Clinton Criticizes Sanders for Running the Campaign She Ran in 2008
April 25, 2016

 
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In 2008, then Senator Hillary Clinton ran a campaign for president that looked very much like the Sanders campaign that she criticizes today. She questioned the “Super Delegate” system, took heat for her “weak stance on gun control” and “plan to ensure universal healthcare” (ie: the “mandate”), questioned her opponent’s qualifications to be president, and her rabid supporters… known as P.U.M.A.’s (“Party Unity, My Ass!”)… rejected calls for their candidate to drop out and instead, some in openly racist language, threatened to vote for John McCain before they’d vote for “secret Muslim Barack Hussein Obama“ (which, arguably, was invented by Hillary supporters, not Trump, who added in “place of birth” to justify the “secret Muslim” label), protesting right up until the Convention. Does any of this sound familiar? Does any of it sound worse? By May of that year, Hillary Clinton was behind in the polls and the calls for her to drop out “for the good of the Party” grew louder, yet she refused, continuing to question the “readiness” and inexperience of her opponent… lines of attack that were tailor-made for Obama’s rival should he win the nomination.

I was reminded last week listening to the radio that “in 2008, as many as 20% of Hillary Clinton’s supporters were vowing to vote for McCain if she were not the Party’s nominee. So I went “a’Googlin'” back to the 2008 race between her and Barack Obama… a race that most remember as being particularly nasty, even extending beyond the point Senator Obama officially locked up the Democratic nomination. (Mugsy’s Rap Sheet: “Recording history for those who seek to rewrite it”, dont’cha know?)

On Feb 5, 2008, twenty-four states and territories all held their Democratic primaries on the same day, including the big prize: California. Obama won 14 of the 24 but lost California (43% to 51%). He then went on to win 10-in-a-row and five of the next 12. By the end of May, calls for Clinton to drop out of the race… which began during her ten state losing streak in February… became even louder as the bruising primary battle between her and Senator Obama grew nastier by the day. People became concerned that the longer she dragged it out, she might end up hurting Barack Obama’s chances of winning in November. But Clinton was not about to concede.

Her refusal to drop out early raised a lot of eyebrows when on May 23, 2008, she cited the fact that “In 1968, Robert Kennedy was still running in June” when an assassin’s bullet took his life after winning the California Primary. Was Clinton suggesting she was staying in the race “just in case” the first ever likely black nominee for president were assassinated before November? It sure sounded like that to a lot of people and Clinton was forced to apologize. In all fairness, the upcoming 40th anniversary of RFK’s assassination was in the news a lot that week, and footage of RFK still competing for the nomination as late as June were being seen daily, so I never believed Clinton was suggesting she was staying on in anticipation that something terrible might happen to her opponent. But it WAS an early example of a tendency all Conservatives… including Hillary… share, and that is to speak/act without thinking about the consequences when it comes to pursuing their own self-interests (see: Iraq.) I refer you back to her questioning the “readiness” and inexperience of Obama without regard for how her own words might be used against him in the General should the “impossible” happen and she loses the nomination.

Some video from the 2008 campaign:
 

In 2008, Clinton was accused of being too deferential to the rights of gun owners and not the rights of victims of gun crime:


 

Clinton bemoaned the (ab)use of the “Super Delegate” system to portray Barack Obama as having a lead over her that he didn’t really have:


 

On June 3, 2008, Barack Obama officially locks up the Democratic nomination, yet Clinton refuses to concede:


 

Clinton campaign manager Terry McAuliffe publicly refuses to concede the nomination to Barack Obama after surpassing the Delegate threshold:


 
 

That whole “secret Muslim” thing didn’t originate with Donald Trump, it originated when the Clinton campaign mailed out this photo of Senator Obama dressed in ceremonial garb during a visit to Kenya (For what possible reason was this photo sent?):
 
 

Obama in Kenyan garb

 

Leading us to lovely people like this…

Co-Founder of Clinton’s PUMA’s makes racist claim to defend never voting for Obama

 

Clinton finally conceded the race to Obama four days later after meeting with him, endorsing him and encouraging her supporters to vote for the Democratic nominee, yet 17% of her supporters vowed to vote for the Republican nominee, questioning the readiness… and even the eligibility… of Obama to be president of the United States. Anything Sanders has said about HIS opponent (Hillary) pales in comparison to anything Hillary said & did to her opponent (Obama) in 2008.
 

Hillary Clinton has been attacking Bernie Sanders on the campaign trail, lobbing criticisms against him that were lobbed against HER in 2008. Repeated (false) attacks questioning the “qualifications” of her opponent (without regard for how those accusations could be used against the Democratic nominee if somehow she were to lose), with surrogates questioning for months if she were staying in the race beyond a point when most pundits were saying she “just can’t win” and therefor should “drop out for the good of the party”, and questioning the very same “Super Delegate” system she now defends. One of the very reasons I support Sanders over Clinton is his “consistency” of being right on the issues. The most consistent thing about Clinton (and Trump) is her “inconsistency“.

I’ve been pointing out this past week that prior to the New York Primary, Sanders had won seven of the previous eight contests, and that his “loss” in New York looked like this:
 

2016 NY Primary results

 

To me, that looks like a “pocket win” for Bernie.
 

Five states will be holding their primaries tomorrow/Tuesday (with Pennsylvania being the big prize). The Media is already putting their thumb on the scale predicting a Clinton sweep that would make a Sanders comeback all but impossible (So why even bother showing up, right?)

But keep in mind the above clips. The hypocrisy is stunning. The only thing Hillary Clinton has been consistent on is her willingness to throw her fellow Democrats under the bus if they come between her and the presidency. Her “Scorched Earth” style of politics might be an asset in the General against a Republican opponent, but eventually the campaign is over and you have to work with those you worked so hard to destroy.
 
 

And, as an added bonus from yesterday:


 

I believe this is exactly what Bernie warned us about. Clinton is the Conservative’s favorite Democrat.

 

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April 25, 2016 · Admin Mugsy · One Comment - Add
Posted in: Election, myth busting, Politics, rewriting history

One Response

  1. Admin Mugsy - May 12, 2016

    I remind you…

    In 2008, when Hillary was behind by about 150 Delegates, she made the case that Pledged Delegates didn’t have to vote for the front-runner… not even on the first ballot:
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/10/hillary-clinton-pledged-d_n_90697.html

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