Making the deplorable comments then regretting, is not good strategy

[agnostic102]

I'm not sure who is advising her on this but this was a mistake. I saw the comments late last night and i expected a fight on twitter and comment section of news articles this morning (this is my way of fighting off the trolls who bash Clinton. I make sure i make my daily dose of pro Hillary comments in yahoo articles, politico, news websites, to counter pro trump idiots)

but what i found surprising was although there was an avalanche of anti Hillary comments and it wasn't a pretty sight by any means there was also A LOT OF us Hillary supporters and although out numbered we were putting up a good fight pointing at all the racist shit he sais. Bringing to light what hillary said was right and there is a lot of trump supporters who are nationalist and racists.

Then Hillary apologized or regretted or whatever and that took the wind out of my sails. Then the people i was arguing with are basically like " why are you defending something your own candidate is apologizing for"

I think the decision has to be made either we draw a line in the sand like she did last night and go to war with these racists and show the MAJORITY of the country what racist and bigots we are up against. OR we do what we did during the convention in which we countered the darkness from trump that hillary is going to be a president for all people democrats independents and republicans. which seemed to work great as her poll numbers shot up.

Im not a political consultant and ill certainly keep my day job. I know hillarys advisers are much more smarter then me but seeing the avalanche of anti hillary comments on twitter and yahoo comments and facebook has got me down this morning.

[BeyondGeography]

1. It was a stupid mistake and she is right to put it behind her

She was also right to zero in on the worst of it in her apology or statement of regret, if you prefer. And that was putting an actual number on the number of "deplorables." She could have spent the rest of the campaign explaining that one.

[anneboleyn]

8. I wish she hadn't apologized as that gives moron Trump something to bitch about BUT

Clinton and her surrogates need to counter this hard by stating that she was referring to specific incidents and people (like Bannon). Every time -- the Clinton people need to give evidence and not back down. She needs to counter, hard, this idiotic suggestion from the Trump campaign that Hillary was denigrating "hard-working Americans" (barf).

[BeyondGeography]

13. There is no shortage of hatefulness on display at his rallies and that will continue

All they have to do is point to that and put the onus on him. I'm not worried.

[greytdemocrat]

37. It was stupid of her to apologize

No one is going to believe she didn't mean it.

[anneboleyn]

12. CNN has been covering it all day. It is RIDICULOUS. They are calling her elitist and comparing her

comment to Romney's 48% and Obama's "guns and religion." Clinton's comment IS TRUE and I wish she had not apologized. She needs to state that she was referring to specific Trump people like Bannon, and she needs to dismiss the stupid idea that she was saying something elitist when it has been demonstrated many times that Trump enlists racists. The media bias is just disgusting. Trump and his circus say the most unbelievable nonsense but Hillary makes a TRUE comment about many Trump supporters, and the media starts covering it hysterically. As I said she should not have apologized.

[anneboleyn]

27. Yes, I have heard the whole statement, and their "coverage" is blatantly unfair. Her statement

is accurate and mainly focused on the Trump voters who felt disenfranchised -- not the "deplorables" like Bannon.

[still_one]

28. That is because much of the media are a bunch of sexist hacks

[Iliyah]

29. Regreted using the word "half"

Also, the general public now realizes that corporate media (for years) do cover-up for the racists, etc.

And corporate media is now supporting that known fact.

[RKP5637]

3. I think she should have stood by the line she drew. It is factual! She said it, it needed to be said

[asiliveandbreathe]

9. She only regrets saying "half" - yes, agree needed to be said

You can see my other comment on this thread.

[lostnfound]

10. Absolutely. And trump supporters need to understand who they are siding with

The truth hurts.

My right wing relatives who are not particularly racist or sexist are distraught by Hillarys comments.
The comments hit their mark.

[RKP5637]

19. Definitely! It was a wake up call to Trump supporters! Understand who you are

supporting and what, and understand who your bedfellows are and what they represent.

[asiliveandbreathe]

4. Hillary only regret's saying "half"

and here is her original comment - This is the basket of deplorable followers....“The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic — you name it.”

“And unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up,” she added.

The feigned indignation was expected...if the shoe fits - wear it!

[nolabear]

6. Yes, only the number was inexact. The issue is real. Hope she sticks to that.

[TheBlackAdder]

5. Shit! Trump wins again! She should have stood firm, since she surely underestimated that number.

.


You will never hear Trump or any other GOPer apologize.
Making an apology is what signals weakness in their minds.


By waffling on her statement, it gives Trump a little oneupsmanship on the issue.

She should have identified 5 categories of supporters who are distasteful and said to show why they aren't.

Put the ball back in Trump's corner to defend those reprobates.


.

[nolabear]

7. Don't count her out yet.

[asiliveandbreathe]

11. Only regrets saying "half" -

The rest of her original comment -

“The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic — you name it.”

“And unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up,” she added.

[BlueInPhilly]

33. "Trump wins again"????

Did you really just say that? How many time really has he won? This is not a big deal and it should stop soon.

Better to clarify than have your surrogates act as translators. This news blip will die an early and natural death, because you know Trump will say something so egregious again.

[Mass]

14. She apologized on the use of the world " half", not "deplorable" .

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/09/politics/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-basket-of-deplorables/

"Last night I was 'grossly generalistic,' and that's never a good idea. I regret saying 'half' -- that was wrong," Clinton said in a statement in which she also vowed to call out "bigotry" in Trump's campaign.

Of course, in our world where the media are really bad, this may not make a difference, but this is actually what she said.

[NoGoodNamesLeft]

15. She didn't apologize for the point she made...

She only said that she regretted using the word "half" because it was wrong. Saying it was wrong is correct, because half of Trump's supporters are not deplorable. If she had said half of them are ignorant or foolish or uneducated or stupid...well, that would have been the truth. But half of his supporters are not deplorable. Some absolutely ARE deplorable and by saying what she did she has changed the subject away from those stupid emails and to the undeniable fact that Trump is attracting a lot of very disgusting people.

This was a win for her, 100%.

[BumRushDaShow]

17. The statement included the use of the term "deplorable" again

so it is a double-down on a term that has now gone viral as a descriptor.

The thing is - when you call these Trump folks what they are - "racists", "bigots", "misogynists", the media laughs and dismisses the characterizations by defining them as "personal attacks" on an individual or individuals. But when you use the term "deplorable", you are not describing the person per se but their behavior (an adverb), so they have a difficult time trying to twist it around to be any specific characterizations that they have already deemed "meaningless buzzwords".

[Maru Kitteh]

21. I love your Obama/Putin sig pic.

[BumRushDaShow]

23. You know I had to

just had to! The day it hit the media I just had to have it!

[meow2u3]

24. Some Trumpanzees on Twitter are bragging about being deplorable

They just proved HRC right. They're not only pathetic bigots, they actually are proud of being social outcasts!

[BumRushDaShow]

30. They are so used to

getting caught up in the "Simon Says" game that they will automatically knee-jerk the opposite response to what is expected - either rejecting anything reasonable or embracing anything insulting. Of course there is probably a subset out there who don't even know what the word "deplorable" means.

[msanthrope]

18. You seem concerned. nt

[SaschaHM]

20. I thought it was genius.

(And no this isn't just baseless Hillary pumping)

She dominated the news cycle and provoked discussion with a pretty factual remark that no one has been willing to say and then instead of apologizing for the statement, she apologized for ascribing a size, "half", and then doubled down on the "deplorable" by listing the many deplorable acts of Donald Trump.

Now every time someone tries to bring up that remark and when Donald brings it up during the debate, she has a go to litany of Donald's racist best hits that she now has a reason to recite. Republicans can scream "Basket of Deplorables" all they want, but they invite a avalanche of racist and bigoted Trumper behavior in response.

[grossproffit]

22. I wish she had doubled down.

[HipChick]

25. she didn't really apologize...

only on the use of half

[MohRokTah]

26. Your concern concerning this concern is concerning. eom

[Protalker]

31. Pigs love rolling in mud

She is better on the high road. Anyway half may be low.

[Loki Liesmith]

32. Meh. Makes little difference

I would have preferred no regret at all, but if she had to regret anything, putting a number on the size of the douchebaggery is an ok thing to regret.

Move on. Enjoy what's left of your Saturday.

[wisteria]

34. I though her apology was cleaver.

She only took back the comment referring to half. The rest remained he same.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

35. I think that "regretting" the "half" part was tactically dumb.

She wasn't taking into account how the dumb media will simply report it as she apologized and backed off and therefore it was a gaffe.

She just neutralized the potential benefit of what was a good, intentional tactic and it could wind up being a negative for her.

[bmstee01]

36. #hillarysorrynotsorry

40% of Trump supporters think blacks are lazier than whites.
Soooo maybe she was 10% off.
I don't know anyone that is really outraged by it except people that won't vote for Hillary anyway

[doc03]

38. What is deplorable about telling the truth for a change? When did Trump ever

apologize for calling Mexicans rapists and murders, making fun of a disabled person, his comments about women or his comments about
Muslims? Now when they bring up her comment she can say I apologized for my remarks, when is Mr. Trump going to apologize for his. It gives her the opportunity to remind people of the stuff he has said. Every f---g Trump supporter I know is a racist asshole.

[Demsrule86]

39. She spoke the truth...and I have no problem with the comment at all...

and have seen much support except in places that don't matter...like JPR or FR...but thanks for the concern...I will process the concern and see if I need my fainting couch.

[Rex]

41. We need a vault to store all this sudden concern.

A concern vault.

[Demsrule86]

42. concern overload...we need a shovel...hehe.

[Rex]

40. Well it won't lose her a single vote, but the uptick in concern is noted.

Our candidate makes mistakes, their candidate lies his ass off.

[Demsrule86]

43. She regretted the term 'half'...not really an apology...and she is correct.

They are for the most part racist pieces of shit.

[LAS14]

44. It was a smart tactic if numbers of the electorate are smarter than....

... this thread's respondents and read the whole "regret." She just re-iterated what she led with in the first place, that "half" was a big generalization. Then she had an opportunity to re-state the whole point. Good planning, I'd say.