Chris Matthews Battles Full-On PUMA Inanity

Because today is Catharsis Day at the convention, we figured we better do like Aristotle says in the Poetics and hit you with a double dose of pity and fear so you can purge both your raw, untamed emotion and your hope that life in America will ever get better for anybody. So, to that end, here's a video of Chris Matthews talking to a trio of PUMAs -- women who love Hillary Clinton whilst simultaneously hating the policies for which Clinton has fought. They are the total hot mess of the Democratic Convention.

Watch as they level bizarre accusations at Barack Obama (RELATED: "CNN debunks false report about Obama"), and then refuse to accurately cite the source of their claims. Maybe it was Lanny Davis or something! See, I don't know, and neither do they, but I can tell you, if I had tried to apply the same sort of "reasoning" in college, my professors would have knocked me unconscious and tossed me in a ditch, far from town.

Anyway, if possible, you should burn your computer after watching this. That is all.

Comments

[gigi09]

I say "let these crazy women go and vote for whomever they choose." Why bother with idiots that are stuck in stupid? We have a lot of work ahead of us and we should not waste our time feeding into the hatred of the racists that are calling themselves Hillary supporters. We have had a "wonderful" convention and I am so looking forward to Obamas' acceptance speech tonight! I feel that the party is coming together and we can thank the Clintons for their contribution and I believe that real healing is taking place as we speak, and we will be a unified against the McCain/BUSH party. Good bye PUMAs! VICTORY 08' Obama-Biden!

[jbb62672]

My take is that these women are plants from the McCain campaign. No way democrats could possibly be this moronic or delusional .

[zerotimes10]

Yes these morons are plants but not the leafy good kind. They are either delusional or re-thugs. But then what's the diff?

[PissedOffProf]

I think we can safely assume that all of her sheets are white.

[mexicanamerican1948]

Playing the race card again from the Obama playbook??

[Cakey4814]

You're always on here with your so-called sarcastic remarks especially when it's racial in nature and your blogging name is "mexicanamerican1948"? LMBAO..

[unstuffedshirt]

This twit was one of the hopeless losers mocked on the Daily Show the other night, proving once again that there are only a handful of these psychos running around pretending, with the MSM's help, that they represent an actual movement instead of a few maladjusted screechers.

[MM216]

And yes, as a Democrat and as a woman, I was MAD AS HECK at the PUMAS!

[bagelmaven]

She was a horrible horrible person. If these jerks have such terrific evidence why do they say they are not going to tell anyone. If they have the evidence then they should be able to withstand inquiry. they don't say what the evidence is because they DON'T know. They will say anything to trigger hot points to score one for Mccain through lies. The truth will set you free. Tell the truth and if your facts are proven then so be it but to say "i'm not going to tell you" what is the point of that? It just ruins what they say. They get the opposite of what they want.

Republicans will do ANYTHING ANYTHING to lie or cheat or steal anything to ensure their stranglehold on power. they get people killed. George Bush stealing two elections got 4000 plus US service people killed and thousands more horrifically wounded. It got hundreds of thousands of Iraqis killed for NOTHING and two million refugees for NOTHING. Do we need change? YOU BET WE DO AND THOSE LIES those two women yell will ultimately mean NOTHING!!!

[noisejoke]

Wasn't it those Big Foot guys a few weeks ago who also "wouldn't tell"? Anyway, when do the Dems start reminding these few people who are "hurt" and feel they were disrespected and discounted that if they don't vote or, god forbid, actually vote for McSame they're consciously putting their feelings ahead of the needs of the country not least of which is seeing that Roe v. Wade is maintained.

[HamletsMill]

Maybe those guys can start "Big Foot Rubber Suit in the Fridge Hoaxers For McCain"?

And don't these PUMA women remember when Presidents Reagan and Bush '41 backed "Muslims" as "freedom" fighters? "Muslims" were our national "heroes" back then. And that would have been when maybe Barack was in that so called "Muslim" school. If he did go to a Muslim school that would actually be good because he would at least know the difference between Sunni and Shia Islam. Bush '43 only found out about the differences AFTER he had committed the Armed Forces of the United States to all out war in the Middle East! Duh!

[DXP]

Hillary will not be able to reach PUMAs, but Obama might, if he tries. The ones he might be able to reach are those who are angry at the DNC, but who are honest supporters of democratic party ideals and policies. But neither Hillary or Obama will get the ones who do not want to support candidate Obama and in fact his FISA vote simply poured gas on the flames. That vote, alone, created many PUMAs. McCain is targetingt them as possible crossover voters. Obama can target the evangelicals and new voters - that is the stated DNC strategy anyhow.

[DXP]

Also, the PUMAs who were lost from the FISA vote will be potential Nader crossover voters.

[ssgman]

That's an excellent point, DXP. I know quite a few from the left were turned off by that vote--I know I was--but all the PUMAs I see are pro mccain. Of course, that might be because MSM like the vitriol of the sham PUMAs, like Cristi Adkins, so they get all the air time, but still I would like to see some PUMAs that say they are going to vote for Nader.

[MM216]

I'm sorry but I don't agree with your assessment of the PUMAS.
If Hillary can't reach them, there is NO WAY Obama can.
My take (and I'm a woman) is that they are VERY militant and VERY passionate in their belief in having a woman president. Nothing wrong with wishing for a woman president....just as it isn't wrong for blacks to wish for a black president.
However, IMO, their "passion" clouds all reason and, to me, they don't care about the Democratic party and what it stands for. They're ready to sling FALSE accusations at Obama and ready to damn him without giving him a fair shake.
And, if they're ready to turn their backs on Hillary's plea to support Obama and the Democrats, then they dont seem, to me, to be true supporters of her.

[DXP]

As I said it is not a united monolithic group and it is ONLY Obama who can reach them. The speech last nite from Hillary got everyone she could reach - all of her supporters who are the most dedicated party loyalists. She did an excellent job at that. Now it is Obama's turn.

I'm not sure what your personal gender has to do with anything - not much I suspect. For most PUMAs it was Hillary's experience along with her pet issues along with her being female that attracted them. But once again, it is not monolithic. Yes, some portion are just pissed off and that will be that - they are lost to this election (thanks for that DNC). Yes, some are ready to believe rumors, but certainly not all! Yes some are former republicans and independents hard won by Hillary's courting of them. Many are of the dem 'old' base which the DNC has EXPRESSLY DISCARDED (IMO a particularly politically stupid move). So in those cases it was to be expected, but the DNC in its utter arrogance thought that they could do just any old thing and Bush hate would allow that.

[DXP]

Unfortunately most commenters here are simply uninformed about the PUMA movement. I, personally, am not PUMA but have followed the explosion of this movement closely since its very inception. Mostly my reasons have been that it is a fascinating study in how the internet is influencing and facilitating new ways of information exchange, communication and organizing.

Most here would like to simply reduce the PUMA issues or dismiss them, but it is a mistake to arrogantly attempt to shame, dismiss, or diminish these citizens. First, the movement is truly not monolithic. Some are former party loyalists, some are cross over voters who have no party loyalty. Some plan to vote McCain (like in the video), some Nader, some...who knows. All demographics seem to be involved but it is probably 60% female (similar to the dem party in general). So around 40% are men - so far - and other DNC marginalized groups (like GLBTs). These numbers are extremely hard to verify so please accept them as estimates. I am not surprised these women interviewed were skittish - they have probably received multiple death and violence threats. That seems to be an all too often reaction by Obama extremists. Their issues must be addressed at some point. Suppressing dissent is a very bad idea.

[plooger]

Wouldn't "PUMA" necessitate their being Democrats, not crossovers or independents, since "party unity", in this case, is in reference to Democratic Party unity? That they are people against Obama is no surprise, but categorizing all anti-Obama elements as PUMA exaggerates the size of the group.

As for the women in the above video being "skittish".... hardly. They were very outspoken and aggressive; unfortunately, they were lacking in substance -- and maturity.

[DXP]

If you follow the, now, hundreds and hundreds of blogs (I can't keep up) you will find PUMA is an actual grass roots dissent movement. It's not an organization, just a bunch of loosely linked blogs and people. Many, (it's not always easy to be sure) are in fact the independents and republicans won over by Hillary. Remember, this election has had the added advantage that Bush is pretty much hated, and FOR GOOD REASON by pretty much everyone - even republicans. Hillary worked HARD to win them and they feel cheated. Those people are possibly available to Obama, but he has to also work HARD for them and since they are not, and never were 'owned' by Hillary she cannot just give them to him. It is up to him.

Since it is a true grass roots explosion there is no real way of 'categorizing' as PUMA or not. It seems to be a term those people adopt for themselves. The ONLY thing I have found in common is the refusal to vote for Obama.

Yes, the women in the clip were skittich AND aggressive and young. And yes, they also have most likely faced at the very least threats of violence. I don't think, however, that their dissenting voices should be suppressed simply because they were aggressive and immature when they were being interviewed by (aggressive and immature) Chris Mathews and they know they will be -personally- ripped on sites like this. Frankly I admire their courage.

[gigi09]

Those women are so full of hatred...what they need is prayer and deliverence! The PUMA movement is not what you all try to make it to be. First, they have not retired Hillarys' debt...meaning they are either poor or imposters sent to divide the party. Second, you cannot shame a snake, as they sliver on their bellies into the cesspool of hatred and bigotry. So, let these crazy women vote for Nader, McCain, whomever! We will write them off and for everyone that leaves the Obama Team...we will replace with young intellegent voters...let's go Obama-Biden 08!

[ssgman]

I did a little digging on Cristi Adkins. Turns out she has not made a single donation to Clinton in the past 2 years. The site she started is Clintons4Mccain . com and the domain was registered by Republican National Committee--it's since been moved over to an anonymous hosting service. I read she met with mccain early in the summer but I don't know if that's true or not. Yup, Coulter's twin.

[mmerose]

Sounds like my instincts were right about them being plants. I'll say it again - Sen Clinton has much to answer for, but this trip is NOT her fault!

[misspronounced]

here's some more exclusive PUMA coverage...here they liken the Dems to Nazis and say they're going to vote for McCain...fun times!

http://www.pushback.org/2008/08/26/pumas-in-denver-caught-on-film/

[huffybike]

Crackpot of the week! MP3s are up now: http://www.entertonement.com/collections/2583/Clintons-4-McCain

[franco90]

Someone throw these people some red meat...in the literal sense!

[lvdragonlady]

Puppets does what the puppetmaster wants and idiots believe EVERYTHING they hear - nothing you can do about that. If they are that ignorant, let them do whatever they want and we will just have to pray that there are not very many of them out there.

[WolfLarsen]

Never has anyone been more in need of a high colonic then this screeching shrew. Good god lady hesitate for a second and convert some oxygen into carbon dioxide.

Thankfully she is an independent. I would genuinely shudder if she was a Democrat.

[creative mom]

I'm skeptical of this women. I doubt she was ever a Hillary supporter. She's also one of the biggest morons I've seen. I would be embarrased if I were Hillary having moronic followers like that. Like I said highly skeptical. PUMA's were founded by Republicans.
http://www.yestodemocracy.com/

[mmerose]

My take exactly. Adkins and gang owe an apology to Sen Clinton.