Hillary Clinton Intends to Seat the Michigan and Florida Delegations, Party Unity Be Damned
 
I am continually amused by those pundits who insist —despite abundant evidence to the contrary — on covering the Clintons’ while wearing rose-colored glasses.
Some found in Hillary’s closing remarks during the debate last Thursday a sort of transcendent resignation. They called her comments “valedictory,” as if she was prepared to accept defeat and leave the stage with dignity, go quietly into the good night.
Here is the New York Times Bob Herbert:
At the debate on Thursday night, Senator Clinton, who is 60, passed on a number of opportunities to harshly criticize Senator Obama. She refused to say that he was not ready to serve as the nation’s commander in chief. And she suggested that she does not intend to pursue a ruinous fight for super-delegates at the Democratic convention. She seemed like someone unwilling to sacrifice her dignity or the interests of her party in an attempt to stave off a likely defeat.
Excerpts from an interview she gave to the Texas Monthly not surprisingly, indicate otherwise.
Evan Smith: There’s been a lot of talk about what your campaign would do should it get to the convention. Would you commit today to honoring the agreement made earlier not to seat the Michigan and Florida delegations? Clinton: Let’s talk about the agreement. The only agreement I entered into was not to campaign in Michigan and Florida. It had nothing to do with not seating the delegates. I think that’s an important distinction. I did not campaign– Smith: The press seems to have missed the distinction if that’s the case. The talk is that you agreed not to seat the delegation. Clinton: That’s not the case at all. I signed an agreement not to campaign in Michigan and Florida. Now, the DNC made the determination that they would not seat the delegates, but I was not party to that. I think it’s important for the DNC to ask itself, Is this really in the best interest of our eventual nominee? We do not want to be disenfranchising Michigan and Florida. We have to try to carry both of those states. I’d love to carry Texas, but it’s usually not in the electoral calculation for the Democratic nominee. Florida and Michigan are. Therefore, the people of those two states disregarded adamantly the DNC’s decision that they would not seat the delegates. They came out and voted. If they had been influenced by the DNC, despite the fact that there was very little campaigning, if any, they would have stayed home. But they wanted their voices heard. More than 2 million people came out. I mean, it was record turnout for a primary. Florida, in particular, is sensitive to being disenfranchised because of what happened to them in the last elections. I have said that I would ask my delegates to vote to seat.
Where were these commentators during the 90’s? Did they not believe that the most venal couple in American political history would not pull out all the stops to win this nomination?
 
Beacon Street Journal
Saturday, February 23, 2008
By John Kinsellagh