okay, getting a little angry now.

[kaydeefalls]

It's no great secret that I'm an Obama supporter. But that doesn't mean I'm a Clinton hater. True, as the race has dragged on, and her tactics have become increasingly slimy and divisive, I've kind of become increasingly disappointed with her as a candidate. But her quotes in this article in USA Today just make me angry.

"I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on," she said in an interview with USA TODAY. As evidence, Clinton cited an Associated Press article "that found how Sen. Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me."

"There's a pattern emerging here," she said.

I'm sorry, did she just use "hard-working Americans" and "white Americans" as synonyms? Imply that Obama's supporters are not hard-working? Imply that members of any racial minority group are not hard-working? Not to mention, while I firmly believe that all Americans have the right to vote, regardless of educational background, I'm just a wee bit irked at the added implication that only non-college-educated voters really count. All us elitist college graduates don't know beans about picking a candidate, as evidenced by our overwhelming support for Obama.

But that's nothing compared to the part about how only the white vote actually matters.

I was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, and assume she misspoke -- that, oh, maybe she meant to say "hard-working white Americans", and accidentally made it sound like two separate (but clearly synonymous!) categories. Which, y'know, is still kind of uncool, but not as offensive. Except then she goes on to clarify:

Clinton rejected any idea that her emphasis on white voters could be interpreted as racially divisive. "These are the people you have to win if you're a Democrat in sufficient numbers to actually win the election. Everybody knows that."

ONLY THE WHITE FOLKS COUNT, PEOPLE. Duh.

I am so, so angry. Especially at the argument that Clinton-supporting Democrats are so fundamentally stupid and racist that, should Obama be the Democratic nominee, they would automatically abandon their core political, social, and economic values and defect to the Republicans. Frankly, the type of voters she seems to be courting so aggressively right now won't be voting Democrat in the general election regardless of candidate. And in the meantime...gah. This is appalling. I'm sorry. My liberal rage, let me show you it.

And you know what? I liked Clinton. I would have been content to support her in the general election, if she had been the party's nominee. And now? She just leaves a bad taste in the back of my throat.

Comments

[newredshoes]

...what the shit.

What the motherfucking hell is she allowing to come out of her mouth and be recorded for posterity? What is she thinking?

I'm already of the opinion that she needs to exit gracefully at this point, but this is making me wish, however fairly or unfairly, then she gets a few bootmarks on her as she goes. What the shit.

(She has a long track record of dictating who really counts, though. See: every state in which she lost a primary.)

[kaydeefalls.livejournal.com]

Exactly.

Oh, yeah, I realize this is nothing new, what with all "the only states that count are the ones I win," "the only demographic groups that count are the ones I win," etc. I couldn't believe how long the media went along with those. But this is a bit much even for her.

[newredshoes]

Do you mind if I link to this post?

[kaydeefalls.livejournal.com]

Go right ahead.

[acari.livejournal.com]

No, really. I am so close to going back to bed for a month or two until the world has stopped being stupid. Did you see this (http://oulangi.livejournal.com/189949.html) already?

[kaydeefalls.livejournal.com]

There is not enough *facepalm* in the WORLD for this shit.

[jimmyrabbitte.livejournal.com]

Oh man. And like I wasn't already full of rage before?

It's like the whole world's got a terminal case of fucking stupid.

[kaydeefalls.livejournal.com]

Pretty much, yeah. It hurts.

[nextian.livejournal.com]

Hey, newredshoes linked me and I passed it on. This is just ... I can't even ... no words. Just rage.

[kaydeefalls.livejournal.com]

It kind of boggles the mind sometimes.

[dakegra.livejournal.com]

I followed nextian over here.

Is anyone taking her seriously any more?

[kaydeefalls.livejournal.com]

Yes. Some people are. That's what's saddening.

[woodburner.livejournal.com]

I think what she's saying is you can count on the majority of the black population (and the majority of most minority populations, with a few exceptions) to vote democrat, and you can count on the majority of college educated crowd to vote democrat, so the lesser-educated white population is who you have to win over. Clinton is perceived as being more centrist, and Obama is perceived as being too radically left for most of the centrist crowd, so some people think that the fence sitters will go with McCain rather than someone so far left as Obama.

But yeah, that was pretty phenomenally poorly worded.

[kaydeefalls.livejournal.com]

I do understand what she probably meant, but my god, the wording was beyond insulting. And for someone trying to make herself out to be as politically savvy and experienced as Clinton is, that's very, very disappointing.