Hillary Clinton PUMAs: Been There, Done That

PUMA Power:
One-Fourth of Democrat Party Used to Being Ignored by Maintream Media
PUMAs are the One Group Who Has Already Gone Head-to-Head Against "The Obama Experience"





* The Mainstream Media Bias
* ACORN Voter Fraud
* The Blog Shutdowns and Intimidation Tactics
* The "Fix is In" Frustration

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PUMAs: Been There, Done That


These days, the most energetic investigations, the loudest warnings and the people most experienced with unpleasant Obama campaign tactics come not from the Republican Party, but from a segment of the Democrat Party: the PUMAs.

They represent a significant proportion of the Democratic Party--a portion the Mainstream Media is loathe to acknowledge, let alone report. Some became PUMAs after what they felt was unfair treatment of Hillary Clinton. Some because of the unfair treatment in the media of Sarah Palin. Some because they cannot support a candidate who Joe Biden said "wasn't ready" just months ago--before Biden became Barack Obama's running mate.


Party Unity My Ass (PUMA)

PUMA is a movement born shortly after Hillary Clinton conceded the Democrat nomination to Barack Obama. PUMA blogs and websites almost immediately popped up on the Internet.


* P.U.M.A.
* The Real Barack Obama
* Democrats For McCain
* PUMA
* PUMApac
* The Confluence
* PUMA Women
* Hillbuzz


The above are only the tip of the PUMA iceberg.

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A sizable portion of Democrats say they will not support Barack Obama.


From Obama Campaign's National Network Separate from the Democratic Party:

An AP-Yahoo News poll claims that Democrats who backed Hillary Clinton in the primaries are still not warming up to Barack Obama. Fifty-eight percent of Clinton supporters now back Obama.


That was the same percentage who said they backed Obama in a June, when Clinton called it quits and the PUMA (Party Unity My Ass) movement was born.

The poll shows that while Obama has gained ground among Clinton's supporters — 69 percent view him favorably now, up 9 percentage points from June — this has yet to translate into more of their support.

In part, this is because their positive views of Republican presidential nominee John McCain have also improved during this period. Those supporting McCain have also edged up from 21 percent to 28 percent, with the number of undecided staying constant, the survey showed.

That was last month. Have things changed since then?

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Hillary Clinton has been campaigning for Obama--and there are plenty of stories that report that the PUMAs practically don't exist.

That message seems to be resonating with Clinton’s former supporters. Interviewed at Friday’s event, a dozen of them said they all had swung behind behind Obama.

Margaret Miller, 64, of Oakdale, Pa., proved to be a typical Obama convert.

“I was very skeptical at first. We heard all the rumors saying he was an Arab, but now we know better,” said Miller, who added: “After getting to know Obama a little better and seeing his outlook for America, I decided he’s the one.”

In other words, the post-primary bitterness that spawned the “PUMAs” — the Hillary supporters whose acronym stood for “Party Unity My (lower part of my anatomy)” — virtually has dissolved.
--Clinton stumps across U.S. for Obama in run-up to the election

"Virtually dissolved". Really?

At last count, there were over 230 PUMA alliance member websites.

Then apparently every PUMA runs a website, judging from the number of them.

The above article does concede that "it's been hard" for Clinton to support Obama.

Touting Obama is quite a turnaround for Clinton, who derided the Illinois senator as not much more than a speech-maker during their long primary battle. Clinton also famously ran a campaign ad questioning whether Obama was ready to be president.

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* RallyacrossPUMA
* PUMArunning
* America for Hillary
* Just Say No Deal
* PUMA Alliance
* Democrats for Principle before Party

Close your curtains, Lock your door's my fellow PUMA's. We're being chased by...by...HOUNDS.

Yup, The same party who Ignored us when we voted for Hillary, and stole delegates from her, and handed the Democratic nomination to NObama (Yup handed.... he didn't win it) Have sent Dog's after us PUMA'S.
--To the Anti-PUMA websites: we still say NO DEAL!!!!

This reminder a few weeks ago from PUMA08 a few weeks ago:

PUMAs,

If and when you get polled, remember to let the pollster know that not only do you intend to vote, but that you are strongly committed to voting for:
Barack Obama

It is extremely important we keep on doing this. Let Obama and his surrogates keep on being lulled into a false sense of security at having a lead in the national polls.
--PUMA Pundit, PUMAs don’t forget to say you are voting for Barack Obama if polled…

If the story of the PUMAs in the Mainstream Media is that they are "virtually dissolved", Steven M. Warshawsky, Signs Pointing To A McCain Victory, takes a different view.

Remember how quickly the MSM jumped off the Hillary Clinton bandwagon and onto Obama's? Remember how annoyed and angry they became as Hillary refused to concede the nomination? The MSM decided that electing the nation's first black, socialist, anti-American president was politically and historically more important (and, for them, more exciting) than electing the nation's first female, socialist, patriotic president. And they are doing everything they can to achieve this goal.

Well, there is another story out there that the MSM refuses to address. A huge story. One that could, and I think will, significantly affect the outcome of this race. I'm referring to the widespread phenomenon of registered Democrats openly supporting John McCain. There are numerous "Democrats for McCain" type organizations. There are numerous websites and blogs written by Democrats touting McCain's candidacy. There are pro-McCain grassroots efforts being led by Democrats. And we all know friends or relatives who are Democrats, who voted for John Kerry in 2004, and who are no fans of President Bush - but who are going to vote for John McCain this year.

Yet, surprise surprise, the mainstream media is not talking about these voters, not talking about the real rift that is occurring within the ranks of the Democratic Party. Needless to say, if a similar rift were occurring in the Republican Party, it would be treated as the major story that it is. (Indeed, as such stories about the political fault lines in the Republican Party have been treated in the recent past.)

Others haven't quite pronounced the PUMAs dissolved, as well.

"...the PUMAs...oppose Barack Obama because they believe, in their hearts, that Barack Obama has amply demostrated, by his tactics and philosophy, that he is simply WRONG FOR AMERICA."
--Ragnar Danneskjold, A Question to the P.U.M.A.s: Barack Obama? Hillary Clinton? WTF???

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The PUMAs run a campaign separate and apart from the Republican one. Many produce their own anti-Obama videos and publish lots of information the MSM ignores.

PUMA sites run stories of voter intimidation that don't seem to make their way through the MSM "McCain-Palin: Hate and Racism" meme.

Twenty-five residents of a Gainesville neighborhood woke up this morning to discover their homes had been spray-painted with an obscene comment about the 2008 presidential race. Several businesses were hit as well.

“This is clear voter intimidation,” Corey A. Stewart, At-Large Chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, said. “The residents targeted by these hoodlums all had McCain for President yard signs in their front yards.”

“Having your home defaced with obscenity because of political beliefs is a hate crime” Stewart said, “This is terrorizing the community.”
--Obama followers vandalize homes in Gainesville

The PUMAs have seen it all before during the primaries: the media bias, intimidation and other unpleasantness.

What voter fraud you might ask? Some of the mainstream media still hasn’t asked, or asked enough questions. Some have only just started to ask.

A reader asks …

are you sure you want to do this Barry?

If you do, it could turn up some interesting answers. Like PUMA and Clinton Democrats have been saying all along, it is systematic fraud.

--Of course the voter intimidation and caucus voter fraud relates to the ACORN voter fraud

The PUMAs are also used to every report of unpleasantness being ignored--or worse, whitewashed--by Big Media in the ceaseless MSM drone for Obama.

Democrats vote early in higher numbers than Republicans in almost every state. And that’s not including the big persuasive push by Obama. Logic dictates with all the attention Obama’s put on early voting, that Democrats should be clobbering Republicans right now…if they vote early in higher numbers to begin with, and then Obama’s made a big push for early voting on top of that.

That’s not happening.

Republicans have a slight lead in early voting right now.

Where is all the enthusiasm for Obama the media keeps braying about?

And remember: not all of those Democrats are voting Obama. We know 30 Democrats right here in Chicago who voted early — and voted Republican for the first time in our lives. We bet there’s a higher percentage of Democrats voting Republican in Colorado this year than any year in the past.
--Bad news for Obama in Colorado early voting

For their trouble, some have gotten trouble--from Obama supporters. DBKP knows how this feels.

* Blog Shutdowns: Spam Attack from IPs Assigned to barackobama.com
* Google, Blogger, Obama: Obamanation Shut Down My Blog!




The members of the Party Unity My Ass movement are used to the media misinformation: they remember the press calling--no, begging--for Clinton to drop out of the primary race after a string of early Obama wins. They also remember the MSM predictions of Obama victories in states where Clinton went on to crush the eventual nominee in the primaries.

That's one reason most of the PUMA sites visited for this article are not only skeptical of the MSM polls and reporting, they're convinced the MSM is not telling the truth once again.

Regardless of what the Mainstream press writes these days about them disappearing, the PUMAs have long memories of intimidation, dirty tricks and MSM "reporting". They have lived through one contest where it all occurred.

They're working hard to prevent it from happening twice in the same year.


by Mondo Frazier
images:
* Democrats For McCain
* hillbuzz
* redhotandbluepolitics
* denitza-nyc

Obama's National Network Separate from Democrats

Obama Offices
Different, Separate and Apart
From Democrat Party Offices
Does Obama Campaign Not Trust the Democrats?
Or is it Clintonistas?




Will Election 2008 be remembered as the first contest between Republicans and Obamacrats--or the first between the Obamacrats and the Democrats?

Senator Barack Obama is building a national organization separate and apart from the national Democrat Party apparatus--at least in any state where the outcome of the November election is at all in doubt.

In state after state, the Obama campaign, in a break with tradition, has opened up its own offices--which largely push Barack Obama, and only Obama--apart from the Democrat Party's own offices in those very same communities.

Obama has, literally, hundreds of these offices dotting the USA.




[ABOVE: Obama offices in Ohio--these are separate from local Democrat Party offices in the communities listed.]

In Ohio, seventy Obama Campaign for Change Regional Offices--all of them separate and apart from the Democrat Party. In Pennsylvania, sixty-three Campaign for Change offices.





The list goes on: Virginia, over forty offices; Georgia, thirty-eight; North Carolina, thirty-six; Indiana, thirty-two; Colorado, thirty; Iowa, twenty-three; Minnesota, twelve; West Virginia, six.

In states where the outcome is already pretty much decided, Campaign for Change operates few offices: one in Texas and California, for example.



Does Obama Trust the Democrats?
Do the Democrats Trust Obama?





The Campaign for Change offices push one product: Barack Obama.

In our weekend visit to Obama offices, we found that local and state Democrat candidates did have a presence at the Campaign for Change offices--but not much of one.

Almost all of the usual campaign giveways were there: pencils, literature, stickers. They were all on a small table in the back of the room.

That small table represented all of the local, district and state Democrat candidates--combined. The rest of the spacious room was dedicated to Barack Obama. In almost every case, it was Obama without a meniton of running mate, Joe Biden.

The local Democrat campaign office, we were informed, was "down the street, around the corner."




One of the offices visited last weekend was in Ohio.

A few months ago, after Ohio Governor Ted Strickland turned down the Obama veep invitation, Scared Monkeys noted the difficulties Obama was having getting moderates in the Democrat Party to get in line.

So much for gaining that candidate in an all important must win battle ground state like Ohio. There will be no Obama-Strickland ticket and Obama’s chances of victory in Ohio just became more difficult. What is more interesting about this decision by Strickland is that he is a staunch Hillary Clinton supporter. What does that tell us about the Democratic party so-called coming together after the bitterly contested primary?

To add just a little bit more Democratic party unity, Democratic Representative Dan Boren of Oklahoma stated that Barack Obama is “the most liberal senator” in Congress and he has no intention of endorsing him for the White House. So much for support from moderate Democrats. As most had suspected, many moderate Dems find Obama to liberal to endorse.

The Obama campaign and supporters will likely dismiss the separate offices as "smart thinking" and "targeting resources". But, each office sucks up resources: lease money, campaign materials and manpower. The Campaign for Change offices are staffed by volunteers, but a volunteer sitting behind a desk is a volunteer not knocking on doors.

But in this way, the Obama campaign is sure of one thing: the volunteer on the phone in a Des Moines Campaign for Change office will be talking about Barack Obama--not the local Democrat candidate for County Commissioner.

The Obama campaign is apparently charging fellow Democrats for Obama campaign materials. At a Democrat-sponsored booth at an event in Wheeling WV, local Democratic candidates manning the location complained about this sign of Obamaization. The booth featured many local and state Democrat candidates, but not much Obama signage or literature.

"We had to pay for them," a lady complained. "They don't give us anything."


Even Obama supporters have to pay the campaign for everything in the offices. "Al" who we spoke to at a local Obama campaign offices said he had to "pay for the lease out of my own pocket. All of the t-shirts, button, stickers here, I paid for."

So, if Obama volunteers are paying the campaign for everything and picking up the tab for leases, isn't this just a smart move?

Each Campaign for Change office becomes a cash cow: it not only pays for itself, it sends money to the national Obama campaign for campaign materials.

And, the staff isn't wasting time contacting voters about the other Democrat candidates. At Campaign for Change, it's All Obama, All of the Time.

Is there any other reasons why the Obama campaign built this network dedicated to the election of Barack Obama outside of normal Democrat Party channels?


The Spectre of Hillary Clinton




The Obama campaign may have set up all of those separate offices--in any state that might be the least bit in play--because of the woman Obama beat in the Democrat primaries: Hillary Clinton.

A Campaign for Change office is an office beyond any possible control of Clintonistas.

"Pssst… Did you know Obama takes Lobbyist money, even though he claims he doesn’t?"

"IMPLOSION Continues: Et tu, New Jersey?"

"Guess who says Obama has no plan? Harry Reid, That’s Who..."

The preceding headlines come from the front page of PUMA08.com. They help illustrate the rift between some supporters of Hillary Clinton and the candidate that they claim was "selected, not elected" to represent the Democrats in November.

An AP-Yahoo News poll claims that Democrats who backed Hillary Clinton in the primaries are still not warming up to Barack Obama. Fifty-eight percent of Clinton supporters now back Obama.


That was the same percentage who said they backed Obamaa in a June, when Clinton called it quits and the PUMA (Party Unity My Ass) movement was born.

The poll shows that while Obama has gained ground among Clinton's supporters — 69 percent view him favorably now, up 9 percentage points from June — this has yet to translate into more of their support.

In part, this is because their positive views of Republican presidential nominee John McCain have also improved during this period. Those supporting McCain have also edged up from 21 percent to 28 percent, with the number of undecided staying constant, the survey showed.

Obama and many of his supporters haven't warmed to the Clintons.

The Clintons, and many of their supporters, haven't warmed to Obama.

Insight Analytical thinks Obama doesn't want Clinton Democrats and asks, "Why?"

It’s 44 days until the General Election as I write this and after a long and hard fought primary season the Democratic Party, and the Obama campaign specifically, are still unable to get over their terminal case of CDS. I can’t help but ask “Why”? For the uninitiated, CDS stands for Clinton Derangement Syndrome, usually defined as the uncontrollable impulse to rail against all things Clinton (Hillary, Bill, Chelsea, Hillary’s supporters, and basically anything connected to centrist positions).

Team Obama not only masterminded the overthrow of the Democratic Party to form the “New Democrats” (remember the May 31, 2008 coup when all semblance of the rules were overthrown at a behind-closed-doors meeting of the Rules and Bylaws Committee), they literally declared the nomination belonged to Obama despite the fact that:

• Hillary Clinton won more of the popular vote than Obama (when the Florida and Michigan primaries are included as originally voted)
• Automatic (also called Super) Delegates are unable to actually cast a vote until the national Convention
• Obama did not actually have enough Super Delegates “locked in” to declare himself the winner when he did
• Hillary Clinton didn’t contest the illegal theft of earned delegates in Michigan, despite her legal right to do so

Bill Clinton was accused of having short coattails; of being "Good for Bill Clinton, bad for Democrats."

Obama may turn out to have even shorter coattails. While Clinton campaigned for other Democrats--a lot--so far, Obama campaigned for Obama.

One reason given for the recent outbreak of rumors concerning the dumping of Joe Biden from the ticket was the "Obama only" syndrome.

No Biden Rumor: No Obama-Biden Campaign Materials in Obama Offices

Will Bower, of PUMA08.com, isn't buying the "Dump Biden" rumors.

"I believe that the "Dump Biden" rumor is exactly that -- a rumor."

Bower added that "I don't believe that Hillary would encourage Obama to do such a thing at this juncture. It would only serve to make him (accurately) look weak and indecisive."

Will then directed us to the following video.

The View: Bill Clinton Pretends He Wants Obama To Win



Will Obama win using his national network of Campaign for Change offices, which are separate from the local Democrat Party?





Will Obama have any coattails, helping local Democrats to victory in close local races?

Does it matter?

After all, Barack Obama--who may be described as having been in perpetual campaign mode--is building his own network of volunteers, fund-raising and organization. It's a network beholden to no one outside of the Obama campaign.

In case of an Obama win, it's a network that's already in place and can be expanded upon in 2012 for a re-election run.

In case of an Obama loss, it's a network already in place that can be expanded upon in 2012 for another run against all comers--Republican or Democrat.

Will the Obama organization supersede the Democratic Party? Or will the Clintons and their supporters be able to circumvent this looming obstacle?





2008 may be remembered as the beginning of a battle in which John McCain was only one opponent among many.


by Mondo
image: dbkp; dbkp file

Hillary: Two Clinton Yard Signs from the Primaries We Missed

Two Things the MSM Didn't Remind Viewers of Last Night




The Progressive Proletariat of the KG3 section of the People's Cube had a couple Hillary Clinton yard signs for those hard-core PUMA (Party Unity My Ass) supporters that can't help but notice how empty their yards are, now that Hillary's endorsed Barack Obama.

Hillary Yard Signs we Missed during the Primaries.







MORE from the KG3 at The People's Cube:

* All About Hillary Clinton

* OreObama. Would you like fries with that?


Hillary's speech at the Democrat National Convention called for unity. Many of her supporters will find that hard to swallow, citing one motto often seen at PUMA sites: "He [Obama] was selected, not elected".

Hard to argue with that.


by Mondoreb
images: KG3 at People's Cube