I call bullshit
Bear with me … this is a stream-of-consciousness political/media rant.
This whole Clinton-supporters-voting-for-McCain crap is approaching mythology. Well actually, and excuse my language, it’s bullshit. It’s a media creation for drama, for some kind of narrative, something to endlessly discuss and speculate about.
Exhibit A: Above is CNN.com’s home page (w/ my annotation) a few minutes after Senator Clinton enthusiastically put her support behind Obama at the Democratic National Convention. Not only that … she asked her supporters to remember what they are supporting (answer: an ideal, not a person).
The so-called PUMAs are rare and electorally insignificant (if not masquerading Republicans). Do they exist? Sure. Are they so numerous that they get front flippin’ page of mainstream news? Hell no. It’s a myth … it’s manufactured drama … it’s hype. It’s B.S.
My guess is that there’s more Ron Paul supporters not voting for McCain than there are Clinton supporters all-of-the-sudden becoming enthusiastic Republicans. Such bull … I can’t believe the media is getting away with it.
UPDATE (8/27/08): This post from someone actually attending the convention addresses all this better than I can.
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Try watching Fox News. It’s painful. You know, we have to manufacture some controversy.
I don’t see any Clinton supporters voting for McCain UNLESS they’re female voters who were supporting Hillary to get a woman in the White House. I actually do know a couple of these. No idea how prevalent they are, but I know some women are feeling disappointed since they feel Barack, as a man, was given a little extra push by the powers that be. Before this election it was always a what-if question, would we elect a black man before a woman? Many feminists I’ve known were convinced that a black man was more acceptable than a woman and that this would be the first barrier broken.
csivori,
We don’t have cable TV … so, my rant above was after only an hour of network coverage of the convention! I would probably end up throwing myself off a bridge if I watched the 24/7 news channels trying to fill time with manufactured drama.
It’s weird though … I keep hearing about these incredibly bitter Clinton supporters, but don’t know any like you. If they are all about woman’s rights, do they know where McCain stands on these issues? I just don’t get it.
Clinton to McCain is a large leap to take, but there are a lot of Hillary supporters that are extremely pissed about Obama picking Biden instead for VP.
quantum_flux … how many? how pissed? are they not gonna vote Democratic because of it? … this is just it, this is what people say, this is what people hear, this is what people read … I think it’s a lot of hype.
Maybe, I don’t have a number on ot just yet, maybe we’ll wait till after the elections to find out.
Don’t forget that the RNC has been doing publicity and setting up meeting in Denver for these folks- they know what the controversy-seeking press is looking for, and what easier way to get free publicity than to do a journalists legwork for him?
I’m a Puma – real po’d – voting McCain/Palin 08 – Hillary ’12
heather … that’s great, good for you.