Inside The Fall Of Front-Runner Clinton: Memos And Emails Outline The Campaign's Meltdown

The Atlantic:

For all that has been written and said about Hillary Clinton's epic collapse in the Democratic primaries, one issue still nags. Everybody knows what happened. But we still don't have a clear picture of how it happened, or why.

The after-battle assessments in the major newspapers and newsweeklies generally agreed on the big picture: the campaign was not prepared for a lengthy fight; it had an insufficient delegate operation; it squandered vast sums of money; and the candidate herself evinced a paralyzing schizophrenia--one day a shots-'n'-beers brawler, the next a Hallmark Channel mom. Through it all, her staff feuded and bickered, while her husband distracted. But as a journalistic exercise, the "campaign obit" is inherently flawed, reflecting the viewpoints of those closest to the press rather than empirical truth.

How did things look on the inside, as they unraveled?

Read the whole story: The Atlantic

Comments

[ThePeacemakers]

On a political note: One of the early Penn memos, before any caucus or primary started, there was a graph that showed HRC/BHO/JRE percentages among certain groups.
Guess what he had down as Hillary's largest base among the subgroups?
African Amercan Women (older) at around 65 percent.

[lungfish]

".....But her advisers couldn’t execute strategy; they routinely attacked and undermined each other, and Clinton never forced a resolution. Major decisions would be put off for weeks until suddenly she would erupt, driving her staff to panic and misfire.....Clinton ran on the basis of managerial competence—on her capacity, as she liked to put it, to “do the job from Day One.” In fact, she never behaved like a chief executive, and her own staff proved to be her Achilles’ heel. What is clear from the internal documents is that Clinton’s loss derived not from any specific decision she made but rather from the preponderance of the many she did not make. Her hesitancy and habit of avoiding hard choices exacted a price that eventually sank her chances at the presidency."

Well, this pretty well sews up any questions about HRC's fitness to lead.....add this to her issues around honesty and ambition and we see the whole sorry package. She couldn't lead her campaign, much less the country, and she managed to incur a huge debt for her effort. I consider her loss of the nomination to be simply another cow pie we managed to side-step....

[abby4ever]

A good post, lungfish.

[nacilbuper]

great post!

now, if we could only get this through the thick skulls of the delusional, puma dead-enders.

[nibblybits]

Such an interesting article. Bits and pieces have already been leaked in previous articles, but there were still plenty of tidbits to consider.

At least now we know why Bill Clinton is still bitter. He really wanted to TEAR DOWN another Dem, and pretty ruthlessly too. No, Bill, you will never be forgiven.

[Rotwang]

Alright, look. The bashing is fun and all. But HRC will win the nomination when Elton John admits that he's been "cured" of homosexuality and Bernie Goetz appears on the cover of Ebony Magazine. The PUMAs are a millenarian cult, hoping that they will be taken up to the "Mother Ship" in Denver, once they don the jump-suits and capes and eat the applesauce. The SDs hate them, and the DNC leadership isn't about to sit still for a coup. The PUMAs have proven that you can pretty much alienate the whole world with a fax machine, a computer and and a relentless stream of "you-suck-­why-won't-­you-listen­-to-me" messages.

Hillary is colder than Julius Caesar. Let's get down to the business of putting an epic wedgie on Johnny Mac.

[exmun]

HuffPo, I'm more disappointed in you that you took the bait. This is just more in the long line of so-called news outfits trying to sell magazines to tell us what we already know... that Hillary Clinton and her machine lost. The reasons for her loss have already been hashed over and over and it isn't news, more than two months after she lost the nomination.

[utd]

Really? Would it be too much trouble too post even a link or two to a story even half as in depth as the Atlantic one? I applaud HuffPo for linking this one up. Maybe we did know it all along, then again maybe some people didn't. If they did or didn't know is not and never has been as issue, as a society we are trying to be more informed about our leaders... we have a right to know, and an obligation to keep trying to know "it". Those who don't study history are destined to repeat it. Two months is a fair timeline, we are lucky we didn't see this 2 years from now.

[reliant1]

I'm sitting here (at work) and looking at the little headers under each of the 4 story lines - just above.

wolfson - edwards cost clinton the race

wolfson backtracks on edwards claim

clintons still want to --- caucuses

wolfson - senior advisors all rejected penn

and I see they are dominating another news cycle - which they adore. reallly adore.

it's all bad news - and they still don't care. really don't care.

but the pics - say it all. they're done and they just don't know it. if they actually had a friend, this would be a good time to step in and help them out but they only have supporters and donors and traitors. never had any friends except each other. i'd like to feel sorry for them. but i can't.

they got what they gave - ass whuppins

[WineWonkette]

What's really interesting is that her "base" were simply numbers in the "strategy to win."
I'd feel pretty betrayed and used if I had been one of them.

[StillIRise]

What's even more interesting is that they don't feel betrayed and used! She used them like pawns, and they fell in line, and they don't even realize that they're out there alone! Hillary has moved onto the next drama, which is the convention. I don't even think she wants the nomination or the VP slot anymore. I think she just wants her pawns to disrupt the convention, to show how powerful and loved she and Bill still are, and to embarrass Senator Obama and the Democratic Party, who in her eyes, stole the nomination and the presidency from them. I believe that she will spend the next four years, if not the remainder of her life, seeking vindication for what she perceives as a betrayal. This alone is the sole reason she can never be considered for the vice presidency. As far as she and Bill are concerned, it's not over! And the women she used who are still in denial about their role in Hillary's agenda, will be right there to back her up!

[closetodemfection]

HRC has nothing to do with "disrupting" the convention. Democracy is not a disruption. Her supporters are pushing back on the notion that she should be the first candidate in over a hundred years to NOT HAVE HER NAME IN NOMINATION. Even D ean had his in 2004 with 114 delegates. It's how its done! To not have it in nomination is unprecidented! Now you're being fed misinformation to portray it as "shocking" that there should be a roll call. It is a game, but the cat is out of the bag and the voters won't take it. Wake up. Do your research. YOU are being used.

[closetodemfection]

Oh, I doubt you were one of them. And you can't be naive to think that you are anything but a number to O? Of course you are. No, these emails only serve to cement our feelings about HRC - that her instincts to have a "nice" race nearly cost her the nomination - she wanted to run a positive campaign about the issues, how stupid of her. Meanwhile O used the media to throw charges of racism and god knows what else. All while the media and everyone here bashed her with a sledgehammer and she held back on HUGE incriminating things that the GOP will now use. Why? BECAUSE SHE DIDN'T WANT TO DESTROY O. She planned to make him VP no matter what. And yet O had no moral problem with destroying her reputation to win. Well, it has backfired, that's why the Dems are in the mess they are. They've alienated half the party by attacking the best candidate they had mercilessly. It's disgusting.

[Rotwang]

What "mess"? What are you talking about?

And please tell us about the "HUGE incriminating things" about BO that HRC was willing to lose the nomination in order o protect. What a gal! Way to take one for the team!

[abby4ever]

*** All while the media and everyone here bashed her with a sledgehammer and she held back on HUGE incriminating things that the GOP will now use. Why? BECAUSE SHE DIDN'T WANT TO DESTROY O.***

I can't believe anyone would buy into the above. I think it goes more like this. Now that they have wormed their way into securing speech slots at the convention, and knowing that O would never cancel their speeches no matter what they do, they can go back to their old ways of (1) grabbing headlines, (2) sowing seeds of division, (3) using innuendos to sow doubt, such as 'H's staff wanted her to go negative on O, but she refused' and 'the truth will have to wait until next year to be told because telling it now would harm O', (4) planning how they will steal the show at the convention as the former president and first lady, in a gentle reminder to all present of how president-­and-first-­ladyish they still look, etc.

There is more. Where the convention is essentially a caucus, they can suddenly become upset about caucuses again, for that will lay the groundwork for H and B charging O supporters, if not O himself, with bullying and intimidation, and that will enable them to say that had this lousy behavior not occured, H would have ended up with the nomination. Or, worse, they are laying the groundwork to actually snatch the nomination.

You are so wrong to trust them.

[kesiac]

You obviously read only enough that made you feel comfortable in your stance. Perhaps you missed this in the emails. "Contest the black vote at every opportunity. " Makes me think those charges of racism had some validity. And what about this, "Play defensively with the men and upper class voters ". Hmmmm, perhaps her charges of media bias, and sexism werent so sincere.

[GuyFawkes]

LOL! She wanted to run a positive campaign???

When she said "He's not a Muslim..that I know of"? Or when she said, "McCain's ready to lead". That sounds real positive.

Mark Penn is a racist, and these emails show it to be true. You want to call Obama on Wright? Now look at Hillary is associating herself with.

Obama didn't have to destroy her reputation. She and Bill did a pretty good job of it on their own. Now see if she'll even get reelected to the senate in 2012. The AA community in NY would rather vote for a pretzel than her.

[tel8034]

What flavor is your KOOL-ADE?

[Dustee]

This reads like a movie! I'd like to see how it ends after Obamas 8 years as POTUS!

[Killjoy]

WOW..and she wanted to run the white house? *sigh* man that was close.

[tel8034]

Residents of NY State should note what role they played in Hillarys quest for the WH........... The article clearly spells it out.

"With her senate race looming, she feared a backlash if she signaled her presidential intentions. If New Yorkers thought her presumptuous, they could punish her at the polls and weaken her national standing. A collective decision was made NOT to discuss a presidential run until she won re-election, leaving Iowa to John Edwards and Barack Obama."

NOTE TO NEW YORKERS .............. A WORD TO THE WISE IS SUFFICIENT­.......... NEW YORKERS WERE MERELY PAWNS IN HILLARY'S GAME.

HILLARY HAS HER EYE ON THE 2012 PRESIDENTIAL RACE, AND BEFORE THEN SHE WILL HAVE ANOTHER RUN AT RE-ELECTION TO THE SENATE, AND WILL USE/DUPE NEW YORKERS AGAIN TO ACHIEVE HER GOAL.

Penn's 12/21/06 memo was also enlightening ................

"Obama represents a serious challenge because for at least for the moment he represents something big .............. Tactics: Research his flaws, hold our power and see if he fades or does not run. Attacking him directly would backfire ........... WE HAVE TO TRANSFER THE ELECTIBILITY BURDEN TO HIM."

Hillary knew all along that Obama was ELECTIBLE while SHE WAS NOT, and that he REPRESENTS SOMETHING BIG. When the "electibility burden strategy" failed she did ATTACK OBAMA DIRECTLY.

It's no wonder that many DO NOT BELIEVE that Hillary now TRULY supports Obama in the race for the WH ...........Hillary is just going through the tactical motions she needs for 2012.

[closetodemfection]

I'm a NYer. Try to get it through your head, she's beloved to us and will be the most significant leader of our time. O will not win - he will be a footnote and YOU'VE been a pawn in his game. HRC either gets the nomination now or the presidency in 2012.

[nibblybits]

You think you represent all NYers? I'm from Brooklyn and me and mine hate her guts.

[riverhouse]

In politics there are incompetents and there are sleazebags. Combine the two and you have the C*intons. Thank God the Democrats came to their senses. They are clearly planning on the nominee's defeat and her rerun in 2012. Absolute trashcan material, both of them.

[Eurovision]

What happened to the other emails, for example:

TO: [[HRC ADVISORY GROUP]] FROM: GARIN, GEOFF SUBJECT: New Tlking Pts From Polls So we're thinking: 1. Wmen voters can't trust men—okay to "go there" in limited doses in re: choices w/r/t abortion, divorce, schools, BUT NOT the OTHER STUFF. 2. "There've been 43 (or whatver) men presidents; why not sommthing new??? 3. Something about him being black. Cn plese Mandy and Howard meet on this and get back to me with somethingg sculpted but definitive? "Don't vote for teh black man" tested well in Chicago malls but won't play on coasts.
OR
TO: [[HRC ADVISORY GROUP]] FROM: HUMA ABEDIN SUBJECT: ??? Um where are any of you, I have not heard from anyone in two days and we are on the tarmac in some city in PA and there is no motorcade and she is sobbing into her Muscle Milk™ morning shake HELP?

[Lisette]

I just hope Hillary and her Brats don't take over
the Convention. Lets remember who won and who lost

[Rotwang]

I understand all of the pro-Ob*ma delegates are being issued tranquilizer blow-guns, in the event of a PUMA uprising. Ed Rendell is paying to have the convention center equipped with a subsonic sound system that selectively cancels the word "Hill*ry" whenever a delegate thinks it. Paid thugs will lure Hill*ry supporters into fake "PUMA" buses and ship them to FEMA detention camps outside of Yuma.

You hear a lot of things, if you hang out at HC Forum and pumapac. I'm not, however, buying the stuff about the Gray Aliens just yet.

[SCG2]

I think they should bring confetti.

The louder and nastier, the more confetti rains down. Turn up the music "Happy Days Are Here Again"

[poco767b]

Hillary's downfall was the people she chose to surrounded herself with. Many of them, though brilliant political operatives in their own rights, never developed a team mentality or chemistry.

[abby4ever]

But you see, poco, a true leader can inspire a team mentality, work to create it. That's supposed to be one of the qualities of true leadership. Even where the chemistry is either not there or not right, a true leader can overcome that. Or, if he can't, he gets different people, whose chemsitry does jive.

[poco767b]

Totally, It was Hillary's choice to use Penn et al.

[abby4ever]

Well, for those were saying about an hour ago that the puma traffic was light today, forget it, they have arrived.