The war from the right is a long standing one. The idea that Republicans would be cooking up some plan to make sure the Democrats had a weak candidate (and to make sure it just wasn’t Hillary) should not surprise most of us. What is surprising is how the information of this plan was staring people in the face but they choose to spin it around to Obama’s advantage. Early on when the primaries first started, I found myself on forums, message boards etc. At the beginning, it was mostly Republican voters that were throwing insults at Hillary. Again, it’s expected. When the primaries started I was astonished about how many openly gloated about voting against Hillary. Yes these Republicans were voting in Democratic primaries for one reason only. To stop Hillary. It was wildly known that they were voting in Democratic primaries but some didn’t want to make the connection that they were voting against Hillary. The media choose to spin this. Obama was getting the majority of Republican and Independents votes so therefore he was the magical unifier. He was bringing Americans together with his message of hope and change. Many of us Clinton supporters knew better. The mere idea that people actually believed Republicans were enthusiastic about voting for an inexperienced far left radical gives me the giggles. How could anyone be so blind and stupid? But the media was selling this idea and his supporters were eating it up. Now before anyone starts with “What about Texas and Ohio?” the Republicans only voted for Hillary then because they had already done the damage in every past contest. They just wanted the process to continue. In addition to flyer’s and “Democrat for a Day” there were open statements made that confirms the fact Republicans tried their best to cost Hillary the nomination.
Stephen G. Trent, the chairman of the Suffolk Republican Party, who talked with election workers in five precincts, said longtime Republicans were getting Democratic ballots so they could vote against Clinton.
“People who never voted for a Democrat in their lives said they were going to vote in the Democratic primary,” Trent said.
“But if the Democrats think they’ve got something going here in Suffolk, they’re whistling past a graveyard.”
http://blog.vivianpaige.com/2008/02/15/opinion-please-republicans-voting-for-obama/
Even though this behavior was expected and has Karl Rove’s name all over it, it still doesn’t make it acceptable. Shouldn’t these facts count as something? Shouldn’t this be taken into consideration when asking why Hillary didn’t win certain states and didn’t get as many delegates? I think it should. It’s a huge part of the puzzle of how this could happen to a ‘sure thing’ candidate. Or does the DNC know about all of this? Do they just not care? That question should be answered in part 2. That side of the war is even more interesting.
