Hillary Clinton‘s speech in Denver last night may not have swayed her most ardent supporters:
Clinton’s performance fell far short of the panacea the Democratic Party had desperately hoped for, delegates said. Some worried that, after Clinton’s public withdrawal, more voters might defect for Republican John McCain or simply stay home.
“I’m not going to vote for Obama. I’m not going to vote for McCain, either,” said Blanche Darley, 65, a Texas delegate for Clinton. Darley wore a button saying “Obamination Scares the Hell Out of Me.”
“We love her, but it’s our vote if we don’t trust him or don’t like him,” said Darley, who was a superdelegate for Bill Clinton in the 1990s.
Weeping, Dawn Yingling, a 44-year-old single mother from Indianapolis, said that the speech was “fabulous” but that she still isn’t going to work for the Obama campaign. “She was fabulous, nothing less than I expected. It’s hard to sit here and think about she would have accomplished. We’re not stupid — we’re not going to vote for John McCain,” she said. But she’ll limit her campaigning to a House candidate. “It will take a Congress as well as a president. That’s what I can do and be true to who I am.”
Like Yingling, other delegates promised they wouldn’t vote McCain, but some also said they simply won’t vote at all.
[image by Mark Wilson/Getty Images]
Darth Paul
Some Americans these slags are if they’d rather do nothing and have another GOP retard-fascist regime instead of swallowing their idiotic hubris and supporting their party AT THEIR CANDIDATE’S BEHEST. I can understand independents acting that way, but a delegate? I hope they all get Chagas disease.
daniel k
With women having so much more to lose than men if McSame wins and gets to nominate the next S. Court Justice, plus the pay disparity, not to mention the wars we’re in and the wars he’s itching to start, I just can’t understand it either. I was a Clinton supporter and was glad she did all she could to wake these hags up. If Obama loses they won’t be able to pin it on HC.
ron
This PUMA bs is media created.
The media needs the drama.
Kiera
Seriously people, sour grapes much? I challenge anyone staying home in November to explain the ideological differences between HC and BO. For a woman to say, on the anniversary of the day that women won the right to vote no less, that she would boycott an election because her candidate lost the primary is an affront to women everywhere. Grow up.
Dubwise
I came here to say sour grapes..Kiera beat me to it.
emb
Hillary’s compelling, classy speech won her a place back in my heart. If this ol’ hater can be moved, why can’t these women? Hillary said it: were you supporting the causes she champions, or just her as a person? If the latter, then listen to what she wants.
These people have become so self-absorbed that they no longer feel they need to listen to the object of their cult-like devotion. That’s plain weird, and I’m done worrying about what they think or do.
To the rational Hillary supporters who are following her lead: Yay! No way, no how, no mccain!
Matt
I’m so ready for this to be over. I’ve got democrat fatigue “kinda like condom fatigue”. That said, I was listening to some of the democratic strategist being interviewed and they all resonated one point. That this convention is off point. They say day one was MO being all “family like” and day two was “mccain bashing day”. They stated that the convention has failed to adequately say “who barak is, how he plans on implementing his positions when/if he is elected.” Any thoughts? I can kind of see their point I guess. I’m not big on Obama or McCain. Neither one want to cut any government spending.
Alexa
Her speech last night moved me to tears, it was just about the best it could have been. I hope the more rational of her supporters will listen to her and – even if they can’t bring themselves to campaign for him – at least vote for Obama and against McCain in November. The extreme ones are probably a lost cause and from now on, if they won’t even listen to Hillary, the less attention given to them the better.
Good Girl
Interesting that Hillary mentioned that McCain is a friend and she respects him. He can’t be all that bad if she considers him a friend and he has her respect.
Stenar
Her speech made me cry. I am sad she’s not the candidate. She ALMOST convinced me to vote for Obama last night, but instead I’m going to write her name in on the ballot.
Ston
Look the baby boomers are spoiled children, first they didn’t want to listen to their parents rules so they went out and became hippies. That wasn’t about changing the world, it was a bunch of pissy kids who didn’t want to listen to mom and day. Now you have the same thing. THEIR candidate didn’t get picked, so they are going to go home and sulk. Man I can’t wait for this generation to get too old to cause more trouble.
Ston
#9, Good Girl. All Senators refer to other senators as “My Good Friend” even if they hate each other. It’s a speaking style that has been used in the Senate for Decades.
Nick
Its amazing how we are all supposed to feel sorry for Hillary Clinton. Why should her loss be elevated to some mythical status different than past presidential elections? Only one candidate can win and Obama received more delegates. That is how the process works.
In addition, one thing in this whole debate that is not mentioned is how Clinton and her supporters exploit gender to garner sympathy and applause. Of course I support equality for women in all spheres of society, but it is hypocritical to accuse Obama of playing the race card and not apply that same standard to Clinton and other women who talk about gender equality. But I am not surprised, because when it comes to race in this country, hypocrisy is as American as apple pie.
Dom
Go ahead, you fucking idiots. Vote for the stupid mother-fucker with the 127 houses and the polyurethane Stepford wife – you know, the one who constantly says he’s entitled to the presidency because he was a lousy andd reckless bomber pilot who got shot down and held captive by the N. Vietnamese during the Vietnam war (of course, you would never know that fact, since he and his campaign only mention it every 4.2 seconds). Anyone who bitches about not voting for Obama because Hillary lost in the primary IS A FUCKING REPUBLICAN and if that crazy mother-fucker McCain wins and coninues the ruinous policies of Bush/Cheney, then this country – and especially these idiots who say they are Clinton Democrats voting for McCain – deserves everything it gets. And if you’re gay and vote for that stupid SOB, then I hope you’re suffering is DOUBLE, especially those delusional Log Cabin Republicans.
Eminent Victorian
I notice more and more people around me suggesting they simply won’t vote at all in this Presidential election, and I am for the first time in my adult life thinking the same thing. It’s not sour grapes from my perspective event hough I was a Hillary supporter–I don’t think either Obama or McCain deserve the job. I’m an educated adult. If I don’t think either candidate deserves the job, I am not going to cast a vote based on the guy who least offends me. This is my right.
Robert
I am so proud of Hillary Clinton today for doing her part to bring the party together. I donated time and money to her campaign and I still passionately believe that she would be an incredible president.
Obama doesn’t really resonate with me– inspirational rhetoric isn’t enough for me, especially as he continues to move toward the center (following the flawed Gore/Kerry model) and water his ideas down (from making concessions on off-shore drilling to his recent remarks on marriage at the church forum, among other examples). It makes him look weak and insincere and leaves him open to the Republican attack machine. If he’s ushering in a new era of politics why is he following the beaten path in the general election? I don’t think it serves him. And it is very difficult to not harbor less rational objections to his candidacy, with many of his supporters insinuating that HRC supporters are simply racist or stupid.
That being said, I will be donating time and money to his campaign and voting for him this fall. I understand the hesitation to vote for the man, but I do not understand how Hillary’s supporters are not motivated to vote for the policies that matter to them. Apart from a love of her, why did you support Hillary in the first place? The differences between Hillary and Obama’s stance on the issues is immaterial when compared with John McCain’s. He is not the “maverick” he portrayed himself as in 2000. He is a party line Republican.
I stand with Obama on the issues and I would encourage other Hillary supporters to think about the consequences of four more years of Bush. Even if Hillary becomes president in 2012, it just isn’t worth it.
Kiera
No. 15 EV, your argument is represents the biggest fallacy in, and failure of, the American political system. It is not your right not to cast a vote, it is your duty as an American to select representation which best represents your personal values. That is called government by the will of the people and, when praticed properly, results in a government for the people.
George Bush, Dick Cheaney and the corporate overlords are not responsible for the situation in which we now find ourselves. The blame rests solely on your shoulders and of those who think like you. We live in the most ideologically diverse nation in the world, and it is highly unlikely, especially in reference to a national office, that in a two party system you will find any one candidate who exactly represents the ideals and values to which you personally ascribe.
The “take my ball and go home” mentality associated with a particular candidate is what has led to the deification and objectification of our politicians and turned them from ordinary women and men into celebrities. Our politicians no longer represent the best ideals and values of their constituencies and as a result the government of this country often acts in the direct contravention of the best interest of its citizens.
Mr C
There’s a psychological twist to this whole story. Alot of people don’t want to vote for Barack Obama for many reasons. However the inexperience factor is the one they can use without getting them into (Racially motivated) trouble.
I am supporting him because I am a DEMOCRAT I am not an Obamaton, nor a Clintonista. Now I will truly say this. Folks can argue all they want about McCain being a well deserve congressman and he may be that.But he has the values of a party that is NOT in tune with America at this moment in time.
A NO VOTE for a Democrat is a YES vote for a Republican and I am not ready for worse times because they will get worse. Alot of these PUMA chicks and some Gay people that won’t vote for Obama feels that he has the almighty NERVE to compete against Hillary. But last I seen America is for ALL AMERICANS not just privildege WHITE AMERICANS the dream is for all to achieve.
When Bill Clinton first ran he was inexperienced and I never saw a commotion as such. Sometimes you gotta call a spade is a spade and I am hoping that the majority of democrats will come around. Because KARMA will surely rise and he has nearly 18,000,000.00 supporters as well and they will MARCH to the beat of divisive drum if Hillary tries in 2012 if he loses this Nov. And it’s just not worth it.
Unity has to begin, or we just need to let it all crash and burn because if unity is not reached this year. It will be a long time before you see it again.
And that is SAD!
Jorge
I voted for Obama in the primaries thinking back in February he was the strongest choice. 6 months later I don’t feel that to be the case. I’m probably not going to vote. STOP blaming people for exercising their right not to vote. The responsibility falls on the candidates to earn my vote. If they don’t then that’s not my problem. I’m not going to vote for the lesser of 2 evils.
Eminent Victorian
Thank you for chastising me with your misspelling-riddled rant, Kiera. if it weren’t for hysterical folks such as you I might have thought I really didn’t have the right to decide to not vote in this Presidential election. I haven’t so much as suggested that any of you also not vote because I wouldn’t presume to tell you what to do and how to think, even if it seems as though you could use the assistance. I sometimes think this country gets the government it deserves and that it takes atrocious leadership to turn the collective mind of the country around. believe me, I know that to be a slow process. I am very active at the state and local levels for all kinds of causes. But in the case of this particular presidential election, I am absolutely following my conscience by choosing to vote for neither candidate. When I see how so many Obama supporters react to this CHOICE, it’s hard to feel compelled by anything you have to say because you sound desperate.
dubwise
Eminent Victorian:
Barrack and Hillary are centimeters apart in policy and issues. You were obviously voting for a person and not on issues. i’m not convinced to vote for obama yet at all…it’s still months away…but….refusing to vote in August, when the election is in November is just silly and misguided.
Eminent Victorian
I have given you no specific information to support such a claim, Dubwise. I don’t necessary love Ms. Clinton, either (I initially supported Mr. Kucinich), but I felt she brought more experience to the role of President. Too, I know when the election is, thank you; my decision to not vote for President this election doesn’t require your datebook nor diagnosis.
Mr C
It’s really whatever.
Just sit back and enjoy John McCain!