Hillary supporters gather
The disaffected Democrats who call themselves PUMAs (which stands for, depending on which subgroup we are talking about, Party Unity My A--, or People United Means Action), and who are strongly anti-Obama, are doing everything they can to make themselves heard in Denver.
Their leaders spent most of yesterday giving interviews to everyone from FOX News to NPR, and then finished off the day at a PUMA party held a restaurant in an industrial district that seemed a million miles away from the cheery hubbub of downtown. Under pink-hued flourescent lights, about 100 (mostly) women helped themselves to a Middle Eastern buffet and watched an unfinished documentary called "The Audacity of Democracy," which includes lengthy testimony by Clinton supporters about voter fraud in Texas, which many PUMAs believe helped wrest the nomination from Obama.
Among them was a dissident Democratic blogger known as Riverdaughter. Her blog, The Confluence, is one of the most well-read and influential of the myriad Clinton blogs. One table actually gave her a round of applause when she came by and introduced herself; a woman cried out that she had quit smoking four years ago and was now addicted to "RD" in the morning.
At once buoyant and infuriated, the women strategized about trying to make as large an impact as possible today. Though they acknowledged the odds seemed long, some held out hope that the convention would turn tail and nominate Clinton after all. Almost half the delegates, they kept reminding each other, supported Clinton.
A lead organizer, Darragh Murphy, is from our own backyard -- Carlisle, Mass. (Though she's Dorchester born and raised.)
"A lot of delegates came into headquarters today and said it's like an oasis, with Hillary buttons and signs everywhere," she said.
Not all the Hillary-suporting groups are anti-Obama, though. Before the PUMA party, we stopped by The Broker restaurant, housed in an ornate old bank building downtown, where group 18 Million Voices Rise Hillary Rise made its convention headquarters in the bank’s former boardroom downstairs. The room, lined with wooden bookshelves and crowded with long tables and old lamps, had the feel of a clubhouse as women (and men, but mostly women) sipped cocktails and chatted.
The group’s main focus, said its founder and leader, Elizabeth Fiechter, a Manhattan lawyer on sabbatical, is to celebrate Clinton’s achievements and the anniversary of women’s suffrage in a rally and march tomorrow.
“I hope very much that our actions will bring women’s rights to the forefront,” said Fiechter, who said that as of a month ago, her group had about 1,000 active members nationwide and probably has many more now.
Feighter’s group has taken no position in the general election and distances itself from the more radical PUMAs.
THE PUMAS ARE TOTALLY JUSTIFIED ...
1. Contrary to what Obamabots say ...
Obama and Hillary were in a dead heat,
when the DNC pressured Hillary into not
only conceding, but campaigning for Obama.
2. Obama is once again in a dead heat, but now
with McCain, even though Obamabots act like
Obama has already won (like they did in the
primaries against Hillary). So, this means that
half of the Democrats, and all the Republicans
(3/4 of America) dIdn't want Obama. Plus, he
didn't even win the popular vote, and refused a
revote in Michigan and Florida.
3. Obama has the thinnest resume in politics, and
he won state legislature and Senator by
disqualifications of his opponents, not by earned
experience, or votes.
4. Obama's one claim to fame is being a community
organizer, where he boasts of registering voters.
Then he took their votes away from them, by
disqualifying his opponents on technicalities, prior
to the election.
5. Obama's mentor of 20 years, was an anti-American
racist ... not to mention other unsavory associations.
6. Obama is simply buying the election, since he's
good at fund raising ... hardly a qualification to be
President of the United States.
7. The media never vetted Obama, and they are
giving him a free ride, plus more than twice the
print and air time as McCain, as they did against
Hillary.
8. 90% of blacks are voting for Obama, because he is
black, while the campaign gained ground by
accusing most opponents of racism.
9. Obamabots were, and are extremely nasty and sarcastic
towards Hillary supporters, as well as McCain supporters.
10. Pumas should be applauded for putting country before party ...
especially a party that did not represent them, and a party
which highjacked the nomination for Obama.
11. Obama added insult to injury, when he didn't even consider
Hillary for V.P. ... nor did he even call her ... even though she
got 18 million votes in the primary.
12. Obama and the DNC are now holding a gun to the heads of
Hillary and Bill Clinton, giving them an ultimatum ... either support
Obama, or kiss your future in the DNC and politics goodbye.
Gina, check yourself back into the Asylum! You PUMA's are all ignorant, uneducated, revengeful, bitter, whining miss prisses (and mister prisses). None of what you state is true.....your Hillary was the most negative, bitter, whining woman I have ever seen. She lost this campaign herself. She went down into the gutter to trash Obama, and he stayed "above the fray". You are all a bunch of quacks.....like I said, you all need to check yourselves back into the Asylum! You people don't deserve respect from anyone!
Pumas or Llamas?
Honestly, these gals would rather lose an election that unite with Hispanics and values voters and demand a Clinton-Richardson ticket.
They cower rather than growl at the delegates to demand the latter run Pimp and 'Loose-Lips' out on a Pike's Peak Rail.
Come on, gals, don't just sit there -- GROWL!
Well done Gina. You've put together the most thoughtful, honest, and logical discourse I've read in this blog in a long while.
Barack America is a street-style Chicago-land politician who plays by his rules and his rules only. What he did to the voters of Michigan and Florida epitomizes his historical disdain for the voter. First he says their votes don't count when he's trailing Hillary. Then he gives them 1/2 a vote when he sees he likely has the nomination in hand. Then gives them full voting "rights" to make the party look unified. He's a disingenuous slimey politician of the worst kind.
PUMA was recently exposed as being led by and funded by the Republican party. Just one of the latest from Karl Rove Co's bag of dirty tricks. As the GOP is expecting heavy losses this November, the goal is to create divisions within the Democratic party, similar to how Rove leveraged the Red/Blue divisions for Bush's benefit. You can see their operatives at work on blogs and news comments, where they pretend to be enraged Clinton supporters that appeal to others to vote for McCain. As usual, clever but utterly lacking in integrity.
"Obama is simply buying the election, since he's good at fund raising ... hardly a qualification to be President of the United States." Actually, after Bushco managed to run up hundreds of billions, if not trillions, in debt to foreign countries in order to fund the invasion of Iraq (based on lies), I'd say it is indeed a very good qualification for POTUS. Face it, we're broke, and China OWNS us.
First of all, PUMAs if you can stand 8 more years of trickle down economics with Bush policies, go ahead and vote for McCain or better yet stay at home and lick your wounds. I am a political junkie for the last 6 elections at least. I don't start at the middle of the season, though, I start at the very beginning unlike you PUMAs.
Senator Clinton came into this race with a sense of entitlement, not an ounce of humility, ran a shoddy campaign, with a greasy, shoddy, corrupt campaign manager making deals in back rooms against what she stood for. She whined, cried, kicked her heels when she didn't get her way. After all, the Clintons are royalty, not to mention Bill Clinton was the first black President, and man do I love him. But I would have to say he has pissed me off along with all of you other snivelers (?).
Senator Clinton did not see Senator Obama as a bonafide opponent and pretty much dismissed his candidacy. That was a mistake on her part, but let's not talk about her mistakes. Let's just build Camelot now with the Clintons. Give me a break. The real deal my sisters is that you are so pissed off that a black man, a decent black man, might become president that you would rather have 8 more years of trickle down economics. I say go for it.
George Bush became president after 4 years as Governor of the State of Texas, and we all know that's pretty much a ceremonial position He chose Dick Cheney because he had more experience. But the code word for we don't want a black president is we just don't know who he is. We did not know who Bush was, except he was born with a silver spoon, claimed to have been reborn, who the powers at be chose to run for President. But you didn't hear all of this whining about his values. But of course he was white. And that alone stands for values, right? You PUMAs deserve to have a third Bush term, McCain as President. Barack is toooooo good for you.
The gift of bigotry and hatred in this country is the gift that just keeps on giving. So while you PUMAs are out there on your high horse because your white sister didn't get her props, I intend to perfect my red beans and rice recipe for the next 8 years, because I will be eating a lot of them.
Oh, and believe me there is no gun to the head of the Clintons. There is just not enough buttock kissing in the world to sooth those two egomaniacs. They are going to make sure that you vote for McCain so that she can have her chance in 2012 and I may just vote for her if she's the best we can find.
I feel like I am taking crazy pills.
When did Obama cast his vote to not include the Michigan and Florida votes?
Wasn't it Hillary who flip-flopped on the Mich/Flda debacle when it was convenient for her?
Don't piss on me and tell me it's raining.
According tothe Constitution Obama cannot run. It is required that both parents be americans and his father was not and there is question whether his mother was. Hawaii had just become a state.
Ruby Star -- You really need to read up on the law, stop swallowing crackpot conspiracy theories promulgated by nameless "experts" on right-wing blogs, and quit holding your breath for the Philadelphia injunction filing to bear fruit. (Most courts are not impressed by motions supported only by speculation, "Internet reports," anonymous "forensic analysis" by crank bloggers and information sourced from the Italian version of Wikipedia -- which being the foundation of Attorney Berg's case in Philly.)
I'll respond to Gina's comments point by point
1. When? After Super Tuesday they were dead even, even with Hillary's then large lead in superdelegates. Obama ran away with a succession of 10 states after that in Feb and March. It was then that the calls for Hillary to step down started coming in.
2. This is several points really. The only way Hillary wins the popular vote is if Michigan is included, and if voters were actually given a choice, going by demographics Obama would have probably won that state. It was not Obama's choice as to whether they re-voted or not. That is up to the Michigan Democratic party. Next, Obama is in a dead heat with McCain, but Hillary would be doing no better. You can cherry pick individual polls, but as a whole, the polls did not show any advantage for either candidate head to head vs McCain.
3.Obama's resume is thin, very true. Its his biggest and most glaring weakness. Hillary's resume is not actually that much better though, except that she was first lady and has 4 more years of senate experience. If she faced McCain having run on her foreign policy experience, she would be skewered by the same arguments used against Obama. This is why the "sniper" comment became important, because it belied her claim to actual FP experience.
4.Whatever.
5. Reverend Wright is the only reason Hillary came at all close. The Hillary camp milked this "scandal" for all it was worth. It was the only traction she ever got and used Wright to go as negative as she could to paint Obama as a racist by association. Its just as rediculous as saying that Andrea Dworkin was Hillary's friend for 20 years and that Hillary is therefore sexist because of Dworkin's contraversial statements over the years.
6.Obama is good at rallying the base, raising SMALL donations from actual voters. How is this a bad thing? Hillary's fund raising came mostly in large chunks from people trying to buy influence.
7."The Media" is not this monolithic entity. Obama creates excitement. He is a unique figure in American politics, and is a lot more exciting to talk about than McCain. Even the McCain campaign spends twice as much time talking about Obama. Its not all positive either, despite your claim he was given a free pass or was never vetted. Actually the people that are getting the most air time right now are angry Hillary supporters, who's sole purpose in life seems to be to bring attention to how angry they are.
8.This can be turned around to "Hillary got more of the women's vote, yet the Puma's accuse the Obama camp of sexism?". Clinton's camp did try to exploit race, carefully. Geraldine Ferraro's comments, and Bills' comments after S Carolina are examples.
9.The PUMA's are the ones embarassing themselves right now.
10.You could say that it was actually the voters that "hijacked" the nomination. Hillary was given every early advantage: Money, media attention, name recognition, super delegates, endorsements. She ran lost all those advantages largely because of the anti war vote and because her campaign was very poorly run.
11.Obama most certainly did consider her. After viciously attacking him for two months when it was clear she had no shot, she pissed away any leverage she could have had in making a deal to be on the ticket. Obama chose the strongest canadidate for VP, the one that he felt gave him the strongest shot at winning. Clinton would have been an intriguing pick, but brought just as many negatives as positives to the campaign, not least of which are her own words on record criticizing Obama which McCain is happily exploiting now.
12.Someone has a gun to their heads? Its this sort of over the top rhetoric that is embarassing your movement to the nation. She is a politician who realizes that she lost and needs to support her party or be on the outside looking in. What's her other option? Stamp her feet and complain for the next four months? Run as a third party candidate (making her the new Ralph Nader)? Whats the point of even having a political party and a nomination process if we dont support the eventual winner in the end?
Hey Josh - reality check for your candidate. Polls. Deadheat. You know why?
It's just because arrogant people like you turning away us 18 million from Nobama. He wants unity? then reach to us - You are only one vote. I am too. And I will use it wisely.
PUMA's unite!
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