We older dudes and dudesses remember a time before Congress reset all national holidays except Independence Day to the nearest Monday to the traditional date. Originally, Memorial Day was May 31. Somehow it is fitting that the bookends for this week include this particular dudess finally being face to face and hand in hand with Hillary Clinton ( while being featured in Inside Chappaqua Magazine) and the fifth anniversary of the infamous meeting of the Democratic Party Rules and Bylaws Committee that reassigned and partitioned delegates Hillary had won in the 2008 primaries effectively disenfranchising primary voters in two states and handing the nomination to Barack Obama.
Two movements came to life that summer although only one remains in the spotlight. Angry Democrats from all over the country carried signs imploring the RBC to “Count Every Vote” and countered the intended appearance of party unity with cries of “party unity my a**.”
The PUMA movement arrived yelling and screaming as most newborns do. On the other side of the political spectrum, a reaction brought an embryonic coalition into existence. In the days of Barry Goldwater, many young people read his Conscience of a Conservative and argued politics in essay assignments for school and over cafeteria lunches. A word seldom heard anymore was one we commonly used then, reactionary.
By late summer 2008, in the wake of the Democratic National Convention where a shameful, scripted, televised imitation of a roll call vote ended when the winner of the party’s popular vote was escorted onto the convention floor and called for the unanimous nomination of the candidate who had garnered and been gifted with a few more delegates, the other baby of the summer was coming to term. Activist women, some angry that Barack Obama had bypassed his very well-qualified female former rival for the Veep spot – in fact would not even speak with them on the topic – headed to the Republican Convention to have a word with their nominee, John McCain.
If you read the book, or better yet saw the movie Game Change, you know what happened next. Sarah Palin, of shooting wolves from helicopters fame, was drafted to the ticket in the Veep spot. By September 2008. PUMA talks shows on Blog Talk Radio and PUMA blogs began being invaded by people speaking of FEMA camps, coffins stacked stories high, blue helmets, black helicopters, and a private army while the Republican VP nominee made speeches about the Democratic nominee paling around with radicals.
There is no doubt that elements of the Tea Party were drawn from the ranks of the PUMAs. Five years later, some who were diehard Hillary Clinton supporters have indeed turned hard against her as those early Tea Party infiltrators tried to convince us to do. But the PUMAs have remained cohesive via Facebook groups and blogs. We may not receive the publicity the Tea Party does. We do not seek it, but we are still together. If /when our Hillary wants us, this solid core of her loyalists are already organized around her. We have stuck by her over these six years since she so appealingly began the conversation with us. We stayed beside her when she was robbed of her delegates, and we celebrate our anniversary together while our girl, as yet having made no commitment to a second run for the roses, continues to top the polls.
A new Quinnipiac poll out today pits her against two dynastic possible rivals, Jeb Bush, of the more traditional Republican brand, and Rand Paul, darling of the reactionary firebrand variety that has overtaken the party and left Congress in paralysis. While she remains in the shade, setting up her office within the family foundation, her appeal and charisma continue to keep her in the news.
May 31, 2013 – American Voters Like Clinton Over Paul, Jeb Bush, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds;
PDF formatIn an early look at the 2016 presidential campaign, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton leads Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky 49 – 41 percent and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush 48 – 40 percent, but Vice President Joseph Biden trails Bush 44 – 38 percent and falls behind Paul 43 – 39 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Ms. Clinton gets a 52 – 40 percent favorability rating, down from an all-time high 61 – 34 percent in a February 8 survey by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University. Favorability ratings for other possible 2016 presidential contenders are:
- Biden: Negative 37 – 44 percent;
- Paul: Positive 32 – 24 percent, with 42 percent who don’t know enough about him to form an opinion;
- Bush: 29 – 29 percent, with 42 percent who haven’t formed an opinion.
SNIP
“Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton remains the queen of the 2016 hill at this point, but the wide gap between her and some of the leading Republican contenders on favorability may be closing, as her overall favorability has taken a hit,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “Her score is down substantially from her all-time high score in February. The drop in her favorability is substantial among men, Republicans and independent voters. One reason for her drop may be that 48 percent of voters blame her either a little or a lot for the death of the American ambassador in Benghazi,” Brown added. In the hypothetical race between Clinton and Jeb Bush, she carries Democrats 92 – 3 percent, but loses Republicans 82 – 8 percent and splits independent voters 42 – 43 percent. She wins women 55 – 35 percent, but loses men 45 – 40 percent. Clinton gets a 91 – 4 percent favorability among Democrats and a 46 – 42 percent favorability from independent voters, with a negative 18 – 77 percent favorability from Republicans. Women are favorable 59 – 32 percent, while men are negative 44 – 50 percent. In February, she was 91 – 5 percent favorable among Democrats, negative 27 – 68 percent among Republicans and 59 – 35 percent positive among independents. She was 53 – 42 favorable among men and 68 – 27 percent favorable among women. “If Ms. Clinton chooses not to run in 2016, the potential Democratic field could include a somewhat unpopular vice president and a number of new faces who are unknown to the vast majority of Americans,” said Brown. “The potential Republican candidates include many unknowns also. Some of them, however, lead the incumbent vice president and outscore him when it comes to overall voter favorability.”Read more >>>>
For those of us who remember this day in history, Hillary is the glue. She is the magnet that drew us together and keeps us tight. We have stayed with the girl we took to the dance in 2008 even though the party tore up our prom tickets.
When I see what has becomen of Hillary supporters it always reminds me of the parable from the Bible about the seeds. Some were cast on the wayside, some on stone, some among thorns and they failed. Others were cast on good ground and they were strong and lived.
I cannot comprehend how some of her ardent supporters believe lies about her and have turned on her. The CDS is insideous.
We will not forget this day of hijacking and we will never forgive the forced roll call and the prearranged styrofoam column pepsi stadium. We also will not give a foothold to propaganda spread against her.
We have her back.
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Amen!
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hillary’s favorable rating among dems is 91 percent. that’s about as high as any dem nominee would have and higher than some. i think her favorable rating was going to drop anyway (with or without benghazi) because she’s now seen in a political/partisan context. also, guys like rand paul are already campaigning in iowa while hillary is largely out of the public eye.
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we’re going to be with her no matter what, rains or shine; Hillary talked directly to our hearts and to our minds; we are on this together backing her and praying for her.We know Hillary’s heart and powerful mind, she’s real, authentic, great, and always be the BEST!!!
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well said!
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Right!
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We shall not be moved!!!
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Nope! We will stick, like glue, to our girl!
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You got that right. United we stand. Hillary is going to enjoy her long summer. She knows we here.
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I will surely never forget those awful days of 2008, giving me no choice but to leave the democratic party. I have been one of those ardent Hillary supporters mentioned above. I have not turned against Hillary. Instead I have become an independent which has given me the wherewithall to examine facts and opinions that in the past I would not have spent 5 seconds considering. Along with the enormous pain of the destruction of my past philosophical beliefs where politics were concerned, there has been one silver lining – I am willing to really listen to all sides.
I still admire her very much. But where I have problems is when I think she has gone way over and beyond the call of duty when it comes to her loyalty to this president. Yes, loyalty is a virtue. But it has been extrememly difficult for me knowing what I know about him and the way he got to the WH. I have been deeply troubled by the Benghazi situation. I think she is protecting 0bama. I think she wants to count on his voters (that didn’t vote for her in ’08) if she decides to run. I believe 0bama would throw her to the dogs at any given moment and make her the scapegoat for Benghazi.
I understand the delicate balance she’s got, but I hate seeing her protect and defend this most corrupt administration.
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Fran, on the right column you will find the ARB unclassified report. It concludes there were problems with a few middle level managers at State. The security issues and other issues were other departments – DoD CIA etc.
All the investigations (and common sense and knowledge of how our govt is arranged and what a SoS actually does…) show it was below her level.
Clearly the POTUS doesn’t have a thing to do with it either.
This is a FOX attacking the hen house as always. It is decades old and obvious every time.
BTW – I am unaffiliated and a Clintonesque moderate.
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I remember, years ago, someone calling The Name of the Rose “the most unread best seller in the history of the best seller list.” Judging by the number of times Hillary had to direct that committee to the ARB Report, I think that is the most unread report by the people for whom it was assembled.
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Also, whatever the CIA was doing in Benghazi, I don’t see how Hillary can be held responsible for any of it. She had plenty of work to do as SOS; she didn’t have time to babysit the CIA.
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Good point, Jen. It really was their outpost and operation.
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Which also explains some of the secrecy surrounding the attack. You’re not supposed to out CIA operations/agents in public. Hillary knows this. The Republicans, not so much.
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Jason Chaffetz, Jen is talking to you!
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Well, I didn’t name any names. But if you insist…
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😀 Everybody knows who the supercilious BIG MOUTH was, and Karen Finney never misses a chance to remind the world that he did.
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Good for Karen– that man needs to be called out!
Did Hillary ever even mention the CIA in this context? As far as I can remember, she referred to them as the “agency operating out of the annex” or something along those lines.
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The highly partisan group tirade is not working for me. There are many inaccuracies in the ARB unclassified report and I do not accept all of the report’s findings. Using Karen Finney (Hillary’s former press secretary, former communications director for the dnc, and now an *MSNBC* host) is hardly the heavy weight needed to convince me that my assessments are dumb as dirt. Wrong tactics, ladies.
Does anyone remember what MSNBC did to Hillary in the 2008 Primary campaign? There was never a positive word said about her there thanks to Tim Russert who, like Pelosi & Reid decided by 2005 that 0bama would be the 2008 nominee. Russert was in charge of all things political at MSNBC in those days and literally worked himself to death making sure his fantacy would become realitiy. MSNBC rarely had a representative from Hillary’s campaign nor did any pundit speak up for her. Their hosts would ask opinions about Hillary (when she was even mentioned) from one of the republican primary reps and you can imagine what they said.
Hillary needs to do what she does best – explain exactly what happened (the whole truth about Benghazi – not just partial truths) and stop referring to the ARB report as some gospel truth. And, no, no one expects her to speak for the CIA!! But she can say what, if anything she was personally made aware of by the CIA as well as what she said to them. Til now Hillary has been a most reluctant witness to the death of an ambassadore and three others who worked for her. This is by no means over and is a make or break situation for her imo – but we shall see.
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So I should just delete the conversation above because it isn’t working for you? I remember MSNBC in 2008 very well. I happen to be friends with Karen Finney and am happy to see her finally get a show.
I was watching the day Chaffetz blew the CIA operation wide open. I stand by my description of him. He acted like a self-important oaf.
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The only “tirade” was the long rambling one with suspicious conclusions by Fran. Ironically.
The ARB was wrong? Tell specifically where it was wrong. Enlighten us. What do you know that Pickering and Mullins missed?
And I remember Russert and MSNBO well but am not sure what that has to do with anything at all. Do you remember when Russert and Tweety were best pals with a certain republican candidate for president who took us to war. They had insider seats (along with the NY Times) to carry water for Bush and his WMD. It is one of the reasons I fact check what I read with other sources all the time. The NY Times, NBC (with their Hillary nutcrackers) and other so-called news outlets are at times just as bad as Fox. On that we can agree, perhaps.
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Fran, here is your argument shot to bits, pre-emptively, to save you some time.
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/05/13/right-wing-benghazi-witch-hunt-sets-sites-on-pi/194032
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Oh, and this one the so-called whistleblowers who reinforced the fact that Hillary was not involved. (nor was the POTUS since it was below the level…)
http://freebeacon.com/pickering-whistleblower-testimony-reinforced-arb-conclusions-on-benghazi/
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Thank you, Karen!
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The last source that I would use to bolster an argument would be George Soro’s media matters. Although I know democrats don’t study the issues – they grab a handful of talking points from places such as media matters and pretend to know what they are talking about. Just so you know, I don’t just get information from FoxNews, the following link is from No Quarter, the political blog that was voted the best in 2008. For those unfamiliar with No Quarter, Larry Johnson writes most of the articles. Larry spent most of his career with the CIA and still has many contacts there. He was a strong Hillary supporter in 2008. His language is sometimes shocking, but he is an excellent writer who does his homework. This is his view of the Benghazi debacle and the ARB report. Whether the 7 or 8 of you like it or not, this is the other side that does exist:
http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/75929/keeping-track-of-the-obama-hillary-lies-on-benghazi/#more-75929
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Larry claims he
We know him well. At least as long as you have. Maybe longer.
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I went to NQ frequently in 2008. He is dead wrong often and when the truth comes out he never corrects his previous errors. The comment section there became a sewer of innuendo and misinformation. It was a glorious but sad train wreck. His comments on super storm Sandy were not only ridiculous – they were over the top wrong. Yes he is often harsh as well.
No Quarter – No thank you. Right wing propaganda machine for years now.
So you really think we are all gullible? And you agree with Issa and Hannity.
Ok then. We don’t study the issues? Can you please answer my question above then and enlighten us. You say the ARB was wrong. Where was it wrong? You have studied it like we have – right?
Fran, a few weeks ago I told you to change your name to “fran against obama” because your current name is not accurate.
Larry was always a republican and clearly you are too. Have a nice day.
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*two thumbs up*
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Yay, karen!
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