Those silly superdelagates
Writing by Tim on Thursday, 29 of May , 2008 at 2:28 pm
I’m not going to spend much time on what is my second-favorite gaff this week (favorite involving space toilets), a whole few days old so it now remains a forgotten remnant of info-tainment news shows. I am, of course, talking about Hillary Clinton reminding us that someone could just shoot Obama and she would win the nomination by default. Imagine you are the captain of a 6th grade soccer team, and your friend Jimmy is the opposing teams captain. Before the match starts, you say, “Good luck out there,” and Jimmy, the smug little bastard, responds, “I hope you die when your house burns down, jerkass.” Besides signaling that little Jimmy has a massive ego and is a possible case of some behavior disorder, saying that is downright unsportsmanlike. Assassination is a rather dark chapter of American history, and given that Obama stands to be the first black man to run for president (others have run in primaries, but were never nominated, so it doesn’t count) in a country that largely hates, and if not hates casually ignores, black people (and the plights thereof), assassination is a very real possibility. All it takes is one pissed off redneck douchebag with little to no inhibition about being executed for treason and murder.
Anyhow, the point is that Hillary still insists she is in the race and there remains an annoying attitude that when it comes down to the wire, all of the superdelagates are going to line up behind her like dominoes because she’s the one with the money and the family name. And while I’m sure the Clinton dynasty has significant sway in such things, that does not mean Bill and Hillary have a magic phone booth and can travel to the past and manipulate the fabric of our very existence in what could only be described as an excellent adventure. It is this belief that I am addressing.
The Democratic party, above all else, is in it to win. Sure, the competition among themselves is what draws most of the media attention, much the same a crow is distracted by shiny things or a dog will bark at a loud noise. But the more important battle will be the one after the nominee is selected and the crosshairs settle right over John McCain’s big fat stupid face. He is the real competition in the race, and in a climate of media insanity over watching a black guy and a women not answer questions and bark at each other, plus general political apathy, that fact seems to be forgotten.
With all that in mind, how electable is Hillary? She’s a former first lady, which helps. She has been into politics for a long time, starting as a Republican, and given the state of things in the Democratic party that is probably a plus. She has industry ties, namely insurance and pharmaceuticals. And finally, she’s a woman which personally doesn’t mean anything, but again, in a nation where such things determine your worth as a human being, it matters. Against, McCain, that is not much resistance. She has consistently been turning people off to her, whether it is by donating millions to her own campaign, sacking her manager and being obvious about it, letting her husband get involved and do nothing more than sling insults like apes sling shit at her competition, lying, getting involved with some unsavory characters, not apologizing for voting on the war in Iraq, and ending this list with telling Obama she’ll win if he gets shot. And now she expects the nation to view her as the underdog and give her compensation for being outspent and out-debated. This is not an electable candidate.
And the superdelegates are looking at much more data than gets plastered on Fox news. For example, Clinton’s wins in many Midwestern states have no been because of overwhelming Democrat support, but by Republicans switching party registration and voting for her. This does not mean she is garnering allies from former enemies; it means that they won’t be voting for her in November. It is a tried and true strategy of the Republican party as outlined in the excellent documentary American Blackout. As usual, the media only shows a fraction of how things actually work in this country.
And speaking of the media, there is a reason why this classic case of role-reversal exists, where “conservative” media such as Fox News pays Clintion compliments and “liberal” media such as NBCs Keith Olberman detests her very being. In short, Republicans, like Democrats, are in it to win as well, and knowing your enemy is half the battle. They know McCain could beat Clinton based on the argument that, hey, it isn’t Hillary Clinton. If you, reader, were going into a boxing match, would you like to fight Jimmy, age seven, or Mike Tyson, age going-to-turn-you-inside-out? The answer is obvious.
Unless you get enjoyment out of being hit by hard, blunt objects. In that case you’d get more enjoyment out of slamming some bricks into your head.
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