Not everybody in the Democratic Party is ready to make nice and unify.
Take some of Hillary Clinton's top fundraisers, who held a meeting on Thursday with Obama Campaign manager, David Plouffe. The sit-down was cordial; lots of questions were asked and answered; several fundraisers volunteered to host parties and other events for Obama and the Democratic Party. But not all:
Lynn Forester de Rothschild, a top Clinton fund-raiser, telecommunications entrepreneur and member of the Democratic national convention’s platform committee, said she had questions about Mr. Obama’s trustworthiness. If he does not answer them, Ms. de Rothschild said she would at least consider voting for Mr. McCain or even working for him.
Others have indicated they would support Mr. Obama, but that they "harbored too much ire for Mr. Dean to raise money for the party..."
And some smaller donors - members of Clinton's "Hillraisers" - have said outright they will not donate to or support Barack Obama:
Tim Bellisario, a court reporter in Federal Way, Wash., who contributed more than $1,000 to Clinton in $100 and $150 increments over the Internet, said he's not likely to give to Obama. Clinton "was the best candidate," he said. "Now that she's gone, I don't like McCain and I don't like Obama either."
And...
Obama "doesn't need my money" Bellisario said. "He has raised millions and millions."
There is other damage that lingers, as well.
Florida Clinton supporters are angry about Barack Obama's plan to replace Clinton delegates with Obama backers at the state's Jefferson-Jackson dinner this Sunday:
DNC member Jon Ausman late Thursday e-mailed Dems (and reporters) choice sections of what he says were e-mails from Obama's Florida finance chair Kirk Wagar -- in which Wagar curses Ausman out and criticizes Sen. Bill Nelson and party director Leonard Joseph.
The highlights: "You (Jon Ausman) f&^%ed us. We are dealing with it. You need to accept the fact that you f*&^ed us."
And of Nelson: "I am getting very sick of (Senator) Nelson making a bad situation worse."
New Democratic organizations have now sprung up to fight what founders see as DNC strong-arm tactics, rampant sexism directed at Sen. Clinton and her supporters, and ongoing nastiness from Obama supporters:
[Will] Bower heard the message, but he is not going to follow it. Instead, he said in an interview he plans to vote for Republican John McCain and has formed “Party Unity My A–,” otherwise known as PUMA to express his frustration at the Democratic Party.
[snip]
“[The] Democratic Party has thrown away democratic principles through this primary season," charged Bower, who pointed to the delegate sanctions levied by the DNC against Michigan and Florida. "If parties won't uphold democratic principles; who will?"
There's political fallout, too.
Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry faces a primary challenge...from a Clinton supporter who isn't pleased that Kerry endorsed Barack Obama, and who isn't at all happy with Kerry's lack of leadership on a host of other issues:
Some of Clinton's Massachusetts supporters are still displeased about Kerry's decision to back Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential campaign. To send him a message, some helped Gloucester lawyer Ed O'Reilly get 22.5 percent of the delegate vote at last Saturday's Democratic Party convention, either by voting present or voting outright for Kerry's opponent.
And in Tennessee, Nikki Tinker, an African American woman is challenging Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen (9th). Tinker ran in 2006 against Cohen and lost by a close margin. Cohen was forced to apologize during the presidential primaries after he compared Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton to "Fatal Attraction" character Alex Forrest. Tinker is supported by EMILY's List.
Unity is also missing in the liberal blogosphere. Big Tent Democrat at TalkLeft, noted yesterday:
The Left blogs used to see themselves as watchdogs against the Media. They abdicated that role in this campaign, blinded by their hatred of Hillary Clinton. Instead of denouncing the sexism and misogyny, they were silent. They malignly accepted the sexism and misogyny. They have been stained by their silence.
And further indications of how far away Democratic Party unity is:
Are Clinton supporters still whining about that? Really, it gets tedious after a while. Posted by KSP556
... This is not a time for childish dimwits throwing a temper tantrum to be indulged and coddled. Posted by Zero
TalkLeft on the other hand was ridiculous and offensive and didn't permit opposing viewpoints so it doesn't surprise me that their traffic has gone way down. They drove away anyone who wasn't a card-carrying member of the HRC choir.
IE, Hillary is 44 and No Quarter? Also, we need to come up with a name for these folks...
After about May 10th, I all but stopped reading most of the HRC supportive blogs because a whole lot the commentary was lala land crap.
What a jack ass. Hillary Lost. Larry Johnson is a piece of garbage...
(Emphasis mine)
Anybody for some Kumbaya???
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