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Tuesday, January 29, 2008 12:00 AM

Who's Hillary Clinton's supersecret special mystery endorser?

The Clinton campaign promises a "major endorsement" this afternoon, but is keeping the person's identity close to the vest.

The letters thread is now closed.

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Tuesday, January 29, 2008 10:04 AM

Clinton's mystery endorsement is...

Either Cynthia Rothrock, or Sarah Michelle Gellar (in keeping with the kick-ass tendencies of Sly and Chuck)

Tuesday, January 29, 2008 10:04 AM

No suprise really

It is going to be George W. Bush. He loves her support of his polices.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008 10:05 AM

I read elsewhere it's Maxine Waters, the influential black congresswoman from Los Angeles

I read elsewhere it's Maxine Waters, the influential black congresswoman from Los Angeles

Tuesday, January 29, 2008 10:05 AM

It's

Me.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008 10:08 AM

Rahm Emanuel?

maybe Bill pushed Rahm Emanuel to get off the fence and endorse Hillary? could definitely be spun as a blow to the Illinois Senator

Tuesday, January 29, 2008 10:11 AM

Yep Waters

At least, I think it's her. First Read said as much at 11:50 am.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008 10:11 AM

John Kerry?

Once a flip-flopper always a flip-flopper.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008 10:11 AM

My money's on....

Nancy Pelosi...

Tuesday, January 29, 2008 10:11 AM

stupid

We all know your feelings about HRC, your snarky comments aside, but what the hell does "how many members of Congress can make a functional car with a pair of scissors, a piece of plywood and a roll of duct tape" supposed to mean.

I guess hyperbole and fairness is not your cup of tea.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008 10:12 AM

congressional?

Oh man, I was hoping it would be former President Bill Clinton.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008 10:12 AM

Dean Wormer?

nt

Tuesday, January 29, 2008 10:12 AM

Dean Wormer?

nt

Tuesday, January 29, 2008 10:12 AM

It Might Be Obama

He may have decided he doesn't have the stomach for it.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008 10:13 AM

Ouch: I guess hyperbole and fairness is not your cup of tea

Have the batteries on your snark detector worn out?

Tuesday, January 29, 2008 10:20 AM

Good luck stealing the Kennedy Thunder

It's ambitious of the former first lady to try to take the sting out of the one-two Kennedy blow she received yesterday and try to take advantage of a new news cycle, but I doubt she'll have much success. Maybe she's rounded up a couple more C-list Kennedys...

Tuesday, January 29, 2008 10:21 AM

Its'

Ex-President Bill Clinton!

Tuesday, January 29, 2008 10:24 AM

Waters' Words Are Straight...

...from the Clinton camp's mouth. Seriously:

"we need someone with the leadership and experience"?

When has Hillary LED on anything?

Tuesday, January 29, 2008 10:25 AM

CT Voter's probably right...

I suspect it will be one or more of Pelosi, Feinstein and/or Boxer. She's trying to shore up the big delegate California vote for Tuesday.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008 10:28 AM

brewmn

You mean Bill...........It's been Hillary all along.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008 10:31 AM

She May Just be Too Smart

For either party.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008 10:31 AM

Maxine

Yes, the voice of South Central. Go figure, all the Liberal blog "Clintons are racist" name calling of the Clintons and one of the Sponsors of the impeach Cheney, one of the people who stands up for the AA community and does not hide from it--how you gonna spin that one. The Clintons just got cleansed of the "racist" card. Meanwhile, Josh Marshall, from NYC and the other Mainstream Blogotropes does not get it.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008 10:32 AM

From Ground Zero to Day One

"we need someone with the leadership and experience who can step in on day one to tackle the economic challenges our country is facing"

Looks like Waters was given the Clinton talking points: Leadership! Experience! Day One! I'm so, so tired of hearing "Day One" from the Clintons -- you can almost see Penn's handwriting on that one as a PR slogan. It's Rovian in its overuse as a bullet point in their presentations, reminds me of when Bush Leaguers would turn up at Senate hearings and all say the same empty, evasive things. Stump speech boilerplate, yeah, but as an endorsement? Bleah.

I have no problem with Waters endorsing Clinton, but PLEASE, Clintons, trust her to use her own words, let her speak with her own voice and say something other than exactly what HR Clinton's been saying the past months, don't make her a sock puppet for your campaign and expect us not to notice.

The whole endorsement smacks of Clintonian Potemkin Village symbolic politicking. Maybe Waters owed the Clintons some favors or something, and they're cashing them in -- it's certainly a far cry from Caroline Kennedy's heartfelt endorsement, and even from Ted Kennedy's endorsement.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008 10:33 AM

In terms of actual substantive value...

Waters is probably a bigger pick-up than Kennedy in the context of California, but in terms of publicity value, this isn't going to push the Kennedy endorsement to the back pages today...

Maxine Waters is fabulous. Outside of California, though, who knows her?

Tuesday, January 29, 2008 10:37 AM

Waters? So what?

This is a major endorsement? How much of a national profile does Waters have? How much clout does she have in Congress or in the party? Maybe it'll do some good in California, but unless Clinton had brought out Gore, nobody could trump Ted Kennedy.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008 10:38 AM

It can't be W.E.S.!

Clinton would lose the much-coveted nerd vote!

Tuesday, January 29, 2008 10:44 AM

Maxine Waters

Probably not the silver lining she expects her to be considering Mrs. Waters shady/semi corrupt dealings. Thats for a time in the future though.

I do not think Mrs Waters brings the heft of a Ted Kennedy nor does she "cleanse" the Clintons of their race baiting. Thats like saying someone is not prejudice because they have 1 black friend. Its hard to determine this without knowing the true relationship between them. Such as is this simply to cleanse as you say or if this is really a friendship/partnership and Mrs Waters believes what she says, like what the Kennedy's did for Obama.

All in all this is pretty lame and I cannot believe that HRC and her campaign tried to spin this into something more than it actually is.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008 10:45 AM

this has got to be a joke

This is the big announcement? Waters has been cited by CREW as 1 of the 13 most corrupt congressional members in the country. Nice endorsement there.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008 10:47 AM

My mistake...

It was not a second tier Kennedy, but a second tier CA rep, and a corrupt one to boot. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington named Waters one of the "most corrupt" members of congress in 2005 and 2006. So maybe the Clintons wrote a check or promised a consulting contract to Water's husband, daughter or son. Corrupt politics as usual, From Day One...

Tuesday, January 29, 2008 10:47 AM

Obama should send Waters a gift basket

All the HRC supporters might want to get their outrage ready for tonight when the press runs their "so who is Maxine Waters piece" and comes up with this (from Wikipedia):

"Waters was named in 2005[4] and 2006[5] as one of the "most corrupt" members of congress by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. They said, "Her ethics issues arise from her exercise of this power to financially benefit her daughter, husband and son." They said that Waters' daughter Karen charges other politicians to appear on mailers sent to constituents in Los Angeles showing her mother's support for the politician. Karen has received $450,000 in fees from this endeavor and Waters' son Edward has received $115,000. Waters' husband Sidney benefited from his wife's connections with his hiring as a political consultant by a firm, Siebert, Brandford, & Shank, seeking government investment. Sidney Williams earned $500,000 from this consulting, which consisted of introducing Siebert to politicians his wife had supported. Sidney and Edward Williams also benefitted when they won a contract to run a Los Angeles golf course, with the decision made by a county supervisor who had won a close race after Waters' endorsement and from which they made financial gain of between $140,000 and $400,000.[6] Citizens for Ethics says this violates House ethics rules for family members' financial gains."

Wow, Hillary, way to take some bite out of your Tony Rezko attack. You must be very worried about the black vote in California to take on gift horse like this. You know I hear that both Al Sharpton is still neutral. You could get him too.

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