Keith Olbermann's special comment

Speaking as a former Clinton supporter...

...and one who has argued her right to stay in the race as long as she wishes, I have to say, without reservation, Get out of the race Hillary. You have jumped a shark this time and though I have been on Obama's side since Texas, I have ever always said that you should be allowed to run as long as you wish. Now though, you have allowed your thinly disguised GOP operatives like McCauliffe, Penn and Carville to turn you into a venomous, petty figure who will say anything, tell any lie, bring up any subject to cling to the wreckage of your campaign. Do yourself and the women in the United States a favor and get out now. It may already be too late to ever harbor hopes of ever seriously running for president again but if you keep running that mouth of yours, it definitely will be. Don't set back womens' progress by seeming hysterical which is, I'm sorry to say, EXACTLY how you are coming off right now. The best way that you can show the party that you truly want to see a Democrat in the White House is to apologize and work your ass off to get Obama elected.  Americans despise the GOP and they are running an extraordinarilly weak candidate and you seem bent on handing them the contest before the general even starts.

That being said: Olberman was spot on indeed but his rhetoric has gotten so bad that I find it hard to believe that he is anything more than just another GOP shill in the media. Perhaps he doesn't think the Democrats need the 16 million or so voters who have cast a ballot for Clinton. For myself, I've never been so rabid that I would refuse to support the nominee whomever that turned out to be but we are going to need each and every vote come November and while Clinton's divisive rhetoric isn't helping, Olberman's is throwing gasoline on the fire. It's time for Clinton to get the fuck out and for Olberman et al to shut the fuck up. Wanna sling anger at somebody who can truly end this campaign and end it now? Vent your sleen at the superdelegates. They and only they are capable of ending this immediately.

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by: Margaret @ Sat May 24, 2008 at 08:21:12 AM CDT

Thank you Pam

I didn't get to see KO last night. And he said it all.


"It goes on one at a time, it starts when you care to act, it starts when you do it again after they said no, it starts when you say We and know who you mean, and each day you mean one more."

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by: Louise @ Sat May 24, 2008 at 08:22:17 AM CDT

Tin ear

This is another example of Sen Clinton's apparent lack of understanding of how her comments can be interpreted.

I had thought in the past that she would do well as Secretary of State in an Obama administration.  Now not so much.  

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by: Zorya @ Sat May 24, 2008 at 09:37:33 AM CDT

sympathy effect

The piling on Hillary by the media is liable to have the effect of making people feel sorry for her.  Olbermann was over the top - so much so that my mom, who is a regular viewer, turned him off in disgust.  Be careful how hard you beat Hillary up for this.  The women over 50 don't like it when they see her getting beat up.  Which makes me wonder if this was somehow calculated.

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by: lampster @ Sat May 24, 2008 at 10:20:33 AM CDT

I'm sorry, but

No one has made Sen. Clinton "misspeak" about Bosnia, or make this "mistake" about not only the timing of her husband's campaign vs. RFK's, or any of the other gaffes and strategies we've seen. The problem here is that poor judgment, bad campaign decisions, and fomenting race-baiting has been excused away time and again, as she continued to lose primaries -- and look, she's still getting a huge number of votes, delegates and winning some states. I'd hardly say the pile-on is succeeding. The problem here is that it looks like she won't win the nom by any realistic metric where Obama has succeeded despite the odds and the spoken and unspoken target on his back.

Mind you, this doesn't excuse the disgusting misogyny that has occurred in this campaign (both on the blogs and in the MSM), but much of the problem here has been Clinton self-inflicted, and that does raise legitimate questions about her leadership abilities -- and that has nothing to do with being a woman.

I agree that KO's bombastic delivery is counterproductive, which is why reading the transcript removes the imagery and sound so one can digest the content is most useful.

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by: Pam Spaulding @ Sat May 24, 2008 at 10:38:42 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

KO gave a nod on air within the last two weeks...

...that he started out as a Hillary Clinton supporter.

In his Friday special comment, I think we saw an idealist's anger of seeing his former candidate not living up to his ideals of what it is to be human.

I understand his disappointment. In the past couple of weeks especially, Sen. Clinton hasn't been appealing to the preferable aspirations of progressives.

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~~Autumn~~

As if there were safety in stupidity alone.
--Henry David Thoreau

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by: Autumn Sandeen @ Sat May 24, 2008 at 11:07:05 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Good point

I dislike watching YouTube or any sort of video feed on my computer (sensory issues), so whenever possible, I prefer to read a transcript like Pam's link provided.

It erases the emotions and performance aspects of the report tremendously, but it also allows one to focus on the actual text.  

"It goes on one at a time, it starts when you care to act, it starts when you do it again after they said no, it starts when you say We and know who you mean, and each day you mean one more."

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by: Louise @ Sat May 24, 2008 at 16:44:16 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

<i>Some</i> women over 50

I can feel sad about the way Sen Clinton has been reduced over the length of this campaign.  

I can acknowledge that both Senators Clinton and Obama have been beaten up by the press, often unfairly.

I'll even agree that Keith was a bit over the top in his special comment and wonder why he allowed this latest gaffe to affect him on such an emotional level.

However, I'm not going to run to Sen Clinton's defense because she is an older woman and I am a 54 yr old woman.  She is a free agent who has made the choices, good and bad that have brought her to a point where to me she is more a figure to be pitied rather than a strong role model to be admired.

I do feel that some of her wounds have been self inflicted.  These comments are just the latest example of the missteps and miscalculations that have brought her to the place she is at today.

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by: Zorya @ Sat May 24, 2008 at 12:07:15 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

The above comment

did rather feel like a scold- no one can criticize Hillary Clinton, unless they are a woman over the age of 50?

A tad ridiculous...

"It goes on one at a time, it starts when you care to act, it starts when you do it again after they said no, it starts when you say We and know who you mean, and each day you mean one more."

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by: Louise @ Sat May 24, 2008 at 16:46:54 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Not intended as a scold

More of a reaction.  I am a bit tired of the meme that women over 50 automatically support Sen Clinton's campaign.  There seems to be an assumption in the media that Sen Clinton is some sort of uber woman - that she stands as an Everywoman surrogate for all the hopes and dreams of American Women Everywhere.

I apologize for the tone.  

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by: Zorya @ Sat May 24, 2008 at 18:04:21 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

No no, my apologies

Popped my comment in at wrong spot, Zorya- it was directed at lampster's "Be careful how hard you beat Hillary up for this.  The women over 50 don't like it when they see her getting beat up."

I understand L's point and Lurleen certainly has helped me think about as well. Peace MUST be made... the acrimony between the Clinton and Obama supporters is a bad, bad sign and McCain is loving every minute of it.

But as much as I understand that on an intellectual level, there is still the underlying emotional side that goes over the very accurate and long laundry list KO laid out as to why Cinton should not get the nomination, Veep, or another public office. And that makes it hard to reconcile the 2 sides...

For the life of me, I just cannot see why ANYONE would continue to support a candidate who either wouldn't know the truth if it bit her nose, or is so damned used to telling tall tales that she's incapable to knowing what the truth is in the first place. She's been caught in lie after lie... what does it take???

"It goes on one at a time, it starts when you care to act, it starts when you do it again after they said no, it starts when you say We and know who you mean, and each day you mean one more."

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by: Louise @ Sat May 24, 2008 at 19:50:14 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Wow, did I phrase that badly...

I did NOT mean for that to come out as rude, condesending or snarky, and I'm sorry- it did.

Somehow, Dems have to find enough common ground here to bring both the Clinton and the Obama supporters together. Too much is at stake.

"It goes on one at a time, it starts when you care to act, it starts when you do it again after they said no, it starts when you say We and know who you mean, and each day you mean one more."

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by: Louise @ Sat May 24, 2008 at 20:36:57 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

did anyone ever stop to think...

along these lines (comment i made on another blog)?

I find it curious that amid all the blog and newspaper coverage I've read on this event, not one person managed to wonder whether assassination was on Clinton's mind because she is concerned that she is also a target.

Apparently it is only fashionable to distress over the threats against the first potential black president, not over the first potential woman president.  One might answer "Well, but Obama has had numerous threats and Clinton hasn't."  I don't doubt Obama's word that he has been threatened.  What I do doubt is that Clinton would publicize it if she has also been threatened.  The reason being that she has to prove herself strong in a way that is assumed of men.  Thus, she wouldn't publicize any threats because admitting threats would be taken as a sign of weakness in a woman.

Yes, I find it curious that not one commentator, to my knowledge, has imagined that Clinton could ever take to heart all the epithets and assumptions of deliberate evil ascribed to her, and have concerns about her own mortality.

Lurleen on Twitter

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by: Lurleen @ Sat May 24, 2008 at 11:38:40 AM CDT

the odds aren't in favor of that

Aside from Benazir Bhutto and Indira Gandhi, who aren't American politicians, feminist leaders such as Gloria Steinem or Betty Friedan haven't been assassinated. Clinton's security detail, even though she as First Lady already receives it, is still smaller than Obama's for obvious reasons.

While it may have crossed her mind that she's a target, it's curious that there aren't any reports in the MSM of threats to her specifically. I'm sure there are a number of yahoos out there who are so threatened by the prospect of the country being led by a woman that they would put a target on her back (probably more who dislike her because she's a Clinton), but our country's history of political assassinations doesn't point to her at a higher risk than other pols. McCain, as far as I know, declined Secret Service protection of any kind during the primaries. I don't know if that is still the case now.

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by: Pam Spaulding @ Sat May 24, 2008 at 15:44:02 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Possible

It's a good point. Does it explain why she's mentioned the RFK assassination at least four tiJune? [The comparison is specious, since the CA primary was in June when RFK ran.]

But let's not under-estimate the Clinton-hatred out there for both of them. Remember when President Clinton was "warned" by a Congressman he better have good protection when traveling down to the Congressman's district?  That's when we saw, btw, a key flaw in Clinton that undermined his presidency. He should have instantly denounced the statement: "You don't have to respect me, but you must respect the office I hold."  That could never have happened, an ACOA friend of mine said, because of Clinton's ACOA background: "He wanted too much to be liked."

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

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by: Lev Raphael @ Sun May 25, 2008 at 08:09:45 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Olbermann said she made herself less safe as well

Keith did specify in his special comment that there was also gender hatred and political hatred in this campaign and that her remark endangered her as well as the other candidates.

I don't think Keith was over the top - the litany of her b.s. that he gave of things we've forgiven her for just drove home the fact that she's been lying and race-baiting all along.

Pam pointed out that the number of white supremacy groups has increased during the Bush years, but she didn't go into what extent this has taken place in our own military and law enforcement agencies. The Secret Service - the one that is supposed to be protecting Obama and Clinton - just had to discipline someone for intimidating fellow employees with a noose. Our soldiers are being harassed if they aren't Christian enough or white enough to suit their "brothers in arms" and the women are more likely to be raped by the men in their own companies than be wounded by the enemy.

Blackwater is a private, Christo-fascist army that Bush already unleashed on New Orleans after the levees broke. What's going to happen when we stop paying them to kill and torture Iraqis? Do we really want them coming back here? Then  Ron Paul has the militias in the mountains and the back woods all aflutter. And  there are the detention camps no one is talking about that are being filled by Homeland Security with people who are not given access to counsel and some of whom are American citizens caught up in immigration raids.

Remember that Bush has quietly given himself the authority to use military force against American citizens. There is no such thing as being too paranoid until we get a sane Democrat into the Oval office. The whole world will heave a sigh of relief when Shrub uber alles leaves that office... if he does leave. I'm not convinced he will.

Clinton has proven that she'll make a deal with the devil to win this election - Fox News, Karl Rove, Richard Mellon Sciafe  - and I believe she's already thrown in with the forces that pull Bush's strings. Obama is the only shot we have right now of getting these people at least partially out of power, and we can't give anyone the benefit of the doubt when it comes to his safety.

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by: MorgaineSwann @ Sun May 25, 2008 at 00:08:31 AM CDT

Disappointed

Keith did sound upset on a personal level, which I attribute to him having supported her initially. He clearly thought she was a better person than her campaign has become.

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by: Darkrose @ Sun May 25, 2008 at 02:40:08 AM CDT

Inspiration

What's ironic and sad is that in her so-called apology about what she said, Senator Clinton mentioned looking back to those who have inspired us--as RFK did.  This is unbelievably mealy-mouthed since she has doggedly mocked "inspiration" and "words" and "rhetoric" and "speeches" and said that results matter.  Well, without inspiration, you don't get results.  You can't create badly-needed change ex nihilo.  You have to rally people.  

I think her oft-expressed contempt for Obama's ability to move audiences masks her deep shame: she is basically a poor-to-middling speaker, a plodder, certainly compared to her husband who was terrific, especially in a national crisis.  It must be galling to live with someone so gifted as a speaker, and to know, inside, that without doubt you'll never measure up.  Then to have to see your coronation torn from you by someone just as talented than Bill (if not more so), and younger, and more dynamic--well, it can't be easy. No wonder she's making these gross mis-steps.

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

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by: Lev Raphael @ Sun May 25, 2008 at 08:03:52 AM CDT

Speaking styles

she is basically a poor-to-middling speaker, a plodder, certainly compared to her husband who was terrific

I was wondering how many other folks noticed that.  I always thought that Sen Clinton would have profited from a speaking coach.  

From what I have read about Sen Obama he was a poor public speaker when he first ran for state office.  I don't know if he worked with a coach or just learned from observing black preachers (now they can hold an audience) but whatever he did worked.

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by: Zorya @ Sun May 25, 2008 at 15:07:04 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I see this all the time--

--among authors.

Most of us can't read from our own work.  It's really painful.  I get lots of compliments (here and abroad) about my readings thanks to having had teaching experience, acting experience, being an extrovert, and on my very first book tour getting "director's notes" from my spouse about pausing, emphasis, eye contact, the individual piece, everything. It's hard work and it takes practice as well as the loving criticism of someone you trust.  Perhaps Bill has never been able to give that kind of feedback to Hillary--she is, after all, a Scorpio. :-)  

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

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by: Lev Raphael @ Sun May 25, 2008 at 17:06:34 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Deep Disappointment

"Then to have to see your coronation torn from you by someone just as talented than Bill (if not more so), and younger, and more dynamic--well, it can't be easy. No wonder she's making these gross mis-steps."

So very well said.  I deeply respected Hillary prior to the campaign heating up, and felt that she was more than qualified for the office of President--but just as her husband's personal psychic flaws left him vulnerable as a President, her psychic flaws brought her down during this campaign.  Her "willingness to say anything, do anything to win" (as so many others have pointed out) has so painfully disappointed me as a woman, a feminist, and a believer in ethics, that I absolutely understand Keith Olberman's fury in his commentary.

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by: kelleya1 @ Sun May 25, 2008 at 13:21:46 PM CDT