Clinton Speaks To Supporters: No Mention Of Obama

Hillary Clinton just wrapped up a private fundraising event for WomenCount.org, a group founded late in the primaries by a handful of major Clinton donors, and one that is shifting to become, according to one organizer, the "MoveOn.org of the women's movement."

Clinton's remarks reflected the extent of frustration and resentment over the presidential race among the few hundred gathered attendees, mostly women. Clinton didn't mention either Barack Obama or Joe Biden by name during the roughly 10-minute speech -- she referred once to "the nominees."

And the New York Senator's unity argument seemed to be aimed specifically at supporters who were considering abandoning the Democratic ticket and backing John McCain.

"I believe that with all my heart that the Democratic Party represents a much better future for everything we believe in and care about," she said, "and I will be making a very strong case tonight that we stand behind our nominees in order for us to keep pushing progress forward. We cannot be deterred, we cannot be diverted."

Conversations with attendees found much of the widely-reported anger over the Democratic primary.

One Clinton delegate from North Carolina, Marc Friedland, recounted his convention hall confrontation with DNC Chairman Howard Dean. He said he pressed him to explain why Clinton-backing delegates were being, in his view, blocked from supporting their candidate on the convention floor.

Some griped about Obama's outreach efforts -- "If he'd actually say what he stands for, maybe I could get behind him," said one -- while two major donors claimed that while they were willing to support Obama, they viewed the message from his campaign as, "Get on board, you don't have any other choice."

Comments

[ChewyToy22]

A lot of time and effort has been put into dividing the 'united' states of America into classes of colour, sex, sexuality, class, religion, geography, marital status, education, and I could go on and now. Now it's just about pleasing the factions and not about the best interest of human beings. No political candidate could ever satisfy every according to these divisions. Does anybody even care anymore about their rights and needs as human beings? Don't we all have to eat, don't we all need health care, don't we all have to buy gas at shy high prices, or do the Jews or Mormons get a cheaper price?

Just drop the "United" out the the USA because their is no unity. Some people don't even care about themselves anymore; case in point, the Hillarites, who are more interested in fighting for her cause than their own futures.

People need to realize that life is too short for this to continue.

[DaleTheWhale]

We all must pull together on this one. To me one of Obama's biggest assets is his ability to disagree with someone, while still seeking to understand what the other person is saying, and where they are coming from. He can bring people together. OK, OK, I understand some Hillary supporters are miffed at Obama. But please, let's look at the bigger picture here. Let's think about our kids. Let's think about what it means to have three co-equal branches of government. Let's believe that even the President should obey the law. Let's believe that we can actually turn this country around and make it what it should be. To to this, we ALL have to pull together. We're all in this together. We can actually pull this off, but we must stand together.

Need I tell you I'm voting for Obama!?! Take care everyone.

[mjc]

Would that what you are saying could be the truth, but that is what so many of us don't believe, that he will listen to those who disagree with him, that he can bring people together. Therein lies the problem. And when I listen to the Obama supporters here on HuffPo I hear hate, total misunderstanding of Hillary Clinton.., and Bill, and an attitude that is more arrogant than anything I ever thought Obama himself displayed.

[SoCalNick]

WHY OBAMA DID NOT CHOOSE HILLARY AS HIS VP RUNNING MATE.

Because Hillary has done everything she can to DIMINISH Obama’s victory.

1. She claimed to have won the Primary Popular vote, when she did not;
2. She asserted that Obama had an unfair advantage because he is BLACK;
3. She used Race-baiting rhetoric throughout her campaign;
4. She campaigned in ‘hope-against-hope’ that a scandal would destroy Obama;
5. She refused to concede that Obama had won, in the face of overwhelming numbers;
6. She accused the DNC of CHEATING so as to give Obama the nomination;
7. She has covertly encouraged her supporters to continue CRYING FOUL and protesting;
8. She has sent her surrogates out to criticize Obama right up to the start of the convention;
9. She has continued her LACK OF RESPECT for Obama right on up to her planned Grandstanding during the Roll Call Vote at the Denver Convention.

HILLARY IS ALL ABOUT HILLARY … HILLARY HOPES OBAMA WILL LOSE IN NOVEMEBER SO SHE CAN RUN AGAIN IN 2012.

[renatam]

Hillary has jumped the shark in NY, nationally and internationally. Like Joe Lieberman, a pariah -- who is tolerated in the Republican world -- but never a part of it. Hillary/Bill and their DLC/Neocon friends will be homeless and w/out a Party after this Convention.

HRC will also be a lame duck Senator from NYS.

[mjc]

Senator Clinton's term as Senator expires in 2012 and there is no doubt she could win re-election if she so desired. As for the Party, it will be sadly diminished if they are not in the midst of the Democratic Party.

[Old time Dem]

You said everything I would have said! The Clintons are for the Clintons and for no one else. They operated so far outside the Democratic Party in the primaries, the ydon't deserve to be called Democrats.

They are so blinded by their rage and jealousy they can't see that there political futures are now tied to Obama's.

If it is perceived he loses in Nov because of them, Hillary will never be President. not only will the Republicans be mobilized against her in numbers that will far exceed Obama in any future run for the White House, but every Obama supporter will ensure her defeat.

[timinhi]

I am a proud Hillary supporter. I am absolutely appalled by the level of hate and bile heaped on the Clintons I see every day when I visit HuffPo, a site I have been visiting since it first appeared, and thought was supposed to be "liberal/progressive." You all want to list reasons why you think Hillary is such a horrible person, and why her supporters, if they can't "get on board," should "get lost."

I'll tell you why I, as a Clinton Democrat, am reluctant to support Obama. Despite whatever flaws he does have as a candidate, they aren't even the main reason anymore that I find it difficult to get on board. It's you people--his supporters, that are the chief reason I'm turned off. I don't want to be part of a group that is so full of hate and uses the same tactics against members of their own party as the rightwingers have been using against us for decades. You people may have hijacked the Democratic Party, but you haven't hijacked me. (And McCain can go to H___ too.)

[zoozey]

and also, she gave all the ammunition to the Repubs...just have a look at the McCain ad at all the times she trashed Obama. Thr night that came out, she suddenly said she would release her delegates. She knows her ass is grass if the right wing is using her words to win the Pres.

[08politicaljunkie]

You left out:

10) White Water
11) Travelgate
12) Norman Hsu
13) Tendo Oto
14) Peter Paul
15) NAFTA
16) The Clinton Library
17) http://www.thepersonalispolitical.com/2008/04/bill-clintons-columbia-ties-exposed.html
18) William Jefferson Clinton
19) Bobbie Kennedy in June

She ain't runnin' again -- not as a Democrat

[smayhew]

Keep it up - you lose as you continue the adolescent rants - the salient characteristic of the Obamabots 'contributions'

READ HIS VOTING RECORD YOU IDIOTS!

[Hedonist88]

What do these thick headed "supporters" mean when they say they don't know what Obama's message is ?

Are they just plain stupid ? No wonder they are threatening to vote for McCain

[AvgPseudoIntellectual]

They have their fingers in their ears. It's so Republican!

[joeyp404]

His message is about HOPE and CHANGE. Very tangible. I am so there.

[smayhew]

Details Obamabot, Details - the sad thing about Barack's latest antics is that people are actually asking for details.... and he can't answer any of the questions.

As Joe Biden said in the debates. 'Obama is not qualified to be president'

Hope and change - from a corrupt Chicago pol... you people must be a group of white racists compensating.... that the only reason for this meaningless devotion.

Barack is the new George Bush - likable and empty

[lenoirlady]

Every time I think of how hard the women of my city worked for Hillary Clinton the more furious I become. She's just a bitter woman, gagging and spewing everytime she hears the name Obama. SHE DID NOT WIN THE NOMINATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
On with the program. To he** with her old hags and hangers-on. Let's all remember the turncoat who is in a McSame commercial using Hillary's attack on Obama. I plan to remember her name. What I want to know is she a plant? I'll find that out also.

[renatam]

Hillary only cares about HER FUTURE. Your women voters/supporters are her past. We, in NYC, know we were just HER PLATFORM FOR AMBITION. She hasn't been back to speak to New Yorkers since we shut her Campaign down.

Join the Club!

[AlindaFaye2000]

You've got to be kidding. Do you think she will win if she runs again?

[Wingit]

Hillary now has a much bigger stake in this race than she had just a few days ago. The repugs have produced at least 3 if not more ads starring (guess who?) Hillary Clinton in the act of bashing Obama. If Obama fails, the legacy of those ads will be the end of her political career. She has the huge task now of saving two political careers; Obama's and her own.

[elizaW]

lenoirlady

Your anger is frightening. Your name-calling is ugly. Could it be that as Obama goes down in the polls, his supporters get meaner?

[zoozey]

Lenoir lady is NOT angry. She is venting privately and on a left-leaning blog site. Do you know the difference?

If Dems are angry at PUMAs, we have every right to be. Now go play on one of your own websites. And while you are counting name-calls, count the ones the Hillary lovers are throwing around PUBLICLY. At least we stick to our own websites to vent. Better than all that whining and ugliness at the convention for the joy of Right Wingers.

I have yet to see any Obama supporters PUBLICLY trash Hillary. They have shown nothing but respect. But the PUMAs go in front of the cameras and spit out venom, and make stupid inane demands.

[Pippilin]

Sure we're annoyed, irritated, angry, whatever with Hillary's obsessed supporters who won't/can't accept that the majority of the Democrats in the country DID NOT WANT this woman to be their nominee for President. They DID NOT WANT her. What is so difficult to understand about those five words?
I don't hear Mike Huckabee's or Mitt Romey's supporters whining about their candidates' losing out to McCain, nor do I hear Bill Richardson's supporters or Dennis Kucinich's supporters demanding to make their voices heard beyond the primaries.
What makes Hillary supporters think that they are specially entitled?

[peterdangit]

Get meaner?! What the !@#!@#?! The PUMAs are out to make us lose the election and all you see how we are "mean" to them. Hell yeah, we're mean!!

[docallen001]

In the words of the great HRC - as far as I know he is not a Muslim. She should have been a surgeon - given the way she uses a knife. I suppose she was not being mean. How about her campaign promise to throw the kitchen sink?

[criquet]

Yup, that's why she is not the VP nominee and that is right. Win or lose enough with the Clintons and their attention getting and drama.

[50fromohio]

If the Clinton supporters don't know what Obama stands for or what his message is they must either NOT be listening or deaf! Saying they don't know what his message is, is an easy out. This election is just too important to not be listening! Get through the grieving process and think about it.

[renatam]

They don't WANT to know.

HRC and their "grieving process" should not hold the Nation's business up -- and conveniently make the case for the other side. This is no "grieving process."

This is REVENGE.

Bill promised her the PRESIDENCY. WE didn't deliver.

[bungalow]

Maybe HIllary and her suporters should more properly vent their anger against Bill, since he did more to tank her campaign than anyone else. But apparently humiliation by Bill, whether during the campaign or during his administration, feels comfortable and right to Hillary, or else she would have done something about it.

[AlindaFaye2000]

I have to agree with you, my fellow Buckeye. I was listening to C-SPAN to what a Hillary supporter said she didn't think it was up to Hillary to convince her to vote for Obama. He had to do that and that he had not spoken to her yet. I think they just want him to kiss their behinds.

[sf94127]

Obama is trying to look presidential and one reason why McCain is gaining is a lot of your non-koolaid drinking Americans see Obama is not a Jedi yet.

The Clintons don't believe Obama is ready to be President. Yet they will grit their teeth and tell people to vote for him. That is the problem I have with the Clintons.

You want to know what the real problem is , hmmmm? Its the two party system. Hillary should be running as an independent and 2-3 other candidates to give a field of five at least. The two party system is merely an illusion of democracy.

[ScandalousCandice]

Okay. When we start breaking out the Star Wars comparisons, it's time to step away from the computer and go outside.

Let the sun touch your face, breathe from fresh air. Not basement air. Go on. There is a whole world out there.

[renatam]

We didn't HIRE them as our lord and mistress. THEY don't get to tell us how to vote or what to do -- in America. Bill is so used to being outside of the US, he must have forgotten.

[zoozey]

Funny, that inexperience thing is exactly what Clinton's detractors said about him when he ran. And you do know that Clinton was even younger than Obama?

Gee, I know the Clintons would have been thrilled in 92 and 96 if the ol' third Pairy system had been up and running real smoothly, eh?

[Carnacamarna]

Question: What in this speech really had to do with Obama specifically other than the call for complete support of the Democrats?

Seems to me like this speech was more specialized to the group and its purpose, and commemoration of the anniversary of the 19th Amendment. Another thing, this was a 10 minute long speech. I'm sorry but every time a Democrat speechifies at the moment does not mean it's germane to full-on campaigning.

[jonjon66]

B.I.T.T.E.R. are the Clintonites, they have 2 nights at the convention and all they do is whine.

[renatam]

BITTER. ENVY. RESENTMENT. REVENGE.

We get it.

21st Century Leadership?

NO.

We already have a petulant, spoiled "leader' who believes ONLY HE knows what's right/wrong and anyone who doesn't share HIS VIEW - is EVIL.

[dsifso]

If you don't like the clintons on stage, you know who to blame....Obama. He had a choice.

[loax]

I am sick of the Hillary nonsense. This is not about HER and BILL, it is about the United States of America!

[dadohead]

The MoveOn.orgg of the women's movement" ? That is just so sad and pathetic. These people really need lives.

[gwt301]

I'm an Obama supporter and I think this is pretty much a non-story. She was talking to women about women's rights. No real need to mention Obama and Biden. At some point she has to be able to talk to "the girls" about topics that specifically pertain to them. The speech is about the need to have more females in postions of power not party unity.

[JustSaying]

I beg to differ. She was talking about women's rights you said. There is a poll out there that says these dumb hell bots think that Mr. P(i)ss (O)n (W)omen (notice the initials) is pro choice. She needs to inform them that it isn't true.

[CitizenInformed]

It's the Democratic Convention and we're trying to elect a Democratic president. Her events should focus solely on that. She has made women's rights the 2008 equivalent to the gay marriage derider of 2004.....a real non-issue in the face of the shrinking middle class, war, shrinking civil liberties, etc.

[JackieOC]

This is so disgusting... It's not about people who want to change the inequities in this country. It's about power from a bunch of babies, led by Hillary Clinton. Hillary and Obama's policies are close so it sure isn't that. For some delegates to threaten to vote for McCain, makes no sense. Is there a race issue in this? If so, shame on them!

Instead of getting behind the viable elected candidate, they're willing to play political games and threaten the loss of this election to McCain. I have no respect for either Hillary, Bill or any of those delegates if they continue this standoff. Once I would have been happy with either Hillary or Obama, but now I would never consider voting for her, even if she ran again in 4 years. As they've threatened, they can leave the convention. Good riddance!

Her political career will be damaged forever if she does not do her homework. She's failed her party so far by acting like the White House is her right, while Bill pouts. Put them out to pasture as they are not teamplayers. Believe it or not Clinton's, we will do this without you, but you will not be forgotten if disruptions occur at the convention... This is the legacy you will be left with.

If Hillary's speech tonight is passionate I will take it all back. I'm afraid though, she will move her lips without the passion needed to convince those delegates to support Obama.

[pithy]

Republican trolls arnd operatives are reading this site and and positively rubbing their hands together in glee.

We are being played like a fiddle by those who would like us to implode and lose this election.

Hillary was a fine candidate who fought like a tiger to get the nomination - Barack was, too. Either one of them would be spectacular as our president.

Remeber at the beginning, when most of us said we were happy with both candidates? That it didn't matter who won, altho we each had preferences?

THE MSM and the GOP couldn't stand that kind of unity - not good for ratings. So they literally created this divide (Bill is being racist, Barack is dissing Hillary, who played the race card first, etc., etc.) until now what they SAID was hapening (when it wasn't) is really now happening!!!!!!!!!

Please, please and please again, for the sake of our children - give it up. Stop insulting each other - stop dancing to the tune being sung by the GOP.

They are laughing all the way to the Whitehouse - and we will see our country slide farther into the abyss.

Get behind Barack - just grit your teeth if you have to - but support him.
I supported Edwards- then Hillary - now, I pledge to vote for Barack because:

I AM A DEMOCRAT - I WILL NOT be played by the GOP and the MSM.

I am a Democrat. Period.

[ChescoMom]

A m e n.

[nunzia]

Another Amen!
My sentiments exactly.
This website started out as an intelligent forum. Now it's dominated by a bunch of
stupid msm-disciples who believe every phoney drama that the msm drum up.
These idiots watch msm, lap up all that trash talk and then think they really know what's going on.
Divide and conquer.
An old, old story.

[Binxy]

Exactly, my friend. exactly.

[rossini]

You have hit the proverbial nail on the head.

[kebechet]

I wholeheartedly agree!

[elizaW]

Why would you encourage anyone to vote for a candidate they don't believe in? Out of party loyalty? Who is the party anyway? Nancy Pelosi? Howard Dean? Why should any Democrat be loyal to them? They've been a disaster for the Democrats. Since Pelosi assumed power, Congress has never had less support from the American people. And if your answer is we don't want eight more years of Bush, my answer to you is McCain is not Bush.