Wis. Democrats oust disgruntled Hillary Clinton delegate over John McCain support

[kingcap72]

Wis. Democrats oust delegate over McCain support
Associated Press Writer
Wisconsin Democrats on Friday ousted a delegate to their national convention for saying she would vote for Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain in November.
Embarrassed by a defection in their ranks, the Wisconsin Democratic Party's administrative committee voted 23-0 to strip Debra Bartoshevich of her status as a delegate to the Denver convention next month.
Bartoshevich was elected by party activists as a pledged delegate for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton from the 1st Congressional District in southeastern Wisconsin. But after Clinton dropped out of the race, Bartoshevich told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel she would support McCain over Democratic Sen. Barack Obama.
The June comments from Bartoshevich, a 41-year-old nurse and mother of two from Waterford, were seized on by the McCain campaign as evidence of his appeal to former Clinton backers. Within hours, the Wisconsin Democratic Party passed a resolution at its state convention supporting a challenge of her credentials with the national committee.
The party's rules and bylaws committee said the state party could decide the matter, clearing the way for Friday's vote. Committee members agreed Bartoshevich had lost her privilege to be one of the state's 92 Democratic delegates because of her comments and affiliation with "Citizens for McCain," a branch of his campaign designed to recruit independents and Democrats.
During a teleconference before the vote, Bartoshevich asked the committee to allow her to attend the convention as a delegate for Clinton. She noted that she donated her time and money to Clinton and still believes the former first lady is the best candidate.
She said she made the comments backing McCain during an emotional time shortly after Clinton dropped out of the race and as a first-time delegate was unfamiliar with party rules. She said she had not decided who to ultimately support and was still open to backing Obama if he won her over. "I'd like to go to the convention and listen," she said.
She said her sister was a McCain supporter who signed her up for "Citizens for McCain."
"You reached right back and hugged them. I have a problem with that," committee member Dottie LeClaire responded.
The committee accepted a challenge that stated Bartoshevich violated rules requiring delegates to support the party's nominee and be faithful to the party. Bartoshevich will be replaced by Marilyn Nemeth of Racine, who finished second to Bartoshevich in the delegate election earlier this year.

I swear, some of these die-hard Hillary supporters are just as bad as the people that still fly the Confederate flag. You lost the war, get over it and move on already. If Obama had lost, most of his supporters would either vote for Hillary or just stay home instead of voting for McCain.

[nycgirl]

Telling people to "get over it" may not be the best way to unite the party. And there are Obama supporters on this site who said just a few months ago they either wouldn't vote or would vote McCain if Hillary got the nomination. I'm not going to name names, but look back a little bit and you'll see those comments. I'm not sure all of them would just "get over it" had she won either. So maybe try looking at it from another perspective. And this is nothing personal directed at you, King, I completely respect your opinion.

That said, of course we need to move on now and focus on the general election. It would be pointless to keep rehashing this over and over again.

[kingcap72]

Telling people to "get over it" may not be the best way to unite the party. And there are Obama supporters on this site who said just a few months ago they either wouldn't vote or would vote McCain if Hillary got the nomination. I'm not going to name names, but look back a little bit and you'll see those comments. I'm not sure all of them would just "get over it" had she won either. So maybe try looking at it from another perspective?

In my last post, I said most Obama supporters, not all. In fact, I was clear to underline some die-hard Hillary supporters, so as not to make a sweeping indictment of all Hillary supporters.

But I see your point about looking at it from another perspective. But, my point is this. If somebody backed Hillary or Obama, who are aligned on the same issues, but then when their candidate doesn't win they opt to vote for the candidate who is in direct opposition to Hillary or Obama's views then that just smacks of stupidity to me. And I would say that about a disgruntled Obama supporter who said they were voting for McCain if Hillary won.

[nycgirl]

Yes I noticed the underlining and definitely appreciate that, I see where you are coming from also and agree with you on the stupidity of it all. People forget sometimes how similar Clinton and Obama were/are on issues. We all (myself included) get so caught up in the race that it's hard to take a step back sometimes and see how petty it all is. I know I can be critical of both Obama and McCain sometimes, but that's just cynicism after the past 8 years. I can't understand why a former Hillary supporter would switch to McCain either, it's cutting your nose to spite your face, so to speak. But most former Clinton supporters will vote Obama just as most Obama supporters would have voted for her had she got the nom.

I also edited my first post in case it came across as rude in any way, because it's certainly not how I meant it.

[kingcap72]

Yes I noticed the underlining and definitely appreciate that, I see where you are coming from also and agree with you on the stupidity of it all. People forget sometimes how similar Clinton and Obama were/are on issues. We all (myself included) get so caught up in the race that it's hard to take a step back sometimes and see how petty it all is. I know I can be critical of both Obama and McCain sometimes, but that's just cynicism after the past 8 years. I can't understand why a former Hillary supporter would switch to McCain either, it's cutting your nose to spite your face, so to speak. But most former Clinton supporters will vote Obama just as most Obama supporters would have voted for her had she got the nom.

I also edited my first post in case it came across as rude in any way, because it's certainly not how I meant it.

You didn't come off as rude. And I probably shouldn't have compared some Hillary supporters to people waving the Confederate flag. That was wrong on my part.

But I agree with you about people cutting off their nose to spite their face. It makes no sense. And you're right, a lot of us, myself included, got so caught up in Obama vs. Hillary that we sometimes lost sight of the bigger picture during the primary season and that was to keep the Republicans from keeping the White House for another four years.