LANNY DAVIS: “The Argument for Nominating Hillary” (WSJ)
By SusanUnPC on May 31, 2008 at 1:50 PM in Electability, Electoral College, Hillary Clinton, Lanny Davis
WSJ, from the section of his op-ed that lists my man Lanny Davis’s three primary arguments for nominating Hillary, here are the first sentences of each argument:
- First, Sen. Clinton is more experienced and qualified to be president than is Sen. Obama …
- Second, Sen. Clinton’s position on health care gives her an advantage over Sen. McCain …
- Third and finally, there is recent hard data showing that, at least at the present time, Sen. Clinton is a significantly stronger candidate against Sen. McCain among the general electorate
[...] First, Sen. Clinton is more experienced and qualified to be president than is Sen. Obama. This is not to say Sen. Obama cannot be a good, even great, president. I believe he can. But Sen. Clinton spent eight years in the White House. She was not a traditional first lady. She was involved in policy and debate on virtually every major domestic and foreign policy decision of the Clinton presidency, both “in” and “outside” the room with her husband. She has been a U.S. senator for eight years and has a record of legislative accomplishments, including as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
[...]
With no disrespect or criticism intended, Sen. Obama has been an Illinois state senator for eight years and a U.S. senator for just four years. He has, understandably, fewer legislative accomplishments than Sen. Clinton. That’s just a fact. Therefore, it is reasonable to argue that Sen. Clinton would be less vulnerable to criticism from Sen. McCain on the “experience” issue.
Second, Sen. Clinton’s position on health care gives her an advantage over Sen. McCain. Her proposal for universally mandated health care based primarily on private insurance and individual choices is a stark contrast to Sen. McCain’s total reliance on private market insurance, HMOs or emergency rooms for the 45 million or more uninsured. Sen. Obama’s position, while laudable in its objective, does not mandate universal care and, arguably, won’t challenge Sen. McCain as effectively as will Sen. Clinton’s plan.
Despite the fact that Sen. Obama’s campaign made the Iraq war a crucial issue in the Iowa caucuses and early primaries, there has never been a significant difference between his position and Sen. Clinton’s. Sen. Obama deserves credit for opposing military intervention in Iraq while he was running for the state senate in early 2002.
But in 2004, Sen. Obama said he “did not know” how he would have voted on the war resolution had he been a senator at the time. That summer he told the Chicago Tribune: “There’s not much of a difference between my position and George Bush’s position at this stage” of the Iraq War. (This is a statement that Sen. Clinton would not have made.) While he served in the Senate, he voted 84 out of 85 times the same as Sen. Clinton on Iraq-war related votes. The only exception is when he supported President Bush’s position on the promotion of a general that Sen. Clinton opposed.
Third and finally, there is recent hard data showing that, at least at the present time, Sen. Clinton is a significantly stronger candidate against Sen. McCain among the general electorate (as distinguished from the more liberal Democratic primary and caucus electorate).
According to Gallup’s May 12-25 tracking polling of 11,000 registered voters in all 50 states plus Washington, D.C., Sen. Clinton is running stronger against Sen. McCain in the 20 states where she can claim popular-vote victory in the primaries and caucuses. In contrast, Sen. Obama runs no better against Sen. McCain than does Sen. Clinton in the 28 states plus D.C. where he has prevailed. “On this basis,” Gallup concludes: “Clinton appears to have the stronger chance of capitalizing on her primary strengths in the general election.”
The 20 states, Gallup points out, not only encompass more than 60% of the nation’s voters, but “represent more than 300 Electoral College votes while Obama’s 28 states and the District of Columbia represent only 224 Electoral College votes.” Sen. Clinton leads Sen. McCain in these 20 states by seven points (50%-43%), while Sens. Obama and McCain are pretty much tied. But in the 26 states plus D.C. that Sen. Obama carried in the primaries/caucuses, he and Sen. Clinton are both statistically tied with Sen. McCain (Clinton 45%-McCain 47%; Obama 45%-McCain 46%).
Gallup’s state-by-state polling in seven key battleground “purple” states also shows Sen. Clinton winning cumulatively in these states by a six-point margin (49%-43%) over Sen. McCain, while Sen. Obama loses to Sen. McCain by three points – a net advantage of 9% for Sen. Clinton. These key seven states – constituting 105 electoral votes – are Nevada, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Mexico, Arkansas, Florida and Michigan.
Meanwhile, Sen. Obama holds about an equal advantage over Sen. McCain in six important swing states that he carried in the primaries and caucuses – Colorado, Oregon, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and Missouri. But these constitute less than half – 54 – of the electoral votes of the larger states in which Sen. Clinton is leading.
The latest state-by-state battleground polls (published May 21-23) by other respected polling organizations verify Gallup’s findings that Sen. Clinton is significantly stronger against Sen. McCain in the key states that a Democrat must win to gain the presidency. According to various poll data within the last 10 days:
- Pennsylvania: Sen. Clinton leads McCain 50%-39%; Sen. Obama and Sen. McCain are effectively tied.
- Ohio: Sen. Clinton leads Sen. McCain 48%-41%, Sen. Obama is down 44%-40%.
- Florida: Sen. Clinton leads Sen. McCain 47%-41%; Sen. McCain leads Sen. Obama 50%-40%. (Sen. Clinton has a net advantage of 16 points!)
- North Carolina: Despite a substantial primary victory, Sen. Obama is down 8% vs. Sen. McCain, (51%-43%), while Sen. Clinton leads by 6% (49%-43%).
- Nevada: Sen. Clinton up 5%, Sen. Obama down 6%.
Even the theory that Sen. Obama can open up significant numbers of “red” states has not been borne out by recent polling. For example: in Virginia, which Sen. Obama won substantially in the Feb. 12 Democratic primary, he is currently down in at least one recent, respected poll by a significant 9% margin – one point greater than the 8% margin Sen. Clinton is behind Sen. McCain.
[...]
Once $299.98, now yours for $149.99.
+ ALL
and she’s smarter, the arguments for seating the delegates the way voters voted is a slam dunk. I hear his supporters claiming that she’s the only one that now thinks the entire delegation should be seated, and they’re talking about her being a liar. Dumb? It needs to go to the convention.
AND SHE WORKS HARDER!!
Lanny is the Dude!
THEY TALKING ABOUT HILLARY —–NOY LANNY
If DEM Party wants to nominate the weaker candidate in this crucial year, they are stupid.
I will never vote for Obama, even if Hillary is on the ticket as VP.
If Hillary is top on the ticket and Obama is VP…well, I think he’s a jerk… but I guess I would vote for her. I would really hope that if she were the nominee she would not pick him, though.
ditto. i wouldn’t like to have obambi as veep, but would hold my nose and put up with it if hillary were pres. but if she’s on the ticket as veep, hello president mccain!
i understand that hillary and her staffers need to at least politely praise obambi, but i wish they weren’t quite so effusive. and i really didn’t like seeing the end of the story talking about an obama/clinton ticket as an acceptable alternative. it’s NOT acceptable to me!
hillary or mccain. no other option.
Obama doesn’t need you, good riddance.
Obama does not need anyone. He is above all of us.
You cannot possibly imagine what a landslide it will be for McCain if Obama is the nominee.
I agree 100%.
I think that Obama would use her, and after he won the GE, would treat her like dirt until she resigned and he could bring on a good old boy.
He is at the experience level of an intern.
I’m glad Lanny’s been getting more air time lately, wish it had started months earlier.
Also, Hil picks up 22 Native Amercan Leaders in SD
http://tinyurl.com/36×6pm
P.S. I hope you fix this site soon.. it is crashing my laptop (newish, powerful, and cable connect) more and more lately. Somethig odd with posting too.. only half my posts show up it seems. links never seem to show (trying in this one again). and i’ve tried to usee ur new box up on the right to “register” but everytime u fill it out and click it, it gos to a 404 error pg.
p.s.s the letters that are missing in my post r cuz onhis site only, the typing doesn’t wrk! this can’t be only me!
Check your cable connection with the cable company. I had that happen to me once and it turned out that my cable signal was having problems. Messed up my typing and everything.
type in email or notepad or word processor THEN cut and paste into the posting window.
or else change preferences (tho I have no idea how to get there) about insta view (whatever that instant display feature is called) to no. It is a bug not a feature.
I think she may not have a choice as she didnt win the nomination either I dont think the party is going to let either of them decide who they want as VP unless one of them drops out of the race. If I were a betting woman I would bet that if anyone drops out it will be him because he is weak and I think someone is going to expose him for the lying snake that he is lol I really do believe that you reap what you sow.
“Inconvenient Evidence” for mr. pompom. He finishes weak. She finishes strong. The electoral college is what counts from now on. The Dem primary gamesmanship allows a less qualified candidate to tell a more expd & more qualified candidate to “step aside.” Why on earth would thinking dems push a losing candidate over a winning one? Hillary earned hers the hard way, against fawning MSM, Dem big wigs, badly flawed primary rules that allow repubs to stack the ballots. Her lead in Fla, Ohio alone would guarantee a Dem in the WH. It is idiocy to give it to OB.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
And the fear of jail, you’d be surprised at how much BAD behavior it drives, look at Obama.
This just goes to prove that the one thing that Clinton must NOT do is drop out.
To the Convention, and Beyond!
She will Prevail!
Well this could all change with the stroke of Patrick Fitzgerald’s pen.
I’m not expecting the rules committee to go her way, given the truth about WHY Obama might have taken his name off the MI and FL ballots — he had no chance of winning, and his campaign would have been torpedoed, then.
But Clinton should continue to fight for what is rightfully hers, this nomination.
They are Washington’s corrupt, everyone should fight them.
Watching the commity today I am TOTALY done with them. Who in the heck are they to dismiss the voters. Can anyone tell me why we vote if the delegates decide for us.
Lanny is getting creamed by the nutroots over on HuffingtonPost.
check it out and defend him in their blog.
it is in the thread about Clinton rep in Hallway outburst. you will
see it right on the opening page under the protestor photo.
i do hate spending time with them, but an occasional bit from our
world of truth has to be put on that site and others if for no other
reason than to get it read by those who may not have found their
way over here.
seriously, a good man, Lanny, is getting described in vile terms over there and deserves time from you to defend him. thanks for doing that.
Didn’t expect anything different, my gosh, they sound like a bunch of embittered high school queens.
No thanks, they’re boring.
I mean, really, would you have anything to do with them?
The Obama blogs are going Apeshit.
Something’s happening IMHO.
What something please? Don’t have the time or access to look at these folks - how are they reacting in more specific terms, please?
getting creamed you say? he must be doing his job. go lanny!
I totally agree with Lanny about Hillary. Some of the crap he says about Obama, not so much.
Notice, please that Clinton can make an effective case for her candidacy by 1) pointing to things she has already done that prepare her for this job and 2) by accurately describing the accomplishments of her campaign throughout the primary season, particularly since mid Feb. No need to say anything about her opponent.
I think Obama has nothing substantive to recommend him except some good stump speeches and the ability to bully delegate support in the red state caucuses. He can’t build himself up without putting her down.
I know which kind of PERSON I want in my White House.
Lanny seems to have had words with Mr. Ausman outside the hearing room! Jake Tapper blogged about it here:
http://tinyurl.com/5vowbt
Wow! Some woman with the FL delegation lied through her teeth.
She stated point blank that Clinton personally agreed to accept delegates at 50% status.
I could not believe what I was hearing, and am very relieved that she is not accepting this bullshit.
Davis is stupid to think any sort of Clinton oBama ticket could work.
Its not viable in the GE.
The GOP 527’s would tar Clinton for teaming up with a racist, hatemongering, terrorist cuddling, anti-semitic and criminal like Obama.
Its guilt by association on steriods.
And G-d help her if Barky got fingered in the Rezko trial. It would destroy Hillary.
he might be playing politics. davis seeme to be of sound mind which is more than i can say more the obama campaign and supporters.
Lanny makes all kinds of rational points, but nothing about this election is rational and at some point the Clinton camp needs to understand who the real enemy is in this election. The Obama camp in combination with the DNC and the corporate media have propagated a narrative throughtout the race that is patently false, (that he’s a uniter and she’s an ambitious, self-serving politician).
The Obama camp/DNC has cheated with rigged, unproportional caucuses, which the Clinton team has not talked about. The Clinton team doesn’t talk anymore about Obama opposing a revote in Michigan and the fact the Repubs forced the Florida early primary, allowing the media to continue disemminating false info about what happened. The Clinton response to Pfleger video was anemic. Why didn’t they point out in their statement that Clinton’s 35 yrs of public service prepared her for this election, it had nothing to do with her marriage and sense of entitlement? Why didn’t they ask why Obama still attends this divisive, hateful church if he’s such a uniter?
How come the Clinton team didn’t start filing complaints with the FCC about the media bias and demand a hearing of the Senate Commerce Committee last February to look at that and anti-trust violations, since the different networks are all operating off the same talking points?
Yet here we have Lanny still talking about polling data and who’s more electable. Nobody among the Superdelegates cares about this stuff. They don’t care who becomes president next year. These folks want to know how they can best advance their own re-election campaigns or future prospects, and will side with whoever shows the most promise for helping them. Clearly, Sen. Clinton’s capitulation to the DNC tells them she has no intention of challenging that corrupt power structure and therefore most supers will do whatever Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid tell them to do for their political survival. Clinton should have adapted the mantle of party leader long ago - after all, the national press was following her around and broadcasting HER policy proposals, not the leadership’s.
At this point, the delegate battle seems lost, and maybe Clinton’s best bet is to run as an independent, if that’s possible. She should also sew a big scarlet letter A on her chest and drive home the point about how she’s been treated in election. That alone I think would stop the abuse. If she’s a figher, why isn’t she fighting? If she’s not a quitter, why does she keep talking about campaigning her heart out for the Dem. nominee? He’s a loser - she’s the winner.
Oh, and not that anyone cares, but Obama doesn’t really qualify to run for president in the first place, because of his relationship to the those two Iraqi agents. Lanny, why hasn’t anybody on your team asked the Dept. of Homeland Security and some constitutional lawyers to look into that?
How would you suggest she handle it?
Feed them even more?
Look at what happened with the South Dakota comment, and the Bosnia incident, both statement factually true.
Shes’ doing it exactly right.
And you’ve made some excellent points, but if people aren’t ready to quite hear about the corruption in the DNC, and the RNC, they will not be receptive to her message of election fixing.
Yet.
Most here, at NQ, on the other hand, are familiar with Washington, the corruption comes as no surprise, neither does the open, if stupid, defiance of the law.
Btw, when you understand the DAMAGE people like Rove and Axelrod, and such, DO to our government, and the fact that it does have to countered, because if it isn’t, well, it’s Cheney, Bush, Obama and McCain all the way down, anyway, you know Clinton has made a choice to put the welfare of the country ahead of her personal ambitions, earning her much much much respect.
And that’s what it’s all about, in the end.
If she loses the Democratic nomination to an incompetent, corruption-ridden, G.O.P. fielded candidate - whose pastors get to drag her through the mud on TV night after night after night - what kind of respect is that? Forever after, until she dies, she will be open season because no one stood up forcefully enough to make this nightmare stop.
And after November, the federal government’s will soon go broke (by intention) and when that happens, this country’s going to start looking a whole lot different than it does today. Clinton is the only person, frankly, who could have held back this political Katrina, and now it looks like she won’t.
I just got back from talking to my landlady, who was watching the committee proceedings on t.v. She is a strong Evangelical Christian who is praying for Hillary Clinton to win the nomination and the presidency. This wouldn’t be all that significant, except we live in the Bahamas, and she has never before bothered to learn about the ins and outs of the U.S. political scene. The economy of the tiny island we live on, and for the Bahamas in general, is directly affected by the U.S. and so this election is being viewed and discussed with great interest. She cannot understand the lack of respect for Hillary Clinton, or why the Democrats would not be solidly behind the strongest and most experienced candidate. It felt pretty pitiful to only be able to say, “me, either”.
The world is watching us. I have cyber-friends all over the world, and they’re also confused by what’s going on. Tell your landlady to keep praying. Hillary needs all the help she can get.
Their trying to commit election fraud, you cannot give Obama the uncommitted votes base on your crystal ball theory of voter intent. Hillary delegates has to be seated and uncommitted seated as uncommitted allowing both candidates to try and persuade their votes, (In MI Case) Florida should be seated in full because Republican control made it impossible for them to stop it
This is a thoughtful argument that comes up with good answers.
Obama simply can’t win the general election.
Thanks for posting this about Lanny. He is a loyal and faithful supporter and we appreciate his tireless efforts very much!
Lanny Davis had his picture taken today with Larry Sinclair, the man who claims to have had a sexual encounter with Barack Obama in 1999 and further alleges that he observed Obama use crack cocaine:
http://larrysinclair0926.wordpress.com/2008/05/31/dnc-rbc-meeting-at-marriott-wardman-park-pt1/
I’m inclined to think that Larry Sinclair is a nut case and that Davis didn’t know with whom he was posing. Thoughts?
CORRECTION: Lanny Davis did not have his picture taken with Larry Sinclair. Rather, it appears he had it taken by him. I apologize for the erroneous posting.
I like Lanny Davis, although he sometimes does ridiculous things.
BTW: I will NOT vote for a black separatist candidate for ANY office, anymore than I’d vote for a KKK member.
I refuse to believe that Obama could attend a black separatist church and not be a black separatist.
I will not vote for Obama. I will fight against his candidacy. I will fight against his election. I will vote for McCain. And I vow to convince as many people as I can to do the same.
AMEN and DITTO!
In part it was said republicans helped skew democratic elections toward Obama, why would you reward it, as opposed to standing firmly in opposition to McCain, also, for the dirty tactics of his party?
I will vote for neither, and I will continue to work to see the corruption exposed.
tactical retreat.
I’d buy this Poor Me, I didn’t get to campaign crap of Obama if he CLEARLY didn’t block revotes. What a thief.
Larry Sinclair - the source crack use and gay sex with Obama in 1999 is still in D.C. He had interviews with “with 8 US and International Journalists and have contact information on three others who plan to meet with me before leaving DC. I will not identify these Journalist because I am not going to allow anyone or anything to scare these people and stop them from publishing and airing this story.” Mr. Sinclair’s site is http://larrysinclair0926.wordpress.com/
I linked to a WorldNetDaily story and added a comment after the story intro on Real Clear Politics if anyone would like to vote on it.
It is way early for Sen. Clinton to drop out. I’m not sure who I will vote for but it will not be Obama.
“…there is recent hard data showing that, at least at the present time, Sen. Clinton is a significantly stronger candidate against Sen. McCain among the general electorate”
The primary reason she’s doing well in some polls is that Obama has turned his attention from her to McCain, and McCain is directing all his shots at Obama. Neither is spending any effort arguing against her positions, so it’s not a huge surprise that her numbers are going to go up somewhat.
So Obama sucks compared to McCain and the GE hasn’t really started yet. Good point you just made. I agree it will only get worse for Obama if we were unfortunate to get stuck with him for a nominee.
I like McCain though so at least I’ll never get stuck having to vote for Obama.
And I take it you don’t think his negatives going up is a real problem???
Lanny, Lanny: While I so appreciate your clear and persuasive arguements as to why Hillary should obviously be the nominee, let me set you straight on one point: I will NEVER vote for BO, even if — god forbid — Hillary should be on that ticket as VP. He is the Democratic Party’s knock off of George W. Bush. He does not think for himself. He is dependent on others to determine his “values,” etc. He lied about Hillary and participated in the worst of sexism in so many ways. I will NEVER vote for BO.
Hillary was representing New York in the US Senate on 9/11. She had more responsibility to take terrorism seriously after that than Obama did, including getting the long simmering Hussein problem off the table. Wait-and-see and another 10 years of no-fly zones were no longer acceptable. Most of us knew Bush had problems long before, and Hillary detailed this quite well. But she was stuck deciding between Bush and Hussein, with Blair, Powell, Rice and others weighing in, and she’d been in the White House 8 years dealing with Hussein before. Obama in 2002 stated that Hussein posed absolutely no threat to the the US and his neighbors. Post-9/11 with no verification of his anthrax and VX programs, with missiles that could hit his neighbors, and with $10 billion a year oil-for-food slush fund to possibly sponsor his own saboteurs, that was a huge naive and dangerous assessment by Obama. One that doesn’t do justice for people who take defense and security a bit seriously.
commenter from above, you are so correct, the Obamablogs are going
nuts with this. and, yes, I agree that if they are hitting Lanny hard,
he’s doing it right. they have sent all of their slime out to blog and
if you go into their world they hit you nasty to get you to leave.
the Obama bloggers are more nasty than the right wing trolls. they
actuall post in this vein ……..nasty, you’re wrong, stupid, you need to
listen more….but, but,…mcain is worse we need unity Hillary and
all of you need to remember unity…you are wrong.
I cannot possibly imagine voting for their hero when they are so ill
mannered. and wrong thinking.
truth from this site must get out so venturing into bad blogs and into mainstream media is necessary occasionally.
In the most recent addition of the New Yorker. G. Packer has a great article, “The Fall of Conservatism”. He says in a nutshell that the conservative years crumbled with the end of the cold war, Reagan’s successes and the failure of the Republicans to grasp that Americans wanted government to work for them—Republicans were so focused on trying to limit government they never took seriously making government work. Americans want solutions from their government; they want those solutions carried out effectively.
Who is Madame Solutions! Who is the queen of getting things to work, mastering detail, knowing facts, studying problems. It is not a dream people want; they want action. This is Hillary’s strength and in the final months of this campaign she was able to connect that reality about herself with millions of voters. This is why Hillary should be our nominee. It would cement a Democratic hold for the next 30 years. What this campaign has also shown is that wonking policy is not what Obama is good at, interested in or understands. He might change with time but right now he is about hope and change, not getting things fixed and running smoothly, effectively or brilliantly.
Third and finally, there is recent hard data showing that, at least at the present time, Sen. Clinton is a significantly stronger candidate against Sen. McCain among the general electorate
This is a MAJOR understatement. With Obama at the top of the ticket McCain will win in a landslide. Obama’s own words and his own long term affiliations will sink him. Issues will not matter. It will be about character and trust. Obama has already proven he has neither.
I still believe that the convention will turn in favor of Hillary no matter how much money George Soros throws behind Obama.
I do beleive that Hillary is the best candidate to win against McCain.She knows the ins-and -outs of Washington. She knows what she’s up against with the republican party and as she said earlier if you can’t stand the heat, better not run. She can handle pressure well and if you can’t you might as well not be candidate. She is resilient , she can bounce back from just about anything. She didn’t let the media dog her and pressure her into quitting the race before it was over. While all the naysayers were saying no one would vote for her ,she gained the hearts and minds of the people who sapport her. She is not naive , she knows that being president is no cake walk, she is also realistic.
It’s corruption plain and simple.
It started when they granted waivers to other States, but not for FL and MI, huge Clinton strongholds. It went on with the media smear campaign; Obama’s nonstop age, race, and gender baiting; and his supporter’s false accusations and disgusting insults.
They’ve shown again and again that they’ll do and say anything to win. And they may actually steal the nomination.
I still say we have to support him. Although the democratic party is gone, at least we have our integrity, which is more that you can say for those creeps.
Don’t you just love Lanny Davis? He is amazing!
The abuses Lanny has had to face from the Obamabots in this race is truly disheartening. He is one strong man and is a true die-hard supporter - always ready with the facts and full of logic - no wonder when you google him, all you find are articles designed to undermine his credibility, even calling him crazy for arguing based on logic and factual reasoning. Is this what our country has come to? Please keep fighting Lanny, and know that you are the voice of 17 million Hillary supporters, and countless millions more who are invisible to the media. Thank you!