Hillary really, really creeped me out last night. When I first heard

[hedgehog]

the network anchors refer to the site of her speech as a "bunker", I assumed that it was the campus nickname. But, no. She held that rally for a small group of (selected?) supporters in a basement hall that was isolated from cell phones, television and radio. The only people who knew what was going on and being said in the outside world were up on the podium. Her speech outlined her theory that she in fact had won the nomination. There was the implicit threat that if Hillary doesn't get her way, she's taking the Party down to defeat this November. What kind of person behaves like this?

[Lucky 13]

1. I found it odd and creepy too.

Isolation from the outside world
Insulation from the truth

you will believe what we tell you to believe.

[roguevalley]

11. here is what one of her most powerful and staunchest supporters

had to say about her antics:

Senator Clinton's speech last night was a justifiably proud recitation of her accomplishments over the course of this campaign, but it did not end right. But she didn't do what she should have done. As hard and as painful as it might have been, she should have conceded, congratulated, endorsed and committed to Barack Obama. Therefore the next 48 hours are now as important to the future reputation of Hillary Clinton as the last year and a half have been....

I am also so very disappointed at how she has handled this last week. I know she is exhausted and she had pledged to finish the primaries and let every state vote before any final action. But by the time she got on that podium last night, she knew it was over and that she had lost. I am sure I was not alone in privately urging the campaign over the last two weeks to use the moment to take her due, pass the torch and cement her grace. She had an opportunity to soar and unite. She had a chance to surprise her party and the nation after the day-long denials about expecting any concession and send Obama off on the campaign trail of the general election with the best possible platform. I wrote before how she had a chance for her "Al Gore moment" And if she had done so, the whole country ALL would be talking today about how great she is and give her her due.

Instead "she left her supporters empty", Obama's angry and party leaders trashing her. She said she was stepping back to think about her options. She is waiting to figure out how she would "use" her 18 million voters. But not my vote. I will enthusiastically support Barack Obama's campaign. Because I am not a bargaining chip. I am a Democrat.

www.americablog.com has this insert and www.huffingtonpost.com has the entire piece.

It would be a good thing for her supporters to consider the last paragraph seriously.

[crickets]

31. Very thoughtful piece

Thanks for the link.

It would be a good thing for her supporters to consider the last paragraph seriously.

Yes, particularly the last two sentences.

[truedelphi]

44. How do we know that she wasn't doing the "right" thing??

The Clintons left the WH absolutely dead broke. Now eight years later, they are worth 109 million dollars.

Where does that kind of money come from??

Oh yes, I know - he gives speeches. But even so, the master Power Brokers DO NOT LET YOU come and give speeches -even free speeches - unless they like you. SO what kind of deals have been made that Bill Clinton has delivered eight speeches on behalf of NAFTA-style "free trade." What underlying goals have the Clintons signed on to??

I think that Hillary is doing exactly as her new Lords and Masters wish her to do.

And if she concedes this week I will be truly surprused. (But of course happy.)

WHereas I once typed out how Hillary had Carville convince Kerry not to fight on over Ohio, and thought her doing so was on account of her ambitions for the run to the residency in 2008, now I am wondering if Bill was given a certain allotment of high paying speeches (under the table) in return for her not standing with Barbara Boxer and the Black Caucus when Boxer and the Black Causcus opposed the 2004 election results.

[LakeSamish706]

2. "What kind of person behaves like this?" One that we have been witness...

to for several months now. She really does have a problem and I do believe that she will attempt to destroy this party if the powers that be, don't stop her.

[Jackpine Radical]

3. Did they mix their own Kool-ade

or was it catered from Hallucinogenics-R-Us?

[wiggs]

4. I think we should be more worried about what last night means. I don't think

it means that she and McAuliffe are insane or in an epic state of denial. I think it means she has a plan that she couldn't talk about last night. I doubt that plan is simply to take a losing argument to the convention and mess everything up...that is not a path to the WH for her, ever, in any year. There's something else...something that has to do with this year....something we're likely to find out about in the next couple of days.

I'm unhappy we have to spend time thinking about a wet blanket when we should be celebrating an historic, inspirational week.

[Lerkfish]

5. wow. did they really use the term "bunker"?

that brings to mind all sorts of wrong images.

[hedgehog]

7. Yes - as I said, I assumed at first it was a campus nickname, but

now I believe it was a signal that the journalists themselves couldn't believe what was happening.


BTW - what was up with the delay in getting Hillary to come out from behind the curtain after MacCauliffe introduced her?

[roguevalley]

17. no tv, no cells, nothing. they refused to allow it. they just were down

there self justifying their positions with each other. sick. I think something is really wrong here.

[DJ13]

6. What kind of person behaves like this?

It used to be only someone who spoke German.......

[hedgehog]

8. I'm trying desperately NOT to go there, but the image is very strong. nt

If we manage to keep Hillary out of the White House, then this country will have survived a very close call!

[greguganus]

12. Das Hillary? n/t

[DeschutesRiver]

21. I feel the same way

and in moments when I am particularly uncharitable, I am reminded of her freaky support on youtube, Ms. Harriet, and all I think about is her apparent target group. We have a white woman raining all over the parade of the black guy who beat her fair and square. How long do you think it is going to take for that kind of talk to start? Why shouldn't I start thinking that myself, as she clearly lost the nomination, and just as clearly refuses to admit the loss. Besides her continued pattern of refusing to admit mistakes as she is doing right now, she is acting more Bush than Bush. I thought it was Cheney who hid in bunkers; now we have a former candidate hiding supporters in bunkers to control news flow in order for her to keep advancing a losing cause. You damn square are right that there are uncomfortable historical coincidences here and I just told dh last night for the 10th time that we had a very close call indeed.

Ms. Clinton is embarking into a very dark and politically dangerous territory. I suggest that this be the end of it and she turn around right now, before this becomes very ugly for her.

[Terran]

35. There's a rather well done video on youtube

that makes this analogy very graphically. I posted a link to it a few weeks ago but apparently it waas deemed to be flamebait, and was deleted. Might try searching youtube for it...it's pretty out there, a bit obscene, but as I said, well done.

[helderheid]

9. CREEPY.

That covers it.

[gateley]

10. She wasn't being honest with her supporters.

I feel she was misleading them.

[Marie26]

13. Where was the speech held?

I didn't see it, but that does sound creepy. How could it possibly be isolated from cell phones?

[hedgehog]

19. A basement hall at Baruch College. Apparently, it is the only place

left in the world that is a cell phone dead spot.

( I error - there are a couple dead spots up on I-80 in the Allegheny State Park, but it's hard to hold a victory rally in the north woods!

[Tesha]

22. She spoke at Baruch University.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/06/obama_presumptive_nominee.html

Transcript: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/03/AR2008060303850.html

[electron_blue]

14. definitely creepy about the bunker. But I didn't take her speech that way.

To me it wasn't a threat to take it down, but just her last chance to play her 'good' cards, which is how many votes she got. You know how, in poker, when someone wins with a outrageously fantastic hand, you still have that urge to show your straight flush and enjoy how you almost own, for a half a second. She said she'd work to unify the party. To me, that was pretty clear that she doesnt' intend to take it to the convention. Time will tell. Frankly, I think those in charge should quit saying they're giving Hillary the chance to bow out gracefully and just move on without her. By waiting for her to concede, one implies that, well, we won't proceed til she concedes, which GIVES AWAY power to her. Time to quit being polite, and have the train start pulling out of the station. She'll have to run behind to concede, but she'll do it.

Those were "I'm so sorry hugs" she got from her supporters at the end of her speech and not "We're gonna do it!!" hugs. Anybody else notice that?

[XemaSab]

15. When she said that South Dakota was the last state to vote....

:scared:

[electron_blue]

18. That's not what she said. She said SDak had the last word, which they did, bcs SDak put

Obama over the top and thus ended the primary race. Sure, Montana still had to finish voting, but the race to the nomination was over at that point. Am I the only one who noticed that she said this?? I'm beginning to wonder. It was one of the first things she said.

[tammywammy]

16. I thought that it was strange

Two floors underground, no cellphones would work. Very strange.

[Skidmore]

20. There is a reason some of us have been calling for an end to the

Bush-Clinton revolving door administrations. Does this type of behavior sound familiar? There is no reason for a candidate to be at war with his/her party and no reason for a president or VP to be at war with the nation. It is time to end this.

[Rosemary2205]

23. IMHO media hype

I didn't figure it for any grand conspiracy but the news coverage did make a point of making it sound like Hillary was intentionally withholding the information that Obama was being declared "presumptive nominee" by the media.

I would assume those in attendance would be politically aware enough to know that would happen last night in spite of the fact they want Hillary to fight behind the scenes for superdelegates and win that way. It's not like she was keeping them in a bunker for the last 5 months.

[Dark]

24. She lost. Give it up. It's over. Stop kicking her when she's down.

n/t

[Liberal Dose]

26. The kicking will stop when she repeats your words nt

[Liberal Dose]

25. Seems Hillary thinks she's holding the nomination hostage

with her 18 million votes, like she has them locked in a vault and can be used for leverage. What about her Operation Chaos votes from Limpballs? Has she sent him a Thank You note yet? :D

[GalleryGod]

27. Chills...like a 1950's Horror Movie Night of the Living Dead or

Village of the Damned :scared:

[SoCalDem]

28. What kind of person?

Hillary Clinton..

Is anyone really surpised at her lack of grace?

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

29. Really? A Bunker? Sounds like something Cheney would do.

Course, she is after his job.....

i'm gonna have nightmares yet.

[hedgehog]

30. Going through this thread I can see the age split here at DU.

Some hear "bunker" and think of Cheney, others have an older parallel in mind!

[Mme. Defarge]

32. I just googled "Hillary's Bunker Speech" and got ...

Advanced Search
Preferences

Web Results 1 - 10 of about 178,000 for Hillary's bunker speech. (0.24 seconds)

Did you mean: Hitler's bunker speech


THE NEW REPUBLIC | BlogsWhen asked about the reality outside the bunker—that Obama supporters were in a minor rage over Hillary’s speech-- the indefatigable Terry McAuliffe looked ...
blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_stump/archive/2008/06/04/in-the-clinton-bunker.aspx - 14 hours ago - Similar pages

[Beacool]

33. Pure bullshit!!!

Everyone knew already before we went into the place that Obama already had the majority of the delegates thanks to the superdelegates.

You people listen too much to the punditry and, since most of them have invested months in trashing the Clintons, you only got a distorted view of reality.

Also, we all knew that Hillary was not going to officially concede, that was more media B.S.

Furthermore, aside from the room where Hillary spoke, there was an auditorium used as a spill over room for those who couldn't get into the other space and there the cell phones worked fine. That room had a projection screen tuned to CNN. I checked it out and it was a riot to see Obama and the pundits talking about him "clinching the nomination" while at the bottom of the screen they had the SD numbers coming in and Hillary was winning by 10%.

Yeah, Obama limped to the nomination and congratulations to him and his supporters. But, since Hillary won half of the votes and almost as many pledged delegates, she also has plenty of leverage. If the LF likes of Pelosi, Kerry, Carter and Kennedy don't like it, well too bad on them.

You want a united party? Then offer her the VP spot. I don't know whether she wants it or not, but at least it should be offered.

[TBF]

34. Were you there, Bea? Just curious.

[Beacool]

36. Yes I was, and it was a great night.

I expected it to be very sad, but instead it was electric and I left energized. I'm heartbroken that Hillary didn't clinch the nomination because I truly believe that she's ready for the job and Obama is not. I would have liked to have seen a Clinton-Obama ticket and then we could have had 16 years of Democrats in the WH.

Last night was about her supporters, the millions of people who voted for her and the thousands of staffers and volunteers who worked so hard to get her elected. It was NOT about Obama, the party leaders, and least of all, the vultures in the media. The media who was there in masse from all over the world just waiting on bated breath to pick on her body. Well, they didn't get the chance and that pissed them off even more.

[TBF]

38. Many of us ignore the MSM for just that reason. I can certainly

understand your enthusiasm for your candidate, and it's great you were able to be there. I remember watching Barack's convention speech (on TV in 2004) and hoping he would run for president one day.

[Beacool]

40. Yes, each of them has passionate supporters.

An they both have more than your average presidential candidate.

Those of us who have watched how poorly this woman has been treated by the media are disgusted with them all. She has been bashed by them for months. If it had been about policy issues then that would have been fair, but it seldom was. Instead, we had to hear comments about her hair, clothes, age, weight, voice (shrill), laughter (cackle), ankles (cankles), and to top it all off, last summer a whole column on her cleavage.

Wow, how progressive and edifying!!!!

Add to that Matthews', the biggest a-hole on MSNBC, comments about her owing her senate seat thanks to her husband "messing around", Shuster saying that she pimped Chelsea, Carlson's statement that he would cross his legs every time he saw her (while at the same time giving an interview to Elle magazine where he said that she was his "secret fantasy") and you get the picture.

[Mimosa]

37. BeaCool, a question for you

Bea, there's no way Obama can offer her Veep. Have you ever thought about why? Hillary's husband is a big part of it. He is a giant albatross and he can't shut up.

Obama cannot let the two of them into the White house. You're smart. You should know it.

[Beacool]

39. Bill won't be his VP.

Furthermore, the VP doesn't spend all his time in the WH, let alone his spouse.

Obama should offer it simply because of the closeness of this primary. She may not want it, but if it's not even offered, her supporters won't forget about it and will see it as one more sign of disrespect.

Many are already tired of the likes of Pelosi rejecting the idea (4 times so far), then Teddy and now Carter. Yeah, Carter, the man who arguably was the worst Democratic president of the 20th Century. Great man, lousy president.

I know that the LF wing of the party wants to throw the Clintons under the bus, but if they think that their supporters are just going to allow it without a fight, they are underestimating us.

[Mimosa]

41. Thanks, Bea Cool

Thanks for answering my question, Bea.

IMO the time for Democrats fighting amongst ourselves is over and can only help the corporatist, McCain, and the republican rightwing.

[Beacool]

42. You are welcome!!

Take care!!

:hi:

[Bensthename]

45. He did not limp to the nomination you silly

He cut back on the primary process after NC and Indiana. He started saving his money and spending more time starting up his general campaign. Though I do not want to take anything away from Hillary. She ran a great race and deserves tons of respect from Obama supporters and McCain supporters..
I hope the Hillary supporters remember Obama shares 95% of the same ideas of her. And I look forward to the day here and elsewhere when there is no more Hillary bashing. It must be tough from your point of view.. Have a good day, stay strong.

[ecstatic]

43. She is such a disappointment. Her character is flawed

This is a game to her. She views it through competitive eyes. Selfish eyes.