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Carter: It Would Be A "Very Serious Mistake" For Super-Delegates To Overturn The Primaries
In a new round of comments likely to intensify the perception that he's for Barack Obama, Jimmy Carter said on ABC's This Week that it "would be very difficult to explain" and a "very serious mistake" is the Democratic super-delegates ultimately give the nomination to someone other than the winner of the primaries.
Carter did leave himself some wiggle room, though, by defining the primary winner as someone who won both the pledged delegates and the aggregate popular vote. He also acknowledged that his state went for Obama, "But if I decided later on to support Mrs. Clinton, I would feel free to do so."
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Looking at the Gallup numbers, there's no immediate and obvious impact resulting from Obama's comments and Clinton's criticisms. But it is probably too early.
As Al Giordano has noted, the best gauge will probably be the SUSA numbers next week.
April 13, 2008 5:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bitter remark is a game changer:
"It seems that every time Obama makes a mistake he brings it up again, offers context, laughs about it, and then defends by it. No matter, the bowling and arugula mistakes were still small time. But the bitter remark was a game changer."
Obama's concession yesterday
has 'made matters worse' for him:
His "lame concession yesterday that his mistake was "I didn't say it as well as I should have" only makes the repeated smear worse. He should get off his Ivy League horse and apologize to the millions of Americans he insulted. As it stands, he has confirmed he doesn't understand or respect them."
Bittergate will get Clinton the supers. Time to unite with Clinton to crush mcwar.
April 13, 2008 5:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
You are a moron. Not surprising you support Clinton.
April 13, 2008 5:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
You thought Reverend Wright was a game changer too.
By the way, when you put quotation marks around something you should note who and what it is you're quoting.
April 13, 2008 5:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh my goodness, yes. Total game changer. Obama is clearly doomed now.
Just like he was when the Rev Wright thing hit. And just like when he was misquoted as praising Reagan. And just like when it was revealed that he had -- oh noes -- been to Pakistan.
Yup, the man is obviously going down in flames. Just like all those other times.
April 13, 2008 5:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Gotalife, you really are a secret Obama supporter, aren't you? Your entire persona is just extended satire. It has to be.
Thanks for the laughs!
April 13, 2008 6:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Have gotalife's posts reached the point of performance art yet?
April 13, 2008 11:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
God, I wish I had a buck for every time you or someone like you had declared something to be a game changer that presaged the end of Obama's campaign. I'd be, well, okay not a millionaire, only fifteen or twenty thousand bucks richer really, but still, it'd be a nice chunk of change.
April 13, 2008 5:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
Clinton Wins Delegate Majority at Do-Over Election:
http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=8159267&nav=menu102_2
April 13, 2008 5:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Clinton still wins Clark County, but Obama gains a bit in do-over
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-nevada13apr13,1,6672145.story
April 13, 2008 5:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
So funny! Did you mean this as a parody? Because if you did, it's comic genuis.
I hadn't heard that there were any "do-overs" in the works.
April 13, 2008 5:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
The WORST POTUS other than GW Bush and it's close. Loser.
Jimmy Carter Defends Meeting With Hamas:
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080413/D9010UQ00.html
Jimmy "Peanut" Carter should be arrested for treason.
April 13, 2008 5:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
"The WORST POTUS other than GW Bush and it's close. Loser."
Oh man. Did you ever show your true colours with that one.
Carter isn't the most successful president by a long shot, but only someone with Democrat Derangement Syndrome could think he is close to being the worst.
April 13, 2008 5:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm torn about Carter. I think his heart's in the right place, but honestly, I hate a lot of the things he's said about Israel. They say that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, but I do think that they should play a role in judgement. Oh well.
April 13, 2008 10:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Carter wasn't the most effective president ever, but he will go down in history as one of the best Americans ever. He has earned great respect from the entire world in the decades since his presidency ended.
Your attitude toward him demonstrates that you are, indeed, marginal.
April 13, 2008 5:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think ANT's should be arrested for treason.
April 13, 2008 8:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, thanks for the news. Going by those results, it looks like Obama picked up the 2% from Edwards while Clinton didn't gain a thing.
If that happens in the rest of Nevada, maybe he'll end up beating Clinton by an even larger spread than 13 to 12 in the final delegate count!
April 13, 2008 5:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Eric,
This is off topic but there is an astonishing 2004 TPM video at youtube that addresses Sen. Obama's recent poorly chosen words.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oGF3cyHE7M
April 13, 2008 5:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sorry, I thought that was posted in 2004 but was really posted just yesterday.
April 13, 2008 5:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
It was an interview from 2004
April 13, 2008 7:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
What Carter says is a no brainer.
What is remarkable is that Hillary has been reduced to arguing two diverging points simultaneously:
1) The elections must go on because everyone's voice must be heard.
2) Pledged delegates, which are proportioned accorded to the everyone's voice... aren't obligated to vote for the candidate they represent.
Does she really think she can get away with such blatant flimflam? Perhaps. Wasn't it Bill who said he smoked pot but didn't inhale? He got away with that one quite cleanly didn't he?
I suspect though... Americans are growing a bit weary of having clowns for Presidents. Hillary is lying on thin ice here. And the water below is awfully cold.
April 13, 2008 5:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
The so called progressive blogs are refusing to cover bittergate like their candidate refused to apologize to the PA voters.
These blogs are worse than Fox News.
Pathetic.
April 13, 2008 5:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think you should change your handle to getatractor. As in, your head's so far up your ass that's what you're gonna need to pull it out.
April 13, 2008 5:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Then why are you here? I don't mean to suggest that contrary opinions shouldn't be posted. But if you consider this blog and its posters "pathetic," why do you seem to spend half your waking hours posting over and over again on this site?
Might there be a more enjoyable way to spend your time?
I might understand if the tone and content of your posts changed, but they all seem uniformly . . . bitter.
April 13, 2008 6:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Then go back to FOX SPEWS, ANT(Aryan Nation Troll)
April 13, 2008 8:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
They have been covering it. Not covering it would be it not being mentioned. It just so happens that a lot of people disagree with your thoughts on it. That doesn't mean it's not being covered, though.
April 13, 2008 10:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
No shit.
Worst? How about Herbert Hoover - do you know any history at all?
My god it's true what they say about the education people are getting these days.
April 13, 2008 5:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
To be fair, a lot of those "worst/best" political lists usually focus on modern America, i.e. since the end of World War II.
I don't understand the animus towards Carter. Then again, I wasn't alive during in his presidency. In any case, if there's even a sliver of truth to this hilarity, he must have been a badass.
April 13, 2008 6:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
I actually voted for Mr. Peanut in 1976. What a mistake. This guy makes GW Bush look like an intellectual. Carter "lusted in his heart" (Playboy interview) and that's about all. He gave us double digit inflation, dd mortgages, a hostage crisis in Iran after supporting the Shah, gas lines (twice), price freezes, higher taxes, and of course high unemployment somewhere near 8%. It was difficult to find a job even with a Masters.
The pro-Charity work, Habitat, is wonderful, but he was the worst president of the 20th Century. Older DEMS know he's worthless. He got his ass kicked by Reagan and even Obama supporter Teddy "bad driver, good swimmer" Kennedy would not shake his hand at the 1980 DEM convention. Carter=LOSER
April 13, 2008 6:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
One of Carter's greatest triumphs was Zimbabwe. It was the most prosperous country in southern Africa. He supported Mugabe, and look at it now.
April 13, 2008 7:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
You really are a moron. Worst president in the 20th century? Worse than Nixon? Worse than Hoover? Worse than Harding? And you're clearly a scumbag. Only a complete scumbag would place such little value on the monumental corruption of the Nixon and Harding administrations to place the heads of those criminal operations ahead of Carter.
April 13, 2008 8:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
You ought to have some first person knowledge about losers.
April 13, 2008 8:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hmmm, your memory would seem to have quite a few holes.
Stagflation was a problem that Carter inherited (it was also worldwide, I might add). It was his appointment of Paul Volcker to the Federal Reserve that is widely considered to have put inflation in check. Of course, raising the interest rates to lower inflation meant higher mortgages, but that is the primary strategy of the Fed regardless of who sits in the White House.
The Shah had been propped up by the US since the 50s after the CIA deposed the popular Mossadegh. Carter allowing the Shah to get medical treatment in the US was perhaps the final straw leading to the kidnapping, but the anger had been brewing for decades.
The gas lines of the energy crisis were mostly in the early 70s during Nixon's administration.
April 14, 2008 2:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
Ok, you want worst since WWII? Reagan.
Reagan totally screwed up a lot more than Nixon ever dreamed about. He's the one who started on our infrastructure. And I knew when they got away with Iran/contra that we were fucked. They learn from their failures.
So they get progressively worse, or have, right up to the apex of worst: George Bush.
April 13, 2008 6:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
We live under the shadow of Nixon's pardon. Carter inherited a crap sandwich with a pee chaser and did the best he could. And he is and ever shall be 10,001 times the American GWB could ever be. He actually achieved a peace in the Middle East. To call him a loser demonstrates a childish acquaintance with history.
All the candidates need to be asked what their DoJ intends to do about the current illegal criminal enterprise posing as a presidency. War crimes indictments in February 2009 when pardons can help no one. The president of the United States has admitted on camera to approving torture.
And a great many other things, to be sure. America will never otherwise recover. Future presidents will be doomed to repeating the same awful mistakes, revoking ever more of our libery in the process.
Enough.
Pax,
M.
April 13, 2008 7:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
@gotalife
Get a life - seems you need one.
"Bittergate will get Clinton the supers. Time to unite with Clinton to crush mcwar."
It will be very bitter for Ms. Clinton, if again her attempts to "smear" Obama with non-issues, will fail. Recent Scotsman article says, Gore and Carter contemplating to tell Hillary to pack up and go home. She'll be an excellent McCainicrat. Why the heck cannot she come up with something intelligent for a change, we are tired of her BS.
Yes, these down-trodden people in small towns are bitter, because they got duped by the likes of the Clintons - a $109M girl, calling Obama "elitist" -
hoping this will stick with blue-collar workers. It is demeaning and insulting that Ms. Clinton thinks, they are stupid enough to fall for her spinning - but she can always claim later that she misspoke, because she was running for cover due to heavy sniper fire from Mark Penn and Bill Clinton:
the Columbian NAFTA connection.
April 13, 2008 7:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Holy crap. Now Hillary hunts and does shots at the local bar. She looks like a real ass.
April 13, 2008 7:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Carter got kneecapped by Cheney, Rumsfeld and Reagan - that was the first October Surprise.
Carter is a very smart man who is totally sincere - he was easy pickings for the likes of Cheney, Rumsfeld, Reagan -
I don't think he would be now, at all.
I think most have finally learned; they finally get it - the Republicans cannot be trusted. For any reason.
Best economic party - what a giant joke. Everything is in shambles.
April 13, 2008 7:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
If you remember, Jimmy got kneecapped first by Ted Kennedy well before anyone GOP'er. Teddy ran against Carter and TK makes Hillary (to date) seem nice. Carter ran around the convention stage to shake hands and have Kennedy's public support, Carter got nothing but a brush off. Jimmy Carter won the 1976 election because we wanted out from Nixon (and Ford) as well as forget to VietNam. Now we want out from Bush and Iraq. Carter was never vetted or tested. Carter was a unequivocal disaster. Obama will be the same if elected (which I strongly doubt).
Carter has shown himself to be a wonderful human being, however, I'm not sure he's been invited to speak at DEM conventions since 1988 which should say something about his reputation and influence in the Democratic Party.
April 13, 2008 8:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Marginal Player is an ANT.
ANT(Aryan Nation Troll)
April 13, 2008 8:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks. I was starting to respond to him, but you helped me resist the urge to feed the troll.
I am currently watching Hillary talk about how she and Bill read Bible studies to Chelsea -- Jewish Bible studies! and also I expect her to add any minute now how she taught Chelsea to shoot a gun! Oh! and to drink shots! Oh, and how to put a condom on a banana!
Oh, now this is real: She is talking about how she and Bill went shopping for green light-bulbs!
Yeah Hillary is the genuine article, alright...a genuine blue light special at walmart!
April 13, 2008 8:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
I believe that.
I don't think the most virulently nasty posters who purport to support a candidate actually do. They wouldn't say the things they do if they honestly supported a candidate, because they are designed to cause friction and trouble, not to persuade anyone.
April 13, 2008 8:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Of course he is.
You guys new to TPM or something?
Here is the relevant post that establishes that fact from a March 17th thread:
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/bill_kristol_corrects_false_as.php#comment-2659783
Listen, I've already notified my nearest FBI office in regards to this person. I can assure you... he is on their watch list.
We all need to get together on this:
Whenever someone threatens Barack Obama's well being, you must immediately bring it to the attention of the FBI. Don't dare demure!
Barack is risking his life and his family to try and change the gestalt of America. None of us should hesitate to point out unbalanced individuals who threaten him. We owe Barack that... and so much more...
April 13, 2008 9:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
100% agreed. Whoever is president will inherit a nightmare, on multiple fronts, mostly due to the intentional disassembly of government. If Obama begins to be asked about war crimes, and he answers as the constitutional lawyer he is, the target on his back will only get larger as McCain is marginalized.
My prediction is Obama will ask us to hold him accountable to the law. I realize "the law" is a mysticism to those who ignore it. Nothing else explains the rabid "Obamaniac" slur. Those damn lawyers. Asking all those damn questions, wanting the truth...
The Iraq Disaster is just getting into third gear. W ticked off the judiciary. Real dumb. After the GOP goes down in November, axes long in the grinding are going to come out.
Pax,
M.
April 13, 2008 11:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Here is an interesting article guys found on fox news.http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/04/13/report-carter-and-gore-to-team-up-against-clinton-to-end-her-presidential-bid/.If this report is true guys then GAME SET MATCH!!!!Time for the Clintons to start Packing!!!
April 13, 2008 9:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Gotalife needs to remove his head from the sand or where ever it may be stuck. This changes nothing except it gives the talking heads something else to expend some hot air upon. The superdelegates aren't stupid. They will not give this nomination to Clinton. It's Obama yesterday and tomorrow.. Sorry Hillary. This latest scheme only insults the intelligence of smart and perceptive voters. Bring on your next deception.
April 13, 2008 10:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Favorite Quotes (of Marginal Player): "If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit."
The truth is, the late 70s were a difficult and unfortunate time to be President. Tell me, how would you have dealt with the Iran hostage crisis? Remember that the USA was not (and is not) the only nation to possess nuclear weapons.
Was Carter a bad Commander In Chief? Remember that the Army he had at his disposal was quite large, but was made up chiefly of the sort of substandard soldiers endemic to the early All-Volunteer Force. Thanks to the afterglow of Vietnam, it took a herculean effort to recruit any warm bodies at all into the Armed Forces. The movie Stripes was pretty much historically accurate in that regard. It took until the mid-80s to even begin to turn this trend around. Remember, the All-Volunteer Force was not Carter's brilliant idea. He was nowhere near Washington when that brain-fart of an experiment got started.
The typical car in the mid-1970s when Carter was elected President got less than 15 miles per gallon. It was big, heavy, and slow due mainly to Detroit's ham-handed initial response to the Clean Air Act (which is why Toyota is beating their asses today). Carter's response to the energy crises were straightforward and logical, even if they were simplistic by today's standards. Drive slower. Drive less by combining trips. Wear a damn sweater and turn the thermostat down. Weatherproof your house. All common-sense solutions that we would be wise to heed today.
The economic problems can be mostly blamed on the energy crises. When the price of oil soars several-fold, and the supply of it is pinched off by pissed-off Arabs (or the oil companies, take your pick), the shit hits the fan and everything naturally costs more. What part of this was Carter's fault? We've been fucking with these people since long before Carter became President.
I suggest that had not Carter been President, if Ford or Ronald Reagan had prevailed in 1976, we'd have been far worse off. Carter may have been the only thing holding the nation together in the late 70s. Did anyone thank him for that? No. We crapped all over him. I'd love to have him for another term, even at his advanced age.
April 13, 2008 11:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Let's be honest, Carter was a terrible President, why lie about it. Has he been an outstanding ex-president, of course, but a good president, give me a break. If you think things are bad now, multiply these terrible times by four and you will know what it was like during the Carter era. My parents lived it, they voted for him twice because of loyalty to the party. Now, I hope he would be loyal to the party and allow for every voice to be heard.
April 13, 2008 11:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Until Carter, my grandmother voted GOP from birth, a native of West VA. But she did not trust Reagan, and saw Carter as much more in touch with real people. Like Obama today, she got a lot of "support" from her children and grandchildren about her choice. She never voted GOP again.
Carter was a peacemaker. Of course people call him a loser. This is not respected in 2008, whoever it is.
Pax,
M.
April 14, 2008 12:07 AM | Reply | Permalink
When Jimmy Carter was president, he inherited the recession from Nixon/Ford. Carter did his best to turn the country around by naming a new Federal Reserve Chairman and raising interest rates to stem the tide of inflation. This was not a popular move, but is considered by financial experts as the way to bring inflationary trends under control. Americans are not too good at sacrificing and Carter's reputation was vilified by the Republican right. The Democratic leadership in Congress also was not on board with his attempts to "change the way business is done in Washington", so they also worked against his inititives and he was marginalized by his own party. This combination ruined his reputation with the public, but the fact is, he WAS a good president that tried to do the right thing in the face of opposition from the Republicans, the public and his own party.
This kind of fiscal sacrifice is not popular with the American public, and this is the reason that George W. Bush has started two wars, and run the dollar into the ground on borrowed money. He has not asked us to sacrifice anything, so that is why your food prices, gas prices, and everything else in this country has gone through the roof, because inflation is SOARING! (Please do NOT believe the figures put out by the government! Believe your own lying eyes when you fill up at the pump or go grocery shopping)!
Carter tried to do the right thing; George W. Bush has NEVER done the right thing. So, this history is something we need to think about when Barack Obama becomes president (and I hope he does). If he tries to do the right thing will the country get behind him? Will the Democratic Party get behind him if he tries to change the way Washington does business? We already know the Republican right wing will slam him at every opportunity. So, America, are you ready for the next president to do the "right" thing and try to fix this economic mess this country is in? Or are we all going to whine and cry and stomp him into the ground the way we did and still do to former President Carter? We should all be so lucky to have a president as COMPASSIONATE, careful, humanitarian, and SMART as former President Carter. Barack Obama is all those things. Will we really get behind him or will we vilify him as we have done for years with President Carter and drive him from office after only one term? This country is on the brink and it WILL demand sacrifice to put it on the road to recovery. We all say we want to fix the country, but do we have the will to put up with the ways and means to do so?
April 14, 2008 12:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
April 14, 2008 12:41 PM | Reply | Permalink