Feinstein stays firm to Clinton

Posted: Thursday, May 08, 2008 4:09 PM by Mark Murray

From NBC's Ken Strickland
Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein shored up her support for Clinton today, after yesterday saying the protracted Democratic campaign was producing "negative dividends ... in terms of strife within the party."

Feinstein talked with Clinton via phone this morning and erased any doubts about her own commitment to the campaign and that of the candidate. "I'm sticking with her, absolutely," she told reporters. "Her strategy is to win this. And she's entitled to her opportunity to try."

The California senator said she heard "conviction" in Clinton's voice during their conversation. "She feels she owes a deep debt of gratitude to the people that support her -- who support her intensely."

Feinstein said Clinton would drop out of the race "if the time comes. She doesn't believe it's the time. And she's going to continue on."

"I agree that she should take this for as long as she feels she has a chance to win it," Feinstein added. "And she says she will do nothing that causes the party any difficulty."

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Comments

Well, thats disappointing... This would mean she supports Hillary's way of trying to win the nomination with race baiting and hate. If she had stayed confirmed yesterday it could of been seen differently. Disappointed.

Single Mother for Obama, Washington (Sent Thursday, May 08, 2008 4:13 PM)

Good for Dianne. Women need to stick together so they can break through this glass ceiling these sexist men put in place.

California Dream'n (Sent Thursday, May 08, 2008 4:14 PM)

Whatever!

Michael R, Anderson, IN (Sent Thursday, May 08, 2008 4:14 PM)

The Clinton mind set is the end justifies the means, ie, "how can the party experience difficulty if the result is me?" (backdrop= dead bodies in a smoking wasteland) ENOUGH OF THIS BROAD!

bill, okla (Sent Thursday, May 08, 2008 4:15 PM)

Who could expect anything more of Ms. Sellout Feinstein! What a pair the two of them make. You both will be out of your jobs by the end of your current terms, so who the h**l cares what you do or say.

Gone to H**L with Hill! --- CA (Sent Thursday, May 08, 2008 4:16 PM)

What a crock it is to say that Hillary "Republican" Clinton has a prayer's chance of winning the nomination. Only the most delusional will think that there is still a primary race going. One thing for sure is I will never vote for Dianne ever again.

Go Obama 08/12!

Eric, Salinas, CA (Sent Thursday, May 08, 2008 4:17 PM)

Now there's a REAL Democrat for you!
Hear, hear, Se, Feinstein!

Neo-Dem's Nominated Obama (Sent Thursday, May 08, 2008 4:17 PM)

Clinton says she won't do any damage to the party, but she has come out with her new VOTE WHITE program. Sounds to me like Feinstein has fallen for Clinton crap like she falls for Bush crap.

Michael Lehigh, New Philadelphia, OH (Sent Thursday, May 08, 2008 4:18 PM)

Sounds like someone got barked at.

n/a (Sent Thursday, May 08, 2008 4:18 PM)

Obviously HRC has something on her.

Taylor Denver (Sent Thursday, May 08, 2008 4:18 PM)

"And she says she will do nothing that causes the party any difficulty."

...well that pledge lasted all of an hour or two.

David Seattle (Sent Thursday, May 08, 2008 4:18 PM)

Oh My Gosh woman give me a break and make up your mind!!!

Sue in La (Sent Thursday, May 08, 2008 4:20 PM)

Come on Feinstein, give it up!! Put her out of her misery please.....

Paul,Miami,FL (Sent Thursday, May 08, 2008 4:20 PM)

Feinstein is a lot of things, but one of them isn't stupid. She knows the Democrats bought an Edsel with Obama.

Lanny Porter, Watkins Glen, NJ (Sent Thursday, May 08, 2008 4:21 PM)

Wow....that argument is as delusional as Bush's argument that we shouldn't leave Iraq even though we can't afford the price of victory even if it was attainable as to not dishonor the soldiers who have already fought and died.

By that logic, the South should still be fighting the Civil War and Japan should still be fighting World War II.

Mister Anderson (The Matrix) (Sent Thursday, May 08, 2008 4:21 PM)

So Hilary thinks the path to victory is by echoing George W. Bush? The WHOLE REASON that we're in the mess in Iraq that we're in is that Bush's entire strategy was to "win" the war, which any intelligent person knows is a goal, not a strategy. The surge has been sold by Republicans as a "success" because of tactical gains, despite the fact that the underlying strategy has been a complete and utter failure.

Seriously, Hilary, if the best you can do is steal lines from Bush, you might as well drop out now. You don't have a strategy, Sen. Feinstein's rear-guard cover trick isn't going to change that fact, and everybody knows it.

doofman, chicago, il (Sent Thursday, May 08, 2008 4:21 PM)

Really Diane Feinstein. You don't believe it is divisive and destructive to the party that Hillary tounts that "hard working white americans" won't vote for Obama. Besides the point that her comment is not true because he has won states such as Iowa, Minnesota etc that are predominately white. He does have white support. Second, her comment implies that hard working people are white americans which is disgraceful. All Americans that are hard working regardless of race. She needs to get out of the race because her comments are not helping build unity to the party or this country. No wonder she is known for being divisive.

voter (Sent Thursday, May 08, 2008 4:22 PM)

Feinstein heard a roaring tazmanian devil on the line, dropped the phone, then ran to her favorite hiding place.

tired dem (Sent Thursday, May 08, 2008 4:22 PM)

"And she says she will do nothing that causes the party any difficulty."

Well, Hillary can't cause the usual amount of trouble--since she's in debt to the tune of $30 MILLION or so!

But, she's still spouting the usual crap.

jmp (Sent Thursday, May 08, 2008 4:22 PM)

"I agree that she should take this for as long as she feels she has a chance to win it," Feinstein added.

------------------------------------------

Uh...how?

The devil's in the details.

Pete - Albany, NY (Sent Thursday, May 08, 2008 4:23 PM)

"And she says she will do nothing that causes the party any difficulty."
Are you kidding?

Have You Been Listening To Her?, NYC (Sent Thursday, May 08, 2008 4:23 PM)

Only she has no chance to win it.

Other than waiting for an assassination - character or otherwise. Hillary can stay in, there is nothing wrong with that. What's wrong is for her to try to continue to try to bring Obama down. Unfortunately she and all the people around her think that politics is all about running as the lesser of two evils, rather than as the better of two goods.

That's the secret to Obama's success. People are ready for truth and positive campaigning. Her old pros just couldn't see it coming and still can't believe it.

Ready for truth, North Dakota (Sent Thursday, May 08, 2008 4:23 PM)

For Hillary or against Hillary, let's clear up this bit of politic-speak:

"Her strategy is to win this."

No, it's not. Her *goal* is to "win this." Her *strategy* would be *how* she is going to go about "win[ning] this."

Based soley on the fact that Feinstein had recently said she needed to hear from Clinton regarding the candidate's strategy forward, I would have thought that Feinstein would have been able to articulate that strategy better than this.

Tim, Grand Rapids, MI (Sent Thursday, May 08, 2008 4:23 PM)

Feinstein is the reason why we have McClaskey as the Attorney General because she sided with the Republicans. I live in California and cannot wait for the day when we can throw her out of the Senate. She has been there too long and makes decisions based on who's back needs scratching. Obviously, she wants a favor from the Clintons or she owes one to them. Another old-timer that needs to go

Oscar, Rio Vista CA (Sent Thursday, May 08, 2008 4:23 PM)

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