woman seriously anymore. She seems to be mentally or emotionally unbalanced.

[KELLI2L]

< Obama ran a TV ad in Florida (he called it an over-run) but no ad agency is going to run in a whole state at no charge. When you run a TV ad they ask you which states you want it to run (so they can charge you accordingly). >
< Obama held at least one (possibly more) press conferences in Florida.
< I consider these two items as advertising your candidacy, and therefore qualifies as campaigning. >

[TERRYKEITH4]

So what!?

[zorrobozo]

Someday. . .somebody is going to write a book about all the ridiculous comparisons Hillary Clinton makes!

What in the name of God is going on in her head!

[KELLI2L]

< We The People (whether we voted for her or not) are glad she is finishing this extremely close race > She is respected immensely for this strength >

[wolfi101]

It's not strength. It's blind ambition and disregard for the rules she helped set and the welfare of our country. It is simply the dirty politics of old.

[DofG]

There is not devil! But EGO is the demon that makes trophies of Man.

[robbor]

she's pissed because while she's standing on the curb she feels she should be on the bus barack is riding to the convention. hope she's got enough change for cab fare.

[robbor]

Clinton Compares Florida, Michigan Situation To Zimbabwe Elections............she is delusional