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You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2008 / McGovern Calls on Clinton to Quit

McGovern Calls on Clinton to Quit

by Michael D.|  May 7, 200810:45 am| 30 Comments

This post is in: Election 2008

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Via a commenter, this:

Former Sen. George McGovern, who backed Hillary Rodham Clinton, is urging her to drop out of the Democratic presidential race.

McGovern said Wednesday he has decided to endorse Barack Obama.

After watching the returns from the North Carolina and Indiana primaries Tuesday night, McGovern says it’s virtually impossible for Clinton to win the nomination.

The only surprise here is that, unlike the rest of us, he had to wait til he saw last night’s results to make that connection.

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Reader Interactions

30Comments

  1. 1.

    Cassidy

    May 7, 2008 at 10:48 am

    I guess he doesn’t count now.

  2. 2.

    rob!

    May 7, 2008 at 10:54 am

    McGovern = elitist.

  3. 3.

    Incertus

    May 7, 2008 at 10:58 am

    Well, McGovern backed Dean in 2004, IIRC, so he probably wanted to wait to see how this one turned out before making a statement. It’s not like he was ever going to have much of an effect.

  4. 4.

    Josh E.

    May 7, 2008 at 10:59 am

    I’d kind of prefer if someone other than George McGovern was taking the lead on this, considering that Obama=McGovern is the new black for Hillbots.

  5. 5.

    Dreggas

    May 7, 2008 at 10:59 am

    Heh. This morning on the Conference Call with the Clinton Campaign they were stressing that she is more electable because of her gains with the “WHITE VOTE” in South Carolina.

    Yes people, the logic has come down to “Only Hillary can win white votes” and the implicit argument that Obama can’t win because he is BLACK.

  6. 6.

    Jorge

    May 7, 2008 at 11:10 am

    It really is amazing that Hillary supporters have been throwing McGovern’s name around like an insult for the past few months.

    There is a large part of me that wishes Hillary will push this hard and be a complete jerk about it. The best thing for Obama is to have Hillary dragged awayed in a straight jacket clawing and kicking. With the Clinton’s completely out of the picture, he can emerge as the new, undisputed leader of the elected wing of the Democratic party.

    The idea of the Obama/Dean vision forming the basis of a new Democratic ruling coalition is awesome.

  7. 7.

    Svensker

    May 7, 2008 at 11:32 am

    Dreggas Says:

    Heh. This morning on the Conference Call with the Clinton Campaign they were stressing that she is more electable because of her gains with the “WHITE VOTE” in South Carolina.

    Yes people, the logic has come down to “Only Hillary can win white votes” and the implicit argument that Obama can’t win because he is BLACK.

    I was just over at Taylor Marsh (WTF?!) where she has a big article up about how Obama is friends with the BLACK governor of Massachusetts, and THAT BLACK GUY was all hat and not cattle, and therefore OBAMA is all hat and no cattle, too!!!!! Becuz, you know, those black guys who went to Ivy League schools? All alike!

    Downthread, I opined we should go for the reconciliation angle, very much based on orogeny’s graciousness. Based on the posts at TalkLeft and TM, it may behoove us, however, to limit the reconciliation pool members.

  8. 8.

    Grand Moff Texan

    May 7, 2008 at 11:39 am

    Is your name Michael Diamond?
    .

  9. 9.

    BFR

    May 7, 2008 at 11:39 am

    Based on the posts at TalkLeft and TM, it may behoove us, however, to limit the reconciliation pool members.

    I was perusing TalkLeft this morning to see the reactions – it’s pretty predictable (hanging onto the ‘tiebreaker’ comment from Obama, etc) but there are a number of folks who are starting to shout down the “I’m voting for McCain in protest crowd.”

    Doesn’t seem to me like it’s going to be a huge problem. I suspect that the two campaigns are already in negotiations on how to wind this up over the next few days/weeks.

  10. 10.

    cleek

    May 7, 2008 at 11:42 am

    via Sullivan:

    8/28/63: MLK’s “I Have A Dream” speech.
    8/28/08: the Dem nominee gives his acceptance speech.

  11. 11.

    Dreggas

    May 7, 2008 at 11:42 am

    Over on the GOS it appears Hillary is having a hard time getting any of the super’s to meet with her today. I knew there was a sound of wind being sucked from sails last night.

    It’s time to Mosh

  12. 12.

    A.Political

    May 7, 2008 at 11:57 am

    Cassidy Says:

    I guess he doesn’t count now.
    May 7th, 2008 at 10:48 am

    Absolutely, over Talkleft they are saying this is good news for Hillary since McGoverns past will rub off on Obama

  13. 13.

    Clockwork Buddha

    May 7, 2008 at 11:57 am

    Grand Moff Texan Says:

    Is your name Michael Diamond?

    Naw, mine’s Clarence.

  14. 14.

    NR

    May 7, 2008 at 12:15 pm

    I’m with Kos on this one – Hillary should stay in until May 20th. Obama is going to lose West Virginia big next week, and it’d be embarrassing if he lost it to a candidate who’d dropped out.

    If Hillary stops all her negative attacks on Obama, I’m all for her taking a tour through WV and KY and getting the healing process started now.

  15. 15.

    BFR

    May 7, 2008 at 12:22 pm

    If Hillary stops all her negative attacks on Obama, I’m all for her taking a tour through WV and KY and getting the healing process started now.

    I think the other benefit of her sticking around is that it creates fundraising and organizing opportunities for both of them to build up the base for the fall.

    I’ve never really seen the extended campaign as a negative – even in places where neither she nor Obama has/had a chance to win in the general, it allows them to build up networks to help downticket – no reason to stop now.

    I also believe I’m decidedly in the minority in not perceiving the nastiness as a bad thing.

  16. 16.

    Shygetz

    May 7, 2008 at 12:26 pm

    Absolutely, over Talkleft they are saying this is good news for Hillary since McGoverns past will rub off on Obama

    Politics by osmosis?

    Dear Clinton supporters,

    I love you all. Please come back. It’s not too late.

  17. 17.

    Jen

    May 7, 2008 at 12:41 pm

    Here’s a start…

    Aides relayed word of the four [superdelegate] endorsements, expected to be made public later in the day

  18. 18.

    Genine

    May 7, 2008 at 1:15 pm

    I am not a Hillary Clinton fan, to say the least. But, thinking about it, I really feel for her. I don’t agree with her tactics and what she has done on the campaign trail, but she had the opportunity to make history and be a very significant figure in American History and she did all she could do to grab that prize. I don’t condone, but I can understand it. I’d like to think I’d never do anything like she’s done, but I’ve never been in her position. So I find myself on the sidelines, judging, and I don’t like it.

    I am thinking about this because, recently, I was mad at someone I recently met. The person seemed fine except I felt they were not behaving towards me as they “should” and my best friend pointed out that I was mad because the person did not meet my expectations. That was like a knife in the gut, but it was true and that is something I strive to eliminate. Once I got over my expectations, I was able to appreciate the person for who they were and now we get along great. The things I took as slights and rudeness, weren’t and the energy between us is much better.

    The same goes with Hillary Clinton. I was watching her tactics, act like the very people she is suppose to be against and I felt anger and betrayal because she was not doing what I felt she should be doing. She was not acting like I expected her to. Besides, I’ve done plenty of stupid and selfish things in my life. So who am I to talk? I really don’t think she intended to hurt or harm the Party or Obama she was just blinded because she was letting ambition blind her. I don’t think there is anything wrong with ambition, just don’t let it control you.

    I am not saying people are not entitled to their feelings. I can most certainly understand. And, I am most certainly not apologizing for her. Her actions and the actions of her campaign are her responsibility. But, for me, it would not be fair for me to judge her or think of her as some kind of monster when, in reality, that is far from the case. She’s just a woman who saw the chance to be the first woman president of the United States and did everything she could in her power to get it, whether for good or for ill.

  19. 19.

    jake

    May 7, 2008 at 1:17 pm

    Yes people, the logic has come down to “Only Hillary can win white votes” and the implicit argument that Obama can’t win because he is BLACK.

    Also, implicit: Blacks will only vote for Obama because they’re all black. It also implies that whites voters are all racists but not sexists.

    Fail.

    And my sister recently remarked that African American females appear to have fallen off the face of the political map.

    Again.

  20. 20.

    Tax Analyst

    May 7, 2008 at 1:26 pm

    That’s a very adult position to take, Genine, one that we all should consider trying to emulate.

    One of the things that first attracted me to Obama’s campaign is that he was talking to us as though we were adults. We should try and live up to and be worthy of that standard – who knows, maybe it will start a trend in this country.

    So why do I want to say, “Nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah”, now? Is it true that being an American means never having to really grow up? The snark in me says “Yes”, but I hope I’m wrong.

  21. 21.

    orogeny

    May 7, 2008 at 1:31 pm

    Based on the posts at TalkLeft and TM, it may behoove us, however, to limit the reconciliation pool members.

    I have to agree with you, Svensker. Sticking by your candidate is one thing, but at a certain point you begin to look like one of those Japaneses soldiers holed up on a Pacific island 20 years after the war ended, still waiting for the final victory.

    I don’t know if it’s possible, but there has to be some way to bring at least a fair number of those folks to accept Obama as the nominee and get going on the business of beating John McCain. Continuing to insult them and their candidate is not a way to accomplish that. In a war, and that’s pretty much what this campaign has been, forcing the loser to humiliate themselves, to admit that they were wrong and the winners were right, is a sure way to create an insurgency. It’s the winners that have to be gracious…not kissing anyone’s ass, but giving the losers a graceful way to admit defeat and get behind the nominee.

  22. 22.

    PeterJ

    May 7, 2008 at 1:42 pm

    8/28/63: MLK’s “I Have A Dream” speech.
    8/28/08: the Dem nominee gives his acceptance speech.

    It’s settled. Dean got a time machine.

  23. 23.

    Jen

    May 7, 2008 at 1:45 pm

    Orogeny, is there any sign that HRC will be throwing in the towel soon? I am happy to give her a graceful way to admit defeat, i.e. she just can’t get enough delegates and that’s how you win, but she fought the good fight, but I’m pretty sure if Obama started making noises in that direction on the day she said she’s staying in this thing until there is a nominee, that would not be looked at kindly by Clinton supporters. Sort of patronizing. “Elitist”, if you will.

    And getting people to accept Obama as the nominee would be a lot easier if rational thought were involved in all this. I think there are plenty of rational HRC voters, but a certain percentage of them are seriously unhinged. If you really think McCain would be preferable to Obama, then you really don’t give a whit about policy and there isn’t a single argument I can think of that would be persuasive to someone like that.

  24. 24.

    Nikki

    May 7, 2008 at 1:47 pm

    8/28/63: MLK’s “I Have A Dream” speech.
    8/28/08: the Dem nominee gives his acceptance speech.

    It’s settled. Dean got a time machine.

    Actually, that date would’ve worked for either nominee.

  25. 25.

    gypsy howell

    May 7, 2008 at 1:49 pm

    I don’t know if it’s possible, but there has to be some way to bring at least a fair number of those folks to accept Obama as the nominee and get going on the business of beating John McCain.

    Once Hillary finds a face-saving way to leave the race (maybe after a WV win, or something) I think almost all of her supporters, the ones who are even marginally democrats, are going to face the cold hard reality that their choice for the next 4 years is either a democrat or McInsane. I can’t imagine any real democrat pulling the lever for McCain out of spite in November – not when there are Supreme Court justices at stake. Once they start thinking about the world they’d be leaving their children or grandchildren with a fully-stacked Scalia-Roberts-Alito-Thomas supreme court, I think they’ll suck it up and remember that they’re democrats.

    SusanUnHinged may be another case however. You know that some of the comments over there last night talked about what GREAT news the Indiana squeaker was for Hillary, because Obama was DEFINITELY going to be in jail for voter fraud come November? Yeah, those people might be hard to reach. But I think the few crazed dead-enders will just stay huddled out of sight over there.

  26. 26.

    orogeny

    May 7, 2008 at 1:58 pm

    Orogeny, is there any sign that HRC will be throwing in the towel soon?

    I think that her “I will work for the nominee of the Democratic Party because we must win in November” statement in her speech last night is the first step toward concession. I think it was a subtle way to tell here supporters to back off on any attacks Obama and start thinking toward the general election.

  27. 27.

    orogeny

    May 7, 2008 at 2:01 pm

    “tell her supporters to back off on any attacks on Obama

    I wish I had paid more attention in typing class all those years ago.

  28. 28.

    jake

    May 7, 2008 at 2:59 pm

    Sticking by your candidate is one thing, but at a certain point you begin to look like one of those Japaneses soldiers holed up on a Pacific island 20 years after the war ended, still waiting for the final victory.

    AotD* I may steal it to apply to Republicans.

    I wasn’t reading blogs during the last presidential election so I don’t know if things were this … um … lively or if bloggers were just focused on getting Bush out of the White House. But the thing to keep in mind is that for every spittle flinging lunatic who is vowing to set himself on fire if Hillary doesn’t get the nomination, there are dozens of people who 1) Aren’t insane, 2) Repulsed by the Give me Hillary or give me death! camp.

    Most people will vote for either candidate. I believe in Indiana 69% of the people who voted for Hillary said they’d vote for Obama, in NC 64% said they’d vote for Hillary. However, TalkLeft etc serves as a reminder that Republicans didn’t corner the market on politically-driven dementia.

    And fuck ’em if they can’t take a joke.

    *Where A = Analogy

  29. 29.

    jake

    May 7, 2008 at 3:01 pm

    Where People who are … = People who support Hillary are…

  30. 30.

    wobbly

    May 7, 2008 at 5:11 pm

    Yeah, ok, the great Democratic political genius, George McGovern, has risen from the nursing home to give Hillary some astute political advice.

    Yeah, well…the same guy who split the party in ’68 over some bulls**t personal differences with Eugene McCarthy…

    I was “clean for Gene” in ’68. As a college student.

    I was all for McGovern in ’72. As a factory worker.

    He lost, big time, both occasions.

    Of course, Bill and Hill should take his advice as gospel.

    Why, exactly?

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