Tags
Abnos (Nick), Cleaver (Emmanuel), Clinton (Hillary), Justus (Jolie), Sanders (Mike), Storch (Rachel)
Saturday after noon the Hillary Clinton campaign headquarters held a grand opening in Kansas City. The doors opened at 10:00 a.m. and volunteers started phone banking, then at 2:30 a group of local and state elected officials who are endorsing Senator Clinton in her bid for the White House spoke to the standing-room-only crowd.
The headquarters is located at 7442 Holmes, on the northeast corner of 75th and Holmes, across the street from the northeast corner of Tower Park. The office space is being donated by local businessman, developer, community re-investor and Democratic fundraiser Nick Abnos, owner of the Abdiana Futon chain.
I arrived at the headquarters at about 2:00, with the local politicians who have endorsed scheduled to address the crowd at 2:30. State Representative Rachel Storch, State Senator Jolie Justus, Jackson County Executive Mike Sanders, and United States Congressman Emmanuel Cleaver. They were great speakers one and all – well-spoken,
articulate in their expression of why they are supporting Senator Clinton – but Congressman Cleaver spoke last, and that man can move a
mountain with his oratorical skills.
He had a lot of things to say, and much of it quotable – but I am sharing this post with fellow SMP blogger Michael Bersin, so I will just relay one of them before I turn it over to him below the fold…speaking about the Republicans and the concern-trolling of certain factions of the Democratic Party – “We are all Democrats. We can’t let them separate us.”
Amen, Mayor (Congress is only national) you got that right.
“we cannot let them separate us…”
“This is the first time in America we will have either a woman or an African American President…”
“I know in Martin Luther King’s lifetime, when he spoke about the promised land we wondered if we would ever get there. While we’re not there yet, in the promised land, we’re in the front yard…”
“Talk about supporting our troops…You support them by putting them on a ship or plane and bring them all home to their families…
“I know Senator Clinton and Senator Obama – there was no struggle in deciding who [to support].”
“Hillary will not pull out of Missouri [unlike 2004].”
“There is no purpose to this [escalating animosity in the primary]. We’re all Democrats…”
“There can be no change without struggle. Hillary Clinton knows struggle. She knows how to struggle.”
The crowd reacted to each statement as Congressman Cleaver built to a crescendo.
Today’s Kansas City Star had the following small item:
Clinton
opens a local office for the final push…More than 100 supporters crowded into the office in the 7400 block of Holmes Street to listen to a few minutes of speeches revving them
up for the Feb. 5 primary. Missouri shares a primary date with New York, California, Illinois and more than a dozen other states.U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver noted how John Kerry angered Democrats in 2004 by pulling resources from Missouri in the final push toward the
general election. Cleaver said Clinton has told him she will push hard in the state in the primary and, if nominated, in November.
As always, the stenographers miss the flavor of an event.
This seems similar to what Holden said at the St. Louis mock caucus when he didn’t even attempt to put out any argument for why we should vote for Hillary just told us we should all stick together. I didn’t find it very effective to tell you the truth – but I was a strong Dodd supporter at the caucus so what do I know?
But this language concerns me:
Is SMP now going to be doing dKos style candidate diaries on its front page where we insult people who may be making arguments against our chosen candidates? Because that’s what the phrase “concern troll” is. An insult. It may be an insult that perfectly captures why we disagree with what a person is doing, but it is still an insult. Let me know, because if I want that I’ll just stick to dKos and all of its ridiculous candidate diaries.
We have a primary on February 5. If people really, truly want us all to “stick together” once the candidate is chosen then we need to not call people who are actively working against our candidates names, no matter how truthfully descriptive you think that name is. If there is a disagreement over their argument against our candidate, address the disagreement. Get over the name calling.
OK, here comes a “concern” post. I write as someone who supports Obama now, but who will work for whoever is the nominee.
From my perspective in outstate Missouri, Clinton will not help us down ticket. She will mobilize the Republican core regardless of who that nominee. Obama is mobilizing people that will not come out for Clinton.
And, today, we have a good example of what I fear most. After working out how the Nevada caucuses will be handled, supporters of Clinton filed suit because of a provision that has some super locations in the casinos in Las Vegas. The timing of that suit is interesting because it occurred after the union whose workers will be able to take part in these super locations came out for Obama.
Today, on Meet the Press, Russert asked Clinton about the lawsuit. Of course, Clinton had nothing to do with the suit, but it was filed by her supporters. She could have said, and Russert pressed the issue, that she opposed the suit. She didn’t.
Preventing any Democrats from voting is not what I expect any Democrat to support.
I agree with Mary B’s objection to the term “concern troll”. Using that phrase in effect says that if I criticize Clinton, I’m being divisive. Look, I’ll vote for her or Obama if they are nominated, but I have serious reservations about both on the subject of campaign finances.
I was listening to Matt Taibbi on NPR yesterday morning describing various shenanigans that Halliburton et. al. have pulled in Iraq to bilk us of billions. The interviewer was shocked. It was all news to her, and she found it disturbing that the presidential candidates aren’t talking about it. Taibbi pointed out that the candidate taking the most money from defense contractors isn’t a Republican. It’s Hillary. And Obama’s not far behind, he said.
As someone with a talent for following the money trail, I would think, Michael, that such information would “concern” you. But even if it doesn’t, I don’t want to be characterized as a concern troll for mentioning what I consider to be a serious issue.
That leaves me with Edwards. I’m not crazy about him either, and I know he gets some corporate money, but relatively little and by choice. I think of him as my default candidate, because the money issue eliminates the other two for me.
I do hope that anyone who disagrees with me will speak to the question I’m addressing and do so civilly, just as I’ve been civil in stating my opinion.
I dislike conflict, so I hesitated to say something that’s likely to engender it, but I’m truly “concerned” about the corporate purchase of our democracy.