Does A Right-Wing Conspiracy Help Hillary?

Obama Supporter Says Republican Commentators Are Aiming To Skew Primary Results

(CBS)  In states such as Indiana where open primaries allow independent and Republican Party members to vote for Democratic presidential candidates, right-wing radio commentators are exhorting their listeners to cross party lines and vote for Sen. Hillary Clinton, in the hope that she - and not Sen. Barack Obama - will become the nominee against Sen. John McCain, a supporter of Obama said.

Mayor Douglas Wilder of Richmond, Va., a former senator, said a concerted effort by right-wing media was driving voters to Clinton because, he feels, she is the weaker candidate for the Democratic nomination.

"Why are the poll numbers showing a certain element of the voter being unreachable as far as Barack is concerned? Let's get real. Who is running all of the ads on a regular basis? The bloggers, the right-wing commentators on the radio," Wilder told Face The Nation host Bob Schieffer. "Who are they supporting? Not Barack Obama. They are literally begging people - and these are Republicans - literally begging people, 'Please vote for Hillary Clinton.'

"They have no intention of supporting Hillary Clinton in November. And why are they doing that? Why is it Barack Obama can reach what some call the 'elite voter' but he can't reach the others? That's poppycock. There is a concentrated effort to derive those voters away from him and to drive them to Hillary Clinton, because many of them think that Hillary will be the weaker.”

Concurring with Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., Wilder said that the Democrats faced a "riotous" convention if the will of the people - in terms of a candidate with the greatest number of pledged delegates and primary or votes - was usurped by the party's superdelegates. "People would be tremendously upset," he said.

Clyburn, however, went further, believing that such a decision might inspire violence.

It would certainly breed discontent, he said, especially among younger voters, as he described his visits to historical black colleges and universities in his district: "That is what these young people were saying to me. They were very, very upset with all of this talk about superdelegates overturning their energies and overturning their efforts.

"A lot of them were saying that they felt that all of this talk about Senator Obama [was] just ways to damage him permanently for making it impossible for him to win even if he were to get the nomination.

"These young people have come into this party to the extent that I have not seen in 40 years. And we ought not be doing or saying anything to tamp down their enthusiasm."

Clyburn's message to the superdelegates who are free to vote their will? "They are free to take all of these things into account. And I think that they should. What they are not free to do, in my opinion, is to just outright reject or overturn without sufficient cause what may have happened in these various caucuses and these primaries.

"Be very, very careful. Don't do it just because you got the power to do it, but have good reasons if it comes to that."

While Clyburn and Wilder debated the impact or non-impact upon Obama's campaign by the recent remarks of Rev. Lawrence Wright, Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., and a Clinton supporter, said that her willingness to stay in the race demonstrated a toughness and perseverance that is attractive to voters.

"She's a fighter," Bayh said. "And I think people know that it's not going to be easy to deliver the kind of results that they want. And it's her fortitude, in some ways the fact that she's been knocked down. There have been all these calls for her to quit, to go away, to disenfranchise the people of our state, for example. But she says, no, I'm in this for the American people. I'm going to stand strong for them.

"And so it's that grit and determination I think people like, plus the level of experience, the ability to deliver results.

"Barack is a very formidable person, a gifted candidate, and is very persuasive at any number of levels, but it's that between two good people, that perception that one has a little bit more experience and probably can actually deliver the kind of change that people are looking for I think that's resonating well here in the heartland."

---

Read the full "Face the Nation" transcript here.

[acolton1]

Why is it always Marsha, Marsha, Marsha ?

[acolton1]

Its always a Right-Wing Conspiracy or a Left-Wing Conspiracy or a Gay Agenda or some kind of cover up, it''s always some kind of DRAMA and somebody doing some kind of cover up and skewing some kind of numbers for facts or changeing the % of some kind of study in favor of something. WHATEVER this article is such BS.

[chuegevera]

No need for someone to make some acrobatic math about the result of the vote today. The simplest analysis is the following. Obama win one of them or both Hillary should quite the race now. If she win both, the race go on and after all the coming votes the person with the more delegates win the nomination. Period.

[samthetvcat]

pt 4 (omg :o)

So like back to that flipside scenario of if it were the GOP who were the lock this year, and in a Jeb Bush versus Joe Scarborough matchup with Joe Scarborough virtually certain to get the nomination but it not yet being sewn up due to technicalities . . .

. . . say you can''t stand Jeb Bush and think another 4 years of Bush in the White House would be the worst thing ever, even though he''s talking about universal healthcare, middle-class tax cuts, legalizing same *** marriage, women''s right to choose, pre-school programs, etc - the GOP primary comes to town, and you get all excited by the importance, but as a Dem you think oh well I''ve got stuff to do and it looks like Joe Scarborough''s got it sewn up . . . what can you do?

. . . say you can''t stand Joe Scarborough and think 4 years of another elitist neocon in the White House would be the worst thing ever - the GOP primary comes to town, and you think OMG I do NOT want Joe Scarborough as my next President! I MUST do something ASAP . . . I''m going to do it, I''m going to vote for a Repug - a BUSH no less - because he MUST BE STOPPED!

Totally different dynamic at play for the frontrunner and the long-shot, wouldn''t you think? I don''t know . . .

[samthetvcat]

PPPPS Or look at it this way . . . haven''t polls shown that most Democrats don''t care about Rev. Wright (when added to the totality of the candidates'' baskets of goods - Bosnian sniper, gax tax pandering, vote for Iraq War, not reading the NIE, Bubba''s explosive temper, mismanaged campaign finances, ties to Saudi Arabia, etc etc).

So what else would be the cause of the sudden shift in numbers?

[samthetvcat]

PS The tell would be Republicans'' reason for crossing over to vote Dem . . . if they say they''re voting for Hillary now but would vote for McCain in the general and that the economy''s their number one priority, you''d have to ask more to find out their true motivation - like where do they stand on social programs, taxation, paying down the debt . . . do they support continuation of the Iraq war, universal healthcare, etc

If they cite the chief reason for crossing over as being because they wanted to vote for a woman, they''ve likely been Hillary supporters all along.

If they cite the chief reason for crossing over as wanting a Washington outsider, they''ve likely been Barack supporters all along.

If they say they don''t understand why Iraqis are getting all the social programs while everybody''s suffering here at home, they''re likely to vote Democratic . . .

I guess (?)

[samthetvcat]

I think the pundits are flying above the crowd again on this one because I''ve seen ''analysis'' of the polls which points to Obama''s greater draw of cross-over independents, blah blah blah ...

I''m just not sure the polls would pick up people who just climb onboard the Dem party because the big event is coming to town and don''t want to be left out. Try to imagine if it were like 12 years down the road and the electorate just wanted a change, which meant the GOP were virtual shoe-ins. Next imagine that the two GOP''s left in the race were say Jeb Bush who was running behind and was pandering big-time to Dems with talk of social programs etc, running against a core conservative front-runner (the flipside of a core Democrat) like say I don''t know Joe Scarborough or Sean Hannity. Who wouldn''t SO want to be a part of that primary?

The thinking then becomes who the Republican DOESN''T want to see in the White House the most. I think they may be that big ''undecided'' group because they''re not really voting FOR anybody - they probably dislike the candidates both, a LOT. But it doesn''t benefit Republicans to vote for Obama if they dislike Hillary the most; it DOES benefit them to vote for Hillary now if they dislike Obama the most.

It would be a bigger problem now because the Repub primaries didn''t officially end until Texas.

[logansprings]

Contrary to his statement on the May 4 show, Doug Wilder DID threaten riots in the streets worse that in 1968, not a "riotous convention" as he said.

Bob Schieffer should have been ready and played back his initial words and held Wilder accountable to his earlier statements.

Consideration of such threats by Wilder puts him in the same category as Jeremiah Wright--angry, hateful, divisive, and racist.

Police tactics and numbers are significantly improved over 1968. Everything from K9 units to tasers is available to assist in law enforcement. Denver police should have no trouble dealing with the likes of Doug Wilder''s threatened "riots in the streets."

[realpatriot1]

wwsword,

If Republicans are so anxious to face Obama why didn''t Limbaugh urge his followers to vote for Obama?

Hillary keeps saying that the republicans don''t have anything else to use against her but one need only look at the current issue of the Globe at their local checkout line to see what they have still in their arsenel.

There''s also the matter of the Peter Paul lawsuit shceduled to go to trial right before the election.

That''s not to mention reliving every sordid detail from the Clinton years from filegate to Monicagate to travel office gate to Lincoln bedromgate to Buddhist Preistgate to pardongate and on and on.

[wwsword]

Wilder and Clyburn''s arguments are absurd. Republican strategists are dying for an Obama candidacy. Obama is too liberal, too weak on national security, and comes with a lot of left-wing associates. Obama swiftboats himself. He''s a gift to the Republicans.