"She loves to sit, throw 'em back. So to me this is nothin' new. We all hear about the story that she and John McCain actually had a shot contest, I think in the Ukraine or somewhere around the world. And she actually beat John McCain in a shot contest. She's a girl from Illinois who likes to throw 'em down with the rest of us."
-- Clinton advisor Terry McAuliffe, speaking on MSNBC earlier today.
Hillary Clinton may be putting those skills to use as I write this -- because she's had a long night. The results from North Carolina and Indiana aren't final yet, and there's a slim outside chance that late results from Gary, Ind., will give Barack Obama a two-fer. But even if she hangs on by her fingernails there, tonight definitely amounted to a last call for Hillary Clinton. They haven't herded her out the door and into the dark political night just yet, but it's getting past time for the bartender to call the cab company.
She can't win -- not in pledged delegates for sure and probably not in popular votes, not with a 14-point loss in the Tarheel State. The pundits, for what it's worth, are on that bandwagon, and the candidates seem to realize that as well. There was a noticable change of tone in the candidate's speeches -- more conciliatory, more looking ahead to November. The only question is whether she sticks around for expected wins in Appalachia, or whether the party elders pull a Barry Goldwater (who told Richard Nixon to resign in 1974) and ask to her get out sooner rather than later.
What changed things? It may take a few days to sort out, but I have to agree with those who say that Clinton may have made a huge blunder in pushing the gas tax "holiday," that maybe P.T. Barnum really was wrong about underestimating the American public. Not only did some voters likely agree wigth Obama was that it was a shameless ploy. but it may have succeeded in doing what Obama himself had not been able to do, and take the Rev. Jeremiah Wright off the front page.
Well, Chris Matthews just started singing about Gary, Indiana on MSNBC, which means it's probably time for me to go home. Hillary ought to be right behind me.
Obama lost in Indiana, despite predicting a big win a couple of weeks ago. The only reason he was close is because he's getting 92% of the vote from people who say that race isn't a factor -- but who turn out in record number to support a candidate of their own race (30% more AAs voted in the primary that voted in the 2004 GE...)
Remember when Obama was telling Republicans to become "democrats for a day" to stop Clinton. Well now, he's singing a different tune, dog-whistling his african american supporters claiming that Republicans crossed over to stop him from getting the nomination.
the blatant racism displayed by the Obama campaign -- the despicable efforts to paint two of the finest Democrats of this generation as racists -- is not a Democratic Party value. Obama's got his own "southern strategy", and just as the GOP's southern strategy alienated African American voters from the GOP to this very day, Obama's racist appeals in the name of winning the nomination are going to do the same with tens of millions of white voters.
So enjoy Obama's big win in NC, and his loss in IN, while you can Will. Because Obama is not merely unelectable in November, he's going to take the Democratic Party down with him for a generation.
Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
E-mail Will by clicking here.
PLEASE COMMENT WITH PASSION...
...but not with racial slurs, potentially libelous allegations, obscenities or other juvenile noise. Such comments will, at our discretion, be deleted in their entirety, and repeat offenders will be blocked from commenting. ALSO: Any commenter advocating killing any government official will be immediately banned.
Thanks.
- Atrios
- Kiko's House
- Suburban Guerilla
- Booman Tribune
- All-Spin Zone
- Philly (Dragonballyee)
- Afro-Netizen
- Rowhouse Logic
- MyDD
- Bad Attitudes
- Billmon
- iFlipFlop
- CorrenteWire
- upyernoz
- Tattered Coat
- Fables of the Reconstruction
- Slacktivist
- Citizen Mom
- The Next Mayor
- Philly Future
- Philadelphia Will Do
- Philebrity
- Young Philly Politics
- Phillyblog
- Welcome to Phillyville
- Phawker
- A List of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago
- Keystone Blog
- Philadelphia - America's Hometown
- BlankBaby
- Above Average Jane
- Phillyist
- Metroblogging Philadelphia
- The Clog
- Josh Marshall
- Daily Kos
- Juan Cole
- Oliver Willis
- Andy Borowitz
- War and Piece
- Wonkette
- BuzzFlash
- Raw Story
- Cursor
- Crooks and Liars
- Swing State Project
- Kevin Drum
- Talk Left
- AmericaBlog
- Hullabaloo
- Mad Kane
- Think Progress
- Jesus' General
- The Carpetbagger Report
- Majikthise
- Echidne of the Snakes
- David Sirota
- Glenn Greenwald
- TBogg
- Fire Dog Lake
- Taylor Marsh
- Matthew Yglesias
- Jon Swift
- Drudge Report
- Beer Leaguer
- The 700 Level
- Dick Polman
- Balls, Sticks and Stuff
- Shallow Center
- Philling Station
- Phillies Nation
- A Citizen's Blog
- The Good Phight
- Romenesko
- Editor and Publisher
- Pressthink
- Buzzmachine
- The Inksniffer
- Media Bloodhound
- Eat the Press
- Mickey Kaus
- Media (Huffington Post)
- Blinq
- The Corner
- Instapundit
- Andrew Sullivan
- Free Republic
- James Taranto
- Blonde Sagacity
- ScrappleFace
- Blogorrhea
Get it now
Philly.com Promotions
- News | Sports | Business | What's Happening | Restaurants & Food | Entertainment | Living | Marketplace | Jobs
- Jobs | Cars | Real Estate | Rentals | Marketplace | Celebrations
