At Clinton's Final Rally, The Scene Is More Bitter Than Sweet

Bettyjean Kling is tough, she's mad and she's about ready to kick some pasty MSNBC butt.

"Chris Matthews, I can't even look at him anymore," Kling spat as she waited for Hillary Clinton to take the stage. "What's the name of that other nut?"

"Keith Olbermann," offered a friend.

"Keith Obama-man," growled Kling, a retired special ed teacher from Shippensburg, Pa.

Hillary Clinton's campaign valedictory was "the very definition of bittersweet," said Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., a longtime Clinton supporter, who insisted that the greater goal of a Democratic White House would unite those who gathered on a steamy day in the cavernous main hall of the National Building Museum.

It seemed to be more bitter than sweet for many, however, with special acid reserved for the media. Several of the hundreds gathered here said they thought that unfair news coverage helped Illinois Sen. Barack Obama win the Democratic presidential nomination. Other common culprits were the Democratic National Committee and the party superdelegates, who helped swing the nomination to Obama in the last few weeks.

"I'm mad at everybody," said Darla Stone, a prison nurse from Locust Grove, Va.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[mahoner]

While I understand the bitterness towards Obama by some Clinton supporters their rationale that if Obama loses in November Hillary will be embraced as the incumbant President in 2012.

If Obama loses the election in November, most likely it will be from bitter Clinton supporters. There's a chance that Obama could make a huge political blunder, but it's also less likely that people are enthusiastic about John McCain.

So say he (Obama) does lose...

1) Hillary Clinton will ABSOLUTELY be blamed for the loss. And her standing in the Democratic party will suffer from it, therefore making it harder if not impossible to run for President again in 2012. Unless she chooses to go the Independant route, and she's just not gonna do that.

2) Moreso, if Clinton does happen to run again....alot of now disenfranchised Obama supporters will also remember what has occured in 2008 and best believe they will deep six any chances for her to win. Turn about will be fair play.

My gut feeling is that Clinton will play some kind of major role in an Obama cabinet and her health plan she proposed will be tweaked, but will probably go through.

[larazon]

I for one would never vote for her in 2012.

[barackobama4prez]

Great speech. I felt it was completely sincere, whatever her motivations to do it. I appreciate her effort to unite the party. I feel she needs to continue to stump for Obama, if she really aims to bring back the party after such a long bitter dem battle.

[mhoiles]

Watched the speech and could not even imagine how difficult this must have been for HRC. She is one tough lady and quite frankly I have drawn strength from her over the last several months, with her willingness to get up and keep going. I watched the speech on MSNBC and was horrified at the way Keith Olberman and Chris Matthews spoke of her - it was beyond disgusting. Shortly afterwards I saw an Obama supporter state that: HRC's supporters will have to "get over it". It is this type of mentality that serves only to divide and pushes me closer and closer to a "dissent" vote.

[barackthevote08]

I'm posting what is hopefully my last comment on the subject. I do want to do as B a-r-a-k -asked and try to promote party unity. He has run an amazing campaign so far and I don't want to be perceived as bitter. What some don't seem to realize is that eventhough our guy has won the nomination, we have some healing to do to. It is just as hard for us to suck it up and forget just how poorly Barack was treated and I am sure will continue to be treated by H-illar-y's supporters as well. Some continue to call him a racist, terrorist supporter, muslem, elistist, arrogant, empty suit, and waffler. Our beloved M-ichell-e has entire threads dedicated to hate being spewed towards her. They want let go of the "proud of my country" which totally taken out of context, and she is being called everything from ugly, to anti american, and some names just to horrible to repeat here. I am not trying to create any animosity here I just want them to know that we love B-arac-k just as much as they love H-illar-y and it hurts us just as much when they are constantly attacked. I however have to also remember that no matter what happens with B-arac-k and the Nov election, my life still has to go on the same as his will.

[barackobama4prez]

There have been some hurt feelings on both sides of the aisle but after listening to Hillary on Saturday, I became proud again of being a Democrat. We had two AMAZING candidates and one had to lose. But we HAVE to come together. McWar will continue to drive America into the ground. So this isn't about Barack or Hillary. It's about OUR way of life as Americans. McWar is out of touch with the majority of American people and does NOT deserve to be president.

[ChiGuy]

Pulitzer Prize winner and HUGE Hillary supporter, Connie Schultz:

"Which brings me to those Clinton supporters who now insist they cannot, and will not, support Obama. They claim they will either vote for John McCain or stay home on Election Day. That sounds like disappointment devolving into hypocrisy."
"We either stand for change, or we don't. We believe in participating in democracy, or we don't. It's one thing to vote for McCain because you trust his road map for the future. It's quite another to do it out of some warped notion of revenge. A bitter retreat is no way to honor the first woman to come this close to being the presidential nominee."

http://www.cleveland.com/schultz/index.ssf?/base/living-0/1212913893215320.xml&coll=2&thispage=2

[PatrickforO]

Hey, guys - Clin ton supporters are not going to vote M c C ain because they don't like O b am a. Not gonna happen. When Sen. Clin ton gets out and is campaigning for O bam a, they'll turn around. It hurts when a candidate you've worked your heart out for loses the nomination, but the stakes are far too high to waste one's vote on 4 more years of neocon rule. The Republicans are too weak to win at this point, and

(very important - the sour grapes people saying they were for H illa ry weren't - they are neocon plants trying to divide us. Seriously. This is M c C ain's new strategy, because he doesn't have anything, ANYTHING, to campaign with but whisper campaigns and dirty pool.)

[pupbayer]

First, many Clinton supporters didn't vote for Obama because of Clinton. They didn't vote for him because they don't like him or trust him. It's not like she was their first choice and he was their second.

Second, many of her supporters will not vote for the Democratic nominee period. They're upset with the party. I know it is hard to believe but not everything is about Obama. A lot of this is about the party and its actions and inactions during this campaign. No, they're not going to get over it so easily. It's nice to dream if you want but many will not vote for him. Some will vote for McCain to send a very strong message, others will not vote, others will write in another candidate.

[pupbayer]

I meant to write, they didn't NOT vote for Obama because of Clinton.

[littlepuffycloud]

I feel for Clinton's supporters because they are as passionate about her as I am about Obama. They have a right to feel sad and angry right now. I believe they will not vote McBush in November, even if they say it now. We will all need to come together to get the criminals out of the White House and keep them out for the next 8 years. I was in a deep depression for a week when Kerry lost in 04. Let's give them time to grieve and come around.

[Nyland8]

As much as any single influence, the MSM is responsible for maintaining the delusions of the Rodham campaign. After losing Tsunami Tuesday, the writing was already on the wall, and then, after losing the next 11 consecutive contests, the MSM should have already been screaming "No mas! No mas!" ... but they were all making too much money - record money - on the competing campaigns. When Rodham's "big victory" day - Ohio and Texas - actually turned out to be nothing more than a mild speed bump for Obama ... because she lost Texas ... it was at that point that EVERYBODY with more than a couple of firing neurons in their skull should have been screaming "IT'S OVER !! LET'S MOVE ON".

That was three months ago. THREE MONTHS AGO!

But instead, what did we get? Honesty about her chances? No. Recognition of his superior campaign and insurmountable lead? No. Her devotees were allowed, even encouraged, to wallow in the self-deceptive delusion of her big comeback. And whose purposes did that serve? Certainly NOT the Democratic Party.

Disingenuous lies about leading the popular vote notwithstanding, this race was never close. Hillary has been looking at Barack's fading tail lights since Iowa. She didn't even reemerge in his rear-view mirror until Pennsylvania ... and by then? Too little, too late.

Chasing the mirage of the Rodhamites has left us three months behind in our general election campaign - and Republicans are laughing.

8

[mhoiles]

What happened to due process and the right to vote? Had the primary been shut down many Americans would have revolted!

[ScandalousCandice]

This goes beyond these people losing. They sound like awful and bitter man haters.

I am literally starting to feel sorry for these people. They have a hatred that is so blind and ignorant. Like a racist or something like that. It has no realistic reasoning but the hate is real. Craziness.

[campgranata]

I am not angry at MRS Clinton yet I am suspicious of her behavior. I do not trust Hillary Clinton just because she has delivered a speech that she was pressured to deliver. I do not trust this 'suspending' of the campaign rather than ending it. I suspect this is a way to lull the party into a sense of complacency while she continues to look for the smoking gun to do in Obama. After years of observing her actions, which are usually less than appropriate I am not changing my mind because of one speech. I would however, love to be wrong about my thoughts.

[AdamND]

I made a mistake by going to hillary's site and reading her blog. Damn that place is nasty.

[TheRealMacDaddy]

Yup, it's full of Mistersogynists.

Did anyone other than me notice that it wasn't until Elton John said that word (misogynist) at Hillary's benefit concert that there wasn't a peep about sexism. And after that night, it became a battle cry.

Well that was then and this is now! Unless we think this country can sustain another 4 years of abuse put forth by a Republican Administration without falling apart or entering a second Great Depression, we all must rally around Barack Obama.

My wife said to me last night, "John McCain is a stale loaf of bread. He's been in the Senate so long all his ideas are stale, just like leaving a loaf of bread on the counter too long". Like everything else, my wife was absolutely correct. lol

[GravitonX]

Hillary began losing the respect of the media when she began making obvious appeals to divisive identity politics, beginning with the Black/brown divisiveness in Nevada. Anyone loses respect under those circumstances.

[olivia]

Excellent analysis.

[samtaylor1]

The thing I get annoyed at is the comment about Obama supporters during the Rev Wright mess (which notice he never blamed the endless loop that it played on TV on racism), that "Politics is a contact sport, if you can't stand it you shouldn't play". Well he could stand it and played and won. The only reason one could get as mad as they are getting is that they thought it was their candidates turn and that she was the inevitable candidate. She wasn't and he didn't cheat.

P.S. I have asked people when they accuse Obama of sexism to name some examples. The examples they come up with are 1)Annie Oakly and 2) brushing off the shoulder. I don't see it in either. I am not saying it wasn't I just don't understand it. Can someone explain how these are sexist?

[ishok]

I shouldn't say that your candidate treated you like you were a bunch of "chumps", but she did. I will go one step further and say that she counted on you being a bunch of "chumps" as part of her campaign tactics. Don't worry you weren't the only ones that the Clinton's tried to play. African-americans were the first victims when the Clinton's tried to play the race card in the south (to get southern white racists) while they kept the AA's on the bandwagon but it didn't work. They (the AA's) saw it, recognized what was happening and quickly got off.
This race was over a while back when Obama won those 11 straight. He actually won Texas and NC while she took Ohio and PA. EVERY expert knew that she had to win by incomprehensible numbers to catch him let alone pass him. You saw Joan of Arc when the rest of the world was seeing Don Quixote. She counted on you greenhorns acting up. She wanted to use you as a wedge to get some type of leverage at the by-laws committee meeting (and later for the VP argument). She had no message at the end of the race, only race [shhhh!] and a crow bar for knee capping.
If you have a beef with the media so be it but don't take it out on Obama because he's been nothing but gracious to a fault when dealing with her and her short comings.

[LAJonathan]

I think Hillary should hold herself accountable for creating this voting block herself through her divisive, racist, screwed up campaign. There is no one to blame but HRC for this behavior. She led by example and it may just be too late to heal these wounds. They feel like this was stolen from her (because that's the picture SHE painted) - so there you go. These are the results of her actions. And her speech is viewed by these same people as something she was forced to do (which is true). You can lead people off a 80ft cliff in this country if you tell them there is gold at the bottom...I think we can win without them because no true democrat would vote for McCain, the ones that say they will may never have been democrats in the first place, we don't know that, they could be republican females who crossed over to vote for the female candidate.