Not easy to boggle the public mind these days, but Bill Clinton seems to have done it again by appearing on the Rush Limbaugh show on the day of the Texas primary.
The former President did not have intercourse with that man himself, who was suffering from a convenient case of one-day flu after urging his listeners to cross over and vote for Hillary Clinton on the theory that Barack Obama would be harder for Republicans to beat. A substitute interviewer did the deed.
Andrew Sullivan's reaction: "Now just wrap your mind around this: the Clintons were happy to support a cynical, partisan Republican campaign to wound the Democratic front-runner, and they were brazen enough to go on the Limbaugh show to do so.
"There also seems little doubt that Republican mischief played a real role in affecting the results."
Several days later Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson complained about Obama's "attacks" on his candidate: "I for one do not believe that imitating Ken Starr is the way to win a Democratic primary election for president."
His target, the former President, is making Starr look like a pussycat.
Showing posts with label crossover vote. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crossover vote. Show all posts
Monday, March 10, 2008
Saturday, February 02, 2008
An Eisenhower Endorsement and a Memory
Barack Obama's Kennedy coup is followed today by an endorsement from an Eisenhower, a lifelong Republican who believes the Illinois Senator "can encourage ordinary Americans to stand straight again...salve our national wounds and...assure the world and Americans that this great nation's impulses are still free, open, fair and broad-minded."
Barbara Eisenhower likens Obama to her grandfather who was elected with "the indispensable help of a 'Democrats for Eisenhower' movement. These crossover voters were attracted by his pledge to bring change to Washington and by the prospect that he would unify the nation."
Her decision recalls a night in 1964 when Ike was wrestling with his conscience about an endorsement that might have changed the Republican Party and American history.
Sitting on his darkened porch in Gettysburg with half a dozen visiting editors, Eisenhower talked about a barrage of advice from friends to save his party from nominating Barry Goldwater by a backing a liberal Republican, Gov. William Scranton.
Clearly opposed to Goldwater's brand of conservatism, the former President spoke bitterly about the Arizona Senator but could not bring himself to go public with his concerns and back Scranton.
Barbara Eisenhower's younger sister, Mary Jean, then eight, was sitting in a corner, wide-eyed, taking it all in. Now, her generation of Eisenhowers is having its say.
In her Washington Post OpEd, Barbara Eisenhower quotes from Ike's farewell address: "We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow."
She might have added something else he said then: "People want peace so much that one of these days government had better get out of the way and let them have it.”
Barbara Eisenhower likens Obama to her grandfather who was elected with "the indispensable help of a 'Democrats for Eisenhower' movement. These crossover voters were attracted by his pledge to bring change to Washington and by the prospect that he would unify the nation."
Her decision recalls a night in 1964 when Ike was wrestling with his conscience about an endorsement that might have changed the Republican Party and American history.
Sitting on his darkened porch in Gettysburg with half a dozen visiting editors, Eisenhower talked about a barrage of advice from friends to save his party from nominating Barry Goldwater by a backing a liberal Republican, Gov. William Scranton.
Clearly opposed to Goldwater's brand of conservatism, the former President spoke bitterly about the Arizona Senator but could not bring himself to go public with his concerns and back Scranton.
Barbara Eisenhower's younger sister, Mary Jean, then eight, was sitting in a corner, wide-eyed, taking it all in. Now, her generation of Eisenhowers is having its say.
In her Washington Post OpEd, Barbara Eisenhower quotes from Ike's farewell address: "We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow."
She might have added something else he said then: "People want peace so much that one of these days government had better get out of the way and let them have it.”
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Did Romney Help Hillary Clinton?
After all the complaints about Iowa's caucus system, was New Hampshire's odd crossover voting responsible for the most significant primary result so far--Hillary Clinton's surprise victory over Barack Obama?
The explanation starts with Mitt Romney's unpopularity there. New Hampshire newspapers anti-endorsed him, the Union-Leader asserting "his words are memorized, not heartfelt" and the Concord Monitor calling him a candidate built from a kit, "a disquieting figure who sure looks like the next president and most surely must be stopped."
With all that animosity in the air along with a barrage of Romney commercials in a close contest with McCain and the polls showing Obama ahead by double digits, how many Independents decided it was more important to vote against Romney rather than for Obama?
As the only Massachusetts governor ever to lose a primary in his neighboring state, Mitt may have in passing done Hillary Clinton a huge favor. Politics makes strange...
The explanation starts with Mitt Romney's unpopularity there. New Hampshire newspapers anti-endorsed him, the Union-Leader asserting "his words are memorized, not heartfelt" and the Concord Monitor calling him a candidate built from a kit, "a disquieting figure who sure looks like the next president and most surely must be stopped."
With all that animosity in the air along with a barrage of Romney commercials in a close contest with McCain and the polls showing Obama ahead by double digits, how many Independents decided it was more important to vote against Romney rather than for Obama?
As the only Massachusetts governor ever to lose a primary in his neighboring state, Mitt may have in passing done Hillary Clinton a huge favor. Politics makes strange...
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