MyDD :: Open plea to Hillary supporters for civility...

Open plea to Hillary supporters for civility...

by telephasic, Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 09:54:14 AM EST

I realize this site has become a Hillary Clinton leaning site, and I realize that a lot of you are feeling pessimistic now, but please, think of the ultimate goal - not having a McCain as president in 2009.

Obama clearly has the edge in the campaign now. We might want to argue about if it's a 55% chance versus a 75% chance, but he is more likely than not to win the nomination. He just needs his current momentum to continue, while Hillary needs momentum to stop, or even to reverse, and huge and increasingly unlikely wins in Ohio and Texas.

If you want to post diaries about how great Hillary is, that is excellent, make the case for your candidate. But the time to attack Obama and/or say he can't win the general election has ended. The chance that these attacks will actually benefit Hillary is small, though they can end up building Republican frames and stories to win the general election - which could have down-ticket consequences. In effect, negative campaigning against Obama online only helps to work against the stated goal of this site to elect more and better Democrats.

Please notice that after South Carolina, Hillary herself stopped the negative campaigning. I hope many of you will follow her lead here.

Tags: Hilary Clinton, Barack Obama, Civility (all tags)

Permalink :: 22 Comments :: Post a Comment

Re: Open plea (none / 0)

Obama needs to try to get us on board. He hasn't. And I don't know if he'll try. He seems to be too worried about Republicans and independents to care about whether regular democrats vote for him or not. He can quit attacking Bill Clinton for one. He has run a very divisive campaign that has pitted black against white.

No longer a Democrat, now proudly an independent voter!

by Ga6thDem on Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 10:00:28 AM EST

Re: Open plea (none / 0)

"pitted black against white"

That's what Jesse Jackson-type Democrats do! He's devisive - just like Jesse Jackson. I forget who made this amazing point (I think it was Bill Clinton), but is a genius.

by pastor john on Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 11:04:19 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Open plea (none / 0)

Obama was doing it way before that comment was made. My family in SC said that the Obama campaign had people driving around with bullhorns screaming "Don't vote for the white woman." It was disgusting.

No longer a Democrat, now proudly an independent voter!

by Ga6thDem on Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 11:24:26 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Open plea to Hillary supporters (2.00 / 1)

LOL, you want civilry? Tell that at DailyKOS.

Obama hasn't stopped his negative campaign against Hillary. Why should anyone else stop theirs?

Hillary still has plenty of opportunity to win this thing.

And if she loses? My personal goal is to elect a GOOD Democratic candidate, not just ANY Democratic candidate. I think the worst thing the Democrats could do is elect a BAD Democrat. And yes, I think that giving it to John McCain is better than electing a do-nothing D.

Besides that, Obama has dared Hillary supporters not to vote for him by proclaiming that they obviously WOULD, while his supporters would not vote for Hillary.

And Obama runs for the centrists. He's never run a campaign that says what he'll clearly do for Democrats. And he had plenty of opportunity to do that.

So if Obama is on the ticket? I write in Hillary Clinton. As I said, better John McCain, than a bad D.

by Sensible on Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 10:04:40 AM EST

Re: Open plea to Hillary supporters (none / 0)

Let's get this on the record. Did you ever bash Nader voters? The reason I ask is whenever I would support Nader or other third party voters, pretty much every Hillary supporter on MYDD who cared to respond to me bashed me for it even though I did not even vote for NAder. The mere thought of my support for a person's right to have that option open enraged all of them. So I would like to know where people like you stood on third party votes when you thought Hillary was the clear frontrunner.

I find it statistically inexplicable that all these Hillary supporters who want to stay home, vote third party, or even gasp, McCain, were people who were so understanding of the Nader vote in 2000. What some of thee people are doing is worse because some of them have actually said they will consider voting for McCain instead of writein.

by Pravin on Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 10:22:50 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Open plea to Hillary supporters (none / 0)

No, I actually believe in people having a voice.

Nader was not the Spoiler. The Republican Supreme Court was.

Besides that, I don't consider Obama a Democratic candidate. Obama is an Obamacrat.

I think you're going to be a little surprised when you see the wrath of women voters.

by Sensible on Thu Feb 14, 2008 at 04:11:36 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Open plea to Hillary supporters (2.00 / 1)

I don't think we need to emulate the antics on dailyKos. that's the reason many of us are on this site because we are trying to find decent dialogue.

"The Bumble Bee flies because it thinks it can."

by LadyEagle on Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 10:29:00 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Open plea to Hillary supporters (none / 0)

Ha ha ha.

You're so predictable. You're nothing but a stat in a political science text book. The overly excitable passionate supporter who threatens to abandon the party.

99.9% of you will come home to their party. The rest of you will have a pity party. But you're totally predictable.

by pastor john on Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 11:03:03 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Open plea to Hillary supporters (none / 0)

And what is Obama doing about that other than arrogantly assuming that Dems who didn't vote for him in the primary will vote for him in the general? The evidence shows that he has a real problem here. AP poll has him losing 1 in 5 dems right now.

No longer a Democrat, now proudly an independent voter!

by Ga6thDem on Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 11:27:09 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Gee, pastor john, (none / 0)

you don't sound much like a pastor - but since you're a republican that's to be expected - we all know there's not much God or goodness or actual Christianity going on with republicans in the ministry.

by Firefly4625 on Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 12:33:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Open plea to Hillary supporters for civility.. (none / 0)

I fully agree with you. I am a registered Independent and I am not an Obama supporter and if he wins the nomination I do not think I will vote for him. However, it is disrespectful to be nasty to any of the candidates.

The reason I will not vote for Obama is that it is arguable that his campaign started the dust up on race by misinterpreting the fairy tale, LBJ/MLK issue, and kept it going for the sake of politics. Arguably, the Clinton campaign should have handled it differently, but none is totally innocent.
During the SC debate he came out swinging and she pushed back, and she is mostly blame. This is old politics at its best. He is a politician just like the others. At least they admit it.

"The Bumble Bee flies because it thinks it can."

by LadyEagle on Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 10:27:30 AM EST

Re: Open plea to Hillary supporters for civility.. (none / 0)

HAHAHA.

Some people vote based on national security issues.

Some people vote based on economic issues.

Others have a pet issue.

But you? You vote based on who think started a rather mild race debate. That's your number one issue!

Political scientists should study you. You're a rare breed!

by pastor john on Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 11:01:04 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Open plea to Hillary supporters for civility.. (none / 0)

It is a little late for an Obama supporter to ask for a cease fire from Hillary supporters. The Obama campaign and his supporters have been tearing Hillary down, largely with right-wing frames, for over a year now, and she is still standing with a reasonable chance of winning the nomination. If anything it is past time for Obama to get a taste of his own medicine, if he can't take it he doesn't deserve the nomination.

by souvarine on Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 10:55:00 AM EST

Lame (none / 0)

This is been a really tame campaign.

The right-wing has used underground email campaigns to slime Obama as a secret muslim.

They've slimed Hillary for being Hillary with sexism, etc.

But the fire between the Obama/HRC campaigns has been TAME. Totally tame. That's why most Democrats like both of them.

It's only on the blogs where you see this over the top crap.

by pastor john on Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 10:59:30 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Lame (none / 0)

And your point is? OK, so the campaign has been relatively tame (I agree, barring D-Punjab, Lincoln bedroom and a host of other smears), why should Clinton supporters be any more civil than we have been? We have plenty of substantive criticisms of Obama that we will continue press until there is a nominee.

As for the whack jobs on each side, best ignore them.

by souvarine on Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 11:21:26 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Hillary leaning site? (none / 0)

All MYDD polls have Obama winning a supermajority.

by pastor john on Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 10:58:11 AM EST

So funny (1.00 / 1)

how Obama supporters "see" the incivility as coming from Clinton supporters. Not funny haha, but funny BIZARRE.

That they do not see the rancid, despicable rightwing tactics of Obamabots ALL OVER THE INTERNET is a testament to the much talked about cult-type hypnosis that's happened to these people. A few months ago I would have staked my life that Democrats and progressives could never be mean, bullying and hateful THE WAY WINGERS ARE. Never say never, I guess. Obama people put freepers to shame in the nasty, hateful department.

Diarist, you lost all claim to credibility or sincerity when you did not include both sides in your request for "civility."

Go back to the big orange blob.

by Firefly4625 on Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 11:09:55 AM EST

Because the incivility... (none / 0)

of Obama supporters is less relevant.

I think it's tasteless how Obama supporters are acting now, but it's not as relevant to the general election.

Let me break it down: Creating anti-Obama narratives on the site now will not help Hillary win the nomination. The same is true for Hillary attacks of course.

However, anti-Obama attacks could still convince people not to vote for Obama in the GE - either to sit it out or to vote for a Republican.

In effect, as time passes, and Obama looks more likely as the nominee, all these attacks could possibly do is create a wounded general election nominee - much in the same way that McCain is now getting wounded by his own party.

And I don't want to see the day that MyDD becomes damaging to the overall goals of building the Democratic party.

by telephasic on Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 11:53:24 AM EST
[ Parent ]

It IS relevant to the GE (none / 0)

because the "tastelessness," as you call it, of Obama's supporters PUTS THE LIE to his claim of "uniting the country." Heck - he can't even unite the party or control his rabid, freeper-like throngs. And, to be frank, this "uniter not a divider" rhetoric is very similar to George Bush's rhetoric 2000. That scares the crap outta me.

If the ObamaBots (and I'm not including all Obama supporters in this, but ObamaBots you know who you are) continue their Hillary-hating, bullying, trolling, despicable rightwing-type tactics they will have effectively turned off many Democrats who support someone else in the primaries - and that's what will convince people NOT TO VOTE FOR OBAMA IN THE GE - not the other way around. Not saying I wouldn't vote for Obama in the GE if he's the nominee - I don't know yet - certainly wouldn't vote for McCain. But I wasn't turned off to Obama at all until his bot trolls started spewing rancid hate all over the internet.

I just hope that Obama isn't as much of a fool as his bots are.

by Firefly4625 on Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 12:26:33 PM EST
[ Parent ]

It would be nice if we could all be civil, but (none / 0)

We are in the middle of a close, competitive campaign. Feelings are running high. There's been some divisiveness from both campaigns. Some posters just seem to be permanently angry. Others just lose it from time to time. Then we've got the ever-present trolls. I don't expect perfect civility when I come here for these reasons.

Nobody's right if everybody's wrong --Stephen Stills "For What It's Worth"

by vj on Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 11:17:45 AM EST

Re: Open plea (none / 0)

Ed Rendell's comments do not bother me. HRC cannot control what her surrogates all say. I have problems with her votes..and that is my only real criticism of her.
I think if she does not win the presidency,she will go back to the senate and be a even more vocal voice for progressivism. Unconstrained by the straightjacket that a future run for the presidency puts on any senator...I see her as the next Ted Kennedy. I admire her stamina and grit on the campaign trail.
I agree with the diariast ... lets keep it clean the rest of the way and just let the people speak with votes.

by hawkjt on Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 11:20:18 AM EST

ur calling for civility? (2.00 / 1)

Wait are u serious?

Have you seen the shit thats been written on here about HRC?

vote blue in 2008

by sepulvedaj3 on Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 12:24:21 PM EST

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