Folks, I'm not making this up. It comes from the Iowa Independent newspaper. On August 30th, Clinton Campaign President Terry McAuliffe opened his mouth and stuck his foot deep in it, pissing off the people in attendance and possibly damaging the Clinton effort in Iowa.
On top of that, McAuliffe's act is upsetting other Iowans as well, and one person just plain wrote "I'm sick of Terry McAuliffe." Yes, the person who will stand in a photo with a Panda -- a costumed Panda -- for a vote, is proving to be a major liability in the state Clinton needs to prove she's unstoppable.
And what's so funny is he's the head of the campaign. He's walking around acting like they've got the election in the bag and thus not being affaid to make stupid statements, like this doozy of a running-off-at-the-mouth you're about to see below.
According to Chase Martyn, ....
Terry McAuliffe, who serves as Chair of Clinton's presidential campaign and was Chair of the Democratic National Committee from 2001 to 2005, helped shed light on why Clinton will not admit her vote was a mistake during an August 30 appearance at a coffee shop in Grinnell, IA. Abby Rapoport, editor-in-chief of Grinnell College's Scarlet & Black student newspaper, was the only reporter present for McAuliffe's candid conversation, and she quoted him this way in the September 7 issue of the paper:
McAuliffe declared that under no circumstances would she take back her vote. “A woman?” he almost yelled. “Can you imagine?”
Iowa Independent has verified from three other attendees of the event that McAuliffe was quoted accurately. Ironically, those attendees also told us that before discussing the connection between Clinton's position on her war vote and her gender, McAuliffe noted that he could only speak so candidly because there were no reporters present -- or so he thought.
Grinnell Coffee Company has a hip, artsy vibe with its black walls and its Venus Rising painting with a French coffee press. But I walked straight to the back, where a small beige room stands in stark contrast to the warm and friendly coffee shop. In the room, Grinnell community members talked in small clusters, awaiting the arrival of yet another politico to plead for their vote.
Suddenly a wholly alien force took over the room. Terry McAuliffe, former Democratic National Committee Chair and long time friend of the Clintons, arrived with an air of dominance, as all eyes focused on him.
McAuliffe is tall, with a booming voice and a slick, used-car-salesman type charm. His smiles and greetings, not to mention his slaps on the back of Wayne Moyer, Political Science, felt too self-congratulatory. You guys haven't won yet, I thought.
As if on command, we all sat down at once, waiting to hear what McAuliffe would say. Yet no one seemed more excited to hear him speak than McAuliffe himself. I guessed it would have something to do with voting for Hillary, given the posters taped to the wall and the stacks of lawn signs in the corner. But his tone was not quite what I imagined.
After asking who in the room would be supporting Hillary and finding only four of the twelve attendees to be loyal, McAuliffe began by emphasizing the campaign's currently successes, and its domination of the polls. He almost seemed to gloss over the nomination process, eager to talk about the general election.
"A lot of people ask me, `Can she win the general election?'" he boomed. The sweet older woman next to me seemed to perk up and nod at the question; presumably, she was asking it too. "Well," he continued, "that's the dumbest question I've ever heard." The woman seemed to stop nodding along.
McAuliffe spoke for almost forty-five minutes, focusing mainly on the general election, an election, he announced, that the Clinton campaign was already fundraising for.
"Anyone in the room who doesn't think this isn't going to be the most vicious campaign is nuts," he proclaimed. He seemed ready for the viciousness though. Later, he declared that "If you defame this woman … we will hit you back so hard your head will spin."
I kept trying to remind myself, undecided that I was, that in fact McAuliffe was not Hillary Clinton and his pushy, aggressive style did not necessarily discount his candidate. And at least he wasn't attacking other candidates, a trait I find particularly frustrating. Hear him all the way through, I thought. Give Hillary a chance.
And apparently Hillary needs my help. "Hillary is going to get elected," he proclaimed, "and I'll tell you why folks, because of women." 18 through 35 year-old women, he specified. ME.
But it was another 18 to 35 year old woman that caused a stir. McAuliffe asked those of us who were not supporters at the beginning of his little talk if any of us had changed out minds. When he found that none of us were swayed, he asked someone to come forward with their objections to his candidate, Jordan Levine '10 , one of the leaders of the Students for Hillary, pointed to Hannah Garden-Monheit '08, leader of Students for Obama. McAuliffe pushed her. "I don't mean to put you on the spot but…"
Garden-Monheit said she disliked Clinton's war vote. McAuliffe declared that under no circumstances would she take back her vote. "A woman?" he almost yelled. "Can you imagine?"
Carol Kramer, one of the four in the room supporting Clinton, echoed Garden-Monheit's concerns about Clinton's war vote.. "I want her to apologize," she explained.
"And I don't," McAuliffe retorted. Supporters could still incur his condescension. He reminded us that "[Republicans] are killers …. They're gonna lie, they're gonna steal-they're good at it."
But his parting words were more unifying. "We all come together in the end," he said. Fine, I thought. I'll vote for any of them-as long as I don't have to vote for you.
Whatever the reasons for Terry's behavior, it's clear he thinks the campaign's so far ahead it can survive his display of arrogance and stupidity.
Big mistake.
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