Clinton professes party unity -- and does not approve McCain's message

It’s always tempting to read between the lines when a Clinton talks about Barack Obama, but Hillary Clinton was unambiguous today when she made her first appearance in Denver at a breakfast for delegates from her home state of New York.

“We are gathered here in Denver for a very clear and simple purpose,” said Clinton, “and that is to come out of this convention energized and excited and ready to elect Barack Obama the next president of the United States.”

The crowd of New Yorkers stood to cheer her; a few delegates waved placards reading, “Hillary made history.”

“We were not all on the same side as Democrats,” she added,  “but we are now. We are united and we are together and we are determined.”

There is, of course, plenty of evidence that the Democratic Party is not fully unified behind the Obama candidacy, as stories have trickled out about tensions between Clinton and Obama supporters and enduring tension between both campaigns. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that Obama’s political mentor, Illinois State Senate president Emil Jones, called a black Clinton delegate an “Uncle Tom” in Denver on Saturday night. (Jones denied it; the newspaper quoted two people who witnessed the exchange.)

And Politico reported today that former President Bill Clinton was “disappointed” that the topic he is expected to address on Wednesday night is America’s security because he wanted to talk about the economy and how much better it was when he was president.

But Hillary Clinton, who spoke for only 10 minutes, was a study in support. To that end, she occasionally lapsed into the strained folksiness that sometimes afflicted her on the campaign trail: “Why is this important? Well, I don’t want to live through another Republican administration, I don’t know about you. Goodness, you know, how many times can you yell at the TV screen?”

She said she was looking forward to increasing the number of Senate Democrats next year, to give “President Obama … a filibuster-proof Senate.”

Finally, she alluded to the TV ads that John McCain has been running, with primary season footage of Clinton criticizing Obama.

“Let me state what I think about their tactics and these ads,” she said. “I’m Hillary Clinton and I do not approve that message!

-- Robin Abcarian

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Comments

[Juan Pusong]

Did Bill Clinton want to talk about how good the economy was and that he vetoed the bill that would have allowed drilling in Alaska in 1995. We would have energy independence and not have a recession if he did not veto. He and the democrats are to blame for $4 gallon gas.

An now the democrats want an encore?

[Laura]

Amen! Part of me is still sad to see Hillary miss her chance, but here she wants what's best for the country no matter what, and for sure we do not need 4 more years of warmongering abroad and negligence at home.

Obama/Biden 08

[Ang D.]

Took her long enough to say something about it ... but I'm glad she did. She's finally doing what she should've been doing since June ... getting behind her party, completely and vocally.

[Jeff in Orlando]

Of course Hillary wants Obama to win. She knows there is a good chance he will only serve one term, which I'm sure will happen. I get the idea the Democrat convention mantra is going to be " how bad America has become" with a heavy dose of "average" people lamenting their lives under Republicans. Not much about the issues will be heard at this convention. The Democrats will be too busy telling us how bad we have it. Trouble is we have heard it all before which is why few people will be watching.

[DanFango]

It will be very interesting if the Dems show McCain's "thats an excellent question" answer to a South Carolina woman who asked "How do we beat the B..ch?"
from last year

[Dee]

Hillary Clinton Supporters Voting For John McCain

You are not Democrats!
You do not care about past issues that have faced families and women, and you certainly do not care about future issues facing families and women! You will obviously do whatever it takes to ensure hard fought legislation presented by Democrats to protect women and families is overturned! Democrats can be assured you WILL NOT be whining since you support Republicans!

As the cost of living increases, we know you will be proud that you played such an important part in putting another Republican in office!

But, most of all, you will be extremely proud of destroying everything BILL AND HILLARY CLINTON, and Democrats have struggled and fought for to improve the quality of life in the United States. You will rally as more jobs are sent overseas, and stand firmly on the side of Republicans as more men and women march off to war in other faraway countries.

You will boast to friends and families about the important role you played in this election to prevent the possibility of health care for Americans.

You can take comfort in knowing because of your bitterness, self-absorption and lack of logic and reasoning, Hillary Clinton will go down in history books and novels as a woman who destroyed the one chance to remove power from Republicans during a time in American history when the country was at its worst possible point!

History will discredit everything Hillary Clinton has accomplished as a WOMAN, First Lady, and SENATOR because of your vote for John McCain. Hillary Clinton is trying to unify her supporters behind the Democratic Party to ensure a better life for all Americans, but that’s not enough for you! Bill and Hillary Clinton have been the backbone of the Party for years, and will continue to support the Party, but you have decided to discredit and destroy what she stands for, believes in, and has fought for because you feel betrayed!

Good luck, and enjoy your selfish, vindictive victory vote for the Republican Party – for McCain, and for Rush Limbaugh!

Your betrayal will not be forgotten! Revenge is a two-way street, and if Obama does not get into office because of your vote, Republicans can rest assured they will control Washington for the next 8, 16, or maybe with any luck, 24 years! Maybe McCain, Rush, Karl Rove, and the Swift Boat Express are not as dumb as most Democrats thought!

History will forget about YOU, the supporter, but scholars, historians, and political authors will not forget the Clinton’s and the role they played in the division that resulted in the decline of the Democratic Party of 2008.

[Mark Joseph]

I though Juan Pusong was smarter than to think that ANWR has enough oil to make the US energy independent.

I guess I was wrong.

[Guy Fawkes]

Juan Pusong claims that drilling in Alaska in 1995 would have given the US energy independence. He is possibly deluded, possibly he knows he's lying; the fact is that the reserves in Alaska will take at least 2 decades to develop to a commercially-viable level no matter when drilling starts, and there will never be enough oil pumped from Alaska to satisfy our existing needs, much less take care of the future. We need to end our *OIL* habit to become independent of OPEC.

[Jeremiah]

Juan Pusong,

ANWR oil production at full capacity would account for less than 4% of the 2005 US oil consumption.

The median estimate of technically recoverable oil reserves in ANWR is 10.3 billion barrels. That figure is provided by the ANWR drilling lobbyist group, Arctic Power.

"Arctic Power is a grassroots, non-profit citizen's organization with 10,000 members founded in April of 1992 to expedite congressional and presidential approval of oil exploration and production within the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Arctic Power is based in Anchorage, AK."

ANWR is estimated to have a 30-50 year production lifespan. If the mean of 40 years is taken, ANWR production (~700 thousand barrels/day) would account for 3.4% of current (2005) US oil consumption.

http://www.anwr.org/features/pdfs/ANWR_estimates.pdf
http://www.anwr.org/About-Us.php
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/print/us.html

[Jennifer]

Of course she does not approve that message... because now she looks like an idiot.

[Toocuti]

Did Bill Clinton want to talk about how good the economy was and that he vetoed the bill that would have allowed drilling in Alaska in 1995. We would have energy independence and not have a recession if he did not veto. He and the democrats are to blame for $4 gallon gas.

An now the democrats want an encore?

_____________________________________________

Poor, poor Republican. You obviously don't know how gas is priced on the open market. Drilling in Alaska wouldn't have helped us then, and it won't help us now. Gas is priced on the market, so whatever price the market sets, that is the price we will pay, regardless of where the oil comes from!

[John Song]

We would have energy independence had we drilled in Alaska in 1995? Really? Because the Energy Information Administration released a report in 2004 that said f we started drilling in 2004, we'd have a peak flow in 2025 (21 years later) that would only decrease our oil imports by 4%. So we'd still have to import 2/3 of our oil.

Also, American oil companies export oil drilled here. Drilling in Alaska does not mean the oil stays in America, or would drop gas prices more than a cent or two.

[Mike L.]

Juan-

By no possible stretch of the imagination would we have been energy independent had Bill Clinton allowed drilling. Even the most optimistic estimates now show that drilling offshore or in ANWR will only make up a few percentage points of the energy we use every year. I'm not saying that we shouldn't do it anyways, it'll be a step at least. But there is no way we could have just drilled our way to energy independence. We just use too much of the stuff. That's just the reality of it.

[Richard H]

A week of the Democratic Convention on TV! God I miss the Olympics already.

[Rob Cincy Ohio]

Does this guy "Juan" really think that the dems had the power to make gas $4.00? The truth of the matter is that the war costs roughly 10billion per week. There are two books the republicans have been keeping for roughly twelve years. The one that is cooked and the one that is really cooked. Spending as you go has not been a priority and now we are paying for it. Maybe obama should talk sence and say hey we need to be taxed like its 1998 again to get back on track.... the so called do nothing congress of democrats elected two years ago has been held back by a veto weilding bush and an obstructionist republican party.... they need to agree on energy independence before we will let them drill, besides the point they have something like 17 trillion acres that they are not drilling in and they want more? these republicans are so out of touch.

[captbilly]

The Democrats may well lose the election because of Hillary. If any other candidate had faced the mathamatical improbability of winning that she faced by January or February, they would have been forced out of the race, but Hillary stayed in and siad and did things that polarized the Democratic electorate. Now 25% of the people who voted for Hillary say they will vote for McCain, probably some others won't vote at all. If Hillary had pulled out gracefully when it became clear that she would not win the race, Obama would be ahead by 20 points now, instead of barely even.

Look, Hillary and Bill are now political insiders, the status quo. It's true that Hillary is a woman, and it would be nice to see a woman president, but Hillary was never the right choice for 2008. Hillary really needs to convince her supporters that the things she said about Obama were just baseless attacks that her campaign people thought might win her the primary. Unfortunately all she can realistically say is some sort of "Emperors New Clothes" sort of thing like, "Lets elect Obama". Of course all her supporters are supposed to forget all the hoopla about answering the phone at 2:00am, and her many quips about his lack of experience, or Bills clear implications that America could never elect a black president.

At some point we need to wake up in America and realize that a truely patriotic candidate (or elected official for that matter) should want what is best for America and not what's best for themselves. We have gotten to the peoint where many voters actually believe that a good candidate must be willing to attack their opponent, even if that opponent is an honorable person. But waht they are forgetting is that by attacking each other thay creat in the monds of the voters a feeling that their opponenet is somehow not just a less well qualified candidate, but also an evil, unpatriotic, idiot who will destroy America. Problem is that one of those unpatriotic evil, idiots is going to be elected, and half the people in this country will believe that the President is an evil, unpatriotic, idiot. Now in all fairness, our president for the past 7 years has been an evil, unpatriotic, idiot (I am speaking of the combined mass of Bush Chainey and Rove, Bush alone is just an idiot), but generally our politicians mean well, I think.

[Character Counts1]

Well, if she knows what's good for her in New York she'll talk like a committed Obama supporter. In New York State it's Obama in '08.

[Nicholas Sammons]

You're crazy Juan.

Pretty much everyone (including the chimp) has now admitted that America is addicted to oil like a crack whore is addicted to crack. The remedy for this situation isn't to go find more crack, especially when it involves destroying a pristine wildlife reserve.

Additionally, if you read up a little you'll find that the amount of recoverable oil in the artic wildlife refuge is next to nil. Drilling there would drop gas prices a few cents max. It would however make a few repuglican donors very very wealthy. No wonder the pugs care so much about it......

[baz]

It never fails to amaze me, how the Media is played by the GOP. This whole *PUMA*, or *Hillary was dissed* movement, has all the pawprints of another GOP disinformation campaign.
Ummm, remember Limbaugh imploring his sheep, to vote for Clinton??
Of course, this doesn't mean that there are some disaffected Hillary supporters... but, anyone who supported Hillary, who will vote for McCain, was never a Democrat.
Just McCain's promise to nominate Alito/Roberts type Justices, alone, is enough to help dissipate any anger.
The demonstrators you will see, for HIllary, will be by & large, GOP people. In fact, the head of the *PUMApac,* voted for McCain in 2000. Do you really believe she's actually a Hillary supporter???

[David B.]

While I am disappointed at the intransigence on both sides, I am especially concerned about Mr. Obama's inability to manage what should have been a minor issue. I was a Hillary supporter in the beginning who switched very early in the process (first week of March), when it was already obvious that she couldn't win. I advocated for her getting out of the race early. But I have grown irritated by the pomposity, condescension and ghetto fierceness of his most his rabid supporters. "Get over it?" Good negotiation skills. I'll still vote Democrat because the 20 year effect of the Supreme Court appointments should be of paramount concern to even moderate voters, much more so than the 4 years of potential political mismanagement by a candidate who appears increasingly to be petulant and inexperienced. Note to Obama: Get these Daily Kosuckers under control or blow the whole deal!

[sam hain]

So drilling in Alaska is going to make the US energy independent? And at the same time cure our financial woes? Silly intellectually challenged juan. I suppose the Dems are responsible for the war in Iraq and the huge debt created. Let's continue the republican way of spend and borrow frrom the chinese who now own approx 20-25% of the US debt. Let's subsidize the oil companies more even though they continue to reqp astronomically obscene profits unbridled by the repukes who have run this country for 6 of the past 8 yrs. I could go on about both parties but your comment reeks of stupidity.

[Richard H.]

Obama showed he cared more about strengthening the presidency with his choice of Biden rather than Hillary as his running mate. Had he selected Hillary, he would have been a shoe-in, but he opted for a balanced ticket instead of a sure thing. More power to him.

[LEC]

Will someone please tell Sheryl Crow that Bobbie Kennedy is dead and will not be at the DNC tonight? She might want to be accurate when she speaks publicly on politically related topics.

[David Heenan]

Dear Mr. Pusong ... please stay on topic ... and perform some research into the oil situation ... all of your comments are completely and utterly false and are merely the re-iteration of Republican LIES... I won't waste the space here rebutting them point by point ... please do some research on your own and learn the facts ... and remember if everyone used as much oil as possible, our planet Earth will be uninhabitable ... it is time for renewable energy.

[Thomas Wilson]

America definitely CAN NOT stand another four years of the same that we have had to endure for the last eight. And john McCain is nothing more than a "Bush Extension".
Hard working Americans,... loosing their homes, their jobs being shipped to other countries,.. illegal immigrants given priority over american citizens in this country... American troops dying in a war caused by GREED!! It's time for CHANGE,...we've been in the Bushes long enough.
Obama / Biden '08