Sep 19 2008
Is The Dam About To Break On Democrat Crossovers To McCain-Palin?
The news the Hillary Clinton backer Lynn De Rothschild crossed over to McCain was big splashed across the media and really upset the pro-Obama CNN ‘news’ team. Donald Trump, another Clinton supporter, announced this week on Larry King he was also crossing over to McCain. I noted in a recent poll that McCain was attracting almost 20% of Democrats – a killer problem if even close. And now another high profile Clinton supporter is jumping to McCain:
As Barack Obama and John McCain battle for the Hispanic vote, a leading Latino backer of Hillary Clinton is crossing party lines to support the Republican presidential nominee.
In an interview Thursday, Miguel D. Lausell, a Puerto Rican businessman and longtime Democratic activist and fund-raiser, came out for Sen. McCain. While he said he doesn’t agree with all the policy positions of the Republican candidate and his running mate, Sarah Palin, Mr. Lausell added: “I find McCain to be a sound person and a man with a track record. I know where he is coming from.” Mr. Lausell had been a major backer of Bill Clinton and served as a senior political adviser to Sen. Clinton’s unsuccessful bid this year for the Democratic presidential nomination.
It seems strange these people are coming out to announce their switches to the media. No one needs to really ‘announce’ who they are for. I laud them for coming out and doing so. It means they are passionate about the decision, and maybe something really worries them about the Obama campaign, its tone, its tactics. These people are putting issues at a lower priority to something else, something that has them moving away from Obama. To say he has been acting in a repulsive manner since Palin spooked the liberal establishment is an understatement.
It also makes me wonder how many more are in the wings, and if a dam is about to break once enough people cross over to McCain, giving cover or comfort to those still on the verge of jumping to McCain.
Major Clinton backers suddenly and publicly supporting McCain. I can’t imagine why they are doing that either. ::wink::
The Word has gone out from Chapaqua….
I have to say that it confuses me a little. In all honesty, I think Obama is in the stronger position right now (not by much, though). He’s a little ahead in the national polls. He’s a little ahead in Colorado (if he takes it, McCain almost certainly will need to flip a blue state). He’s tied in Virginia (same problem for McCain). The assumption in the popular imagination seems to be that it’s Obama’s to lose. Why are these people taking this stand? As lifelong democrats, they are burning a lot of bridges. Why do that for something that probably has a better shot than not of being a losing cause? Why not just keep your mouth shut and move on?
cochino – it’s because these people are terrified of the effect on their own power of an Obama administration – a loss of power within the party, the loss of a chance for Hillary in 2012, and the effect on the country which will affect their own financial situations. Obama must be stopped, and will be stopped, and the Hillaryites and Clintonistas will even openly support McCain to do it.
CatoRenasci- I get your pont. But just because Obama is elected doesn’t mean their activity in Democratic Party politics is over. I’m wondering if it is part of a more fundamental shift in the Democratic Party that makes people like them feel less welcome than they have in the past; something that is more than a change from one nominee to another.
Cochino,
It is more that than anything else. It is the left’s version of the purity wars, combined with arrogant snobbery coming from team Obama (who called concerned dems bed whetters).
These people may not be pushing for power as much as trying to save their party from becoming a cesspool. And some may have just given up on trying to save the party.
AJ,
I think you’re onto something with that. This De Rothschild woman, whom I had never seen before, was very convincing. You see people switch each election, really. There’s always some story about someone from one party voting for the opposing candidate. Something seems different this time, though. I found De Rothschild very convincing. She genuinely appears to care about the Democratic Party. She just seems to think that Obama being elected would represent a significant departure for the party. The party has been trending leftward for a long time (as has the Republican Party to the right). It’s like it’s the final straw or something.
There seems to be a rumor going around that Biden will step down on Oct. 5 after the debates and Clinton will take his place.
I don’t see it. Clinton has nothing to gain and everything to lose. She would be taking a chance of going down with him. I doubt if all the dems switching would switch back because she is on the ticket. They probably are still afraid of Obama and his Chicago cronies. He would make sure she was just a cipher. Besides, there is really bad blood between them. The Clintons want to take back control of the party, not play second fiddle to Obama.
I agree with you, Barabara – the problem with Oct 5 is that it’s after the VP debate, and anybody replacing Biden after that debate is going to look like they deliberately hid out from it – politically, a fatal move.
It’s not a bad idea to talk about it, though – the more McCain-Palin supporters talk about it and recomend it, the more impossible it becomes, since it would look as though the dems were caving in to pressure.
The real reason I don’t think it could happen – everyone, even the Obamamedia, would call this Eagleton II, and we all know how Eagleton I played out. And Eagleton actually dropped out before the convention.