Regular pw visitors know that I generally find Excitable Andy to be both lazy and histrionic, but of the various recations to Hillary Clinton’s non-concession speech last night, he comes closest to understanding the nature of her gambit.
By expressing a willingness to be part of a “unity ticket” yesterday, just as Barack Obama was getting the necessary superdelegates to clinch the Democratic nomination, she publicly presented the Obama campaign with an unpleasant choice.
Obama can choose Clinton, and appear to have been forced into it — thus projecting an aura of weakness that serves her interest more than his.ÂÂ
Or Obama can reject Clinton, potentially alienating her supporters, because it has now been suggested to them that Clinton wants it.ÂÂ
Either choice damages Obama to some degree. The worst-case scenario for Clinton is that he picks her and Obama loses — which most would lay at Obama’s doorstep, given how few people usually base their votes on a Veep selection.
Update: HotAir-lanche!
Operation Chaos, Phase II.
I think he should choose her; she’s likeable enough.
I don’t think that just because it would be counter-factual that VP choice means that much to a campaign that would prevent O! supporters and many Democrats at large from blaming her.
This is Hillary Clinton’s Operation Sampson. She’s going to tear this guy down as far as she can. If he accepts her into the VP slot she will be in a position to sabotage his campaign, to leak information over to McCain. If he doesn’t make her VP he has snubbed her and her supporters go berserk.
Heh. The Politics of Mutually Assured Destruction.
Also, ixnay on the istrionic-hay ashingbay.
I liked what Carin said last night: There is no way he can choose her, and he’s doomed if he doesn’t.
I’ve thought all along the unity ticket would be ridiculous. But with her winning SD on his big night, I think it really showed his problems.
She’s shrewd, that one.
Popcorn!!!!! Honestly, this Hillary VP dealo is the only bright spot in an otherwise dismal presidential season.
Or, since it has been brought up by Dems on either side of the divide at various points in time, this could be viewed as a gracious manner in which she shows her willingness to work with Baracky.
She does not really say hopey changey.
At this point, I don’t care who wins as long as I don’t have to see or hear Terry Mcauliffe anymore. Even this morning he was naming off the states that Hillary had won during the primary. What a tool!And that fake car saleman-like smile. How he didn’t make it on Dickipedia, I’ll never know!
One other aspect to the gambit: If Obama rejects her, it gives her some measure of insulation from having to commit 100% to supporting Obama all the way through November. I can’t imagine that she wants to give that kind of effort, or that anyone would believe it or take it seriously.
I think the deal is that if she campaigns for him, he pays off her campaign debts.
Possibly I can conVINCE you the at least Michelle FOSTERs significant reservation about Hillary as VP and one heartbeat away.
I agree with Pablo: Operation Chaos, Phase II. For those of you who don’t listen to Rush, tune in today! He calms me down.
Far Left Radical Boy is indeed in a precarious position.
He’s damned if he does and damned is he doesn’t.
Hill and Bill are beyond description: the power hungry, ruthless, dishonest, back stabbing couple of the year. Don’t be fooled by her smile! She is a vengeful, plate throwing scorned woman and will stop at nothing to try to win ..something.
Carin: Do you want butter on your popcorn? I’m popping a batch now!
Lady or Tiger?
Hmmm…..
[…] Hillary’s final revenge: The VP gambit […]
Any reason to believe these folks ? ..
Maybe the MSM can end their lovefest, do their jobs and put this to rest.
Isn’t it obvious? She already made one crack about Obama being assassinated! Now she’s bagging for a job no one wants? Maybe she has a plan? Anyone remember how she and Billy-Jeff “handled” Ron Brown”
obama is toxic. although she hasn’t won the commentariat at msnbc or daily kos, hillary did win a majority of the voters. obama by contrast can’t even win late primaries after he’s been anointed as the “presumptive nominee” by the press and the dnc apparatchiki and should at least theoretically be enjoyig some kind of momentum. unfortunately, the more people see, they less they like him.
hillary would be crazy to accept the poisoned chalice of a vp nomination. far better to hold out for president while obama continues his slow implosion in the polls after peaking in february.
once the michelle rant about killing whitey is out (and who can doubt she said it? just look at her face and tell me she doesn’t have the pea-brain of a thug nestled somewhere beneath those ugly sloping brows) obama will be toast.
hillary is wise to keep her distance from the ongoing obama freakshow.
Hillary has morphed into the “Anton Chigurh” of the Democratic Party:
(glares at Obama and flips a coin) “Veep or weep. Call it, friend-o.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0kVdEGklkc
There is alot of speculation about whether or not “the tape” exist. The possibility of it certainly adds to the excitement of this entertaining drama that the Dems are providing for us.
Some say the Republicans have it and are waiting until the right moment to release it.
I’m sure Hill and Bill are desperately trying to find it… and soon! McCauliffe and Lanny Davis are probably calling in every favor they ever did for anyone who might be able to produce it.
For sake of GOP strategy, if they do have it, speculation is that they will wait until October, or at least until BO secures the nomination, without Shrillery lurking in the background.
I, for one, want to see it now. I can’t wait until October, even though it might mean the demise of BO. Facts are that Michelle will probably ruin this for Radical Boy, no matter what. Every time she opens her mouth, she says something damaging and outrageous. So even if the tape doesn’t really exist, the faux Messiah will most likely self destruct for other reasons,,ie his past associations, lack of accomplishments, extreme views or absence of substance.
Anton Chigurh? Mark, you are too funny. I would relate her to Cruella Daville, the “ax woman” on SNL, or Glenn Close’s bunny boiler in Fatal Attraction.
Neo,
Oh, wouldn’t that be hilarious? And wouldn’t someone’s oppo research guys have bought everything they could from trinity for review before it all went down the memory hole?
The rumor is getting more specific by the day. Could Scary Larry have possibly gotten one right? Is his blog being down a coinkydink? Should I question the timing? Is Obama¢o crushing dissent? Did I just coin the term Obama¢o?
Tune in to our next exciting episode of As the Worm Turns.
Crazy Larry’s blog is not down, but spotty due to the surge in traffic. And the latter is part of the reason for the rumor. Crazy Larry could in theory be right about something, but his signal-to-noise ratio is such that’s it’s better to hit the “ignore” button until a sane person actually produces something.
If O! folds under pressure and makes her VP… he’d better stay away from guns, planes & Starbucks.. if he knows what’s good for him.. I figure they’ll find his cold, stiff body doing a Vince Foster inside 6 months..
Karl! You’re spiking a perfectly good conspiracy theory! Eleventy!
E-bay might have some of the old TUCC videos.
LondonAmerican – That is an incredibly racist comment – I don’t like Michelle’s comments or free pass either, but let’s not go there.
When he chooses her the right wing will attack both of them with bombs. Up until now they have backed off attacking her.
I still doubt the tape exists. We are somehow supposed to believe that in the age of YouTube no one who has seen it has bother to upload it to the web. No way.
Saying that Hillary won the most votes is like saying Al Gore won the popular vote.
“She then launched into an attack on “whiteyâ€Â, and talked about solutions to black on black crime in the realm of diverting those actions onto white America.”
Hey, Michelle, here’s a solution. How about stop killing each other? Nah, too fucking simple. I had a friend in college that, when he was drunk, would tell me about the upcoming race riots. How the blacks would rise up and try to take what is theirs and that an awful lot of whites would get killed or hurt. I’m white, he’s black. He’d always tell me that I’d be ok, at least from him as I was “cool no matter what color” I was. I’d just laugh and tell him, he better tell his co-conspirators that the math really wasn’t in their favor. The point is, Michelle better re-think that whole “diverting those actions onto white America” stuff. This stuff isn’t really about race, anyhow. Class? Yes. Race? Not so much.
Aha!
Obama¢o minions in attack mode! W00t!
bigbooner: you are right, it is like saying gore won the popular vote insofar as both are true statements of fact. the difference is solely that in the case of the democratic nomination neither of the candidates has enough pledged delegates to assure nomination in august (unlike bush who had enough electoral votes). both hillary and obama need the votes of superdelegates. in that situation, pointing out that she has the majority of the popular vote has as much legitimacy as his saying he a majority of the pledged delegates — NEITHER of them has what it takes to win and both are making “moral” arguments.
i’m not so sure that “diverting those actions onto white America†isn’t about race. it sounds very explicitly about race.
uh, these are Democratics we’re talking about.
– Over the five+ months McCains people should start finding unmarked manila envelopes, and untraceable proxy server emails, all signed “anonymous”, showing up on their doorstep. It won’t take a Charlie Chan to divine where most of the material comes from.
– It will be interesting watching to see whether he has the stones to use them or not. If he gives any more speeches like that disaster last night he may not have any choice. Its expected they will be dribbled at a steady rate, designed to basically destroy the elite medias Obama election efforts, and see if he does what she wants to stem the bleeding, with the worst held back to give him a chance to “do the right thing”.
– Stay tuned indeed.
Wha???
See, when I saw her do this yesterday I was worried that the Dems might stop slapping each other and form an alliance to take back the white house. In fact, I’m still not sure why Barry doesn’t do that. He can have an ugly convention fight and a dessiccated party to take to November, or he can offer his rival a place at the table, a chance to fill in his gaps.
I don’t think I buy the notion that Hill is so insistent on #1 that she’d deliberately sabotage the campaign. Surely Vice-President is a step in the direction she wants.
Londonamerican – Yes, it even says race in the phrase, but I don’t think blacks are disproportionately jailed because they are black. I think it’s because they are disproportionately poorer than whites. Sure there are crazy black racists out there. Just as there are crazy white racists. However, I think the problem lies in socio-economic reasons rather than race. Race gets conflated with class all the time. Just my 2 cents.
BBH,
HRC is too smart to send any really nasty stuff to McCain. She’d send it to Brown, Bossie, Hannity, etc.
– Of course Karl. These things are always handled by surrogates.
Oh. I thought BBH meant he and his internet sleuthing friends would be delivering the packages.
– Maybe. We’re not the perps, we just track the perps. But given all the factors surrounding this entire primary, on both sides, its a no brainer.
– In retrospect I will say this much. If the group manages to intercept anything of an important nature, we have agreed to release them to Dan and Karl, and leave it to their judgment whether they should be published or not. So with that in mind:
“Watch the PW skies…..Just keep watching the skies…”
#16 mojo: What if both choices are the same?
#40 – Actually the VP position is a poor course to become POTUS unless the president dies.
I think Obama will not offer the veep slot to Hillary unless he’s already determined to his satisfaction she won’t accept it. She may tell him privately, “Yes, I forced you to offer it, so offer it. It’ll help patch up the wounds in the party and I’ll graciously decline the offer while promising to campaign wholeheartedly for you this fall. All perfectly good happy political hypocrisy.”
And when he makes the offer, she’ll make like the winner of the Miss America pageant and leave him with no way to hold her to the private promise.
That’s when both camps start sharpening their knives, and I personally wouldn’t bet on Hillary coming out the winner — not with Michelle on Barack’s team.