By Antonio D. French
Filed Sunday, January 13, 2008 at 8:53 AM
The AP is reporting that Senator Claire McCaskill is going to endorse Barack Obama for President today. Labels: Endorsements, Hillary, McCaskill, Obama, Presidential_PrimariesMcCaskill has praised Obama often and was widely believed to favor the Illinois senator over Clinton. But the Senate freshman had resisted openly supporting a candidate until now, saying she wanted to preserve working relationships with Senate colleagues.
She said last week that she identifies with the desire for change that Obama supporters have reported to pollsters.
One factor in McCaskill's endorsement may have been that her relationship with Hillary Clinton has been a bit shaky dating back to when McCaskill was running for the senate in 2006.
During an appearance that year on NBC's "Meet the Press", McCaskill said she didn't want former President Bill Clinton, who had previously appeared at a rally for McCaskill in St. Louis, anywhere near her daughter. PubDef.net learned that the next day a fundraiser the Clintons had scheduled for McCaskill in New York was canceled.
Here's the transcript from that October 8, 2006 show:MR. RUSSERT: You’re having Bill Clinton come in to raise money for you. Do you think Bill Clinton was a great president?
MS. McCASKILL: I do. I think—I have a lot of problems with some of his, his, his personal issues. I said at...
MR. RUSSERT: But do you...
MS. McCASKILL: I said at the time, “I think he’s been a great leader, but I don’t want my daughter near him.”
MR. RUSSERT: You said that, according to New Yorker magazine, that you don’t think Hillary Clinton would be a good Democratic nominee because she couldn’t win Democrats in Missouri. True?
MS. McCASKILL: Well, you know, honestly, the presidential politics is going to get very intense and very, frankly, there’s going to be a lot of back and forth after November. I don’t want to get into presidential politics today.
MR. RUSSERT: Would you like to see her president?
MS. McCASKILL: You know, I, I, I think any Democratic nominee is going to be better than this president.
8 Comments:
Is this the one where Pub Def was mentioned by Russert?
1/13/2008 2:45 PM
Yep.
1/13/2008 2:54 PM
McCaskill knows what all Democrats know deep down. Hillary would get smoked during in the general.
1/13/2008 3:30 PM
I certainly do not blame Ms. MsCaskill for not wanting that scoundrel Bill Clinton hear her daughter. Bill Clinton is an immoral person, and his and his wife's recent comments really come very close to racist (i.e., anti-African American) comments.
Here are some of the reasons why I'm voting for Obama.
1/13/2008 10:33 PM
I could not agree with you more anonymous post number 4. And here are some more reasons:
Let's compare the public accomplishments of Clinton and Obama By PAUL B. HERTNEKY Monday, Dec. 24, 2007 INSTEAD OF COMPARING Hillary Clinton's and Barack Obama's experience -- a vague set of claims -- I turned my attention toward accomplishments. Not what they've accomplished for themselves, but what they've accomplished for others. In doing so, I excluded purely personal gains. I also eliminated all distinctions or honors. For similar reasons, I ignored the elections they've won. These credentials are well-known. Also, like any alert prospective employer, I am informed by what they support, worked on, worked toward and fought for, but I am more interested in what they have accomplished for their constituents. After graduating from Columbia, Obama went to work with churches that organized job training and other programs for residents of a massive housing project in Chicago. He persuaded the city to provide summer jobs, remove asbestos, repair toilets, pipes and ceilings. He went door to door, offering help for three years, then went to Harvard Law School. Upon graduating from Wellesley, Hillary Rodham made a commencement speech that moved her audience. She went immediately to Yale Law School. Obama returned to Chicago to lead Project Vote, which signed up about 150,000 new African-American voters. He also joined a big law firm. Following Yale, and a year in Washington, Rodham moved to Arkansas and married Bill Clinton. She taught at the University of Arkansas and joined a big law firm. Clinton established a legal aid clinic at the university, where she taught for two years. Obama began teaching at the University of Chicago, where he would continue to lecture for 11 years. I mention teaching because I consider it an accomplishment in the service of others. During her time as an attorney in Arkansas, Clinton gave birth to Chelsea. Her husband ran unsuccessfully for Congress, successfully for attorney general, and governor. During Obama's time as an attorney in Chicago, he became a husband and father of two daughters. He entered the Illinois Senate in 1994. As a member of the minority party of the Senate for six of his eight years there, Obama wrote a health insurance law that covered an additional 20,000 children, a welfare reform law, an earned-income-tax-credit law for working-poor families, and death penalty reform that passed unanimously. During his last two years in the majority, he sponsored 780 bills, 280 of which became law. As first lady of Arkansas, and of the United States, Clinton served on many boards. She chaired only one: the Task Force on National Health Care Reform, which failed, accomplishing only political traction for Republicans and a setback for her husband. She fended off prosecution involving the White House Travel Office and her investments with Whitewater. Although these are personal accomplishments, they also served constituents by protecting her husband. A year after Clinton became a senator, she secured $20 billion for New York City in the wake of 9/11. Among other funding measures she directed toward her state, she prevented the closing of a military base there. Although she is considered to be one of the most influential Democrats in the Senate, most of her sponsored legislation has been symbolic -- naming two post offices, two courthouses, honoring and congratulating sports teams and historic figures from New York. Since Obama entered the U.S. Senate in 2004, he has joined Republican Richard Lugar in writing a law that funds the destruction or securing of loose nuclear and conventional weapons (shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, for example) throughout the world. He also introduced the first bill, that soon became law, to fund and address pandemic flu preparedness. In one inspiring discovery, Obama and Clinton teamed up to pass a law that helps hospitals disclose medical errors. It goes a long way toward serving patients while reducing malpractice claims. There is no way to assess the value of each candidate's participation in collective efforts to serve our country. Clinton has given time to many efforts and lived approximately 5,000 more days than Obama, amassing supporters, money and fame. But time spent achieving such goals can hardly be seen as accomplishments for the good of the people. Obama's accomplishments show greater efficiency and clarity of purpose, forming productive alliances, making the most of his comparatively short career. People talk about his charisma, but give me that skill and focus, trained on a four-year term, and we could see unprecedented results. Paul B. Hertneky is a freelance writer who teaches at Antioch University New England in Keene.
GO OBAMA!
1/13/2008 11:07 PM
Thanks for the stellar reporting of accomplishments of both candidates. It points the focus of the Presidency back where it belongs....serving people that cannot serve themmselves!! Way to go Antonio
1/14/2008 9:39 AM
I was mad at Obama and Billary for their voting record, but I 2 SING OBAMA FOR PRESIDENT!
1/14/2008 11:13 AM
Sen. McCaskill ought to pay off her debt from her failed race for Gov. Then the party split here in Missouri......woops its her families money but then 1.2 million is such a small debt for a millionaire. Gee she really went to Washington and did what to stop the war as she campaigned to do
after folding like an umbrella she and Obama funded the war more..Gee aint we lucky.As for her endorsement it means nuttin honey. The Clinton's private lives are their own as for Claire
she married for $$$ ,spilt our party,
built her mansion and what has she done lately for you and Missouri?
HillaryClinton.com see states (Missouri) join today you'll be proud you support another Clinton in the Whitehouse...Its your future , your kids and their kids that need leadership and she is ready day one. Thanks
1/14/2008 11:24 PM
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