Daily Archives: May 25, 2008

The OTHER Big Problem With Hillary’s Notorious Remarks

Huffington Post writer Wiliam Bradley picks up the other half of Clinton's recent gaffe regarding the 1992 and 1968 primaries and her assertion that both of these ran into mid-June.

Of course, the immediate focus has been on the offensive-to-many RFK reference.  Today, however, Bradley's piece, The OTHER Big Problem With Hillary's Notorious Remarks, was like a breath of fresh air reminding us about Clinton's bold error regarding her husband's 1992 primary.

But as the New York Times pointed out yesterday, Bill Clinton was the presumptive nominee as early as late March.  If the deal need to be sealed even further, he closed it during the New York primary in early April.  That's at least 2 months earlier than Senator Clinton is claiming. Frankl, if she wants to make the case that, “It's not over 'til it's over,” then she can point to every primary in history when the delegates cast their ballots at the convention.

From NY Times on May 24:

Mrs. Clinton has cited her husband's 1992 nominating battle in discussing her decision to stay in the race. While she said that he only wrapped up the nomination in June of that year, he was viewed as having secured it in March, when his last serious opponent dropped out.

In his piece, Bradley speaks mostly on the subject of the California primary and Jerry Brown. But it's nice to see an emerging reality check on Clinton's revisionist history regarding the 1992 primary rising to the surface in the wake of the emotionally charged coverage of the RFK comment.

The link, Bradley's opening paragraph bio below the fold. 

The OTHER Big Problem With Hillary's Notorious Remarks

William Bradley; Huffington Post; May 25, 2008. 

Hillary Clinton: “My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. I don't understand it.”

What a remarkably wrong-headed paragraph. The formerly inevitable Clinton got into obvious trouble for her assassination comment. (And is now trying desperately to spin her way out. Lotsa luck.) But the sentence before it is totally wrong as well, as I can tell you that the Clintons knew that they would have no trouble in the 1992 California primary.

In May 1992, I passed on a message to Bill Clinton's national campaign chairman, Los Angeles attorney Mickey Kantor, who later held two Cabinet posts in the Clinton Administration. The message? That Jerry Brown, the former California governor who emerged as Clinton's most persistent opponent, would run no TV ads in the California primary and would pull back from the sharp attacks he'd been leveling on the frontrunner.

The primary was not “in the middle of June,” as Hillary said in the first part of her gross misstatement about it. It was on the first Tuesday in June, as it had been for decades to that point, on June 2nd. Clinton was way ahead in the race. There was no suspense about him getting the nomination. And Brown's decision not to run TV ads in California — he had plenty of money for that — and to refrain from the harsh attacks that had marked his campaign to that point made it very clear that the fight was over.

 

William Bradley bio:

William Bradley is an award-winning columnist and former political advisor. His NewWestNotes.com is the California leader in real-time political analysis. Bradley has been a senior advisor in several presidential and gubernatorial campaigns, co-founded a newspaper in California's state capital, dabbles as a Hollywood consultant and producer, and has written for a score of major national and international publications. A Berkeley grad and Navy vet, he is a USC senior fellow and a national political analyst and host on XM Satellite Radio.

 

Convention voices pt 1: Joe Andrew on changing campaigns

Former DNC Chair Joe Andrew famously switched from supporting Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama in the Presidential primary. No small deal for a Bill Clinton-era Democratic chief. At the time, he wrote at HuffPo:

The old players of the old political game will claim that I am betraying my old friend Senator Evan Bayh by switching my support to Senator Obama.

Andrew was in town representing the Obama campaign at the Vermont Democratic Party convention in Brre, where he gave a rousing, no-nonsense speech, despite the fact that he followed Clinton-spokesperson Madeleine Kunin, who at times veered peculiarly between boilerplate positivity and unity-speak, and matters of, shall we say, greater contention (even eliciting a smattering of boos in a challenging reference to the Michigan and Florida delegations). Despite his convention counterpart, Andrew stayed on message, even during his own moment of being briefly interrupted by a Clinton supporter on the floor. I caught him for a minute afterwards and, pro that he is, he didn’t stray an inch from message…

So you thought you were gonna grow hemp, did ya’?

“HOLY FIBEROUS FARMING BATMAN,” hollered the much too short shorted Robin, “THEY MIGHT GET TO GROW HEMP IN VERMONT!”

Well … no. Sorry, Robin my boy wonder, but this hemp bill being ballyhooed by the ever appreciated Rural Vermont as a great step forward will do no such thing.

And no … I’m not talking about whether or not Gov Douglas will veto it.

I’m talking about the bill … H.267 … now waiting the Guv’s signature … or not. READ IT, okay?

H.267 is nothing more than an enumeration of increased big government and big police powers. It has nothing to do with legalizing hemp at all. As a matter of fact it’s stated raison d’taire is

ยง 561.  INTENT

    The intent of this act is to establish policy and procedures for growing industrial hemp in Vermont so that farmers and other businesses in the Vermont agricultural industry can take advantage of this market opportunity when federal regulations permit.

And policy and procedures it does establish: have to get a license from the state to grow hemp, can’t have a felony conviction to grow hemp, have to file fingerprints with the SoS, ” Ensuring that all parts of the industrial hemp plant that do not enter the stream of commerce as hemp products are destroyed, incorporated into the soil, or otherwise properly disposed of”.

This bill is not a step forward … it is a disaster.

All it does is continue the lie that marijuana is so dangerous we have to heavily restrict the growing of hemp! And makes us wait of the federal government … for permission … to grow hemp … that has the drug abuse potential of a toilet paper roll.

No, you’re not going to be growing hemp any time soon under this bill, and if/when that time comes to pass you’ll have to be registered with the state and watched with careful suspicion.

Fewer are buying what they are selling

They say you never know the exact moment the tide changes….

Poor ticket sales, expected protests scuttle Bush-McCain fundraiser at Phoenix Convention Center

Phoenix Business Journal via TPM

A Tuesday fundraiser headlined by President Bush for U.S. Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign is being moved out of the Phoenix Convention Center.

Sources familiar with the situation said the Bush-McCain event was not selling enough tickets to fill the Convention Center space, and that there were concerns about more anti-war protesters showing up outside the venue than attending the fundraiser inside.

Bush’s Arizona fundraising effort for McCain is being moved to private residences in the Phoenix area.

National Delegates Chosen

Actually, scratch that last line from the previous diary. The least I can do is let you know who the first wave (making up the bulk) of pledged delegates the Vermont Democratic Party will be sending to the National Convention in Denver this August will be:

Obama delegates:

Rachel Weston

Carolyn Dwyer

Daria MonDesire

Arshad Hasan

Taylor Bates

Philip Baruth

Alternates: Michael Gaffney & Mary Sullivan

Clinton delegates:

Madeleine Kunin

Don Hooper

Michael Pieciak

Beth Robinson

Alternate: Nancy Richardson

What’s really fascinating is the average age of the Obama delegates, which is quite a bit lower than the crowd Vermont Dems usually send to these things. Philip is the old man of the bunch (and newcomer Taylor Bates is still in high school!)

Damn proud

I was told this story from 3 different people at the Democratic Convention today:

During three years in the low minors, John Odom never really made a name for himself.

That sure changed this week — he’s the guy who was traded for a bunch of bats.

“I don’t really care,” he said Friday. “It’ll make a better story if I make it to the big leagues.”

For now, Odom is headed to the Laredo Broncos of the United League. They got him Tuesday from the Calgary Vipers of the Golden Baseball League for a most unlikely price: 10 Prairie Sticks Maple Bats, double-dipped black, 34-inch, C243 style.

“They just wanted some bats, good bats — maple bats,” Broncos general manager Jose Melendez said.

Heh. Speaking of the Convention, though, you’ll have to wait another day for any real reports. Sorry.