Terry McAuliffe Has Become Baghdad Bob

After the United States took the airport in Baghdad, Iraqi Minister of Information Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, aka "Baghdad Bob," stood in front of the world's media and exclaimed, "We butchered the force present at the airport. We have retaken the airport! There are no Americans there!"

Was Baghdad Bob delusional? Did he truly believe that the American forces were killed at the airport? Or did he know the truth and just recite his hopes?

I ask this because I have watched Terry McAuliffe on television tonight, and it sounds as if the reporters interviewing him, and certainly the people watching the news, no longer take Terry seriously. He has morphed into someone who speaks in untruths, and here's the really bad news for Terry McAuliffe: tonight, his candidate suffered an incredible defeat. She is going to lose the nomination because she failed to capitalize on Pennsylvania and the Rev. Wright issue, and Senator Obama's big victory

But for millions of Americans who watch the news and specifically the cable news networks, Terry McAuliffe will forever be known as someone who is not to be taken seriously. And that's sad. Let's remember, Mr. McAuliffe was the head of the Democratic National Committee. He was a respected figure in the party. But those days are gone, and let's just use an interview he did tonight on Fox News as an example of why Terry McAuliffe's reputation morphed from party leader into Hillary Clinton's Minister of Disinformation.

Terry McAuliffe said that North Carolina would be tough because they were 25 points down and outspent 2-1.

But Obama went from 20 down in Pennsylvania to lose by nine. Hillary was down in one poll by 23 points, but in most polls it was 14 points or less. The most recent polls had her down by around eight points. The reason Senator Clinton is outspent is because people are voting with their wallets. 1.5 million people have contributed to the Obama campaign. Many are people without much money who have not contributed to a candidate until this election. So the fact that Hillary is being outspent is akin to saying she's being outvoted.

Terry: Hillary will clearly be ahead in the popular vote. Michigan and Florida voted - no one has an issue about that. No one argues that they voted.

Let's remember: Michigan moved up its election to a date earlier than the DNC allowed. Democrats took their names off the ballot - except for Senator Clinton. So there was no Obama, no John Edwards. Just Hillary - and she beat Uncommitted 55-40. That's not an overwhelming victory. Further, Governor Jim Blanchard, a big Hillary supporter, said that a revote said, "I think if we had a vote in Michigan, it could easily be close. The amount of delegates wouldn't make much difference." If Michigan was going to count, would John Edwards have won? I don't know, but his message would have been perfect for the state. Further, right now, Obama is ahead in the popular vote. There is no network, no commentator, no independent source who says that Hillary has more popular votes than Obama, because she doesn't. Obama is up by a few hundred thousand votes.

Terry: Hillary wins Ohio and Florida, so she is better to take on McCain.

Uhhh... okay. So because Hillary won Ohio, Obama wouldn't be able to beat McCain? Sure, Terry. Of course, Obama won Virginia and North Carolina. Would he be able to win those states in the general election? Certainly, Virginia is up for grabs. California, New York and Illinois will all go to the Democrat. Wisconsin is likely to go to Obama.
Certainly, new voters and independents are likely to favor Obama against McCain. And 58% of Indiana Repubicans just said that Obama is more likely to defeat McCain. Add to that, Rush Limbaugh is urging Republicans to vote for Hillary in the primaries so the Republicans can run against her and not him. And, the big one: Hillary has not been vetted. Obama has gone through a trial by fire, while his campaign never brings up Whitewater, Impeachment, Filegate, Travelgate, the scandals involving Hillary's brothers, the secrecy around the Clinton Library donors, or the Pardon Scandals. The Republicans are drooling at the prospect of running against those issues - hence, Rush Limbaugh urging Republicans to vote for Hillary.

The sadness here is that Obama is going to be the nominee, and Democrats who were once counted on, like McAuliffe, will not be remember for the good they did. They'll be happy in the private sector but their public service will be a memory only discussed with their former colleagues. Baghdad Bob? He's a memory, too, and his colleagues from the Hussein era probably toast his service. But to the rest of the world, Baghdad Bob is punchline. And Terry McAuliffe will have the rest of his life to know how that feels.

Read more reactions from Huffington Post bloggers to the Indiana and North Carolina primary results

Comments

[marc1antony]

sorry Terry, it's over and all your BS will not make it work for Hillary. Give it up and save her some face and ability to pay off all those vendors.

[ched]

And don't forget Lanny Davis, who looked like Bagdad Bob on acid on CNN Tuesday night. Worse than being merely annoying, he came off as petulant and pathetic, with most of the panel openly mocking him as he fought through the tears to assert that Indiana was a "great victory" for Hillary.

[expatsteve]

I would suggest a rereading of some of "Baghdad Bob's" quotes, like this one:

"I can assure you that those villains will recognize, will discover in appropriate time in the future how stupid they are and how they are pretending things which have never taken place."

[vincealy]

New metric. Bill says Hillary won. If you all do not agree. We will hold our breath and turn blue.

[likeicare]

Can't feel sorry for someone who backs a person with the character flaws Hillary has. He's either as big an asshole as she is, or is an unprincipled idiot who enables an over-bearing egomaniac in her quest for power and glory.

Either way, he has bad taste. Too bad for him. You're only as good as your last deed, Terry. That's just the way it goes.

[InjunTrouble]

Baghdad Bob was a nut, he may have actually believed his own lies.

Terry McAuliffe knows exactly what he is saying. He is taking a page out of the GOP playbook. Keep repeating lies, change rules when it suits them in the hope that people will be fooled. The problem is that media wants to play along with these lies.

Both the US media as well as corporations have seen Obama's ability to communicate directly with people and in doing so bypass the media talking heads, 'analysis' and spin as well as bypass pressure from corporate lobbyist.

This has both the media and corporations running scared - they are afraid they will soon become irrelevant.

[barphyle]

likeicare and injuntrouble: Very, very true!

[drzoon]

Obama/Hagel '08!

[Subway]

HuffPost's Pick

It doesn't take a street musician to tell why Hillary lost. She surrounded herself with the wrong people. No one seems to notice that the same people in the Democratic Party who have been trashing Obama's campaigain are the very same people who trashed the presidential campaign, AND the DNC stewardship of Howard Dean: Carville, Begala, Penn, and the list goes on

The Party outside the Beltway has been moving in Dean's direction since 2003. His pioneering of the 50 State Strategy (Formerly "The Vermontster Mash"), internet fundraising, which he defined as "The Hundred Dollar Revolution", grassroots social networking and blogging, all began in the Dean Movement

While that was going on, Hillary embraced the DLC, and her surrogates were doing everything possible to stand in the way of the direction the Party was moving in. In the end, you can't command the ship of state if you don't know where the winds of change are blowing

Barack Obama, saw the direction of the party and has brilliantly followed the Dean Play Book to the letter. He's proven Dean's central point: If you can get one or two million people to send $100, you can compete against the special interests AND WIN ELECTIONS! Welcome to the future of politics.

Obama/Dean 08
Fast, Long Lasting Relief
For the Fierce Urgency of Now!

[Sanity01]

Ohh mann!!! Obama/Dean!!!! That is just tooo good to be true. YEEEE/haaaa

[JamieJay]

THIS ARTICLE IS A VERY SMART OBSERVATION! TERRY MCAULIFFE, AND OTHER CLINTON SURROGATES ARE SO DESPERATE THAT THEY DON'T REALIZE HOW FOOLISH THEY SOUND. THIS MORNING, GEORGE MCGOVERN, WHO'S RELATIONSHIP WITH THE CLINTONS GO WAY BACK, HAS TOLD HILLARY TO CONCEDE. HE SAID THAT HE IS NOW ENDORSING BARACK OBAMA!!

[Scarllatti]

Matt, Hit me!!! You are right on point. Baghdad Bob kept on saying Saddam was "winning" even when the gallant American troops have invaded his kitchen. He refused to recognize that. We can now see why Kerry lost with Terry McAuliffe as party chairman. He wants to keep hypnotizing Hillary in order to make his daily bread.

[Allocator2008]

The comparison is a half-truth. True, both Mr. McAuliffe and "Baghdad Bob" are unswerving proponents for their causes, current circumstances be damned. But, on the other hand, the consequences of the comparison, i.e., that these individuals will be doomed to perpetual mockery and irrelevance, may not necessarily be the case. To whit:

Once Senator Clinton gets MI and FL seated, thereby winning the nomination, and goes on to win the general election on an "it's the economy, stupid" platform, and once President starts withdrawing our forces, then, finally, there will truly be "no American infidels in Baghdad!"

[Oldchef]

Check the math, please. Even if MI and FL are seated there is still no way she can win in the pledged delegate count and her committed super delegates are dwindling daily. Any chance she had of stealing the nomination is gone now. The super delegates will not support a coup.

[vincealy]

Math momentum whatever none of it works for the Clintons, They now turn and help defeat Obama so Hillary and Bill can try again. These two are the Sith in the democratic party.

[drzoon]

oh wow. i thought i would wake up..... take a peek at the news and internet.... and would find at least a sober clinton campaign that would now be thinking of the country and the party.... instead of itself for once.

but like after ww2... where years afterward we would find japanese soldiers on jungle islands still fighting "the american empire" only because they hadn't heard the news.... i guess there will be a few clintonistas hanging on as well.

[majorteddy]

Whatever happened to the dead horse Hillary was backing last week. No mention from the Clinton campaign.

[apoyo]

Poor Eight Belles.

[Antacid]

I heard that according to James Carville, Hillary has three "belles".

[majorteddy]

Every time I see Terry McAuliffe I think of the guy who just wants me to sign over complete control of my retirement account so he can manage it better for me.

[apoyo]

When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

And.

A fool and his money are soon parted.

[cmbaldwin]

I'm sure CNN can use Baghdad Bob.

[SMP]

Baghdad Bob has some fellow a$@holes too....Carville and Davis just to name a few...LOL