Hillary Clinton's Disgraceful Exit*

"Denver! Denver! Denver!" chanted Senator Hillary Clinton's supporters in the middle of her "concession speech" in New York last night. Forget numbers! Forget reality! Forget the Democratic Party and unity! On to the Convention!

Presumably with some new criteria (states starting with the letters A-K, perhaps, or seniors who watch re-runs of Matlock).

For her part, Hillary Clinton gladly fueled her followers' desire for a fight.

In spite of the fact Barack Obama had won the necessary 2,118 delegates to secure the nomination, becoming the first African-American in history to be the standard bearer for a major party, she continued to speak of how she was the stronger candidate, how she won the important states, how she won more votes than any candidate in primary history (not counting caucuses and counting Michigan, where Obama wasn't on the ballot, of course).

I kept waiting for some kind of concession, some acknowledgment of what had just happened, some class and dignity, maybe, dare I say it, humility. This was no longer a matter of perspective or preference, after all. Barack Obama had won. Her chances of winning had gone from nearly impossible to impossible.

Yet instead of graciously accepting defeat , she told her 18 million followers to get on her website and tell her what they thought she should do next. Surely, in this way she might come to a rational, clear-headed decision for her political future. Here's a sampling of the pearls of wisdom being offered at HillaryClinton.com:

They have totally skrewed Hillary, lets get her on the ballot ourselves!!!We need each other not the DNC or Obama, I refuse to support him! [bb]

I sincerely wish that Hillary does not accept the second slot. I just cannot and will not support the Democratic party nominee. I will vote for McCain B4 I vote for BHO. The present DNC has stabbed Hillary in the back, I cannot continuing supporting the Undemocratic party. I will always support and Vote for Hillary but cannot support Chicago mafia(BHO) [bestpresident]

Let's take this to DENVER..........She is the only one. I will never vote for BO...Neither will my family or friends..We will either not vote or vote for McCain...Oh, today I just registered and my family and friends too as INDEPENDENTS....SCREW THE DEMOCRATES.... We love HIllary with all of our heart and we will always support and back her...but what the democratic party has done to her they have done to us....ENOUGH!!!!LET THE DNC HANG THEMSELVES........................DISGUSTING!!! [caspercat]

I say run as INDEPENDENT NOW!! Obama will want Hillary to campaign for him. Hillary is much greater than that. I hope Hillary goes with the "will of the people." She is the "People's President." I will never think of BO as my President. Nope, I just cannot do it. It is about the way they treated HILLARY. Call it whatever you like, dirty politics, etc. etc. She worked so hard, and every step of the way, they tried to diminish her, even when she won her landslide victories. I say, DENVER - DENVER - DENVER - DENVER [LillaBet]

Never mind that young people are dying in Iraq, that millions are struggling to pay the bills, that our policies on health care, education, and foreign affairs could sink even further under a McCain presidency. For thousands of Hillary supporters, it's been a long time since this race was about issues or rationality. It's been rather about a disturbingly insulated, narcissistic, monomaniacal candidate and a base (many of whom lack education) that has passionately followed her lead. (I recognize it's not "PC" to call people uneducated, yet that's what the statistics show and the historical reality is that uneducated voters are more prone to vote on emotion and fear, more prone to manipulation (see gas tax), and more prone to racism and bigotry (see West Virginia and Kentucky.)

In contrast to Hillary Clinton's "stoke divisions and rally the troops for civil war" speech, Barack Obama hardly spoke of himself in his victory speech in Minnesota. He thanked his family, campaign team and supporters, he spoke of the important moment we find ourselves in and how the issues are larger than any one candidate. And he generously complimented Hillary Clinton.

Continuing the trends of their respective campaigns, Barack Obama took the high road; Hillary Clinton chose the low one. When the Clinton's injected race in South Carolina, Barack gave Bill Clinton the benefit of the doubt and spoke of moving beyond our differences; when Hillary ran the infamous 3am ad, Barack continued to insist we act on hope not fear; and in the end, when Barack held out the olive branch, going so far as to say that Hillary's strength and tenacity paved the way for his own daughters, Hillary refused to show grace and help heal the party.

Regardless of what happens from here, Barack Obama's historic night will always be partially shadowed by a woman with an ego too large to do what every other candidate in both parties, including Mike Huckabee, understood was appropriate. Last night Barack Obama won the nomination. He made history. And Hillary knows he offers drastic change from both Bush and McCain. Yet instead of urging her supporters to rally in the name of larger principles, her message was much like another disastrous politician's: screw the pundits, the naysayers, the numbers, the facts. We can still win! Just stay the course.

For Clinton like Bush, it's the war that never ends.

Comments

[CostaMesaJoe]

Nice blog, Joe.

Couldn't have said it better............

[waltontynerross]

A fabulos post and one that puts words on what many of us our feeling. I was so caught up in the moment last night, the groundbreaking history, that Clinton's remarks just fell on deaf ears. It wasn't until this motning when it hit me that both McCain and Clinton failed to honor one of the greatest moments in modern American politics last evening.

McSame bored everyone to tears and credited pundits for Obama's achievement.

Clinton went Adolf, placed herself in a bunker below Manhattan, and pretended the world above no longer existed and reality was whatever popped into her mind.

Shameful from both. And something I think many Americans will not soon forget in the coming months.

[Toonbytes07]

CORRECTION: One of the greatest moments in ALL of American politics, modern or not.

[OrionGal]

I will NEVER forget it - I will NEVER forget McCain making verbal jabs at Obama, and Hillary talking about ME ME ME ME.

IS this what our Country has come to? We FINALLY have a gentleman, a leader, a GENIUS running for the white house and the OLD PEOPLE can do nothing but COMPLAIN.

I was outraged all over again, and I wept when Obama finally came on.

I cannot wait for this OLDER RACIST BIGOT SELFISH SPOILT generation to RETIRE, so my Generation can start doing some WORK and getting some things done.

[daedalus43]

HuffPost's Pick

I want you to take heart. Your generation has won the battle, and with a little luck it will win the war. You know, in every state the split between the "under 30" vote for Obama and the "over 60" vote (my generation) was between 25 and 35 %. I think much of this is due to the racism (often unconscious) infused in my generation by the conditions surrounding us during our formative years. Thank Goodness your generation has moved somewhat beyond that and if you continue to work, perhaps your children's children will grow up in a world where a person will be given equal opportunities without consideration of skin color, ethnicity, religion, sex, or class, where advancement will be based strictly on merit, not "connections".
I do wish you would cut us geezers a bit of slack, though. After all, we did manage, through affirmative action programs and desegregation, to provide you with the opportunity to have personal experience with a far more diverse constellation of friends than we were allowed to experience.
Social change takes time, so please keep your passion and keep pressing, and ALWAYS fight the powerful forces that want to divide. Your generation's perceptive vote in this primary campaign has given this old white guy from Tennessee a great deal of hope for the future, but remember that there will be bumps in the road. Don't lose heart, make your vision a lifelong quest.

[huffy2001]

You all really are like a bunch of spoiled children. Such hand wringing over what one woman is doing. Barack himself doesn't seem too bothered by this. He has said give her time. He is gracious.

Why can't the rest of you take your cue from your candidate?

[liseworks]

We're not running for President. We're venting (on a public forum to do so) our frustration at what has become the lowest travesty of human behavior : Hillary.

[huffy2001]

You're just a bunch of sore winners. What are you going to do when you don't have her to dump all your hatred all over any more?

Hate. What a wonderful thing!

[bygollymissmolly]

Because she is holding the Democratic party hostage.

[Krikkit]

Because YOU are taking your cues from YOUR candidate instead of getting behind the Party's nominee. Hillary will get her forgiveness and acceptance from me when she shows some character and stops stoking the flames of division within this party. Not before. Never before.

Talk about "appeasement"!!! How will that play with the GOP in the fall?

[huffy2001]

Let me get this straight...you can't take cues from your candidate and be gracious because I still support mine?

Geez...I never knew I had such power!

[liseworks]

The "lady" has shown herself to be a TRAMP.
I feel more revulsion now, after last night, than I did the many months she tarnished my TV set.
She has hoodwinked her obsessed fans into thinking she cares about them.
No. She just believes they're her possessions.

[BeingFrank]

I believe her speech was more about holding voters in her pocket to blackmail herself onto the ticket, and last but not least, to have her followers pay her campaign debt before she gets permanently stuck with the bill.

[not2plato]

That seems like her only real options now. Obama can do an email to his constituents asking us to donate something to her. That is about it.

She can't get herself on the ticket. She hasn't got any clout in that regard.

If she tries to use her mob again, whether at the convention or before, she will be writing her own political obituary.

Either she wants the VP nod or she wants money or she thinks she can rally her mob to steal the nomination from Obama. I think it is the second of these.

[huffy2001]

Mob? That's what you call the 18 million people who supported Hillary? Mob?

Boy, this really is the politics of inclusion!

[Maccabees]

HRC did not rain on Obama's parade. She provided provided the world with an 8X10 glossy of who and what she is. He could have ignored her or been less positive toward her, but he praised her accomplishments. He exhibited class.

She, on the other hand made, and continues to make, a fool out of herself by refusing to concede. An exquisite contrast. Hillary brought the rain down on herself. He stood in the sunlight.

[aaawyeah]

hear hear

[2351]

Hillary's conduct is disappointing and sad. First of all, I feel that she and Bill owe Obama an apology. Bill basically trashed Obama after that Vanity Fair article came out. Obama had nothing to do with it, however, Bill was blaming a lot of ugly stuff on Obama. Not only have they trashed Obama, but now they will not even acknowledge that he is the nominee and continue with this sick conduct.
She refuses to treat Obama like a man, and then is running around acting as if he did something wrong to her, and after publicly treating him like crap, she has the nerve to have her house man(Bob Johnson) who has also trashed Obama, come out and try to put pressure on higher ups to make Obama give her the vp slot. Then you have people like Terry McBrayer of Kentucky, who would not give their vote to Obama, come out and say that Obama can't win without Hillary and trying to force Obama to put Hillary on the ticket.

All of these people make me sick. They have treated Obama like a piece of s---, and have the nerve to come out and try to force Obama to take Hillary. People never ceased to amaze me with what they would do and how much nerve they have in doing it. I hope that Obama finds a vp candidate that is just a good person.

[liseworks]

And some of her own campaigns pundits are answering to this travesty by saying : "It's just Politics".
The White House is about to undergo a fresh, new "remodel", folks, time to check into a motel.

[bygollymissmolly]

It was very disrespectful of Hillary Clinton to give that speech last night. She didn't say anything new, all she did was to hog the limelight when it should have been aimed solely at Obama.

She is beyond redemption.

[liseworks]

Narcissists are beyond redemption. It's a form of mental illness for which there is no cure, because they can't admit there's a problem.

[ReportThis]

Hillary's concession message will be delivered by Harriet Christian.

[Foohog]

I would consider sending her money but there would have to be some sort of return on my investment. Hmmmm.... lets see...

oh, here's a shirt that needs ironing!

[liseworks]

I would only invest $$ for a one-way ticket to Zimbabwe.

[kellygrrrl]

she just blew her last best chance of ever graduating beyond Senator - at least as a Dem

[carlgt1]

Hillary should have interrupted her speech to correct her followers who screeched out "Denver Denver" and "don't vote for Obama" and other things last night. But that would have require tact & class I guess...

[liseworks]

She kept them in the basement last night, with no cell phones, no media available for them to see what was going on in the real world, so that she could get more of these poor womens' $$ via hillary . com before they could find out that Obama had already won.

[whyisthis]

HRC is tacky, clueless and selfish beyond words. I am sickened by the tactics she and her league of shrews are displaying. No Democrat worth anything would even consider voting for McCain. It is time to grow up girls.! Otherwise, you too will have an up close and personal experience of 4 more bush years via McCain.

[TinaGirlla]

Amen

[Siryn]

I get the feeling Rush Limbaugh is not the only one dreaming of riots in Denver.

[westwind]

Hillary Clinton has managed to turn what should have been a day of joy at the history that has been made (regardless of allegiance), into a day of fear at what she might yet do to sabotage an Obama general election victory.

Over the course of the primary campaign, she and her husband managed to turn me from someone who felt for them and supported them throughout the years when they were unfairly vilified and trashed by the right wing, into an Obama supporter, because of their Rovian tactics against their own party.

There were many times over the course of the last few months that I thought that they could not sink any lower in their lust for another eight years in the White House, but, sadly, every time I was proved wrong. Trusting person that I am, I thought that with the delegate total finally surpassed, she would do the right thing last night and be gracious, even if through gritted teeth. What a fool I am.

[Oldbuck]

I really feel bad for the Clinton's she could not say she was wrong in voting for the war and as a result she lost the nomination. She showed no class and is living proof that blind ambition has no place in Presidential politics. She done more damage to herself and Bill's legacy by wanting to be in the spot light just a little longer, I don't know who was advising her but they should be a shame of them self's.