Ms. Dowd strikes again, but this time she takes aim at the rogue HRC supporters, adding a new element. These anti Obama zealots, according to Dowd, have also sworn off ever voting for a man. How predictable for Maureen Dowd to make this turn, given her own 1950s world view still hasn't made the turn to the 21st century. Nevertheless, it's yet another swipe at the determined who long ago turned ridiculous.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that Barack Obama must continue to grovel to Hillary Clinton's dead-enders, some of whom mutter darkly that they will not only not vote for him, they will never vote for a man again.
Obama met for an hour Tuesday with three dozen top Hillaryites at a hotel here, seeking their endorsement and beguiling their begrudging. He opened the session by saying that he knew there had been frustration about what they saw as sexism during the primary.The Los Angeles Times reported that Hillary die-hards want to enshrine a whine in the Democratic platform about how the primaries "exposed pervasive gender bias in the media" and call on party leaders to take "immediate and public steps" to denounce any perceived bias in the future. That is one nutty idea. ...
As one of the most ardent HRC supporters, which continues forward, though I now back Obama, all this hand wringing by former HRC supporters now turned anti Obama zealots, people who can't move on with grace, has now succeeded in nothing, except getting them a very bad name, while making themselves politically toxic, even to Hillary.
That these same people won't listen to reason isn't because it hasn't been offered and given in good faith. All that's needed for a new energy burst is a phrase or video to send them screaming outrage again. The denial they court is too seductive in an echo chamber that promises hope, but only delivers deceit by offering claims of something that will not come. Their political naiveté, turned to desperation, now brings only embarrassment since they're putting their own petty personal grievances before everything else, even Senator Clinton, while posturing that their anti-Obama zealotry is something it's not, which is obvious to see. They have also managed to take their cause and turn it into something that gets snorts of disrespect that resembles disgust from most Democrats, while Republicans smack their chops with anticipation, using them whenever the chance arises, which is whenever they're asked.
The other thing that's happened is that most of these rogue HRC supporters have become what they hated most. They are as bad or worse as the Obama supporters during the primaries who bombarded sites, especially this one, comment sections, hitting bloggers with vitriol and hate screed emails, including posts written by the unhinged comprised of such nonsensical gibberish that the vast majority of Democrats trying to turn the Republicans out have come to disrespect them completely.
Effectiveness dies when no one is listening and instead, what once might have been a mission has been made into a punch line or worse. A traffic driver at a time when summertime laziness slows everything down and people simply take advantage of the latest political train wreck in a season that stars Britney, Paris, and McCain campaign ads channeling Charlton Heston as Moses.
by Taylor Marsh
Follow Taylor Marsh on Twitter: www.twitter.com/taylormarsh
When Clinton supporters "sit out" the election in protest they are voting for McCain.
Hillary's supporters have not been disrespected or "not recognized." She just lost. That's all.
Since all criticisms of Hillary are a priori "sexist," it's time we undermine the pretentious theme of this self-inflating grievance group. Hence, this musical interlude from "The Music Man":
"Shipoopi, Shipoopi, Shipoopi,
The girl is hard to get.
Shipoopi, Shipoopi, Shipoopi,
But you can win her yet."
PUMA = SHIPOOPI. Work the meme.
Puma = Shipoopi
I can't help you out here. The second part of the word Shipoopi is making my mind go to barnyard humor. I'll be good. :-)
And now I will be really good.
If you can't criticize their candidate, you might as well mock their self-righteous rallying cry, and juvenile insistence on holding their breath till they turn blue.
Equal pay ain't gonna happen. We'll be lucky to see an increase in minimum wage.
Democrats of the PUMA nature grew up this year. We saw what we never wanted to see.
You don't have to listen to us. You'll listen only when we don't vote Democrat.
You are the only True Patriots, and the only Real Adults.
The rest of us are brainwashed robots and sellouts, and the air will be thick with our mournful wails of regret and the gnashing or our teeth. Our children will rue the day we tried to run a popular candidate with only modest negatives and no association with our party's previous, scandal-plagued, butt-of-a-million-jokes President. And the ages will weep because, faced with a choice between two breakthrough nominees, we chose the Black Guy over the White Woman.
Bow. Yield. Kneel. PUMA!
We get it, Ann. But the truth is the whole "General Zod" posting shtick cheapens the message and inclines people to tune you out. Taylor is right -- the PUMAs present themselves as a group of enraged, aggrieved conspiracy-mongers who are willing to vote against themselves in order to make a point. They actively alienate the people they're trying to convert, and then frame every rejection as proof that they are right.
PUMAs have evolved from legitimate issues to self-parody. Interesting as performance art, but not a particularly effective approach to public activism.
HRC will likely suffer additional disfavor over her recent split tongue speech to her aggrieved supporters saying they should yell, scream and carry on at the convention and then move on. They should instead act like they understand the voting process by acknowledging that she lost and that means that she lost. Period. HRC put forth so many FALSE projections about how close the race was that these folks simply can not bear to hear the truth. She does not have 18 million supporters, her lost was not close, and they need to move forward or out of the way. Any ruckus at the convention will end her career for sure.
Americans have a history of speaking truth to power. PUMA's are true core democrats and Americans.
1. Howard Deans deafening silence of the sexism that hammered Senator Clinton.
2. Pelosi's statement about "stepping in to stop this" in reference to the primary .
(Wasn't she around in 1980 when Sen. Ted Kennedy challenged incumbent President Carter and went to the convention with approx. 768 delegates? And while there he tried to get delegates to switch from Carter to him. (Rev. Jackson and Franklin Roosevelt also went all the way to the convention without the cacaphony of Democrats, Male Political Media, and political pundits trying to stop the democratic process.)
3. Kerry, Leahy, Dodd asking Hillary to step down either before a big win in a state.
Taylor has gone to the side of the Status Quo. No surprise, it's safe with the status quo. And even if you are female in a sexist power structure you can be rewarded.
PUMA speaks truth to power. And every girl in the United States did not deserve to see Hillary Nutcrackers in airport gift shops or listen to Olbermann talking about having a delegate take Hillary into a back room and then just he emerges. She also did not deserve listening to the female loyalists to the male political media talk about Senator Clinton's cleavage.
Sexism has no place in the democratic party or the democratic nominee, sweetie.
Oh, and you want to punish the DNC for trying to avoid an extended fight for the nomination, which would have drained contributor funding, bloodied both candidates, divided the party and done the GOPs work for them.
On the other hand, HRC gets a free pass for her own dirty campaigning and attempts to rig the nominating rules.
Sorry. I understand your grievance. But I don't think you're "speaking truth to power" so much as you are "shooting truth in the foot."
peace
Obama is backed by big Ethanol. McCain has always beed against it.
Barack doesn't want to get rid of farm subsidies. McCain does.
Barack wants to increase Faith Based initiative. McCain does not and furthermore McCain is not into male religion as heavily as Barack.
Religion and politics don't mix.
Barack back-tracked on:
FISA (not only did he fail to lead a promised filibuster he voted for it!)
Public Financing
Town Hall MEetings
Oil Drilling.
Barack voted FOR Dick Cheney's evergy bill and McCain (and Hillary)voted NO.
Obama is not a core democrat.
I'll stick with McCain - for the sake of the country.
YOU FORGOT ONE VERY IMPORTANT VOTE: McCain and Hilary giving George Bush carte blanche to invade Iraq WITHOUT HAVING TO PAY FOR IT! JUST CHARGE IT TO THE BANK OF CHINA! Yipee!
Very selective memory Alice. You need to try harder and come across as more rational to convince us you really were a part of the true CORE of democrats and not a privileged suburban soccer mom ideological sellout.
But I will always wonder, while you were offering your site and your writing as a vehicle for drumming blind support for her, did it never occur to you that there were participants and readers who were capable of all this? Did you never feel uneasy? Are you truly surprised?
No one else is. We're just stuck with them. And you helped create them. I'm sorry, but you did.
Come the GE, I personally do not know what I will do..........and I suspect many PUMA's don't really know either.
In addition, perhaps Miss Marsh, you stated it plainly....."They are as bad or worse as the Obama supporters during the primaries ....."
Also, I must state that if you should actually look back at the "fairy tale" comment made by Bill Clinton, you'll see that there was an ugly lie started that made it appear Bill was racist. So much for your party appreciating what your President did for the country after Reagan and Bush. Your party tends to eat your young and throw many supporters under the proverbial bus when they are no longer of any use. When your party gets it together, perhaps more of us independents would be willing to join the so-called "movement."
They also have no interest in unity, and will accept nothing less than a H*illary coup at the convention.
As for "playing by the rules," they didn't mind so much when HRC was gaming the system to her own advantage, so I would take their protests on that score with a large grain of salt.
The rational, adult-faction of Clinton supporters long ago swallowed their disappointment and joined the ranks of loyal Democrats committed to defeating the Repubs in November, working hard to undo the damage of the last 8 years of GOP rule. Sen. Clinton and they are now supporting Sen. Obama and Dem candidates up and down the slate.
Thank you, Taylor Marsh, and the milllions of pro-Hillaryites who understand that this election is NOT about any one candidate, but about the survival of middle and working class Americans, and global collaboration for our world's survival.
All of this rancor could have been avoided if Obama had honored his statement in 2006 that he wasn't ready to be President and had supported Clinton with an agreement to be her VP. Then in 4 or 8 years, he would have been ready and also would have been embraced by all Democrats. As it is not he stands as a candidate who has used the slogan of "unity" to split the party.
And Ms. Marsh is exactly right about how damaging this could be to Hillary herself. Obama's supporters are an important segment of the Democratic Party, and if Senator Clinton has future ambitions, they will be ill-served if core Obama supporters (like African-Americans) perceive that Clinton partisans are harming Obama's chances of winning.
Whether Obama wins or loses, and I believe he will win by a landslide, I feel proud to be represented by such a high-class Dem presidential nominee.
Why should she care. I'm a New Yorker & their are a lot more New Yorkers like me who are disgusted w/ her than there are Pumas. We're also smarter She really needs to pack it in now & go back to Arkansas. We've had enough of her.
Barack voted for both of these things.
Now, why exactly are you disgusted with Hillary?
I am voting for McCain becasue he:
voted No onDick Cheney's Energy Bill
is against ethanol
is against farm subsidies
does not engage overt "male religion" dialogue in the face of politics
I am not voting for Barack because he :
voted for Dick Cheney's Energy Bill
is backed by ethanol
wants to keep farm subsidies
wants to increase Bush' s faith Based initiatives?
had a 19 year friendship with Tony Rezko who is in jail for campaign fraud.
The sexism in this primary came from Democratic voters, pundits, politicians. All of whom claim to be liberal.
So , you see sweetie, we're angry. And we are doing something about it.