During a Obama campaign conference call with reporters yesterday, Senator Claire McCaskill said it would be “inappropriate and awkard and wrong for any of us to tell Senator Clinton when it is time for the race to be over.”
She said the decision is Clinton’s alone.
Here’s the complete conference call (McCaskill’s comments are around -18:00):
Also featured on the call was Senator John Kerry, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, and Obama campaign manager David Plouffe.
Here is the Clinton campaign’s conference call also from Wednesday:
May 9th, 2008 at 8:13 am
If there was ever any question of whether it is the “Democrat” or “Democratic” party, Florida and Michigan ought to settle that one.
May 9th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
meaning… what exactly?
May 9th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
count their votes
May 9th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
I guess following the rules known before the contest begins doesn’t fit your definition of “Democrat” or Democratic”. Follow the rules. That’s why they’re there. Did you not learn this as a child? The rules were known before the contests begin, and yet they were still broken and now they want sympathy. You’ll get none. Learn the rules before playing the game next time, but for this time, thanks for playing. It’s over. Hillary lost. Now let’s get onto the fall and change this country for the better.
May 10th, 2008 at 8:45 am
In politics, the first rule is: “there are no rules”. If the party is truly Democratic it will count every vote. As a child I was always taught to question the rules, ask why they are rules. There are good rules and bad rules. Greatness comes from not be constrained by rules. Using your logic, john, if you were alive before the Civil War, you would have said, “well, slavery is the rule, get over it.” The rule system in the Democrat party is unfair, elitist and designed to take control from the people. I am not going to support that. Shame on you if you do, just because you like the guy in the lead.
May 10th, 2008 at 9:34 am
Reading what you just read, I am stunned that you even possess a brain. Your honestly asking me to set aside ABSOLUTE JUSTICE and to consider your weak post-rationalization of Clinton’s loss through the lens of the disappointed. Using my logic, known and written rules, as made by a party that members have agreed to members of, bear absolutely NO resemblence to the tyrannical nature of slavery in this country or any other, and that is perhaps one of the worst analogies I’ve heard. Slaves had no democratic power to change their hellish and dehumanizing imprisonment, however the state democratic parties of Michigan and Florida most certainly had the full power of choice in an environment fully free of tyranny. They chose to break the rules set forth by the national party to which they belong. The Republican state assembly in Florida put the minority Democtracs in a difficult position, but this is politics and the nature of imbalances in power. This is of course not the fault of either Senator Obama or the DNC. If you and the rest of Clinton’s dillusional supporters (as opposed to the one’s that have already wisely conceded the reality of Hillary’s loss) have such a problem with these two states ignoring party rules and going ahead with a primary that, skipped by many registers party members knowing the results would be vacated, was not to count. Your own preferred candidate said as much back in November 2007, signaling her clear understanding and apparent acceptance of the standing of both state primaries. The rules should have been challenged way back in the formative months of 2007, and not when she now so desperately needs whatever she can cling to. It’s sort of funny how her terrible miscalculation of the results of Super Tuesday now put the import to the vacated results that was not there on February 4th or before. The DNC has robbed Hillary and her supporters of nothing. You know this. Your attempt to appeal to some sort of derangenment that doesn’t exist in the minds of the reasonable shows that you are simply in the earliest stage of denial. It is over. Your candidate lost. Hillary will not be the president in 2008, and don’t bother offering your laughable assertion that Obama will be beaten by McCain by any percentage in the fall because you are spiteful. If the young senator from Illinois can best what is considered to be the most powerful machine in the Democratic party, a machine with 20 years of loyal support, then I’m not really moved by such ridiculous tripe. Shame on you for losing your brain. Go find it, and then come back when you do.
May 10th, 2008 at 9:58 am
Anytime you want to take an IQ challenge, I will be happy to meet you. You made an outrageous statement. Rules are to be obeyed. BS. Then you take offense that I use the most outrageous example of a rule, slavery, to prove you wrong. You are illogical. Your imprecations will not deter me from pointing out unfairness. Oh, and John, for the record, I loathe Hillary F. Clinton. I wouldn’t vote for her if I was married to her, in which case your assessment of my mental capacity would be accurate. Quit being so emotional and start being smart. If you are an Obama supporter, not counting all the ballots will lose you the general election. Also, a sure sign of degrangement is when you start beleiving that only people who agree with you are reasonable.
May 10th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Flyover- your ‘challenge’ of IQ comparison is beyond silly, as any measure is only as objective is you wish it to be, and of course you know this. I made no outrageous statement, and frankly am clueless as to what statement you are referring to. “Rules are to be obeyed. BS.” I’m not even sure I’m going to touch that one. In what way do you believe you’ve proved me wrong? How am I illogical? You apparenty don’t understand the definition of ‘logical’. I don’t really care if you adore or disdain Mrs. Clinton, as that is immaterial to my point, which is that stating certain factual things such as, for instance, Senator Obama can’t win without the critical help of the Clintons and her supporters, but then leaving those facts hanging out there for Obama supporters to interpret as threats, apparently to create spectors for the fall is useless. The reconciliatory gestures will come in due time and appropriate form, and we will manage to win in the fall once past this challenging time. Exactly what unfairness are you attempting to point out? Flyover, I can assure you that the last thing I am is deranged, but of course you’ll continue to believe what you will.
May 10th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Please do not take my lack of response as proof you have scored any points, its just that I have four walls here and if I want to argue with one, I can do it without typing. If you don’t get the point, please ask someone to expain it. I’ll give you a hint. We want to run against Obama. Watch this video and you’ll see
http://hotair.com/archives/2008/05/10/video-unelectable/
May 10th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Good luck to you. I’m not really worried.
May 10th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Chillaxxxx…..Edwards was better than either of them
May 11th, 2008 at 10:14 am
I am sure Edwards is kicking himself for getting out. Since she is not stupid, she must know another shoe is going to drop in the next few months.
May 11th, 2008 at 11:08 am
ha ha ha ha ha!!!! A ha ha ha ha ha!!!! yeah. “Edwards was better than either of them”, which is why his campaign took off like a rocket (!). The denial of reality stage usually plays out in like this, and comments like those immediately above reflect that as expected. I love Edward’s populist message, and believe the overture made to Senator Obama regarding a cabinet-level position to tackle the issue of poverty in a substantive way is truly excellent. Rather than kicking himself, Edwards should be congratulating himself for having the foresight and sense of service to his party and ultimately the country to drop out when it was abundantly clear he was not going to win. It would be refreshing to see That sort of admirable selflessness from another candidate, but campaign strategies are what they are. Senator Obama has prevailed because more registered voters, in contests that counted, voted for him. There has been no great coup or mutiny by the DNC or party insiders, nor a strong distaste toward any certain candidate in this primary contest, but rather a matter of the incontestable mathematical facts of votes and pledged delegates. We’re moving forward now.
May 11th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
IMO of course,
Ms. Clinton had (has) every right to stay in as long as she likes. Especially if she had a good (or at least possible) chance of winning the nomination. But, it appears that time is over (maybe due to the media saying so, but…reality is reality). It was a good run.
May 11th, 2008 at 10:32 pm
The run was hard-fought, and is now clearly drawing to a close. Please stop aiming poisonous vitriol toward Senator Obama (to all, in general, and no single posting commenter in here), who was part of that hard-fought battle and happens to have emerged as the victor. Diatribous assaults (from Clinton supporters all over the web on blogs) on Senator Obama and the DNC as the co-conspirators of a some diabolical plot to undermine Senator Clinton are about as misguided and misplaced as blaming the government for bad weather. Being vindictive serves no one in a good way.