Louisville Metro Councilwoman Tina Ward-Pugh (from my district) is expressing doubt about the candidacy of Barack Obama. That’s right– Tina, a progressive among progressives, is spreading this tired crap through the media.
All this after it became clear that Clinton would be officially backing Obama by the end of this week. Click here to watch the video.
From WHAS11′s Joe Arnold: Metro Council member Tina Ward-Pugh says she’s not convinced that Obama has what it takes to be president… Ward-Pugh says she wonders what the nine weeks between now and the convention will reveal about Obama.
Referring to Obama as an empty suit (and she did) is absolutely disgusting. Tina says she hopes to be a delegate to the DNC and we’ve just gotta say: that shouldn’t happen. Any Democrat who can’t fall in line like an adult when their candidate of choice loses doesn’t deserve delegate status. We understand being upset or disappointed, but this is ridiculous.
Tina, Tina, Tina. It’s time to take a chill pill lest your neighborhood of 99% Obama supporters prevents you from holding on to that Metro Council seat. And don’t think for a second that we can’t do it. It’s time to stand up and be a Democrat.
The presidential primary is over. It is time to move on. Obama has a lot of work to do to win over Kentucky voters and that won’t be accomplished if people like Tina continue to spread ignorant and unnecessary doubt. Sure, some of you say you’ll be voting for John McCain. Sure, some of you may do that. But get over yourselves.
P.S. It pisses me off that a woman who has experienced so much discrimination and hardship as an out lesbian and elected official would have such negative things to say about the first African-American to win the Democratic Party’s nod for the presidency. Tina Ward-Pugh has some serious apologizing to do and some major fences to mend.
Here’s the number to Tina’s office: 502.574.1109. Why don’t you start calling her to express your concern that she’s not a real Democrat? Or you may click here to contact her via email. Tina’s assistant is Mary Rose Beyerle and you may contact her at 502.574.3908 or via email here.
UPDATE @ 2: Hey, Tina, this thing has gone national. Take a look.
Ready to apologize to your constituency or are you still standing on ignorant arguments?
We’ve been your biggest fan in the past and will continue down the road of being a fan. But you need to suffocate this thing before it gets bigger.
UPDATE @ 3:44: Tina just responded to our post HERE:
Tina Ward-Pugh // Jun 5, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Thank you for the opportunity to respond to your misrepresentation of what I said when asked by a reporter “what now.” Yesterday was the day after my candidate’s opponent reached the 2118 to become the presumtive nominee. As was the case with Senator Clinton in her remarks Tuesday night, I congratulated Sen. Obama for his efforts and made no disparaging remarks about him. I also said in the interview that I would not be working against him in any way and that like millions of us, we were going to use the next 9 weeks until the convention to peel back the layers that we’ve seen so far to learn more about what was underneath. To say the day after the end of the primary contests that I believe Sen. Clinton is the stronger candidate in the fall in no way suggests that I won’t vote for the Democrat in the fall. On the contrary. I will be voting for the Democrat in the fall but I also recognize the reality that Sen. Obama needs to spend the next 9 weeks earning millions of votes. When Senator Clinton was asked by Wolff Blitzer what she would say to the 40% of her supporters who would not vote for anyone other than her in the fall, she didn’t hesitat to say, “I would tell them they are making a grave mistake.” Is it too much to ask of Senator Clinton’s supporters to remain loyal to her until she DOES declare definitively what she plans to do in the coming weeks? I don’t think so and so I’m awaiting her announcement as are many others. If that is too much to ask or in some way diminishes the presumptive nominee–and I don’t see how it does– then we’ll simply have to disagree on that. Thanks again for the chance to respond.
12 responses so far ↓
1 Joe Blow // Jun 5, 2008 at 11:58 am
“Any Democrat who can’t fall in line like an adult when their candidate of choice loses doesn’t deserve delegate status”
Wow! You’d make a great Nazi
2 Zach // Jun 5, 2008 at 12:16 pm
I don’t know why you bring up Obama’s race. In her interview, she said she didn’t think he was the best candidate. I am an Obama supporter, but I don’t think anyone should hold back their opinion of him because he is the first african-american candidate.
Also, you say that she calls him “an empty suit.” Actually, that was a paraphrase by Joe Arnold. Whether or not she used the term is unclear.
And by the way, she does have a good point that she won the popular vote, but got screwed with delegates, and the democrats of all groups should rethink this. The superdelegates who have said they are supporting Obama may want to rethink that also in light of the popular vote since, in theory, as elected officials they reflect the will of the people.
Like I said, I am an Obama supporter, but I don’t want my candidate to win by unfair means, and I think it is wrong to comment or not comment favorably or unfavorably simply because of his race.
And finally, as a fellow journalist, I would encourage the writer of this piece to be more careful when making claims of what was or was not said. She may have used the words “empty suit,” but you can not know that unless you call Joe Arnold, and then that should be included in your piece. Please be more careful with your claims. If I am to take you or this site seriously, I have to know that you will get the absolute truth, because in future cases a video might not be available for me to catch things like this.
3 jake // Jun 5, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Joe Blow: That’s what you’re supposed to do as a Democrat. Otherwise the state party’s bylaws say you can be ousted. I mean, it’s not too difficult to support your party’s nominee. If you can’t, then you get to face backlash from voters. That’s politics.
Tina’s language in the videotaped interview, while not a verbatim “empty suit” – one would have to be wholly disconnected from reality not to understand what her words meant.
Further, the writer of this piece (me) isn’t a journalist. I don’t subscribe to any sort of journalistic integrity and fake fairness. I get to– you guessed it– impart my opinion in everything I say and do. If you’re reading *any* blog for news that isn’t opinionated (I mean, our header images contain the language “a critical take on Louisville news”), something is wrong.
4 Leslie Stewart // Jun 5, 2008 at 12:49 pm
I was actually hissed at by a lesbian acquaintance not long ago when she saw my Obama sticker. She called me a traitor! Like I’m supposed to vote for the woman candidate just because I, too, am a woman. I’m sure there are black supporters of Clinton who have been similarly harassed. The race is being reduced to an overly simplistic choice between a black man and a white woman because their respective platforms just aren’t different enough to make an issue of. The Dems have a lot of work to do in these next few months to put a united front against McCain.
5 Joel // Jun 5, 2008 at 1:26 pm
“And by the way, she does have a good point that she won the popular vote, but got screwed with delegates, and the democrats of all groups should rethink this. The superdelegates who have said they are supporting Obama may want to rethink that also in light of the popular vote since, in theory, as elected officials they reflect the will of the people.”
Wrong, Hillary Clinton only won the popular vote if you don’t count caucauses (which are difficult to count, since they’re not actual votes) or the Michigan and Florida primaries, neither of which were sanctioned by the national party (and in Michigan, Obama’s name wasn’t even on the ballot).
I have no idea why the media hasn’t talked about this more, but the idea that HRC won the popular vote is patently false — nor does it even matter given the nature of primary contests. If any other candidate was skirting the party’s rules the way HRC did, they’d be akin to Lieberman — a party pariah. Continually moving the goalposts is unfair, unethical and downright un-Democratic.
6 Gordon // Jun 5, 2008 at 2:53 pm
Democrats would vote for Satan if he was nominated. Bravo to Tina. Obama is far from qualified to be President and the country will suffer greatly if he is elected.
7 jake // Jun 5, 2008 at 3:13 pm
Gordon: Nice, empty argument.
Are you suggesting that Democrats are the only political breed who tend to vote party lines? Because I think that’s a flawed and inaccurate argument.
Care to back your claims up with proof?
8 Tina Ward-Pugh // Jun 5, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Thank you for the opportunity to respond to your misrepresentation of what I said when asked by a reporter “what now.” Yesterday was the day after my candidate’s opponent reached the 2118 to become the presumtive nominee. As was the case with Senator Clinton in her remarks Tuesday night, I congratulated Sen. Obama for his efforts and made no disparaging remarks about him. I also said in the interview that I would not be working against him in any way and that like millions of us, we were going to use the next 9 weeks until the convention to peel back the layers that we’ve seen so far to learn more about what was underneath. To say the day after the end of the primary contests that I believe Sen. Clinton is the stronger candidate in the fall in no way suggests that I won’t vote for the Democrat in the fall. On the contrary. I will be voting for the Democrat in the fall but I also recognize the reality that Sen. Obama needs to spend the next 9 weeks earning millions of votes. When Senator Clinton was asked by Wolff Blitzer what she would say to the 40% of her supporters who would not vote for anyone other than her in the fall, she didn’t hesitat to say, “I would tell them they are making a grave mistake.” Is it too much to ask of Senator Clinton’s supporters to remain loyal to her until she DOES declare definitively what she plans to do in the coming weeks? I don’t think so and so I’m awaiting her announcement as are many others. If that is too much to ask or in some way diminishes the presumptive nominee–and I don’t see how it does– then we’ll simply have to disagree on that. Thanks again for the chance to respond.
9 Gordon // Jun 5, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Jake, I never said that Democrats are the ONLY ones who vote party lines, so maybe you need to read a little closer. There is not enough room in cyber space to back up my argument that Obama is not qualified. Hillary has much more experience and is much more talented in working across the aisle, which is despartely needed now. That being said, I’m not really excited about either party’s candidate. God help us all.
10 Joel // Jun 5, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Is it too much to ask of Senator Clinton’s supporters to remain loyal to her until she DOES declare definitively what she plans to do in the coming weeks? I don’t think so and so I’m awaiting her announcement as are many others. If that is too much to ask or in some way diminishes the presumptive nominee–and I don’t see how it does– then we’ll simply have to disagree on that.
Obama is not the “presumptive nominee,” he is the nominee. And Hillary’s conceding Saturday.
11 Mark // Jun 5, 2008 at 9:18 pm
Obama doesn’t get the nom till August. Till the convention he is still the presumptive nominee.
12 Joel // Jun 6, 2008 at 8:27 am
RFK fantasies aside, that’s just semantics.
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