Hillary’s New Constituency: Children and the Dead
Senator Hillary Clinton greeted a throng of enthusiastic supporters last night as she celebrated what would become a 41 point Obama whupping in West Virginia. Her speech wisely steered away from bashing her opponent, Barack Obama. She managed to strike a nice balance between spunky contender and conciliatory loser.
There was one moment however that illustrated just how desperate Clinton’s campaign has become. She is now relying on dead people and 11 year old boys to pull her through. Read below:
“…tonight I’m thinking about Florence Steen from South Dakota, eighty-eight years old and in failing health when she asked that her daughter bring an absentee ballot to her hospice bedside. Florence was born before women had the right to vote, and she was determined to exercise that right, to cast a ballot for her candidate who just happened to be a woman running for president. Florence passed on a few days ago, but I am eternally grateful to her and her family for making this such an important and incredible milestone in her life that means so much to me. I’m also thinking of Dalton Hatfield, an 11-year-old boy from Kentucky, who sold his bike and sold his video games to raise money to support my campaign.”
Let’s take on the second example first and discuss what is wrong with this picture. An 11 year old boy sells his beloved possessions to finance the campaign of a multi-millionaire. From Hillary’s incredibly self centered view of the world, this seemed wonderful. I would have been happier to hear Hillary follow up by saying “when I heard about Dalton, I immediately sent him a check for $100.00 and told him to buy back his toys and enjoy his childhood.” Then again, when your campaign is in debt up to its ears, I guess money from anyone is welcome. I’m sure in her Kentucky speech, she will brag about the prostitute who sent her a month’s worth of hooking proceeds. It’s so thrilling to see everyone involved in the race.
Then there is the case of Mrs. Steen. It is not lost on me how important it might be for an elderly woman who never dreamed of seeing a woman President to actually have the chance to vote for one. Unfortunately, Hillary let us in on a little secret that Mrs. Steen is … dead. OK, she wasn’t dead when she cast her absentee ballot and I suppose this is no different from someone getting hit by a car on their way out of the polling place … the vote still counts. Still it seemed amusing to me that Hillary is now reaching out to the extreme ends of life’s journey, an 11 year old and a near dead woman, to find support.
Then again, as my wife reminded me, Hillary is originally from Chicago where counting the votes of dead people is somewhat of a tradition.
Respectfully,
Rutherford
2 comments May 14, 2008
