Hillary Goes Back on Her Word

New Hampshire's Union Leader is calling Hillary Clinton out for what it sees a string of lies:

Courting voters in Iowa and New Hampshire, last August Sen. Hillary Clinton signed a pledge not to "campaign or participate" in the Michigan or Florida Democratic primaries. She participated in both primaries and is campaigning in Florida. Which proves, again, that Hillary Clinton is a liar.

Clinton kept her name on the Michigan ballot when others removed theirs, she campaigned this past weekend in Florida, and she is pushing to seat Michigan and Florida delegates at the Democratic National Convention. The party stripped those states of delegates for moving up their primary dates...

...Clinton coldly and knowingly lied to New New Hampshire and Iowa. Her promise was not a vague statement. It was a signed pledge with a clear and unequivocal meaning.

There's no excuse for what Clinton is doing. This crass attempt to out-maneuver her opponents will come back to haunt her. And scheduling a "victory party" in a state where you've pledged you wouldn't campaign--in an attempt to make it look as though you beat your rivals even though they kept their promises and didn't set foot in Florida-- is beyond the pale.

Here's the NY Times article about all the candidates signing the original pledge. And here's the AP story about her about face. This isn't about winning the general election, as some commentators have suggested, it's about Hillary trying to pull a fast one. For those who think that tonight's "victory party" doesn't break the terms of the pledge, what about this weekend's rallies in Miami and Sarasota? AP story can be read here.

Many readers have pointed to Obama's national ad, which also ran on cable TV in Florida as proof that both candidates broke the pledge. Kos has a response to this nonsense. Read it here.