Breaking: Top Hillary Backer Defects to McCain
By SusanUnPC on September 1, 2008 at 2:50 PM in Hillary Clinton, McCain/Palin 2008
John Coale — a top backer of Hillary Clinton’s candidacy — has endorsed the McCain/Palin ticket because, he told Newsweek in an exclusive interview, “Obama is not who he says he is.”
Newsweek Exclusive: Top Clinton Supporter John Coale Endorses McCain
John Coale, a prominent Washington lawyer, husband of Fox TV host Greta Van Susteren and a supporter of Sen. Hillary Clinton, announced today that he was supporting John McCain for president.
Coale, who traveled with Sen. Clinton, President Clinton and her family through out the primary season, complained of sexism, and said the Democratic Party is “being taken over by the moveon.org types” in an exclusive interview with Newsweek.com’s Tammy Haddad.
He said he tried to prevent Clinton’s brother, Tony Rodham, from attending an August 18th meeting in Scranton, Pa. with McCain campaign surrogate Carly Fiorina. “I urged him not to go and told him it would embarrass his sister, but he has a mind of his own.” Coale says Mr. Rodham asked Ms. Fiorina “about McCain’s Supreme Court picks.”
It is clear that Mr. Coale did NOT make this move in a rush. He tried to “prevent Clinton’s brother, Tony Rodham, from attending an August 18th meeting in Scranton, Pa. with McCain campaign surrogate Carly Fiorina.”
But, it is also clear that he too became unduly concerned about Barack Obama’s qualifications and his honesty.
As are we.
Mr. Coale has my complete sympathy. I continue to have internal debates about where I find myself headed when I vote in November. How can I abandon the platform of the Democratic party? How can I vote for a proponent of the Iraq War? But then I worry about Obama’s utter lack of qualifications and his lack of knowledge. And I am extremely worried about the fate of the Democratic party if it becomes controlled by the crooked Chicago machine. I see that the only way to stop the Democratic party from being lost to crooks is to defeat its icon.
Further, he hits on a key major concern: That the Moveon.org types ARE taking over the party. As we have all learned — the hard way — “Moveon types” have zero tolerance for any dissenting viewpoints, and demand complete loyalty. They are as far from core Democratic party values of diversity and tolerance as the old Soviet Union.
P.S. It is also clear that Mr. Coale keeps a low profile typically because that’s the only photograph I could find of him — and it is from several years ago.
So his announcement is all the more stunning.






















