Master Yoda:

Please stop the Hillary hate. I was pretty dismayed to hear that folks at the Obama-Edwards event yesterday started booing at the mention of Hillary. The same attitude continues on many TPM blogs and comments.

Surely your keen perceptiveness would recognize that in a room full of Obama supporters - who took off from normal activities to be in a cramped room, would display emotion, would they not? Do they represent the typical Obama supporter? Doubtful. In fact, they are whipped up into a frenzy like any studio audience for the theatrics they provide!

And why do you perpetuate the belief that those people who oppose Hillary hate her?

This is sort of the odd received wisdom that gets whipped up on boards here.

I didn't want to see the Clintons anywhere near the White House. I can make all kinds of remarks concerning their inappropriate behavior, their pandering, their disingenuous platform, and a host of other issues that are reality based.

Does that mean I hate them?

No.

It's not hate. It's tough love, it's silly season, and we are having our fun. Good old American political humor fun, à la Mark Twain.

I differentiate between the clintons and the voters. Up with voters! Unity for voters. Help for voters! Healing for voters!

These voters are in the middle of a grief reaction. It takes time to grieve. Time to let go. And sometimes grieving involves anger. We need to be patient with that.

But as for the clintons themselves, they have some serious fence mending to do. Bridges to rebuild. We simply don't know what hillary will do, once she takes stock of things. How does she want to spend her life? What really matters to her? To them? We'll ahve to wait and see.

There's a reason I don't like the Clintons, I have no respect for them, I'm living the Bush elections over again by talking to her supporters and ending up utterly disgusted by the lack of rationality and decency.

It's ok because the race is over. Let it go.

Good advice which I will do my best to follow.

So I now make the following pledge:

I will not say anything bad about Hillary anymore so long as she refrains from saying anything bad about Obama or anything stupid about "hard-working white voters."

I will not say anything bad about the 99 percent of Hillary supporters who backed her because they honestly believed she was the best candidate. I will do my best to recognize they are not happy now, give them time to grieve and be as nice to them as I can. (As trite as this sounds, some of them are even my friends.)

I will make no such pledge when it comes to the likes of Mark Penn, Lanny Davis, Terry McAuliffe and Howard Wolfson who made a lot of money spreading cynical lies and Orwellian double-talk. They neither reflect nor represent Clinton's volunteers and supporters, the Obama campaign does not need them to win in November, and their absence from the electoral scene would only improve our democracy.

Glad I got that off my chest. Now, time to be a grown up and be nice.

A serious post by the little green puppet? Another bizarro day at TPM...

The first step is admitting you hate Hillary.

personally i think the average OBAMA person on this site is extremely insulting. i also think many of us could care less about how, because you think you need us, you want to make nice and sing kum by ya. there will be enough of us out here who are moderates and deeply resentlful who are so not interested in your new found kiss and make up tactics. you will figure that out soon enough.

the democratic party has pissed off many women, even african american women, not just feminists... for a truly long time. you will not get my money nor vote for a very, very long time.

because your arrogant pompous olive branch is out of necessity not sincerity

I'm perfectly happy to see Hillary finish out the race. The only thing that really bothers me about her right now is that she keeps pumping her supporters for more cash donations, based on some rather magical ideas about winning the nomination.

bush's policy's are not hurting me. i was a conservative dem who as an african american felt she would never vote republican. i can deal with mccain for 4 to 8 years economically.

as far as roe V wade i heard a funny poster who said something that had a tinge of truth. poor people bitter whites typically have their kids it's the elites who are more concerned with the abortion option.

i strongly believe in divided government and have NO interest in the liberal/progressive side of the house making policy for this nation. i prefer the middle ground. as it appears the dems will take the house and senate in a landslide. john mccain will not be able to do much so i am comfortable with my answer. i am as concerned with OBAMA's foreign policy's lack of experience as mccain's over zelousness. as i said MIDDLE GROUND is best for the counrty and the world.

Has it occurred to anyone that there may be a reason Obama supporters are angry and frustrated? Could it be that we strongly support our candidate too, and the vicious attacks against Obama, his wife, and his supporters are hurtful? Could it be that Obama supporters don't understand, and are frustrated when Hillary supporters can't seem to accept that we strongly believe that the game was played fair and square by Obama - but that Hillary seems to want to change the rules practically every day? I hear a whole lot about how awful Obama supporters are - but I have seen some of the most heartbreaking, shocking, terrible statements out of Hillary supporters; statements that I can hardly believe would come out the mouths of Democrats. Hillary supporters are not innocent. They have played an equal role in the hard feelings. AdAbsurdum is exactly right - there have been times that Obama supporters have tried to extend a hand in peace and reconciliation - only to have that hand slapped away. Michelle Bociurkiw's comment:

"because your arrogant pompous olive branch is out of necessity not sincerity"

illustrates my point exactly. Michelle - how can you expect anyone to feel sincere about extending an olive branch when this is the response?

I'm not saying that Obama supporters are innocent either - they aren't. In order for reconciliation to take place, I think that BOTH sides need to recognize their own responsibility for the divisions and resentments. As Hillary herself said: it would be an unbelievable tragedy for all Americans if the anger and resentment was held so strongly that Democrats would actually vote for McCain as revenge for their candidate losing the nomination in a contest that was waged fair and square and by the rules that all parties agreed to in the beginning. We truly are at a pivotal moment in history. I think many of us will agree that in order to overcome the challenges we face: restoring our civil liberties, stopping torture and spying, preventing our country from going bankrupt, preventing extreme right-wing supreme court judges being appointed and overturning Roe v. Wade, bringing a halt to the shameful tragedy of Iraq, addressing climate change, and rebuilding the middle-class in this country......to do these things we MUST have a Democrat sworn in as President in January 2009. I wish to urge Hillary supporters to please think of these very important issues before casting a revenge vote that could potentially give the presidency to McCain.

I'm willing to forgive and forget. In the interests of this country, in the interests of the world, and in the interests of future generations. Can you forgive and forget? Will you?

because hilliary is much more moderate than OBAMA. period dot

PJ...you're a lot smarter than the rest of the herd you run with.

period dot lol

it means the end of my point. end of story... lol

During the Primaries the rhetoric has gotten heated on both sides. To the Obamaniacs- be gracious. To the Clintonistas - do the right thing. George Bush has been an unqualified disaster for this country. Continuation of his policies vis-a-vis McCain would put us into the dark ages.

Everyone has to decide what is going to be the best for our children. If you make the wrong decision they will want to know why.

i guess there are more than just a hundred of us females out here who are willing to walk out on the democrats...like i said above no more money, no more volunteering and no more voting for their candidates. women FAR outnumber the african american voting block. period dot! ;-)

Women Threaten Obama Boycott
May 15, 2008 5:04 PM

FROM GUEST-BLOGGER RICK KLEIN, OF ABC'S THE NOTE

I've posted a few times in the last two days about female supporters of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton who are angry -- at the Democratic Party, at the Obama campaign, or at the general situation that sees their candidate facing tough times, in their view, in part because of sexism.

Just talked to a 55-year-old Columbus, Ohio resident named Cynthia Ruccia, a spokesperson and organizer for a group calling itself "Clinton Supporters Count Too." She said the group -- numbering in the hundreds, and organized in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Michigan -- stands ready to boycott the Democratic Party if Clinton doesn't win the nomination, and will work against superdelegates who support Obama over Clinton as a means of registering their displeasure with the party.

"We have a plan to campaign against the Democratic nominee," the group said in a press release Thursday. "We have the (wo)manpower and the money to make our threat real. And there are millions of supporters who will back us up in the swing states. If you don’t listen to our voice now, you will hear from us later."

Ruccia tells ABC News that she believes "millions" of women share her group's views, though they have only begun to make contact with like-minded women. They're disgusted, she said, that Democratic Party leaders haven't more aggressively denounced sexist media comments and coverage in the campaign, and are angry at the drumbeat for Clinton to get out of the race.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/05/women-threaten.html?cid=114843030

i make my own decisions. this is more than about hilliary clinton. this is about women who have worked tirelessly for this party for years. WE ARE THE MAJORITY OF THE PARTY. this campaign disrespected me as a woman. that is enough for me to let them know we will not stand for this level of disrepect. all i have is my voice and i will not give it to a group with so little respect for women.

So far I haven't heard any concrete point on how Obama's campaign has been sexist. Not one.

I know that members of the media, like Chris Matthews have made some ill-advised statements and Keith Olberman doesn't like Hillary but those are not related to the campaign. People on the Obama side also feel they have been wronged by the abc debate and extremely excessive coverage of Rev. Wright. But again that's the media and neither campaign control that. Ratings control that, it's the holy grail for them. They piss off people on all sides.

How big of you.... now that you realize you need us.

From Politico:

Clinton backer backlash

My colleague Beth Frerking reports on something we're likely to hear a lot more about in coming days: Grumblings from the almost-half of the party, disproportionately women, whose candidate is losing.

An Ohio-based group of Democratic Hillary Clinton supporters say they’ll work actively against Sen. Barack Obama if he becomes the nominee, arguing that Clinton has been the subject of “intense sexism” by party leaders and the media.

Led by Boomer-aged women, the group, Clinton Supporters Count Too, is holding a press conference in Columbus at noon to release this statement.

Organizers Cynthia Ruccia, 55, and Jamie Dixey, 57, both from the Columbus area, say they’re coordinating women, men, minorities, union members and others in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida and Michigan – all important swing states next November – to impress upon Democratic party leaders what they think has been outright discrimination – and not of the racial kind.

“We have been vigilant against expressions of racism, and we are thrilled that the society has advanced that way” in accepting Obama as a serious candidate,” Ruccia said. “But it’s been open season on women, and we feel we need to stand up and make a statement about that, because it’s wrong.”

With growing calls for Clinton to leave the race, she said, women feel like “we’re being told to sit down, shut up, and get with the program.”

Hard to know what to make of any given group, but the sentiment is clearly out there, and putting the party back together will be Obama's, and Clinton's, challenge.

Oh, and they're doing O'Reilly tonight, of course.

Also from Politico:

Misogyny I Won't Miss

By Marie Cocco
Thursday, May 15, 2008; Page A15

As the Democratic nomination contest slouches toward a close, it's time to take stock of what I will not miss.

I will not miss seeing advertisements for T-shirts that bear the slogan "Bros before Hos." The shirts depict Barack Obama (the Bro) and Hillary Clinton (the Ho) and are widely sold on the Internet.

I will not miss walking past airport concessions selling the Hillary Nutcracker, a device in which a pantsuit-clad Clinton doll opens her legs to reveal stainless-steel thighs that, well, bust nuts. I won't miss television and newspaper stories that make light of the novelty item.

I won't miss episodes like the one in which liberal radio personality Randi Rhodes called Clinton a "big [expletive] whore" and said the same about former vice presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro. Rhodes was appearing at an event sponsored by a San Francisco radio station, before an audience of appreciative Obama supporters -- one of whom had promoted the evening on the presumptive Democratic nominee's official campaign Web site.

I won't miss Citizens United Not Timid (no acronym, please), an anti-Clinton group founded by Republican guru Roger Stone.

Political discourse will at last be free of jokes like this one, told last week by magician Penn Jillette on MSNBC: "Obama did great in February, and that's because that was Black History Month. And now Hillary's doing much better 'cause it's White Bitch Month, right?" Co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski rebuked Jillette.

I won't miss political commentators (including National Public Radio political editor Ken Rudin and Andrew Sullivan, the columnist and blogger) who compare Clinton to the Glenn Close character in the movie "Fatal Attraction." In the iconic 1987 film, Close played an independent New York woman who has an affair with a married man played by Michael Douglas. When the liaison ends, the jilted woman becomes a deranged, knife-wielding stalker who terrorizes the man's blissful suburban family. Message: Psychopathic home-wrecker, begone.

The airwaves will at last be free of comments that liken Clinton to a "she-devil" (Chris Matthews on MSNBC, who helpfully supplied an on-screen mock-up of Clinton sprouting horns). Or those who offer that she's "looking like everyone's first wife standing outside a probate court" (Mike Barnicle, also on MSNBC).

But perhaps it is not wives who are so very problematic. Maybe it's mothers. Because, after all, Clinton is more like "a scolding mother, talking down to a child" (Jack Cafferty on CNN).

When all other images fail, there is one other I will not miss. That is, the down-to-the-basics, simplest one: "White women are a problem, that's -- you know, we all live with that" (William Kristol of Fox News).

I won't miss reading another treatise by a man or woman, of the left or right, who says that sexism has had not even a teeny-weeny bit of influence on the course of the Democratic campaign. To hint that sexism might possibly have had a minimal role is to play that risible "gender card."

Most of all, I will not miss the silence.

I will not miss the deafening, depressing silence of Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean or other leading Democrats, who to my knowledge (with the exception of Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland) haven't publicly uttered a word of outrage at the unrelenting, sex-based hate that has been hurled at a former first lady and two-term senator from New York. Among those holding their tongues are hundreds of Democrats for whom Clinton has campaigned and raised millions of dollars. Don Imus endured more public ire from the political class when he insulted the Rutgers University women's basketball team.

Would the silence prevail if Obama's likeness were put on a tap-dancing doll that was sold at airports? Would the media figures who dole out precious face time to these politicians be such pals if they'd compared Obama with a character in a blaxploitation film? And how would crude references to Obama's sex organs play?

There are many reasons Clinton is losing the nomination contest, some having to do with her strategic mistakes, others with the groundswell for "change." But for all Clinton's political blemishes, the darker stain that has been exposed is the hatred of women that is accepted as a part of our culture.

Marie Cocco is syndicated by the Washington Post Writers Group.

Nope. Not a chance.

And before I begin, I just want to say how much I hate people throwing out 'misogyny' whenever Hillary is criticized. People dislike her not because she's a woman, but because she is such a duplicitous, untrustworthy human being, gender irrespective.

That being said, she--AND BILL, for that matter--have earned the animus and disdain of Obama supporters, such as myself. Playing the race card--SC, 'hard working, white Americans'--is despicable, the kind of bald-faced lying represented by her deliberate manufacturing of the Bosnia story, her Republicanesque tactics of trying to disenfranchise NV voters and discredit the TX results, the list goes on and on. She has mercilessly, cold-bloodedly attacked Barack, TRYING to make him unelectable, because she can't stand that her own dream is going down the gutter, and she cannot accept defeat.

She does not deserve our forgiveness. She deserves to lose and to get kicked out of the Senate in 2012.

Fuck her. And fuck Bill. Chelsea's the only decent person in that family.

Obama '08.
Obama '12.

I have to admit the biggest grievance I bear for Hillary Clinton is how she courted and won the approval of Richard Melon Scaife, the architect of the Arkansas Project. Shortly after this episode, the Jeremiah Wright scandal broke, and the mainstream media put on its outrage mask and engaged in color aroused politics 24/7 for an entire month.

The Scaife-funded Arkansas Project helped start and fan the flames of Whitewater, Troopergate, Filegate, the Vince Foster murder allegation, rumors of Clinton drug smuggling, and a host of smears that resounded on all levels of public discourse.

So, the fact is that Hillary Clinton made bedfellows with the people that she tells us plebes she is going to "fight." That, combined with her dangerous foreign policy, soured me to her candidacy.

Will bygones be bygones? Of course. Am I a mysoginst because I have specific valid reasons for opposing her candidacy> Of course not. Am I an Obamabot? Definitely not.

What chaps my ass about this whole Democratic Primary is that both sides have gone out of their way to criticise candidates because of their supporters... neglecting the fact that by and large all of these supporters belong to the same party! I have always limited my arguments to the individual I am talking to, or criticisng the candidates themselves. I refuse to wallow in ad hominem prejudice because it gets my outrage flowing.

I don't like to see Obamabot, Obamaton, or Kool Aid used in relation to Obama supporters. We are real people with deep thoughts and volitional consciousness. There is no reason to so deeply dehumanize people by calling them cultists or cogs in a well-oiled propoganda machine. I find these insults reprehensible above all else because it smacks of the darkest places of human nature. When you render someone or a group as less than human, inferior and animal, you open the door for inquisitional practice.

Those insults are not cute or clever. They betray a monstrous intent. Treat Obama supporters as human beings. I will do my part by continiung to engage anyone, even trolls, as people. This is the golden rule; the law of reciprocity.

Physician, heal thyself.

As the Buddha said over 2,500 years ago: "You can't give offense to anyone unwilling to take it." (note the active nature of the transitive verb "to take.") No one can give me any offense because I won't let them. And I expect the same refusal to take self-interested umbrage from others.

Senator You-Know-Her has made quite a point of publicly impugning Senator Obama's "toughness." Fair enough. Yet now that he has proven tough enough to beat her and her three testicles (as her attack dog James Carville says) with only one of his own, it seems less than tough of her and her supporters to start suing for sympathy while simultaneously hurling the "mysogyny" epithet at the ostensibly "weak" Senator Obama and his supporters.

Again, though, when and if You-Know-Her publicly acknowledges her defeat at the hands of "a better man," then I'll start calling her by her given and paternal/married names, because soon enough now the phrase "you know her" will only elicit puzzled looks and the rejoinder "no, I don't." Not for nothing do I call amnesiac America "The Land that Forgot Time." So, Senator You-Know-Her had better enjoy her last few fleeting moments strutting and fretting upon the stage, because oblivion awaits poor players whose one-act political life closes on opening night.

It is customary for the losing coach in a lopsided game to sue for mercy by sending a concession signal to the other team -- such as substituting for his starting players. If instead the defeated coach sends out his goons to slash at the wrists or kneecaps of the stars on the winning team, it is the obligation of the winning coach to discourage his opponents. After all, he needs his best players healthy for the finals.

"Please stop the Hillary hate... It's ok because the race is over."

I have no reason to stop hating Hillary. But I'll stop talking about it when she and her sleaze-team stop spewing BS.

lefty, i am a little confused as to why you feel obama supporters must kiss your hiney in order for you cast that vote for obama. hrc supporters are equally mean if not more vile in my eyes. to add insult to injury i find hrc as vile as her supporters, but no way in hell would i cast that vote for mccain over hrc simply b/c her stance on the issues are more aligned with my views.

as far as whether or not either candidate will follow through? well, we take that chance every time we vote in a new candidate. i am willing to give obama that chance, you are not. like hrc, your stance is "my way or the highway".

lets make a truce, i would graciously accept your vote for obama if you simultaneously apologize for all nasty hrc supporters and your candidate's ungracious attitude while i do my best to do the same. until then, please do not play with anyone's intelligence by pretending you ever had any intention of casting that vote for obama.

it is a democracy and you are free to vote for mccain or write in hrc. that kind of wishy washy support obama can do without b/c when the republicans unite full force behind them, we do not want further erosion within our ranks from the likes of you defecting to the other side. that is what hurt hrc the most. her base is not solidly behind her. when she is in trouble, they run to obama like bees to honey. so far, obama has had no such erosion. those of us who made a conscience decision to stand by him did so conviction and proper thought.

again, no umbrage intended towards hrc supporter's but the education level and the age spread of obama's supporters is a great benefit and will aid in our success in november. being able to understand that mccain is the other side and no matter what obama or hrc will be better than more of bush's policies is fundamental to success.

when the going gets tough and the republicans start to swiftboat hrc, i wager you would drop hrc like a hot potato and race to mccain's side. she and obama share almost the same exact stance on the policies. if that can't sway you, then neither hrc nor obama need your shaky support.

gracious thank you...

Whenever I hear people bitching about the supporters as opposed to the candidate, I think people need to start using their heads. The guy who wrote that all the Obama supporters need to come up with effusive apologies? He's not paying sufficient attention to what actually makes differences in the world.

The mood and perspective of an organization trickles down from the top. I see much divisiveness in these Clinton supporters who intend to not vote or support McCain with the hopes of subverting our Democratic candidate. It has flowed down and permeated their political views.

BTW if Hillary and her supporters allow the Repubs to win out of spitefullness she will take a huge hit politically and not have a chance in future elections of the Democratic party.

What the heck, I am happy to make nice with Clinton supporters (at least most of them) and if I have said anything to offend them I apologize. Unreservedly, at that. I have been regularly appalled at the fratricidal lunacy on the blogs and if I have contributed to it I really am sorry for it.

On a brief note of substantive rebuttal to a common argument made on this thread, however, I am totally lost as to how Clinton is the "moderate" in this race and Obama is the "lefty" or "radical" or "extremist." There is not a hair's bredth of difference between them on the issues. The one point of substantive difference between them - mandate or no mandate in the health care plans - puts Clinton to Obama's left (albeit only by millimeters). There simply is no cogent argument by which Clinton can be styled more "moderate" than Obama.

I Agree. I saw a lot of calls after NC/IN by Obama supporters to switch into party unity mode, and it seems like that has been largely ignored. Cut the negativity out. All of Sen. Clinton's TV ads are apparently positive and make no mention of Obama. The gloves are on. The party must be united. Act accordingly.

Dear Hillary Supporters,

Please be aware that there are many, many GOP brownshirts out there online trying to ratf**k the democratic primary by posing as misogynist Obama supporters. They want you to feel disillusioned about the democratic party. They want you to feel bitter. They want you to blame Obama and his supporters.

Don't give them the satisfaction.