Hillary flummoxed by Texas rules Bill won by?

Do we need more evidence Hillary Rodham Clinton is not ready for prime time?

Now she is claiming to be 'flummoxed' by the complexity of Texas delegate apportioning. According to the New York Times today --

Texas’ byzantine delegate-selection rules pose a particular challenge to the Clinton forces. Districts that produced heavy Democratic majorities in past contests get a disproportionate share of the delegates, and this favors Mr. Obama because of large turnout in 2004 and 2006 in college towns and black precincts, where he has done well in other states. Mrs. Clinton’s strength is in the cities along the Mexican border, where she is popular with Hispanic voters, but which produce fewer delegates.

Adding to the complexity, Texas holds a primary and a caucus on the same day, with the evening caucus open only to those who have already cast primary ballots, either in early voting (which began Tuesday) or at the polls on March 4. Mr. Obama has prevailed in most caucuses up to now.

Mrs. Clinton said she could not begin to explain how the Texas system worked. “I had no idea how bizarre it is,” she said aboard her plane flying from Wisconsin to Ohio. “We have grown men crying over it.”

'I had no idea how bizarre it is'?

Texas established its convoluted 'Texas 2-step' after the 1972 presidential election, according to Kenneth Molberg of the Texas State Democratic Executive Committee (see NPR story here). That means that Hillary's husband, Bill Clinton, faced the situation of Texas primary complexity twice -- in 1992 and 1996.

Where was Hillary during those campaigns, baking cookies?

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• NY Times: "Texas and Ohio Are Where All the Action Has Gone"
• NPR: "Texas Primary-Caucus Combo Explained"

-- Dan Damon

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ARCHIVED POSTS OF PLAINFIELD TODAY FROM 11/03/2005 THROUGH 12/31/2006 ARE AT
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Hillary spokespeople: Give the white girl a pass on plagiarism

So it's OK for Hillary to 'lift' but not Barack?

After trying to kick up a storm about Sen. Obama's not giving credit to his friend Mass. Governor Deval Patrick for a line in a speech, Clinton's spokespersons backpedalled when put on the spot, according to ABC News.

Clinton originally tried to coyly spin the attack's impact as something the media would have to 'figure out', as the WashPost pointed out Monday --

Speaking to reporters [Sunday] night, Clinton was asked about her campaign's accusation of plagiarism against Obama. She said she had no idea what impact it will have on Tuesday's vote. "I leave that to all of you to figure out," she said, then added: "Facts are important. I'm a facts person. If your whole candidacy is based on words, it should be your own words."

However, when Clinton's team was pressed by ABC's Jake Tapper in a conference call Monday morning, this is what we got --

In a conference call just now the Clinton campaign would not guarantee that Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, has never used someone else's rhetoric without crediting them.

I asked Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson and Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass, if they could assure the public that neither Clinton nor McGovern has ever done what Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, did when he used the rhetoric of Gov. Deval Patrick without footnoting him.

They would not.

In fact, Wolfson seemed to say it wouldn't be as big a deal if it were discovered that Clinton had "lifted" such language.

"Sen. Clinton is not running on the strength of her rhetoric," Wolfson said.

Bob Cesca, posting on the Huffington Post, catches Hillary in a major language 'lift' of her own in her Jefferson-Jackson dinner speech last week where she used the language of Jimmy Carter and John Edward. Sans attribution. See it all here.

So, Hillary doesn't have to meet the same standards she is holding Obama to?

Aren't we supposed to be past double standards?

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• ABC News: "The Clinton Campaign Just Now..."
• Bob Cesca: "The Wolfson Plagiarism Attack Is Ridiculous"
  
• WashPost: "Clinton steps up attack on Obama"
• NYTimes: "Clinton camp says Obama plagiarized in speech"
  

-- Dan Damon

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ARCHIVED POSTS OF PLAINFIELD TODAY FROM 11/03/2005 THROUGH 12/31/2006 ARE AT
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