Post primary loss, The Group waits for Obama to show Clinton 'respect'

Your candidate lost. It's not time to be demanding things like this.

We have 18 million cards in our hands.

I would say, the money was wasted. Sorry guys, you are out. Desperately loosing Hillary will not remember you guys either. The game is over. NJ does not count for Obama. He takes it for granted.

To get respect, you have to give it.

Does it occur to "The Clinton Group" that they are presenting the Democratic candidate for the Presidency a Hobson's Choice? To wit:

The only way winner Obama can "show respect" is to act the loser and allow "The Group" to successfully intimidate and humiliate him in public.

If Obama kowtows to these people, he would appear spineless.

If the shoe were on the other foot, "The Group" would be howling..."a controlling, sexist male disrespecting..." etc,etc.

Wow!! talk about politics going to someones head. Who the F___ is John Graham or any Hillary fundraiser to tell Barack Obama who to pick for his VP. Graham lost, he should shut up. Her negatives are through the roof. She electrifies the Republican base. Wow, that's a great pick. Plus as always, she would only be serving her own interest as a VP or a VP candidate. This is the first major decision of Barack's candidacy he needs to stand up be a leader and not pick Hillary as his VP.Graham is a well connected insider. He is a typical Hillary supporter. These people are becoming more and more irrelevant. Barack showed he can raise a gazzilion dollars from ordinary folks in small donations from the internet. Sorry Graham you and your fatcat friends are now irrelevant.

Excellent post, Max. First rate.

For additional perspective on the topic of The Group, go here.  

Also note that no one else, including any New Jersey daily newspapers, nor the NY Times, nor the Inky, nor even the AP, have seen fit to pick up this story and run their own angle.  What a disgrace!  Just read the comments attached to your post for an idea how outraged people are by what these clowns were trying to pull!

Imagine if this involved a Republican dispute, with heavy-lifting fundraisers being directly quoted, many demanding that a Presidential candidate show the proper "respect" to the loser by offering her the number two slot on the ticket, or they would not participate actively in the campaign.  I have no doubt it would get front page, top of the fold coverage. 

Maybe we'll see something on Sunday or Monday.  But I won't hold my breath. 

By the way, where is Debbie Holtz on the press silence on this story?  Any thoughts, Deb?

The next time some malingering crybaby from the Clinton campaign wails again about the unfairly negative coverage she received during the primary season, we'll all have a big fat laugh!  Now, it is certainly true that, on balance, Obama received less press scrutiny than he should have.  He has received essentially none on some issues, but her claim she was unfairly targeted with negative news, is bogus. 

Comparing and contrasting the various lists of members of The Group -- mostly coming from you, Wally Edge or Editor, I would note that you were the first to note the inclusion on the list of Zenon Christodoulou, from Somerset County. 

Back in November, Wally specifically identified six members, including two indviduals you did not name in this post.  Your post only named five individuals, including Christodoulou, and thus you left out Bill Harla and Meryl Frank.  If the two of them stayed out of this fiasco, good for them.  

You also said there were "about eight members" of The Group.  As we noted in our post at TrochilusTales (link above), the five whose names you cited, plus the two not mentioned come to a total of seven.

That leaves out one mystery member.  Is that the "silent partner?"   Something we should know?  Or, someone we should know about? 

Inquiring minds, etcetera, etcetera., etcetera!! 

by Trochilus

John is simply representing the point of view of millions of men and women across this great country who are waiting for Obama to show respect for Hillary and her supporters. I applaud him for his honesty, respect for and commitment to Hillary and what she means to millions of voters who Obama needs in November.

"Having said that, it is useful to remember that when Clinton suspended, not ended, her campaign, she was leading in the popular vote...”

FALSE... unless you count the one candidate primary in Michigan and ignore all of those pesky caucus states.

“...the electoral college states needed for victory in November...”

FALSE. She won in the electoral college states that YOU believe are needed for victory in November. This belief is neither universal nor provable. Not to mention which, it implies that the winner of the primary will have a better chance of carrying that state in the general, which is often true, but is NOT a given.

“...and the polls against McCain whereas Obama was tied or behind.”

FALSE. With an extremely close contest, the polls showed both. Some favored Clinton, some favored Obama. This statement is only true if you cherry pick certain polls on certain days that were favorable to Clinton and ignore the polls that were favorable to Obama.

The propagation of these kinds of falsehoods is EXACTLY the reason that Clinton lost my respect. Play to win, get in your shots where you need to, and I’ll respect you. But treat me like an idiot, and you can forget it. You can’t demand my respect out of one side of your mouth while insulting my intelligence out of the other. You may wish to consider, rrlieberma, that people are more likely to listen to what you have to say if you drop this charade and stop with the talking points for a dead campaign that we all know aren’t true. It’s just insulting.

No, Jill, he is not.

I wholeheartedly agree with what YOU have said here. But that is NOT what John Graham is saying.

Graham isn't looking for Obama to praise Clinton's dedication, seek her advice, give credit for the work she's done, rebut her detractors and try to unify the party. That would be seeking respect. What he's doing is demanding that he offer her the VP slot, and implying that any other choice is disrespectful and unworthy of Democrats' support. That's not seeking respect. That's just a slimy political power play.

And the idea that the only way Obama can be a unifier is to take her as VP is not only illogical, it's laughable. Choosing Richardson would show an awful lot of unity with Latinos. Choosing Chuck Hagel would show an awful lot of unity with Republicans. Choosing Bloomberg would show an awful lot of unity with independents. I could go on, but the point is that there's one VP slot. Even if you believe that expressing unity is the most important function of VP selection (I don't and I doubt you do either, but that's another discussion) you can't use it to show unity with everybody. Listening to these arguments is like the fricking All-Star game. Everybody was snubbed, but you know, there are only so many positions on the damn field.