A Half-Hearted Look at Tributes to Carter and Kennedy as the Democratic Convention Begins

It’s about 9 p.m. CST here in the Midwest, and I’ve just witnessed the Carter tribute, followed by the appearance of Ted Kennedy, a very moving moment and the highlight so far of the Democratic convention. I admit my eyes misted over a couple of times, but I found myself unable to wholeheartedly get with the proceedings. Instead, I felt an emptiness from knowing the price paid so Democrats could not only ignore the media’s sexist trashing of Hillary Clinton, but actively participate in shoving her aside, thus showing crude disrespect to all women in our own nation and throughout the world.

(You will recall that I’m a lifetime Democrat who re-registered as non-affiliated this time around.)

In the meantime, the convention continues and Michelle Obama will soon be onstage to praise her husband Barack Obama. I’ll probably continue to watch.

If you need to catch up, the Caucus at the NY Times is a good bet. Kate Seelye is live blogging. For her latest post titled Senator Kennedy Takes the Stage, go here.

“Hillary Clinton Didn’t Just Beat Barack Obama in Massachusetts”

Photo credits: Reuters

There’s no small element of justice in Hillary Clinton’s Super Tuesday win in Massachusetts, as revealed in Joan Venochi’s column in today’s Boston Globe. According to Venochi, here’s the deal:

“HILLARY CLINTON didn't just beat Barack Obama in Massachusetts.

“She beat Senator Edward M. Kennedy, the Bay State's liberal icon; Senator John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic Party nominee; and Governor Deval Patrick, the Bay State's purveyor of hope and optimism.

“Politics doesn't get any more personal than the Clinton-Obama showdown in Massachusetts.

“Kennedy's blessing threatened to give older, more traditional Democrats permission to vote with their hearts. It was a stab at the heart of the Clinton campaign - and a disloyal one, from the Clinton perspective.

“Back in 1994, Kennedy was suddenly and shockingly vulnerable to a challenge from a rich, smart Republican named Mitt Romney. On the defense in his first real political fight in decades, Kennedy wrapped himself "in President Clinton's mantle," the Globe reported in June 1994. "I am honored to stand with him, day after day, week after week, month after month, in our fight for jobs, economic justice, and progress on the great issues like health reform," Kennedy told delegates to that year's Democratic state convention.

“Both Clintons rushed to Kennedy's aid.

‘"There is not a single, solitary member of the US Senate more interested in new ideas than he is. In the most partisan atmosphere in modern history, he is absolutely the ablest member of the Congress at getting Republicans to vote with him and work with him to make this country a better place,’ President Clinton told Massachusetts voters.

“Hillary Clinton also campaigned for Kennedy: "Do not let the political climate of the moment undermine the record of one of the greatest senators who has ever served in the US Senate," she said at a September 1994 event.

“In 2008, Kennedy didn't return the favor. Kennedy Country took on Clinton Country.”

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Clinton Extends Her Hand as Obama Stumbles on the Road to Camelot

Photo Credits: Getty

On Monday at American University, Ted Kennedy, with great pomp and circumstance, symbolically passed the torch to the 46-year-old Barrack Obama, who still had a bounce in his step from winning South Carolina.

In response to the Kennedy/Obama theatrics, the media predictably fell en masse at Obama’s feet. On the PBS NewsHour later that day, neocon David Brooks, who has gushed over Obama in two or three of his NY Times columns, literally drooled as he described how Obama was now aligned with JFK as a leader in the Democratic Party; Brooks, Mark Shields, and Jim Lehrer then jovially bonded in blatant Hillary bashing.

But it’s been a busy week, and news of the coveted TK endorsement was soon drowned out by word of Obama’s misstep minutes before President Bush’s final state of the union speech Monday evening. An Associated Press photo by J. Scott Applewhite captured the moment when Obama turned his back on Clinton as she reached out to shake hands with Sen. Kennedy and other senators seated nearby.

Before the evening ended, the photo and an accompanying AP story by Laurie Kellman appeared as breaking news in the Politics section of the Huffington Post. By Tuesday morning the photo with word of Obama’s bad manners was all over the Web.

Suddenly, after his brief moment beneath the cloak of the Kennedy mystique, Obama and his campaign staff were playing defense in attempts to justify his boorish treatment of Sen. Clinton at an important joint session of congress.

If you think the snub is trivial stuff, here’s the deal: at this writing, 2,772 readers have taken the time to add their comments to the story headlined by the Huffington Post as No Chitchat Between Clinton and Obama.

A recent update at Huffpost includes Clinton’s response to the incident in an exchange with Chris Wallace on Fox News. Clinton explained, “Well, Chris, I reached out my hand in friendship and unity and my hand is still reaching out. And I look forward to shaking his {Obama’s} hand when I see him at the debate in California.”

As if the negative publicity from Obama’s snub rocketing around the web was not enough bad news for Obama-ites, there was still more to come. On Tuesday night, despite the fact that the DNC had stripped Florida of its delegates and none of the candidates had campaigned there, thousands of Democratic voters in this diverse, heavily populated state went all out to show their support for Hillary Clinton. They gave her a resounding win: all three candidates were on the ballot, and Clinton received 50 percent of the vote compared to 33 percent for Obama and 14 percent for Edwards.

The NY Times reported:

“Mrs. Clinton had strong support among women, Hispanics, whites, older voters, early deciders and early voters in Florida. A majority of Democratic voters said she was the most qualified to be commander in chief, and a plurality said she was the most likely to unite the country.

“Mr. Obama received the support of 7 in 10 black voters, but they made up less than 20 percent of the electorate. He did better among younger voters than older ones, but they did not support him as strongly as they had in earlier primaries, and he was unable to best Mrs. Clinton among them.”

It has also been noted that Sen. Clinton received more votes than John McCain, the winner of the fully sanctioned Republican primary.

Showing their usual poor sportsmanship, Obama and followers responded to Clinton’s win with derision. The media, by and large, has responded with either silence or open disdain, not only indulging in the usual Hillary bashing, but going overboard to dismiss the votes of thousands of Florida Democrats, thereby insulting a huge percentage of the state’s population. From the likes of Dana Milbank of the Washington Post, it was to be expected. In one of his less vicious comments in yesterday’s screed, Milbank described Florida’s Democratic primary as “without purpose, a show about nothing.”

Finally, Obama was pushed to make a last ditch effort to hold on to the fast evaporating momentum from his win in South Carolina and his cloak of Kennedy mystique. In a “foreign policy” speech in Colorado yesterday, Obama, the unifier and self-appointed emissary of the new politics, slammed Hillary Clinton with an array of false charges.

The Clinton camp responded immediately by calmly stating the facts. And in a subsequent AP interview, Clinton vowed to take the high road and warned that voters in the mega-primaries next week expect that. She went on to say, "I'm going to continue to talk to people about what we need to do in our country to try to lift people up, to keep focused on the future to be very specific about what I want to do as president because I want to be held accountable.”

I tuned in the NewsHour on Wednesday evening, although I’ve come to relish the power to hit the off button on my remote when the Hillary bashing begins, especially pronounced during the Brooks and Shields so-called analysis. In yesterday’s edition, however, the trio of Brooks, Shields, and Lehrer seemed somewhat subdued. You could tell it was difficult for Brooks, but with a little prompting from Lehrer, he even admitted that Obama, the unifier, had attacked Clinton earlier in the afternoon.

We’ll see what happens tonight in Los Angeles where Obama will be forced to bring his now badly tarnished image to debate Clinton, who will be newly charged up with a boost from thousands of supporters in Florida and the positive energy that comes from resisting an opponent's obvious baiting and staying on the high road.