Harold Ickes Catches Clinton-itis: Changes His Tune…

Harold Ickes (former Deputy White House Chief of Staff under President Bill Clinton) had this to say at the end of the DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee meeting today, after the decision was made to seat all of Florida and Michigan’s delegates but allow them only a half vote each: “I am stunned that we have the gall and the chutzpah to substitute our judgment for 600,000 voters.”

Interesting words from Mr. Ickes, particularly given he voted in favour of stripping both Michigan and Florida of all their delegates back in August 2007. In fact, Mr. Ickes voted in favour of going beyond the 50% delegate penalty specified in the party’s rules. Of course, that was before Hillary Clinton (who, not coincidentally, Mr. Ickes supports as the Presidential nominee) desperately needed the delegates from both Florida and Michigan. Back in August, Mrs. Clinton was widely assumed to be the eventual Democratic nominee.

Mrs. Clinton, for her part, signed the Four State Pledge Letter in late August. Here’s a copy:

Four State Pledge Letter 2008
Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina
August 31, 2007

WHEREAS, Over a year ago, the Democratic National Committee established a
2008 nominating calendar;
WHEREAS, this calendar honors the racial, ethnic, economic and geographic
diversity of our party and our country;
WHEREAS, the DNC also honored the traditional role of retail politics early in the
nominating process, to insure that money alone will not determine our
presidential nominee;
WHEREAS, it is the desire of Presidential campaigns, the DNC, the states and
the American people to bring finality, predictability and common sense to the
nominating calendar.
THEREFORE, I _______________, Democratic Candidate for President, pledge
I shall not campaign or participate in any state which schedules a presidential
election primary or caucus before Feb. 5, 2008, except for the states of Iowa,
Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina, as “campaigning” is defined by
rules and regulations of the DNC.

Mrs. Clinton’s camp released this statement at the time:

“We believe Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina play a unique and special role in the nominating process. And we believe the DNC’s rules and its calendar provide the necessary structure to respect and honor that role. Thus, we will be signing the pledge to adhere to the DNC approved nominating calendar.”

In October, Mrs. Clinton had this to say:

“It’s clear, this election [Michigan is] having is not going to count for anything.”

What a difference a few months make…

5,000,000 Reasons Hillary Won’t Quit…

The View from the North

***UPDATE***

Make that 11,400,000 reasons Hillary won’t quit – she’s since “lent” her campaign another $6.4 million…

*****

Behind in delegates to Mr. Obama (by 7.8%: 1724 – 1589), losing the popular vote (by 3.5%: 14.418 vs. 13.917 million), well back in fund-raising (by 18.9%: $240.2 vs. $194.8 million) ¹ ² and deeply in debt, one wonders what good reason Mrs. Hillary Clinton has for remaining in a race which, by virtually every measure, she has no reasonable expectation of winning.

Perhaps it’s not a single reason, but rather five million reasons Mrs. Clinton won’t pull the plug on her seemingly ill-fated campaign to be the Democratic Nominee for President of the United States.

In late January, Mrs. Clinton personally loaned her campaign $5 million. As of April 1, 2008, the Hillary Clinton for President committee was $10 million in debt (not counting the $5 million personal loan)³, and that was before some very heavy spending in the run up to the Pennsylvania primary. You can see a list of creditors here. Mrs. Clinton’s only hope of seeing any of the $5 million of her personal fortune she lent herself is not only to keep the money flowing into her campaign coffers, but to accelerate the pace at which it’s flowing. Hence her direct appeal for cash in the early lines of her victory speech following her triumph in Pennsylvania Tuesday night.

That speech seems to have, if not solved her dilemma, at least significantly eased it: in the twenty-four hours following the plea for money, Mrs. Clinton’s campaign claims it raised a record $10 million 4. That ought to at least pay some of the growing list of creditors (including UC Davis, which is owed $6,350 from an event back in January (the campus is contemplating sending the debt to a collection agency 5), and $292,000 in unpaid health insurance premiums for her campaign workers 6) and may even give the New York Senator a chance of recovering her investment in her ambitions.

Various Democrats have been publicly pleading for Mrs. Clinton to end her campaign. One proposal which may have a realistic chance of meeting success would perhaps be an offer from Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean that would see the DNC pick up any debts of Mrs. Clinton’s failed campaign (including her $5 million loan) if she drops out of the race by a fixed date (the sooner, the better, as far as the Democrats’ aspirations for the White House are concerned). No such proposal appears to have been put forward yet, however such a proposal might, at last, put an end to an increasingly bitter race for the Democratic Nominee for President of the United States, which lately seems to be benefiting one candidate exclusively: Senator John McCain.

Democratic Debate: Obama and Clinton both Struggle to Understand Tax Rate vs Tax Revenue…

In a telling moment during the Democratic Debate in Philadelphia yesterday, April 16, 2008, both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton appeared to fail to understand the difference between a tax rate and tax revenue.

The moment came about an hour and five minutes into the debate: both Democratic candidates have discussed raising the Capital Gains Tax from it’s current 15% rate. The moderator pointed out that the RATE decreased from 28% to 20% under Bill Clinton, and again from 20% to 15% under George Bush, however in both these cases, REVENUE to the government derived from this tax INCREASED. When the rate was previously increased to 28%, revenues DECLINED. He went on to ask, first Mr. Obama, then Mrs. Clinton, if they would still be willing to raise the tax rate, despite overwhelming evidence increases in the tax rate lead to LESS revenue.

Politix – The Clinton Lust for Power…

The View From the North

US politics would appear to yield a seemingly unending sea of things to snicker over. If, that is, it were a small-town high school’s election for class president, not a contest to become the President of the United States.

The latest? Well, after a very calculated pattern of below-the-belt attacks on her rivals by members of Billary’s entourage (comments quickly disowned by the Great Pant-Suited One, after the damage is done, of course), Mrs. Clinton has taken to outright fabrication. She now claims on a trip to war-torn Bosnia in 1996 her plane landed amidst sniper fire, further claiming the greeting ceremony at the airport was cut short and they had to, “run with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base.” Mrs. Clinton further claimed she was sent to areas deemed too dangerous for her husband to visit.

Politix – Michigan, Florida and Learning to Count…

The View from the North

Given I’m not a US citizen, it’s easy to look south of the border with detached bemusement as the Democratic candidates try to convince the voters to let them run the country while at the same time struggling to run a primary race. Florida and Michigan, in case you’ve been on another planet for the past several weeks, jumped the gun and held their primaries early, in contravention of Democratic party rules (rules which both states voted in favour of). Now that the primary race has reached a point whereby neither candidate can secure enough votes needed to win outright, attempts are being made to have the discredited votes/voters count towards the result.

It seems to me the Democratic party, under Howard Dean’s leadership, caused the problem by not reducing the amount of delegates needed to win the nomination