In her own words without comment from me:
And today, I would like to more fully answer the question I was asked: Why do I continue to run, even in the face of calls from pundits and politicians for me to leave this race?
I am running because I still believe I can win on the merits. Because, with our economy in crisis, our nation at war, the stakes have never been higher – and the need for real leadership has never been greater – and I believe I can provide that leadership.
I am not unaware of the challenges or the odds of my securing the nomination – but this race remains extraordinarily close, and hundreds of thousands of people in upcoming primaries are still waiting to vote. As I have said so many times over the course of this primary, if Sen. Obama wins the nomination, I will support him and work my heart out for him against John McCain. But that has not happened yet.
I am running because I believe staying in this race will help unite the Democratic Party. I believe that if Sen. Obama and I both make our case – and all Democrats have the chance to make their voices heard – in the end, everyone will be more likely to rally around the nominee.
I am running because my parents did not raise me to be a quitter – and too many people still come up to me at my events, grip my arm and urge me not to walk away before this contest is over. More than 17 million Americans have voted for me in this race – the most in presidential primary history.
I am running for all those women in their 90s who’ve told me they were born before women could vote, and they want to live to see a woman in the White House. For all the women who are energized for the first time, and voting for the first time. For the little girls – and little boys – whose parents lift them onto their shoulders at our rallies, and whisper in their ears, “See, you can be anything you want to be.” As the first female candidate in this position, I believe I have a responsibility to finish this race.
I am running for all the men and women I meet who wake up every day and work hard to make a difference for their families. People who deserve a shot at the American Dream – the chance to save for college, a home and retirement; to afford quality health care for their families; to fill the gas tank and buy the groceries with a little left over each month.
I believe I won a 40-point victory two weeks ago in West Virginia and a 35-point victory in Kentucky this past week – despite voters being repeatedly told this race is over – because I’m standing up for them. I’m standing up for the deepest principles of our party and for an America that values the middle class and rewards hard work.
Finally, I am running because I believe I’m the strongest candidate to stand toe-to-toe with Sen. McCain. Delegate math might be complicated – but electoral math is not. Our campaign is winning the popular vote – and we’ve been winning the swing states we need to get 270 electoral votes and take back the White House: Pennsylvania, Ohio, Arkansas, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, Michigan, Florida and West Virginia.
What say you?
lets’ lead off with former President Jimmy Carter
Hillary defeated herself. Hillary got 9 days and not nine lives.
Who knew Hillary would model her campaign after the Energizer bunny? The only way I can listen to her anymore is to picture her in a fuzzy pink suit with floppy ears and a damn drum.
Yeah, that’s what I’ve been calling her too. An Energizer bunny hoping that Obama will be assassinated so she can win the nomination no less.
“I am running because I still believe I can win…. I believe I can provide that leadership.”
Almost all of the people have spoken, and the majority of them do not agree with you. To be fair, it’s only a slight majority. To be fairer, you started off as the presumptive nominee and then after Iowa, people started rallying around Obama. Of course you believe you can provide presidential leadership, or you wouldn’t be running. But to believe you can win? Now? How? You are clearly out of touch with reality.
“If Sen. Obama wins the nomination, I will support him and work my heart out for him against John McCain.” What a refreshing change from the months of free campaigning you did FOR McCain against Obama.
“I am running because I believe staying in this race
will help unite the Democratic Party.”
I might believe you if you hadn’t so successfully turned your strategy into a matter of Black & White, Man & Woman. If you cared about uniting, you would have done as Edwards did and spoke out preemptively against racism (and sexism!), saying that if someone is only voting for you because you are white or you are a woman, you don’t want their vote.
“I believe that if Sen. Obama and I both make our case – and all Democrats have the chance to make their voices heard – in the end, everyone will be more likely to rally around the nominee.”
I’ll cede this one to you – but you know damn well the only reason it would be controversial if the party shouted you off the stage now is because you’ve made it a goddamned civil rights issue, when in fact it is your self-absorbed political motivations keeping you in so long.
“I am running because my parents did not raise me to be a quitter…. As the first female candidate in this position, I believe I have a responsibility to finish this race.”
God forbid one accept a loss gracefully. You are setting a horrible example for young women – the kind of macho toughness that some women think they have to adopt in order to beat men at their own game. I’d give you my copy of the Tao te ching if I thought you’d read it: “the softest thing overcomes the hardest thing”. Obama had been gentle, and you’ve mocked him as weak.
“I am running for all the men and women I meet who wake up every day and work hard to make a difference for their families.”
Yes… because Obama is only helping the wealthy and welfare moms? Huh?
“I believe I won a 40-point victory two weeks ago in West Virginia and a 35-point victory in Kentucky this past week because I’m standing up for them.”
With NAFTA? With pandering? With smear campaigns?
“Finally, I am running because I believe I’m the strongest candidate to stand toe-to-toe with Sen. McCain.”
Sadly, the popular vote and the delegate vote do not support your belief.
Good lord. All this is doing is casting further doubt on Obama. A few months ago, I was excited by HRCs campaign – even though I’ve been anti-DLC & Clintons for years, I was just thrilled that in my lifetime a woman might be president. But now any comraderie I felt with Hillary Clinton is replaced with embarrassment. I want a leader who can say “I’m sorry” or “I messed up”. The blustering bullshit of “I did not have sex with…” was never as bad as WMD, of course… but I’m ready for a politician who is also able to be human, speak frankly, and admit mistakes. It takes real strength to be vulnerable, and as an independent-minded woman, I know I’ve often confused strength with toughness…. It takes the most strength to be soft.
OK, this is long and horribly formatted! I moved it to a diary.
As a comment or a diary, it’s excellent.
She still is. Just the other day, she was encouraging Florida Democrats to vote for John McCain in November because Obama’s trying to disenfranchise them. The level of duplicity here is staggering.
What?! Can you give me a link?
That’s horrible… I thought she’d been taking “higher ground” (which for her, means talking about possible assassinations but at least not talking about supporting McCain).
I suspect this might be the comment:
From this speech.
Ah! Thank you, that’s the one. Of course, it’s an old rhetorical trick. “Oh, they’ll say this. I’m totally not saying this. But they will, trust me. And they’ll be right. I’m not saying it, mind you…”
ugh, gag me with a [silver, totally not elitist, ivy-league-educated-but-gun-toting-and-booze-swilling] spoon.
Urgh. Nope, of course, I forgot to bookmark it. I think it was in a diary over at the Orange Place, but I can’t find it using the search feature now.
recently a friend made a comment about hillary’s campaign that, in so many words, expressed this sentiment:
at the time l thought it rather interesting, especially coming from a woman…so l used the google…source
pretty well sums it up.
Bullshit. Hillary’s no more two-faced than most politicians…. which is why I support Obama. It’s time for a change from the usual.
no offense intended.
but it’s an apt observation…l found it interesting because of the source, a woman l’ve known for many years, who’s more politically savvy and involved than most other people l know…l always pay attention when she says things, and this one stuck in my mind, as it was uncharacteristically harsh.
rhlisa’s recent diary triggered the memory, so appently she’s not the only one who’s voicing this opinion.
hillary has taken political duplicity to extremes.
I think the remark is sexist. It’s not just referring to Hillary, but to all women. And it doesn’t matter that the source is a woman.
Leslie, I agree that the remark is sexist. It really aggravates me to hear sexist language being used, especially when it’s almost right in the case of Hillary. For example, the phrase: “that bitch needs to shut the fuck up” makes my skin crawl. While I in fact feel that HRC’s behavior has been bitchy at best, and I would also like her to step out and shut up… I still can’t stand to dismiss her with the same language used unfairly to dismiss women as a group or a type. …In the same way that my skin would crawl if someone called a particular black person who was both poorly educated and obnoxious “an ignorant n**“.
Dada, I’m not accusing you or your friend of being sexist or meaning the phrase this way – just explaining why I strongly object to the phrase.
Dada, I didn’t mean to imply you were sexist or accuse you of that either.
She’d better hit the bricks the morning after the last primary. Even then I am utterly committed to seeing her defeated in her 2012 Senatorial primary, even if that mean that I have to move to New York to run against her – one carpetbagger can take down another.
I really really hope she loses gracefully on June 3rd. Why do I have this feeling she’ll make the whole thing as horrible as possible?
You have that horrible feeling because Hillary keeps saying she’ll take this past June all the way to the nomination. It doesn’t matter that the odds are against her, that she’s dividing the Democratic party and embittering her supporters, that she’s encouraging voters to go with McSame by saying he’s more viable and experienced than Obama, and that the DNC is low on funds to take on McSame as long as Democrats are focused on her, etc. Doesn’t matter that Clinton just announced she’s hoping Obama will be assassinated so she can win….
Nope, it doesn’t matter.
Eeblet,
Cute name by the way…
What I want to know Eeblet, is when are the so-called Super delegates going to do their super thing and support our likely nominee????
At this point, thanks to Hillary’s horribly manipulative statements of victimhood, I think the best thing the supers can do is keep slowly turning support to Obama until June 3rd, at which point they can say “look, the people have spoken!” and all pitch in their support. And then MI & FL can be seated however and it won’t matter.
oh, and eeblet has been my handle since I was 14 (13 years ago) – it’s my initials and then a diminutive. 🙂 (My full name is “Elizabeth Ellen Budwig”.)
Pleased to meet you Elizabeth Ellen Budwig. I’m Leslie Brenner. 🙂
You can call me Beth. 🙂
Nice jewelry page!
OK Beth. Thank you!
What say I? She’s delusional. A lot of others have said it, too. She’s wound up as tight as a top. I hope for her sake she doesn’t explode. I might not want her as my President, but I certainly don’t want her enemies to see her have a nervous breakdown.
HA! A grave omission indeed.
And I’ve lived and breathed the expectation for 16 years…and I’ve taken millions of dollars on that promise.
Uh huh. Sure, Hillary. You forgot the big asterisk (*) at the end of that, where you refer readers to three paragraphs of convoluted math, exclusion of caucus states and inclusion of unrecognized straw polls where you “won” on name recognition alone.
Yup, well said.
I say she is an arrogant @^$%& and needs to stop lying to herself and the world and get the hell out of the race.
it’s a very well written statement.
Well-written but full of lies and half-truths.
But, that’s what it takes to be a successful politician in today’s America. To be able to lie, half lie, evade truth with great dexterity and skill. How do you believe any of these prevaricators?
You know, I react to the phrase “Why Hillary’s still in it” the same way I react to the phrase “Why there are still spiders in my kitchen.” I’m not really so concerned about the why of it as getting them out, and the sooner the better.
As Huffington’s David Rees wrote, Why should Hillary quit now before Obama is assassinated? June is a great month for assassinations, and Obama has consistently failed to win over those voters who want him assassinated.
It has 2130 Digg’s on it already.
I think it’s worth emphasizing something here: there would be no problem with Hillary continuing to campaign if she were doing so in a tasteful, positive manner. It’s her right to see the process through to the end. At the same time, it’s utterly unacceptable for her to be engaging in negative campaigning, dividing the party, and tearing down the presumptive nominee. That’s not the actions of a Democratic candidate, that’s the actions of a Republican operative. And that’s unacceptable.
Excellent point – and an incredibly obvious one… that’s lacking from the MSM discourse. Suuuurrrprise!
If Hillary gets out, who is going to represent the assassins?Don’t you think assassins need representation,too?
Only a person with testicular fortitude can represent the assassins.That means Hillary.
And,finally,regardless of which one,Hillary or McCain, wins, Bush can be sure of a pardon.That is the reason for staying in until Barack is assassinated.
Now go play solitaire like Mama Clinton Lansbury taught you.
Not only no problem, it’s actually a positive contribution. The fact that she hasn’t dropped out has made it a fifty-state primary, which has energized the state Democratic parties of all 50 states.
Unfortunately, Hillary and the forces she represents have always been opposed to the 50-state strategy, and the fact that she wants to go on to the bitter end is inextricably tied to the horrible way she’s run her campaign. So on her side you cannot separate the two. In other words, from her point of view (if she were honest) she would have to say she’s been forced to go on to the bitter end by the fact that the campaign didn’t turn out to be the walk-through she expected. Nevertheless, if she dropped out, the subsequent primaries would have been less energizing to the respective state parties.
I say she is running because she wants desperately to be President.
That’s it.
The end.
This is priceless:
http://headofstate.blogspot.com/2008/05/vice-presidential-candidate-clinton.html
She’s an evil amoral woman with no conscience, and a huge sense of entitlement. She actually thought she was ENTITLED to be PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES because she let that man pubicly humiliate her.
I don’t think so.