DailyKos: Memo to the anti-Clinton brigades (Kos is voting for Obama)

[skipos]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/1/9/93912/04225/727/433534

Memo to the anti-Clinton brigades
by kos
Wed Jan 09, 2008 at 07:02:21 AM PST

Hillary is my least favorite of the viable candidates on substantive grounds, and I'll be voting for Barack Obama here pretty soon here in California via absentee ballot. The second-to-last thing I want is Mark Penn and Terry McAluiffe anywhere near the White House. (The last thing? Another Republican administration.)

But the more assholish her detractors behave, the more you help her. The way she was treated the past few days in New Hampshire was a disgrace, and likely a large reason for her surprise victory. So keep attacking her for bullshit reasons, and you'll be generating more and more sympathy votes for her. Obama's "you're likable enough" was likely worth 2-3 points all by its lonesome self.

In May 2006 I wrote this in the Washington Post:

In person, Clinton is one of the warmest politicians I've ever met, but her advisers have stripped what personality she has, hiding it from the public. Some of that may be a product of her team's legendary paranoia, somewhat understandable given the knives out for her. But what remains is a heartless, passionless machine, surrounded by the very people who ground down the activist base in the 1990s and have continued to hold the party's grassroots in utter contempt.

In New Hampshire, her campaign seems to have realized that there's value in giving people a look at that personality. The decision to open up may have been "calculated", but what's behind the steel curtain is a genuinely warm, likable human being. I know this from first-hand experience.

The more she's attacked on personal grounds, the more sympathy that real person will generate, the more votes she'll win from people sending a message to the media and her critics that they've gone way over the line of common decency. You underestimate that sympathy at your own peril. If I found myself half-rooting for her given the crap that was being flung at her, is it any wonder that women turned out in droves to send a message that sexist double-standards were unacceptable? Sure, it took one look at Terry McAuliffe's mug to bring me back down to earth, but most people don't know or care who McAuliffe is. They see people beating the shit out of Clinton for the wrong reasons, they get angry, and they lash back the only way they can -- by voting for her.

The vote for the two "change" candidates outstripped the vote for the two "experience" candidates. I'm with change. I have no interest in seeing behavior that, in essence, helps the status quo.

[Dawgs]

1. Well, there is one voter that is switching to beat Hillary.

[jsamuel]

4. Kos always supported Obama over Edwards.

[debatepro]

16. the major

switch in support IMO came when edwards took public financing. Before that it was an edwards love fest.

[jsamuel]

18. what are you talking about?

DailyKos has always been pro-Edwards based on it's participants, but it's owner Markos (kos) has always chosen Obama over Edwards.

[debatepro]

19. Go read

kos's post about the race before and after 9/28/07. The rhetoric and tone changes... from mostly praise for edwards to less praise for edwards and more for Obama... go look for yourself... you will see the same pattern.

[Bitwit1234]

2. Good for him....always wondered by I like TMP Cafe better.

[NOVA_Dem]

3. She always wins as a victim..Monica, Lazio, and NH waterworks..

Maybe if repugs really go after her she might actually win.

[predfan]

5. Anyone else hear Chris Matthews say that the ONLY reason (pretty broad brush there) .........

is because Bill stepped out on her? The ONLY reason she was elected Senator? Your Rudy side is showing again, Tweety.

[SaveOurDemocracy]

14. I heard it, and couldn't believe even HE said it!!

He is very disgruntled this morning for being targeted as one of the major talking heads whose obsessive, daily attacks on Hillary led to the reaction that gave her the win. He's sulky and belligerent. Such an asswipe!

[chieftain]

6. I don't know how many votes it changed but the "iron my shirt "

heckling pissed me off royal and I can imagine it had even more impact on women. That and the events that Kos cited contributed to a wave of sympathy/solidarity wirh Clinton. I am for Obama but I did not like some of the tone of the last weekend at all.

[elixir]

7. Could someone provide brief details on the McAuliffe reference, what did he do...

other than serve as a weak DNC chair?

[elixir]

9. Forget my question, I just googled it. I have my answer.

[jwirr]

8. Last I heard Obama and Edwards got 54% between them = Change

won last night.

[BigDDem]

11. Last I heard

83% did not vote for Edwards.

[BigDDem]

10. kos predicted a 19 point Obama victory

I can hardly wait for his SC predictions!

[sunonmars]

12. LOL

really 19 points, thats up there with the best

[ProSense]

13. Here is

more.

[penguin7]

15. Kos is an Ass

I really have no preference between Obama and Clinton, but a Kos endorsement for Obama moves me towards Clinton. I really dislike the way that guy treated Kucinich.

[debatepro]

17. It is not an endorsement

He will not make a public endorsement. There is a difference between voting for someone and endorsing them believe it or not. Endorsing them carries forward the obligation to champion your candidate against other. A post about supporting Obama is not an endorsement. For example, Bradley endorsed Obama and you see quotes and speeches all over the place from Bradley in support of Obama... you won’t hear him say something publicly against Obama. Say what you will about Kos but if Obama does something wrong ... he will be the one of the first to bring it up and point it out... Typically endorsements mean no negative quotes or commentary and Kos will bust Obama’s chops if he does something he doesn’t agree with.

[skipos]

20. Kos must be much more powerful that I thought.

A blogger has the power to influence your vote with a single opinion. Yikes!