Day: March 30, 2008

DNC’s Brazile to Clinton: End This Thing by June 10

Trish

Democratic party strategist and super delegate Donna Brazile sent a message to Hillary Clinton on ABC’s This Week: Your campaign ends with the primaries. Here’s a transcript from the Roundtable segment, with Brazile, George Will, Paul Krugman, and Robert Reich.

Donna Brazile: I think we have an exit strategy in the Democratic party to end the primary season on June 10th and sometime before, I think, before —

George Stephanopoulous: Why June 10th?

Brazile: “The problem is simple. Sen. Clinton was supposed to win this. She was supposed to have finished up the contest on Feb. 5th. They had no post Super Tuesday strategy. There’s no reason to demonize and to disgrace the Democratic party to prolong this race longer than June.”

D.B. Well that’s the end of the primary season based on the rules, and after all, this is about the rules…This notion of bringing this fight on to the convention is not a wise idea and I think whoever is coming up with this new strategy is not looking at the math again…Do the math. This is not healthy.

…G.S. You’re saying the credentials committee, unless there is some dramatic change, some dramatic Obama collapse, that Sen. Clinton can’t win at the credentials committee.

…D.B. You know the problem? The problem is simple. Sen. Clinton was supposed to win this. She was supposed to have finished up the contest on Feb. 5th. They had no post Super Tuesday strategy. They ran out of money. She came back from behind, she won Flori—, I mean she won Texas,* she won Ohio. There’s no reason to demonize and to disgrace the Democratic party to prolong this race longer than June.

…G.S. Here’s the fundamental problem for the Clinton campaign. There is just, there’s no reasonable possibility that by June 10th, she is going to be ahead in the pledged delegates and I believe, and I want to put this question to Donna — I just think the majority of super delegates who are remaining out there simply can’t in their gut vote to overturn the super delegates,** given the Florida [in 2000] history.

D.B. That’s true. I mean, that’s just the gospel truth. On the other hand…nobody’s telling her to get out. I would like to see her —

Paul Krugman: [Laughs]

D.B. But the party itself is not saying, you know, “Get out.” The party is not saying get out. I have stood behind Sen. Clinton’s efforts to restart her campaign, change her voice, get herself back in groove. But it ends in June. I think this notion that we go on to August is a bad idea.

* Editor’s Note: Texas is not a Clinton win.

** It appeared George meant to say “overturn the voters.”

Is Karl Rove on Hillary Clinton’s Payroll?

Trish

Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinbush?

Hey Hillary, Karl Rove called. He wants his cheesy, 1984 mind control backdrops back.

Or maybe he doesn’t. Karl’s been largely MIA since he “stepped down” from the Bush White House all those blessed months ago. Sure, every now and then he crops up with an idiotic comment or two, just to make it look like he’s still on the Republican team. But is his unseen hand showing itself in Hillary Clinton’s campaign?

Where’s Karl? Maybe this week, we have an answer.

There is no doubt that Sen. Clinton was paying attention during all those stacatto, disjointed Bush speeches/photo ops we’ve endured over the past seven years. That she’s taking a page from the Rove playbook with what her campaign calls its “Solutions for the American Economy” town hall tour is evident from the graphics.

This isn’t the first time lately that Hillary has looked Rovian. When she answered questions about her version of her Bosnia visit with a non sequitur about Obama’s pastor, she was resorting to the politics of personal destruction given to us by Rove. Her “3 a.m. phone call” ad featured the terrorism bogeyman voice-over Rove perfected for W.

The obvious question is, is Rove being ripped off, or is he on the payroll? It’s doubtful McCain, who was the subject of a Rove/Bush lying smear campaign in 2000 would hire Karl. You gotta take the work where you can find it, especially in the bankrupt Bush economy. Maybe Hillary was hiring.