Please join John Edwards, Joe Andrews, Bill Richardson, George McGovern, Rick Larsen and most Democratic superdelegates and leaders in supporting Obama and in urging all superdelegates to do the same now.
To Sens. Cantwell and Murray, specifically: Please join your fellow WA representative, Rick Larsen, and switch your old superdelegate pledge from Clinton to Obama. Please honor the nearly 2/3rds of your constituents, who voted overwhelmingly for him. We will not support you, by vote or contribution, if you do not respect the core principle of our democracy, wherein voters decide who they want to represent them. We are outraged that three months have passed since the Washington caucuses, but you have failed to follow the clear wish of your constituents, and have therefore allowed significant damage to the Democratic Party and its chances in the election to be perpetrated by the negative attacks of Sen. Clinton.
We find it refreshing and inspiring to see how many Democratic leaders, politicians and activists to stand up for what is right and good, to reject the politics of division, attack and innuendo, and to help our country again assume its proper role of truly upholding freedom and democracy here and abroad.
Sen. Clinton is doing the Republicans' work for them, seriously harming the Democratic Party's chances of winning the general election and destroying her future in the Party. The Huffington Post recently reported: "Former journalist Sidney Blumenthal has been widely credited with coining the term 'vast right-wing conspiracy' used by Hillary Clinton in 1998 to describe the alliance of conservative media, think tanks, and political operatives that sought to destroy the Clinton White House, where he worked as a high-level aide. A decade later, and now acting as a senior campaign advisor to Senator Clinton, Blumenthal is exploiting that same right-wing network in order to attack and discredit Barack Obama. And he's not hesitating to use the same sort of guilt-by-association tactics that have been the hallmark of the political right dating back to the McCarthy era." Even Republicans are voting for her in the Democratic primaries, because they know she will be more easily defeated in November. As the campaign continues, she sounds more and more like a Republican and a conservative, using fear to scare certain segments of the voting population into voting for her and against change and reform.
Her destructive campaign is pointless, needless and incredibly wasteful: Winning the nomination is impossible. The voters clearly want Obama. He has the momentum, despite relentless attacks and negative campaigning by the Clintons, based upon race and class -- demonstrating a remarkable ability to survive even the strongest undercurrents of hate and racism.
The American people are tired of Hillary's sneaky attacks, all run through her surrogates. Her negative ratings continue to rise and nearly 60% of the voters don't trust her. She is therefore unelectable. Moreover, we don't need another Bush in the presidency -- another liar and deceiver, who believes that the ends (in this case, Hillary's election) justify any means.
Sen. Clinton has sidetracked and subverted the Democratic primary process, turning the focus of the campaign and analyst commentary from the issues and from the candidates' visions for the country, to obsessing and arguing over a small number of superdelegates, the majority of whom will likely not be won by her, and over procedures and processes. Her arguments for nomination have devolved into arcane, twisted, abstruse, unprecedented and anti-democratic ones, whereby she is trying to make up the rules -- her rules -- for how delegates are elected and candidates are nominated, rules that ignore the will and votes of the majority of Democrats. She discards the rules of the Party, and irrationally and selfishly argues that the Florida and Michigan primaries be counted, even though Obama was not even on the Michigan ballot and did not -- in honor of the agreement that both of them made with the Party -- campaign in either state. If the Party acquiesces to her demands, it will become the Anti-Democratic Party, will be perceived as grossly unfair, and will never be able to make a rule stick in the future.
You see, Hillary is acting like she doesn't belong to the Democratic Party. Rather, she and Bill are promoting the "Clinton Party." They make their own rules, which essentially means running a down-and-ugly, slash-and-burn, race- and class-based campaign, regardless of the destructive results.
If Sen. Clinton continues to divide the Party and eventually somehow manages through intimidation and seduction to steal the nomination from Sen. Obama, droves of young people, African Americans, Independents, and even long-term Democrats, like us (who have voted Democratic in every election over the past 45 years) will desert the Party, very likely for two generations or more.
We have not had a national leader like Obama since the days of JFK, RFK and MLK. We hope the Democratic Party will demonstrate leadership and seize the moment, fully support Sen. Obama soon, and bring hope and unity back to politics. Behind Obama is a nation of people, who will continue to respond to his call for citizen involvement and action and will work together in a way that we have never seen. Both the country and the Party have a unique and rare opportunity to rediscover their spirit and soul, and to make our country once again into a place we are proud and honored to call our nation and our home.
Robert Kenny and Julia Glover
7292 Maxwelton Rd
Clinton, WA 98236-8814
Sent to:
Clinton http://www.hillaryclinton.com/help/contact/
Edwards http://www.johnedwards.com/about/contact/form/
Obama http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/contact2
Democratic National Committee (DNC) http://www.democrats.org/page/s/contact
Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) http://www.dlc.org/cobrand/contact_us.cfm
Democratic congressional committee (DCCC), Chairman, Rep. Chris Van Hollen: http://dccc.org/page/s/contact
Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC): Chairman, Iowa Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal DLCC@dlcc.org
Although election comments should technically be placed at Harry Reid's Campaign Site Blog [You first have to register your blog at
http://www.giveemhellharry.com/page/community/register?s=http://www.giveemhellharry.com/page/community/dashboard and then post it], I'd suggest going to http://reid.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm, his Senate site.
Charles Schumer senator@schumer.senate.gov [Gets bounced back] http://www.charlesschumer.org/
Nancy Pelosi http://speaker.house.gov/contact/ AmericanVoices@mail.house.gov
Steny Hoyer info@hoyerforcongress.com
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee info@dscc.org [Schumer is chair]
Democratic Governors' Association http://www.democraticgovernors.org/page/s/contact
State reps:
Maria Cantwell's campaign site: comment@cantwell.com [Gets bounced back] [You can reach your rep by Googling: "name" [in quotes] donate contact; or by going to the campaign site links at the bottom of the Wikipedia webpage on your rep, such as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Cantwell.] Friends of Maria 202-314-3231
Patty Murray http://www.pattymurray.com/contact.php campmail@pattymurray.com (206) 286-9199
Rick Larsen rick@ricklarsen.org (425) 259-1866 Brooke Davis (Political Director/Treasurer) brooke@ricklarsen.org (425) 259-1866 Cellphone: (425) 830-2031
Mary Margaret Haugen http://www.marymargarethaugen.com/contact Read More »
Please join superdelegates Joe Andrews, Bill Richardson and George McGovern in supporting Obama and urging all superdelegates to do the same.
From: Robert Kenny
To: DLCC@dlcc.org ; senator@schumer.senate.gov ; info@hoyerforcongress.com ; Pol, Rick Larsen Campaign ; Pol, Maria Cantwell Campaign ; Pol, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee ; jandrew@sonnenschein.com ; joeandrews2008@gmail.com
Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2008 5:28 PM
Subject: Bravo To Joe Andrews, Bill Richardson and George McGovern for Endorsing Obama: Other Superdelegates Should Follow Soon
We find it refreshing and inspiring to see Democratic leaders, politicians and activists, like Joe Andrews, Bill Richardson and George McGovern, stand up for what is right and good, to reject the politics of division, attack and innuendo, and to help our country again assume its proper role of truly upholding freedom and democracy here and abroad.
Sen. Clinton is doing the Republicans' work for them, seriously harming the Democratic Party's chances of winning the general election and destroying her future in the Party. The Huffington Post recently reported: "Former journalist Sidney Blumenthal has been widely credited with coining the term 'vast right-wing conspiracy' used by Hillary Clinton in 1998 to describe the alliance of conservative media, think tanks, and political operatives that sought to destroy the Clinton White House, where he worked as a high-level aide. A decade later, and now acting as a senior campaign advisor to Senator Clinton, Blumenthal is exploiting that same right-wing network in order to attack and discredit Barack Obama. And he's not hesitating to use the same sort of guilt-by-association tactics that have been the hallmark of the political right dating back to the McCarthy era." Even Republicans are voting for her in the Democratic primaries, because they know she will be more easily defeated in November. As the campaign continues, she sounds more and more like a Republican and a conservative, using fear to scare certain segments of the voting population into voting for her and against change and reform.
Her destructive campaign is pointless, needless and incredibly wasteful: Winning the nomination is impossible. The voters clearly want Obama. He has the momentum, despite relentless attacks and negative campaigning by the Clintons, based upon race and class -- demonstrating a remarkable ability to survive even the strongest undercurrents of hate and racism.
The American people are tired of Hillary's sneaky attacks, all run through her surrogates. Her negative ratings continue to rise and nearly 60% of the voters don't trust her. She is therefore unelectable. Moreover, we don't need another Bush in the presidency -- another liar and deceiver, who believes that the ends (in this case, Hillary's election) justify any means.
Sen. Clinton has sidetracked and subverted the Democratic primary process, turning the focus of the campaign and analyst commentary from the issues and from the candidates' visions for the country, to obsessing and arguing over a small number of superdelegates, the majority of whom will likely not be won by her, and over procedures and processes. Her arguments for nomination have devolved into arcane, twisted, abstruse, unprecedented and anti-democratic ones, whereby she is trying to make up the rules -- her rules -- for how delegates are elected and candidates are nominated, rules that ignore the will and votes of the majority of Democrats. She discards the rules of the Party, and irrationally and selfishly argues that the Florida and Michigan primaries be counted, even though Obama was not even on the Michigan ballot and did not -- in honor of the agreement that both of them made with the Party -- campaign in either state. If the Party acquiesces to her demands, it will become the Anti-Democratic Party, will be perceived as grossly unfair, and will never be able to make a rule stick in the future.
You see, Hillary is acting like she doesn't belong to the Democratic Party. Rather, she and Bill are promoting the "Clinton Party." They make their own rules, which essentially means running a down-and-ugly, slash-and-burn, race- and class-based campaign, regardless of the destructive results.
If Sen. Clinton continues to divide the Party and eventually somehow manages through intimidation and seduction to steal the nomination from Sen. Obama, droves of young people, African Americans, Independents, and even long-term Democrats, like us (who have voted Democratic in every election over the past 45 years) will desert the Party, very likely for two generations or more.
We have not had a national leader like Obama since the days of JFK, RFK and MLK. We hope the Democratic Party will demonstrate leadership and seize the moment, fully support Sen. Obama soon, and bring hope and unity back to politics. Behind Obama is a nation of people, who will continue to respond to his call for citizen involvement and action and will work together in a way that we have never seen. Both the country and the Party have a unique and rare opportunity to rediscover their spirit and soul, and to make our country once again into a place we are proud and honored to call our nation and our home. Read More »
Dear Mr. Andrews,
God bless you for your courageous act of leadership in asking Democrats to come together behind Sen. Obama.
We find it refreshing to see politicians and activists, like you and Bill Richardson, stand up for what is right and good, to reject the politics of division, attack and innuendo, and to help our country again assume its proper role of truly upholding freedom and democracy here and abroad.
The Huffington Post today reported: "Former journalist Sidney Blumenthal has been widely credited with coining the term 'vast right-wing conspiracy' used by Hillary Clinton in 1998 to describe the alliance of conservative media, think tanks, and political operatives that sought to destroy the Clinton White House, where he worked as a high-level aide. A decade later, and now acting as a senior campaign advisor to Senator Clinton, Blumenthal is exploiting that same right-wing network in order to attack and discredit Barack Obama. And he's not hesitating to use the same sort of guilt-by-association tactics that have been the hallmark of the political right dating back to the McCarthy era."
The American people are tired of Hillary's sneaky attacks, all run through her surrogates. She is destroying the Democratic Party and doing the republicans' work for them.
We have not had a national leader like Obama since the days of JFK, RFK and MLK. We hope the Democratic Party will follow your lead and seize the moment, fully support Sen. Obama soon, and bring hope and unity back to politics. Behind Obama is a nation of people, who will respond to his call for involvement and action and work together in a way that we have never seen.
Robert Kenny and Julia Glover
7292 Maxwelton Rd
Clinton, WA 98236-8814 Read More »
An Open Letter To Senator Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party leadership:
It is time for you, Senator Clinton, to act graciously and like a statesperson, and withdraw from the race.
As a Democratic Party, as a nation and as a world, we are facing immense, complex, global challenges, and correspondingly great opportunities. Senator Obama is calling us to deep commitment and service, on behalf of the common good. He possesses strong leadership capacities, including a very impressive ability to inspire and mobilize citizens to get involved and solve problems together. The Party has a once-every-three-generations possibility to seize this moment and support Senator Obama's large and magnetic vision, to bring our country together to fulfill its true purpose in the world, i.e., to manifest the values of freedom, democracy, pluralism and unity-through-diversity and to bring innovative solutions to the immense global problems we are facing: genocide; war; interethnic and intercultural fear and hatred; extreme poverty, malnutrition and starvation; severe and possibly catastrophic economic problems; global warming; and terrorism.
People in many nations are interested in and very supportive of Senator Obama. He has the personal qualities and rich, diverse life experience to speak to many segments not only of our society, but also of the world. He has the capacity to lead not only our country, but to help the U.S. exemplify constructive leadership in the world -- leadership that demonstrates an understanding of other cultures and the life realities of other people, and that can therefore unify many countries in a joint effort to solve the global problems that can only be solved through cooperation among nations.
Senator Clinton, you, on the other hand, have been relentlessly engaging in the politics of negativity, fear and division. You allow yourself to be a tool of these forces of resistance, manipulating the unconscious fears of people in a vain attempt to get elected. In the process, you are destroying yourself (your negatives have continued to rise and now stand at 54%), harming Senator Obama by stoking racist and classist fears and stereotypes, and splitting the Democratic Party (possibly leading to the loss of the Fall election and the long-term abandonment of the Party by African Americans, youth, progressives, independents, and voters like us).
Perhaps the most reprehensible actions by you and your surrogates, including your husband, revolve around issues of race and class. Provoking the fears and resentments of lower- and middle-class whites, including the elderly (rather than engaging in an honest explorations of solutions to these issues) is callous and harmful to our country over the long run. While Senator Obama's candidacy provides our Party and our country a great opportunity to advance interracial and interclass relations and understanding immeasurably (evidenced by his speech on race), you continue to undercut this understanding by spewing superficial sound bytes that are designed only to increase voter fear and misunderstanding.
Since you started to lose to Senator Obama, you and your surrogates have relentlessly stirred racial and class fears, especially leading up to the Pennsylvania primary, including Bill Clinton's comments on the race card on the day before the primary, Bob Johnson's defense of Geraldine Ferraro's racism on the second and third days before the primary, the Osama bin Laden ad (subtly tying Obama's race into fears of terrorism) the day before the election, Geraldine Ferraro's numerous racist comments, your obsessive focus upon his "bitter" comments (which many African Americans considered to be a form of "Who's this uppity black?"), etc. In this country, race, class and economics are deeply intertwined, and it takes only a subtle reference or image to stir these deep currents. Opening these wounds to win an election is unconscionable and irresponsible. Whereas Obama is inviting us to a deeper exploration and healing, you and your surrogates keep merely pulling the scabs off the wounds, over and over and over, leaving them raw and painful, with more, not less, misunderstanding, resentment, discouragement and fear.
Read More »
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