John McCain endorsed by high-profile (and very rich) Hillary Clinton fundraiser

(UPDATE: Updated information attached below.)

Among ardent Hillary Clinton supporters, one of those who most vocally declined to follow the candidate's lead and line up behind Barack Obama was Lynn Forester de Rothschild (born in New Jersey, she married into the famed British banking family in 2000).

Back in early July, as Obama and Clinton briefly worked the fundraising circuit together, de Rothschild made clear she would have none of the push for party unity. At the time, she told CNN that "frankly I don't like [Obama]. I feel like he is an elitist. I feel like he has not given me reason to trust him."

Nothing has changed for her since then, and today she formally announced her support for John McCain. In a statement released by his campaign, de Rothschild said:

In an election as important at this, we must choose the candidate who has a proven record of bipartisanship and reforming government, and that's John McCain. We can't afford a president who lacks experience and judgment and has never crossed party lines to work for meaningful reform.

Amid tough economic times and foreign policy concerns, we need someone who is ready to lead. Although I am a Democrat, I recognize that it's more important to put country ahead of party and that's why I support John McCain.

A lawyer and wealthy entrepreneur in her own right who splits her time between New York and a country estate in England, de Rothschild raised scads of money for Clinton and is a member of the Democratic National Committee's Platform Committee (though perhaps not for long).

The statement from the McCain campaign says she plans to campaign for him through election day. Probably not, however, among the lunch-bucket crowd in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan and elsewhere.

(UPDATE: In an appearance this afternoon on CNN, de Rothschild told Wolf Blitzer she had resigned from the platform panel, effective today. Quizzed by Blitzer whether, as a supporter of abortion rights, she was concerned that a McCain administration could result in a Supeme Court that overturns the Roe vs. Wade decision that established abortion as federally protected, de Rothschild said she was not.

(Noting that she is a graduate of Columbia Law School, she argued that abortion rights are protected by the Constitution and that she was confident a future high court would not rule otherwise. She also zinged the Democratic Party for, in her view, using abortion and other social topics, such as gay rights, as "wedge" issues to divide voters.)

-- Don Frederick

Photo credit: CafePress.com

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Comments

[John]

This is disgusting. This moron is so desperate to get a woman into the white house at any level that she's willing to sell out her country to make it happen, even if it goes against the ideology of the party she claims to support.

Remember people, you're not really voting for the person, you're voting for the party. Keep the last 8 wonderful years in mind when you pick your party. These people represent reform/change like Hitler represented peace and understanding.

This is nothing more than a case of sour grapes, no matter what she claims to believe about McCain.

[Jay]

A down-to-earth, regular average Jane person like Lynn Forester de Rothschild couldn't possibly undertand hwo it is for Obama at the top of society, so she just defaults to calling him elitist.

Did you guys lift thisfrom the Onion?

[Westside Mike]

Ha Ha! A Rothschild calling a poor black kid raised by a single mother elitist. Coming from the McCain campaign (7 homes and marrying into Cindy's $100 million inherited fortune) you can't make this stuff up. Calling all Country Estate Owners And Millionaires Who Inherited Or Married Into Their Wealth, Unite Against The Elitist Obama!! Ha Ha.

[allan]

How long has it been since anyone, on any ticket, has been praised for doing what they think is right? What does it say about our system if a willingness to cross party lines and work with others is unique?

[jubei]

You know this ticks me off so badly,

look at this statement, She cant trust him..he seems like an elitist? what?
I guess when your black and well spoken your an elitest and when your country black and ignorant your normal and can be trusted, case in point, the democrats just love Al sharpton and jesse jackson. good grief!!
All this talk about you dont know barack Obama is simple cover up for those republicans/democrats who are prejudice enough to not feel comfortable with a black person leading, but cool with theyre support of thier agenda's and Palin is thier ticket out.
Everytime I hear a white person say they dont know Barack Obama it's like a slap in the face of each black person in America, 200+yr's of growing up next to black people and you never looked them in the face to honestly see they are just like you. There ought to have never been a question of getting to know Obama, Case in point every white person male or female knows Sarah Palin like she's theyre old friend, yet just months ago no one knew here name. Now she's like a cousin, why because those people have no intention of ever being lead by a person of color at any point in thier life time.
I wish they would have the guts to call a spade a spade and live with it geeze

[rickdavis]

She is calling Obama an elitist. Ppl living in glass houses must not throw stones

[JILL]

LYNN WHO? DOES ANYONE CARE WHO YOU SUPPORT, LYNN? THE LIKES OF YOU CALLING OBAMA ELITIST IS A
CRACKUP. DREAM ON, WHOEVER YOU ARE.

[Sean K]

A perfect example of poor critical thinking skills combined with an overemphasis on emotional factors in what should be a rational decision making process... or as they used to call it... being stupid.

[Ryan]

Any Democrat who stood behind Hillary Clinton and now refuses to endorse Obama was obviously not supporting Hillary for values/beliefs/policies. Because the policy differences between Hillary/Obama are negligible in contrast with McCain/Palin. It's night & day.

All this tells me is she supported Hillary because she was a woman, and now she's backing McCain because he selected a woman as a VP.

Very very very shallow.

[John Craver]

She's a member of the Rothschild family - and Obama's the elitist?? Give me a break. At least McCain has more houses than she does!!

[Leed]

(and very rich) - well that is very rich on your part - appears to show a bias towards Obama. You all do not have the guts to address what this person said. Obama has no record of bipartisanship but you will not research that or make an objective observation on that.

[Let us compare]

* If you grow up in Hawaii , raised by your grandparents, you're 'exotic, different.'
* Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers: a quintessential American story.
* If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.
* Name your kids Willow , Trig, and Track: you're a maverick.
* Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.
* Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating: you're well grounded.
*If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs,Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.
* If your total resume is: local weather girl (sports caster), 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with fewer than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.
* If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian.
*If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.
* If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.
* If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you're very responsible.
*If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America 's.
* If you're husband is nicknamed 'First Dude', with at least one DUI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA , your family is extremely admirable.

[Eric McCasline]

funny her calling Obama an elitist.

[larry]

So a member of the Rothschild family says a man raised by a single mother is an elitist. So she will support the son and grandson of admirals, raised in luxury. These people just have no sense of irony.

[vegasgirl]

Let me get this straight: This woman *belongs* to the elite, and yet she has the nerve to call Obama an elitist?
What a disengenous hypocrite she is (and so typical of this type of McCain supporter).
All I can say is this: Good riddance, Lynn. The McCain camp can have you.

[Oregon4Obama]

Lynn Forester de Rothschild was never a supporter of Hillary Clinton in the first place.....and she just proved it

Remember its the agenda, the mission, the vision of the party and its candidate.....obama and hillary had 95% the same agenda for washington......

Hey Lynn, you think McCain will make universal healthcare a priority...NO he is totally against the idea
You think McCain has a good educational plan.....NO, he thinks no child left behind is great
You think McCain will help the economy, No he wants to make the Bush tax cuts permanent and follow in his footsteps and has proven his "record" 90% with Bush

Lynn your pathetic......your helping Mccain because you couldnt have your way with hillary, but if you were a REAL SUPPORTER of Hillary, you would go with the person who could make her lifes work of universal healthcare and education reform a reality.....

You say you support Mccain because of our economic problems....well it was McCains philosophy on the economy that was carried out by Bush that got us into this mess.....Give to the rich and hope it trickles down....we are having problems with AIG and Lehman Bros because of a failure of transparency and regulation that Mccain and Bush voted against many times before.....again, you are a sad person whose bitterness over one person, will cost millions of others

[BJ]

Hopefully, the LA Times will post my comment, as CNN apparently has excluded comments that praise Ms. de Rothschild's decision.

Why is it so far fetched for anyone to choose not to support Barack Obama, just because they were aligned to Hillary? She might see something not obvious to everyone else... it's called "instinct", and more often than not, this is what separates winners from losers.

[Jan E]

She could not buy Obama with her Money -- that is why. Someone need to remind her that slavery was outlawed Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild

[WSD]

Did McCain's aid wrote that announcement for her??? I am surprised it didn't say Sarah Palin is "someone just like me." LOL!!!

[JW of Jersey]

She's RICH!! How much does she have in common with average Americans? She splits her time between NY and England, does she really understand the issues? Does she see all the LIES coming from the McCain camp? Does she really think that John will be an HONEST president? Doesn't she see that he has no control over his campaign. Doesn't she see that his campaign has tramped all over his honor?

[Brandon]

I'm surprised that a previous commenter referred to Obama as a poor person who grew up on food stamps. I'm not sure I can quite reconcile that with the person who admitted doing cocaine while attending Ivy League schools. Cocaine isn't that cheap, if I recall correctly.

[S]

The Governor of Kansas said that if Obama loses the election it would be because of his race, one Balck CNN correspondent said if Obama loses the election there may be riots. Should I vote for Obama to show that I'm not a racist or to prevent the possibility of riots? No way! I tired of people playing the race and victim card!

[Chuckles]

Gosh, a pompous socialite who married into the banking industries royalty is siding with McCain during the current banking crisis. SCORE 1 for Obama. This woman did more to boost Obama's credentials than she knows.

[Juan]

Brandon: He got there on scholarships and did in fact have to live on food stamps with his single, white mother at one point. And, if you can show me a school full of rich, white kids that doesn't have a lot of free cocaine floating around during the 80's and I'll show you a school that never existed.

[Terrible Swift Sword]

Lady de Rothschild, no surprise that you are voting your class interests. Like McCain, you've flip-flopped over those juicy Bush tax cuts for $250G a.g.i. earners. McCain is taking fed campaign $$$, so you're limited in what you can contribute, how cheap can you be? And how many doctors and pregnant women mulling over abortion do you want to throw in prison? Why'd you even bother to support Hillary?