by hilzoy
CBS News:
"Desperate to get attention for her cause to seat Florida and Michigan delegates, Hillary Clinton compared the plight of Zimbabweans in their recent fraudulent election to the uncounted votes of Michigan and Florida voters saying it is wrong when “people go through the motions of an election only to have them discarded and disregarded.”“We’re seeing that right now in Zimbabwe," Clinton explained. "Tragically, an election was held, the president lost, they refused to abide by the will of the people,” Clinton told the crowd of senior citizens at a retirement community in south Florida."
The news from Zimbabwe:
"We can't believe that the youthful, soft-spoken,humble, truthful, dreadlocked Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) activist, Tonderai Ndira is nomore. Today we give this eulogy for a courageous men who stood against evil.Tonderai Ndira was abducted last week at his Mabvuku home by members of the Central Intelligence Organization (CIOs). We have just received the news that Tonderai's body was found near Parirenyatwa Hospital with the lips and tounge cut off."
And:
"My mother and brother were requested to surrender all that MDC materials in their custody. My brother and brother could not produce any of the items because they did not have any of it. They invited the group to search for these items anywhere in the house; they found nothing.My mother and brother were taken out of the house and immersed in cold water. There were then forced to sit down and lashed with makeshift whips made of metal wires and wood planks. They were lashed on the back, under the feet and on the buttocks. They suffered severe bodily injuries namely, loss of skin and loss of flesh and gapping wounds on legs, back and buttocks. My mother lost fingernails.
This torture happened in the presence of my mother’s granddaughter and my cousin’s daughter who has mental health problems. Both girls are below the age of 10. The group stopped the beatings after 2 hours and left without making any arrangements for their victims to be treated."
And:
"Zimbabwean school teacher Patrick (not his real name) is angry and in pain.He has three broken ribs, a bandaged right arm and is barely able to sit up; traces of blood can be seen in the drip attached to his stomach.
Two weeks ago he was beaten with iron bars in the northern Mashonaland Central Province.He says the ruling Zanu-PF party youths who attacked him wanted to know why his school, used as a polling station in the 29 March elections, recorded a high figure of opposition voters."
And:
"The MDC have said 43 of their activists have been killed so far in worsening post-election violence countrywide. The official death toll stood at 41 over the weekend, but the party received information on Monday that two decomposed bodies had been unearthed in a village near Goromonzi just outside Harare. The bodies had gunshot and knife wounds. The party is yet to confirm the identity of these murdered activists, but party spokesman Nelson Chamisa told Newsreel they had dispatched a team to verify the identities."
Honestly: the similarities are just so striking. I don't know why I didn't see it before, especially after Hillary Clinton had to flee Florida and Michigan after her campaign received credible assassination threats.
Next up: an explanation of why "comparing the struggles of the voters in Florida and Michigan to those of abolitionists [and] suffragists" is completely reasonable, featuring interviews with Emmeline Pankhurst and Topsy.
Does she have no shame? She agreed to and participated in "disenfranchising" FL and MI, but now its "Zimbabwe?"
She's making the argument that she's having the nomination stolen from her, "Tragically, an election was held, the president lost, they refused to abide by the will of the people." This is truly madness on her part, and it needs to stop immediately. Can Chelsea tell her to knock it off?
Posted by: Ugh | May 22, 2008 at 11:22 AM
Do Clinton voters even know where or what Zimbabwe is?
Posted by: John Cole | May 22, 2008 at 11:35 AM
Does she have no shame?
Obviously not.
SATSQ.
Posted by: Jay C | May 22, 2008 at 11:40 AM
Clinton is employing precisely the Bush political (and every other) strategy: negative sum. It's OK to be as cynical, lying and destructive as you want, because, as Bush put it to McCain in S. Carolina, 'It's just politics'. For the first time, I have decided that Clinton doesn't have the character to be president, character being just a teensy bit important in a presidential choice. For all my reservations about Obama, he is manifestly the better one. The very last thing we need now is another post-modern pol being president.
Posted by: jonnybutter | May 22, 2008 at 11:43 AM
Clearly, this is exactly like Zimbabwe, since Mugabe and Obama are both black men. In fact, if you spell "Obama" backwards, remove the o and the extra a, add a g, and then hit "shuffle" you get Mugabe.
Posted by: KathyF | May 22, 2008 at 11:45 AM
I blogged about this late last night, and got into it with a couple of commenters at another site, and their defense was--and I am not making this up--that the opening of the piece you quoted, Hilzoy, was biased and so you can't trust the context of the statement. When I pointed out that the statement was vile no matter the context, I was treated dismissively. The only way that statement isn't insulting to both Florida voters and Zimbabweans is if it's immediately followed with the statement "of course, here in the US we're not dealing with anything as serious as that."
Posted by: Incertus | May 22, 2008 at 11:51 AM
she is a shameless, hollow, disgrace.
the more of herself that she shows us, the happier i am that she'll never be president.
Posted by: cleek | May 22, 2008 at 11:57 AM
I've been so good because I agree that Republicans were major drama queens with respect to the Clintons in the 1990s, but I can't take it any more.
The Clintons are divisive. That is what they do and who they are. When they decide you're an enemy, the don't worry about decency because you don't count any more and you will never count to them again. (Just ask the Democrat who proposed another health care plan around the time that Clinton proposed her plan, hmm I can't even remember his name. It was something common, how sad is that?) There have been no Republicans involved with Clinton's doings for months now, yet now is the time we hear not-particularly-crypto racism and general crazy-talk.
Bush is pretty much the same way.
We really don't need to add another 4 to 16 years of this. Obama offers the hope (maybe just a hope, but a hope nonetheless) that we can tone it down a touch and try doing useful things instead of always screaming at each other.
Maybe Republicans won't go along (though if they aren't careful they might not matter). But I don't know if you've ever noticed people fighting, but when they are both screaming at each other you tend to dismiss them both regardless of the merits. When one appears to be acting reasonable you tend to side with them just a touch (even if on the merits they aren't as grounded). Maybe that could happen in politics. Heaven knows we haven't tried it in decades.
Posted by: Sebastian | May 22, 2008 at 12:00 PM
Bush should probably avoid this. So, should Hillary. So should Americans. Who is allowed?
Posted by: pseon | May 22, 2008 at 12:00 PM
Does Hillary realize Zimbabwe is full of black people? That means it doesn't count.
Posted by: EarBucket | May 22, 2008 at 12:01 PM
I've worked very hard over the past months to tell myself that Hillary is a good candidate, she'd be a fine president, you can't blame her for campaigning hard, we'll need unity in November, etc. etc.
All to no avail. I hate her bleeping guts.
Posted by: Mike Schilling | May 22, 2008 at 12:10 PM
I thought that it was just the fanatical Hillary supporters at Talk Left and Taylor Marsh that were going through a meltdown, but low, I have been proven wrong. It's the entire campaign.
Posted by: Shey | May 22, 2008 at 12:39 PM
And so we have finally have the proof that she is sabotaging the Democrat's chance for the presidency in 2008. To say she ought to be ashamed is quite an understatement.
Posted by: Jason Williams | May 22, 2008 at 12:44 PM
Damn apostrophes in the wrong place. Sorry. "Democrats'" obviously.
Posted by: Jason Williams | May 22, 2008 at 12:46 PM
Gary Farber once yelled at me for not knowing the code to link to the internet the fancy way. That’s been weighing on my mind and I’ve finally learned to do it. I can grow.
For those who think that life under George Bush sucks, life sucks worse in Zimbabwe. And for those Zimbabweans who think that life sucks in Zimbabwe, life sucks even worse in South Africa, where people are beginning to show intolerance.
This despite the fact that back during the days of plenty of food, Zimbabweans and native South Africans showed strong solidarity in tearing down the two-legged one. Proving that four legs sucks worse.
The diversity in the faculties of men, from which the rights of property originate, is not less an insuperable obstacle to a uniformity of interests. The protection of these faculties is the first object of government.
-Attributed to James Madison, Federalist 10
Posted by: Brick Oven Bill | May 22, 2008 at 12:50 PM
I think I missed the 66000% inflation rate currently ravaging Florida....
Posted by: morzer | May 22, 2008 at 12:55 PM
Every time I need to remind myself just how far the Clintons have strayed, I say "What if a Republican had said this?" Democrats would be rightly offended by this comment, but myopic Hillary supporters justify it as being "tough" or a "fighter". Go away Hillary and take Karl Rove and Dick Morris with you!
Posted by: sb | May 22, 2008 at 01:14 PM
And so tonight, to you, the great silent majority of my fellow Americans - hardworking Americans, white Americans - I ask for your support.
Posted by: jonnybutter | May 22, 2008 at 01:17 PM
Another day, another chance of Hillary to display behaviors right out of the textbook definition of Psychopathy.
You cannot deal with a Psychopath. You can only destroy them like rabid dogs.
Posted by: libarbarian | May 22, 2008 at 01:31 PM
You cannot deal with a Psychopath. You can only destroy them like rabid dogs.
That comment is over the line, I think
Posted by: Hartmut | May 22, 2008 at 01:40 PM
You cannot deal with a Psychopath. You can only destroy them like rabid dogs.
That comment is over the line, I think
Posted by: Hartmut | May 22, 2008 at 01:40 PM\
====
They're a Hillbot troll trying to smear the comments and make the place look bad.
Posted by: aspect | May 22, 2008 at 01:49 PM
What scares me is that looking (quickly -- they burn my eyeballs) at pro-Clinton blogs like Talkleft, it looks like HC's supporters are eating this up. Is she really going to succeed in convincing a lot of people that the nomination was stollen from her -- and thus sabotaging Obama's general election chances?
Posted by: Stephen Frug | May 22, 2008 at 01:50 PM
libarbarian: that comment is indeed over the line. See the posting rules.
Posted by: hilzoy | May 22, 2008 at 01:53 PM
They're a Hillbot troll trying to smear the comments and make the place look bad.
libarbarian's definitely not a Hillbot.
Posted by: cleek | May 22, 2008 at 01:59 PM
Calling my girl Hillary a "psychopath."
Ouch.
Saying you "can only destroy them like rabid dogs" is a reference, I suppose to Hillary and her supporters -- like me.
Forget the psychopath reference. As the owner of three dogs -- CoCo, Bowser and Hamilton -- I take offense to the "rabid dogs" reference.
But go ahead:
Keep bashing Hillary, people.
If it makes you feel good, keep bashing Hillary.
Kind of makes you wonder about Obama's promise of "hope" and "change" and "unity" when his supporters bash his opponent so gleefully and, by extension, the millions of Democrats who have voter for her.
So the next time, you scream for Hillary to get out of the race, try instead to focus -- and live up to -- those ideas of hope and change and unity.
Or are they just ideas?
Just campaign slogans?
Posted by: bedtimeforbonzo | May 22, 2008 at 02:02 PM
In addition to hilzoy's point about the disproportinate nature of the analogy, it's worth noting that the analogy works against Clinton in any case. See my post: 'The Democratic Republic of Michigan' -- we don't normally think that fraudulent elections with only one name on the ballot are a good guide to the will of the people.
Posted by: Richard | May 22, 2008 at 02:08 PM
Condemning a comment within ten minutes is obviously not fast enough, even if it is not one by an old hand but by a more or less drive-by. How many Ave Hillary do we have to pray to atone for that sin?
Btw, that comment would have been over the line independent of the person it is directed at (including certified psychopaths).
Posted by: Hartmut | May 22, 2008 at 02:09 PM
Posted by: Larv | May 22, 2008 at 02:17 PM
Hartmut,
My point about the gleeful Hillary bashing -- in direct contrast to Obama's message of hope and change and unity -- not by the offensive commenter but by many of the Obama supporters here stands.
Keep bashing Hillary, folks.
It will serve the Democrats well in the GE.
Not.
Posted by: bedtimeforbonzo | May 22, 2008 at 02:17 PM
(Silence)
It’s all gotta be part of the plan.
Right?
Back here was my comment:
“The persistence and depth of her misjudgment about what people will be able to believe just keeps on amazing me...I just couldn’t grasp it, and thus forced to grasp at straws, I figured; her campaign is FUBAR and it must be the squirmy Slimeball Penn’s fault.
But this sheds light.
The bogus spin is just a smokescreen.
She really thinks she did do those things she was talking about that aren’t (objectively) true. She isn’t hive-minded with Clever IsIs Bill. No.
She’s delusional.
They must know, and they’re humoring her.
(This had to do with Tuzla, of course.)
I’m ready to claim vindication.
Those closest to her understand: She’s mad, crazy, insane.
That’s why they’ve done all those unaccountably stupid things. They’re terrified for all of us if she won. They may even have encouraged her to show her colors, so people would catch on and practice due diligence in blocking her rise.
Makes sense to me.
Not that it isn’t all so incomprehensibly crazy.
Scary that she seemed (spin, I know) to come so close.
Or, just scary.
And not what we need. Now, or ever.
Posted by: felix culpa | May 22, 2008 at 02:18 PM
It's getting impossible to tell spoof from reality with Hillary people. I hope a regular tells me that bedtimeforbonzo is the Insane Fake Professor of ObWi...
I'm pretty embarrassed that so far the most asinine thing to come out of the campaign season has come from my own party. But since HRC knows good and well that Florida is not Zimbabwe, asinine isn't exactly the right word. I can't think of the right word to encapsulate so much craven calculation and unadulterated hypocrisy, though.
Posted by: jibeaux | May 22, 2008 at 02:20 PM
damn blockquote tag. That second para, obviously, is me to Bill.
Posted by: Larv | May 22, 2008 at 02:20 PM
shorter btfb: nice Party you have there. it would be a shame if something happened to it.
Posted by: cleek | May 22, 2008 at 02:32 PM
bonzo.
I’d be delighted to not feel compelled to speak negatively of Sen. Clinton.
It’s important to me that Obama seldom (relative to the opportunities) speaks of her in a way other than respectful.
I’m happy as well, or at least content, that anyone and everyone can speak up.
Thank Heaven for a haven like this, where I don’t have to endure the stomach-churning blood-boiling stuff.
But high-minded down-and-dirty from a candidate?
I protest; nor do I think, too much.
I understand you finding it distasteful; but it doesn’t necessarily derive from ill-will and deeply ingrained hostility.
It’s only that I deplore and reject her choice of actions.
Posted by: felix culpa | May 22, 2008 at 02:39 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.