First, a few disclaimers:
1) Emily's List is not affiliated with Scanner Emily or her totally rad Top 10 Lists. Emily's List, for those of you not in the political know, is a PAC that exclusively supports "pro-choice Democratic women running for congress and governor." Of course, that doesn't ever stop them from wading into the Presidential race.
2) We acknowledge that Emily's List does a great service for womankind with its service. But if you stick your nose in Democratic primaries where the female candidate is a conservative, awful pro-choice Dem running against a strong progressive male Dem, you are going to incur our wrath...
Firstly, back in 2006, when Representative Yvette Clarke ran in the Democratic Primary to represent Brooklyn's 11th Congressional District, she lied during a debate about having been endorsed by Emily's List. (In her failed 2004 run, she had also lied in campaign literature, claiming to have been endorsed by the New York Times.) Emily's List for comment acknowledged and appeared embarrassed about the lies, but endorsed her a few weeks later anyway. Clarke went on to win, even though she was arguably the most conservative candidate in a very progressive district.
Now, Ben Smith at Politico relays this retaliatory message from the founder of Emily's List about NARAL's endorsement yesterday of Barack Obama:
I think it is tremendously disrespectful to Sen. Clinton - who held up
the nomination of a FDA commissioner in order to force approval of Plan
B and who spoke so eloquently during the Supreme Court nomination about
the importance of protecting Roe vs. Wade - to not give her the
courtesy to finish the final three weeks of the primary process. It
certainly must be disconcerting for elected leaders who stand up for
reproductive rights and expect the choice community will stand with
them.
Courtesy? The whole point of endorsing during a primary is that it actually counts-- once Obama is officially nominated, who cares if a Democratic Party organization endorses the Democrat? As NARAL expressly noted in their letter endorsing him, they decided to endorse Obama because it's important to go after McCain ASAP, a point seconded by a Politico commenter:
Well, I think it's "tremendously disrespectful" to pro-choice
women everywhere to endanger the Democratic Party's chances in November
by continuing to back the failed candidacy of Hillary Clinton.
All due respect, Ms. Ellen Malcolm, but this is politics-- candidates aren't supposed to stay in the race after the race is over. Barack Obama leads in the delegate count, popular vote, and states won; even Clinton's senior strategists admit that she will drop out. No candidate in modern times has ever won the Presidency if the nomination is decided at the convention. Never.
If you can't have Hillary Clinton, isn't it better to win with a Democratic male than to lose to a Republican one?
