Clinton's Pa. win still leaves her the underdog

AP via Yahoo ^ | 4/23/08 | Calvin Woodward

[advance_copy]

WASHINGTON - Still the underdog in a contest that won't quit, Hillary Rodham Clinton pulled off a feisty act of political survival in the Pennsylvania primary, defeating Barack Obama to keep her Democratic presidential hopes alive.

The New York senator's comfortable win sends the race on to North Carolina, where the flush-with-money Obama is favored; and Indiana, where the two are close.

Obama was able to stave off an eyebrow-arching blowout by Clinton even while falling short in his effort to bring the polarizing competition effectively to a close. Clinton beat him by about 10 points.

"Some counted me out and said to drop out," the former first lady told Philadelphia supporters who roared their disapproval of that idea and cheered her victory in a state where Obama outspent her 2-to-1. "But the American people don't quit. And they deserve a president who doesn't quit, either."

[silverleaf]

“But the American people don’t quit. And they deserve a president who doesn’t quit, either.”

Ironic Hillary of all people should say that. We know it is only rhetoric, and only about her personal power plays, not our national interest.

That is why we need a President who will finish the job in Iraq and anywhere else the grapes of wrath are stored.

[RetSignman]

At this point, wouldn’t the tactics of Operation Chaos be changed to having the crossovers vote for Obamer?

The clinton’s are masters at getting the most out of one lame win so, it seems to me, it should be nipped in the bud before a ripple in political waters become a tidal wave.

[silverleaf]

Rush has no plan to see the Hldabeast elected- only to keep the democrats clawing at each other until the convention.

Hildabeat’s dirtslingers can gnaw at the soft underbelly of public confidence in Obama, in ways no GOP candidate would ever be able to get away with.

[TexasRedeye]

...interesting that Hillary Clinton is the only candidate Limbaugh has told his listeners to vote for)...

That is because Hillary is the only Dem candidate that can keep it going! I am absolutely amazed at how unbelievably dense some participants on this website are! Rush has absolutely NO intention of getting Hillary elected!

Chaos is just that CHAOS! He is telling people to vote for Hillary because she is the candidate that can keep this food fight and money wasting campaign going on and on and on. If it was John Doe that could keep it going, that is who he would be urging listeners to vote for.

It is CHAOS he wants to keep going - not candidates!

[Upstate NY Guy]

I’m loving it.
How do the Dems spin this? Many were saying the rush to Dem registration was due to huge support for Obama among former Repubs. Since Hillary won by a large margin that leaves only two possibilities:
1. The new Dems voted for Obama and so the support among traditional Dems is even greater for Hillary (lower for Obama).
2. The new Dems voted for Hillary which means Rush controls the Dem nominating process.
Either scenario spells dissaster and chaos within the Dem party.

[freedomfiter2]

One thing is sure, RATS cannot be happy that Rush Limbaugh controls their nomination process.

I’m not happy that the libs stuck the GOP with the likes of McCain.

[qwertyz]

100% correct! Blame the math-illiterate Mainstream Media for that upside rounding error, which, ironically, will hurt Barack “Ban-No-Child-Left-Behind” Obama in Indiana.

[The Ghost of Rudy McRomney]

She’s going NOWHERE, and you can thank Limbaugh, Ingraham, Hannity, Coulter, Levine, and other talk radio ‘conservatives’ for it. The Clintons would have been gone after Texas if these goofballs hadn’t meddled. When she looked into the camera that night after her victory speech and said “Be careful what you wish for, Rush” it sent a chill up my spine. The entire Clinton machine are probably laughing their asses off that their supposed right-wing enemies may be the very ones to give them the keys to the White House again. But then the Clintons always have played them like a violin.

[pissant]

I think he mentioned Hunter’s name 2 or 3 times in a year, alwyas in passing.

[mouske]

“...their supposed right-wing enemies may be the very ones to give them the keys to the White House again.”

I’m starting to fear that you may be correct.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

No, I fully well know that the time for talking up Hunnter was six months ago, and if you go back and re-read those old threads, you'll find that all of us Hunter supporters were tearing our hair out that Rush and Sean said largely nothing about Hunter's campaign.

At the time, we were all told by the wise old posters on this forum that Rush did not have that kind of influence over Republican voters and that anything he could possibly say in support of Hunter would be largely wasted.

Now, all I'm seeing on these threads is how ingenious Rush has been in launching Operation Chaos and influencing Republican voters to briefly change their party affiliations to participate in the Rat primaries to stretch out the catfight between Hillary and Obama.

So which is it? Does Rush have enormous influence over how Republicans choose candidates or not? And if so, why did he not help Hunter when he had the chance back in September and October 2007?

[SmithL]

What happened to Sweet Polly Purebred?

[Theresawithanh]

Sweet Polly is in grave danger, and Underdog has just taken his super energy pill from his ring’s secret compartment and is off to save her!

[hunter112]

It wasn't just up to Rush and Sean Hannity to get Duncan Hunter known, it was up to him to schedule himself into television talk shows to discuss the issues. He goes back a long time in Congress, and there have been ample opportunities for him to put in an intelligent and informed opinion on things that he's expert about, such as military matters, illegal immigration, and unfair trade with China. He could have become a regular guest on a 24/7 three channel machine that has to hunt every day to fill up vast amounts of airtime. It's Rep. Hunter's fault that he didn't do this.

As to the other part of your question, Rush Limbaugh might not have enough influence to put an unknown over the top, but he certainly can influence a significant minority of voters. In this Pennsylvania primary, Hillary's margin of victory was less than the advertised 10%, I'm willing to give Rush credit for about half of that. If she had finished with a 4-5% lead, the cries for her to leave the Rat race would have grown deafening.

While it is difficult to persuade thinking conservatives into changing their minds (unlike liberal identity groups who do as they're told) it is easier for Rush to get conservatives to see the benefits of fouling up the enemy. Every dollar sucked up by the Obama and Clinton campaigns is a political dollar that comes out of DemonRat Congressional and local campaigns. Every successful attack that the Clinton slime machine directs at Obama is something for voters to think about that John McCain is too weak to launch himself. Even if we wind up with either Shrillery or O'bitter as president, they've sown the seeds of weakness in each other that will make it very hard, if not impossible, to govern us towards socialism.

Rush is on very solid ground when he tells his audience that reducing the "make up" time for the eventual Rat nominee is in our best interests. Look at the numbers of supporters of each of them who say they will not vote for the other if that individual gets the nomination. Yes, it may all be bluster; I'm sure you would have found similar numbers on our side when Romney and Huckabee were still considered viable, but that underscores the point that I'm trying to make. McCain has the luxury of considerable time to bring his detractors back into the fold (he's never going to get me, however), and if the Rats are afforded the same opportunity, it will be to our detriment.

Whoever loses the Rat nomination will have a powerful interest in seeing that the other Rat does NOT win in November, both of them would be super-eager to jump aboard the Presidential Express for the 2012 campaign. The more wounded that candidate feels for having lost the nomination at the last minute, the less enthusiastic their support for the victor in the fall.