Denver's first protests, 'dingbat campaign consultants', complaints of AP editor bias and Veepstakes

I absolutely don't understand how someone could go from supporting Hillary to supporting McCain.  Obama and Hillary's positions are nearly identical on all issues.  McCain's positions are near opposites.  

I think it would have been nice if Hillary could have been the VP, but it didn't work out that way.  Last time I voted for Edwards in the primary and didn't like Kerry a whole lot - but I still voted for him in the election.   

I don't see how any woman who cares to have control over what happens to her own body could vote for McCain no matter how much they like Hillary or want a woman for president. Not voting at all, because because she didn't get the nomination is pretty much the same as voting for McCain.

my last post:

2 Reasons Why Women Should Vote for Obama ( http://www.ideasforwomen.com/news/change/2008/08/2... )

Nixon won that one. I'm not sure, is that the goal now in 2008, too?

Lisa--

Personally, I've been concerned about Hillary's really low profile lately.  I realize that she stepped back once Barack became the presumptive nominee but given the division in the party, Hillary retreating into the shadows has left her supporters alone in their disappointment. 

Because I'm working on the Obama campaign in Michigan, I've met a lot of people, men and women, who say they "haven't recovered".  As a result they are declining--at least at this point in time--to support Barack.  I could wax and wane here about my thoughts on what failure to recover could bring us in November but instead let me just express my hope that Hillary's activities at the DNC aren't too little and too late to inspire unity.  If she pulls off convincing millions of supporters to get off the fence, then I could become a fan again.

Karen

Writing at Midlife's A Trip ( http://midlifesatrip.com ) and as Contributing Editor on Midlife Issues at Blogher.

Who really would vote for McCain versus the numbers that always end up not voting because their candidate wasn't nominated seems to be totally elusive.  I don't even know who I would trust to tell me what those numbers look like.  Maybe Pew or Quinnipiac.

What's so curious is that primary voters tend to be the most knowledgeable AND the most passionate - so the hurt and anger is logically the most deep and strident.

BUT - I would also hope and pray that the imperative for electing the Democratic ticket - and all that comes with changing every single cabinet to one that focuses on the planks of the party's platform VERSUS the disaster of selecting McCain (by vote or default) and his platform - whatever that's going to look like! - could be heeded by these same knowledgeable, passionate albeit hurt and angry voters.

I can see, feel and recognize all that upsetment, but the move to cast a vote for McCain?  Totally cannot rationalize it as an acceptable form of protest.

Jill
Writes Like She Talks ( http://www.writeslikeshetalks.com )

... it's been my gut instinct that progressive Democratic women will not support McCain precisely because of who he will nominate to the Supreme Court and his stand on the Lily Ledbetter Act.

But, let's remember, that those of us talking about it here are a bit on the wonky side (and I mean that as a compliment!) and I wonder how much others will be focused on those things vs. thinking about whether they want someone young who wants change or someone older who claims he is expereinced. Someone told me today that the percentage of HRC supporters who say they will vote for Obama is falling. That scares me.

PunditMom ( http://punditmom1.blogspot.com ), Politics & News Contributing Editor ( http://www.blogher.com/blog/punditmom )

Also at MOMocrats ( http://momocrats.typepad.com/Joanne_bamberger/ ) & The Huffington Post ( http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joanne-bamberger )

Has there been a single ad or article that posits how it is that McCain possesses even a modicum of an agenda amenable to women that makes him a viable alternative to Clinton supporters, beyond the spite factor?

You know that Lilly Ledbetter will be addressing the convention.  How any woman could look Lilly in the eye and say, I'm so angry about HRC that I'm voting McCain is beyond me.

As I wrote on my blog, I was outright deep blue when going to the primary voting booth. I didn't want Ohio to matter - I didn't like either choice (Obama or Clinton). But I voted for Clinton and now I will vote for Obama.

I stand firm by the belief that the numbers who will vote out of spite for McCain are not of a critical mass because the stakes of not electing a Democratic administration, in so many ways, not only for women, are too great.

I felt much worse after the SCOTUS decision that but Bush in place in 2000 than I do now - and I think voters should remember what that felt like.  Even if you didn't leave the country then, it makes no sense to leave the Democratic party now.

Jill
Writes Like She Talks ( http://www.writeslikeshetalks.com )

Roschelle, you're right: Hillary is on tap to speak more than once:
- Monday at a breakfast for California delegates, alongside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Clinton won California, 52% to Obama's 43% ( http://news.aol.com/elections/primary/state/ca ))
- Tuesday night in prime-time
- Wednesday at a special reception where Clinton will reportedly turn over her delegates to Obama ( http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/24/clinton-e... )

Clinton's roll is pivotal -- and I was very interested to hear House Speaker Nancy Pelosi indicate to NPR's Linda Wertheimer this morning that a roll-call vote of convention delegates is a way to consolidate support behind Obama:

"One big challenge facing Pelosi is that almost half the people in the arena are delegates who supported the ultimately unsuccessful presidential campaign of New York Sen. Hillary Clinton. There's no chance, Pelosi says, that this convention will swing out of control. The convention will belong to Obama.

"I am very pleased that we're going to have the roll call vote. I think that was very important to do. But I don't think that means those people are against Barack Obama," she says. "There may be some who are still unhappy about the outcome — and that is understandable — but as I say, they are Democrats, and they understand that if we are going to take the country in a new direction, we cannot have four more years of George Bush. And that's what John McCain would be."

Wertheimer didn't touch on the new McCain ad ( http://johnmccain.com ), although I see that Vivirlatino's Maegan la Mala did ( http://vivirlatino.com/2008/08/25/mccain-goes-afte... ) as she stepped onto the plane for Denver:

"I caught this new McCain ad as I waited to board my plane to Denver yesterday. My initial reaction was : How the hell is it McCain's business why Obama didn't pick Clinton as his running mate (it probably has nothing to do with the pretty overt racism carried out by her campaign- right?)."

Still others, like Zaftig Redhead, are urging ( http://thezaftigredhead.blogspot.com/2008/08/for-w... ) the party faithful to move on:

"Biden is clearly pro-choice, not afraid to vote against right-wing judicial nominees, and has also long been a vocal supporter of Title IX, the law that prohibits sex discrimination in federally funded education programs and activities. He's also taken a keen interest in the fight against breast cancer. These are all key issues for those Hillary supporters who might still be on the fence, or if not on the fence still not completely happy campers. The familiarity of Biden, a man women's advocates fought with in the trenches for more than a decade to get the Violence Against Women Act passed, could be just the salve any lingering wounds might need."

Here on BlogHer, Suzanne Reisman speaks plainly ( http://www.blogher.com/electing-women-2008-its-not... ): "While many women are devastated by Obama's selection of Joe Biden as a running mate, those concenred with achieving higher rates of female representation in elected offices should remember that the game is not over this election year." She goes on to track progressive women running for office.

It's a huge job for Pelosi to move folks along -- this from a woman who talked about "shattering the marble ceiling" immediately after she took the Speaker oath of office. What's her take on disappointment that there is no woman on the ticket?

"I would love to see a woman president, a woman vice president, a woman on the ticket every single time," she says ( http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?story... ). "But it's no use discussing it. We have a candidate."

What do you think? Will delegates riot or support? How about voters? Will Sen. Clinton be a uniter, not a divider? And what about her husband -- what could his role be?

Lisa Stone
BlogHer Co-founder ( http://blogher.org/member/lisa-stone )
Surfette ( http://surfette.typepad.com )

John McCain in his finite wisdom is running a new ad attempting to court Hillary Clinton diehard followers. In the ad, he suggests that not only was she right about Obama's shortcomings but that's clearly the reason why he didn't chose her as his V.P.

I know that Hillary is on tap to speak later on this week. Her response to this newest below-the-belt smear will definitely effect the rift in the party right now. For the good or making matters worse remains to be seen

Roschelle Nelson