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

[BlueOnBlue]

Here's the thing: Hillary must think most of her supporters are dumb enough to believe this BS. If they are not so dumb, maybe they can answer these questions...

Do you actually think Clinton wouldn't be on the opposite side of this issue if Obama had carried Florida and been the only name on the Michigan ballot?

Are any principles truly at stake here, other than Hillary's own need to win?

If there are no principles at stake, isn't she just lying to you and to the country?

Should that be rewarded with your continued support?

[papatag]

It's just SAD.
You can see the crazy in her eyes in the last few days.

One of life's hardest lessons is to be humble and lose with grace and dignity.
You'd think after 65 years she would have learned that lesson.

She may have just cost herself any future career she may have had.

[justobserve]

Yes, I also noticed. So sad that some people still urge her on.

[ObserverinVancouver]

She 60, I think - 61 max.

[frappe]

The superdelegates should put Clinton out of her political misery and endorse Barack Obama now, before the May 31st meeting. Clearly her behavior is having a negative impact on the process and the Democratic party's chances for a sweeping victory in November. Why are they waiting?!

[rpd123]

You people need to stop picking on me. It's sexist. Geraldine said so.

I'm clearly the best candidate for many reasons:

1) I have ...14.2 billion supporters world-wide. Why aren't the votes of people from other countries being heard??!! This is exclusionary, inhuman, barbaric!!! (Need more adjectives, Wolfie!)
2) I've amassed more campaign debt than any other candidate in modern world history!
3) I'm hot sh*t in Puerto Rico and states where people don't have teeth.
4) I'm Hillary by God Clinton. (Didn't you get the memo that I am supposed to be the next POTUS?!)
5) I have overwhelming support in the 6 to 14-year-old demographic.
6) I'm very...er, flexible with issues and facts.

Panderingly yours,
Hillary

[nerakami]

NO Senator Clinton it is exactly the opposite .... Countries Like Zimbabwe have severe issues with their political process because; THEY HAVE NO REGARD FOR RULES !!!!!!!!!

Whether the rules are right or wrong.... if we throw them out the window, similarly to how they operate in Zimbabwe.... CHAOS PREVAILS !!!!!!!

Observe the rules Hillary. Simple as that.

[DAVESEAN]

SAMANTHA POWERS WAS RIGHT WHEN SHE CALLED THIS WOMAN : A MONSTER...........SHE WOULD HAVE AT LEAST COMPARED FL AND MI TO KENYA WHERE PEOPLE WERE KILLED AFTER THE ELECTION....I BET THAT WAS WHAT SHE HAD IN MIND.....AFTERALL OBAMA'S FATHER IS KENYAN....WHAT A MONSTER

[tdbach]

I'm betting this comment will make it past the HuffPo censors, because I'm going to say something nice about Obama, and not defend Hillary.

Ok. Here goes.

Go Obama! 08

[Sparty1]

tdbach my comments always get censored and I'm 99% of the time saying something nice about Obama. They do come up later though. I'm sure you want to think that you're being censored b/c you're championing Hillary, but I doubt that's the case. The thread moves so fast that you can't come back and find your post.

[evekendall]

The comments don't appear the first time you refresh your page to look for them. It's a glitch in the HuffPost software. I make it work by clicking on "Last" page, then clicking again on "First" page, and there it is! People think they are getting censored, and, usually, it's not that at all!

[Erdgeist]

I think it is necessary to give Hillary enough rope. In a very short period of time her major supporters are going to abandon her, shocked at her behavior and her contempt for the Democratic Party.

[borderorder]

Is there that much hemp in stock or even in production?

[tbo11]

why is this such a bad comparison???

...Once presumed a shoe-in to win the next Presidential election (and continue a long-running political dynasty) , the candidate was rebuked by a majority of the country's electorate. In response, a systematic campaign of strong arming, character assassination, and legal challenges was launched to proclaim victory.

Hillary is right to compare the primary with Zimbabwe, right?

from my blog tbo11.comm)

[talkingclock]

Wrong, her comparison is very offensive.

[Aleka4]

I think he is saying that Clinton is the equivalent of the ousted president who wouldn't listen to the people.

[UsStupidWhiteMan]

What's all the fuss about? Hillary knows May 31st will be the day her quest for the nomination will end. End of story.

[coloradosiren]

SHE IS NOT GOING OUT QUIETLY. IF SHE GOES OUT IT WILL BE WITH A BANG AND THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY BE DAMNED.

[BigMike75]

Words can't even begin to describe my feelings, and I was a loyal Clinton supporter even throughout Monicagate and his impeachment fiasco. But now, I feel nothing but contempt for these people. They are now realizing that their 8 year ambition and work of putting Hillary into the Oval Office is coming to a screeching halt. I don't even recognize this woman anymore, who seems hellbent on burning the house down and die trying to do it. Forget everything that she's done throughout this campaign, playing the race/gender card, the kitchen sink strategy, the sexism charge, lying and pandering, forget all of that. After signing off on a DNC sanctioned rule against FL/MI, this sorry excuse for a strong woman has become absolutely batty about this. In the last 24 HRS she has equated her silly mission for FL/MI, to Mugabe and the atrocities in Zimbabwe, she's equated it to epic American struggles and the fight to free slaves and fight for voting rights for blacks and women. Where is the DNC brass, where is the media, not calling out this despicable woman that would trivialize terrible occurrences in American and African history, for her maniacal aspiration for the white house. WHERE ARE THEY? Today I actually feel some shame to call myself a Democrat based on what I am witnessing, it is stomach churning.

[Mabila]

Eloquence at it's best! Thank you!

[PDXPLT]

I feel the same way. I look back at how much I used to admire Bill as President, and shake my head.

It's clear these people want to engineer a McCain victory in November, so they get another shot in 2012. I believe now they'll drag this all the way to a floor fight in Denver in August, thereby ensuring the Republicans get the White House. I hope I'm wrong ...

[SpawnOfJerry]

I don't think this has anything to do with 2012. They didn't have a plan post-Super Tuesday. I doubt they could plan that far in advance. Besides, do you think they're so delusional as to think she would have a chance in 2012? Well, maybe they are. . .

Anyway, I think this as more to do with NOW. She wants it NOW and she's going to do whatever it takes NOW. Egoists don't want to wait. They want it NOW.

[mooph]

I believe this would be a better analogy:

People go through the motions of playing by the rules only to have the rules disregarded by a win-by-any-means, power-hungry candidate.

[chyko]

At this point, I am not sure what benefit Hillary will derive from the currrent aggressive campaign to seat Florida and Michigan. According to all the political analysis, even with both states, she will not catch pu with Barack, so what is the point. It was particularly disheartening to have her campaign vigorously in Florida yesterday while Barack was there trying to woo the voters for November general election, and boom, here she was trying to undermine him. It is unfortunate that the party is so scared of the Clintons to the point that they have become accomplace to this nasty political threater. If the party bosses does not want Obama to be there nominee, they should come out and say so, instead of trying to undermine his chances for the general election, thereby paving the way fot Hillary to run in four years. LET ME BE CLEAR, IF THIS HAPPENS, THE PARTY WILL PERMANENTLY LOSS ITS MOST LOYAL CONSTITUENCE FOR A LONG TIME.

[mmpost]

If they don't want Obama as the nominee, we should all leave this weak party and start a new one with Obama as our nominee. We have the numbers and can out raise Republicans and Democrats combined in money. They continue to allow the Clintons to split the party, maybe it is time to give them what they want.

[MaracaKabob]

I get it now Hillary, Obama and Mugabe are both black, and ignorant white bigots don't like them black folk, thus Hillary should be president.
Hillary, you have sank a long way down lady.

[SpawnOfJerry]

Well, those Africans can't even run there own countries. There's war and chaos all over the place over there. That's Africa for you. Obama is half-African, therefore. . .

I think you might be onto something.