And Keith, i understand where you're coming from, believe me. Regardless of what he sold, an act like this is truly something to be admired. But considering his age, does he even know whether what he was doing was right? Maybe his parents 'put him up to it,' for lack of a better term? Who knows, i don't really care either way, i'm just saying.

Must be one dumb 11-year old...

The only candidate who can help the country at this point is Ron Paul.

Video games > Hillary.... for so many reasons.

[...] wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptAn 11-year-old Kentucky boy sold his bicycle and his video game collection in order to raise money for Senator Hillary Clinton’s flagging presidential campaign, according to the Associated Press. Dalton Hatfield presented a check for $440 to former president Bill Clinton on Friday following a campaign rally in West Virginia: “You sold your bike to get this?” [President] Clinton asked the McAndrews, Ky. native… Hatfield feels so strongly that Hillary Clinton should be the next president he not only sold his bicycle, but video games and anything else he could find that “I could make money with” to donate to the former first lady’s bid for the Democratic nomination. [...]

He should have used it to bribe the Diebold Company. =X

This story just makes me sad, can't pinpoint exactly why tho.

It's the kid's opinion, and it's no more or less important than yours.

Good for him.

What makes you think it's the kid's opinion though?

Urm, does this kid know how much she and her husband are worth?
They wipe their asses with $50 bills kiddo, shoulda kept the videogames.

It’s the kid’s opinion, and it’s no more or less important than yours.

Yes, true - I'll not fault him for it. I suspect his parents are very dedicated Hillary backers.

Personally, my opinion is that every one of these scumbags are no good and all out to steal us blind, while pushing us further into the 'slave' caste we belong in, while they run everything. To them we are mere 'baggage' that they unfortunately have to 'deal with'. Like a necessary evil - I guess in truth, it's the other way around.

In any event - opinions are different, I'll not flame the kid for his - but if I had to wager, I'd put money on mine being more accurate.

Ehh Jaded..

That's a 50/50 - some people feel like you slap them in the face if you give their gift back. I'm not one of them - but some do.

thats is one stupid kid.

A few people have already said what I wanted to say. That's one stupid kid.

may I repeat my enquiry:

Isn't there some form of regulation/age/mentality limit to donating to a political party or group? I mean children and people who aren't entirely in control of their facilities should probably be kept out of politics so they don't do stupid stuff like this right?Personally I think that you should be at least 15 before you even concern yourself with who is running the country, sure I knew that England was under the oppressive yoke of Tony Blair since I was 7 years old! But that doesn't mean that I was about to donate to whoever was in Cameron's shoes at the time!

So maybe before attacking videogames, the politicians should focus their efforts on regulating something that can really hurt children- themselves.

"You only wish you had the balls to actually stand up and try and change something in your lives."

Ah yes, change. I agree... we should be focused on change. We just had a Bush.. so it's time for another Clinton, right? I only hope Jeb is prepared.

@Austin Lewis

Too bad Hillary isn't the first to run for president.

The first was Victoria Woodhull in 1872, however it was illegal for her to run.

Another early claimant is Belva Ann Lockwood who ran in 1884 and 1888 on the Equal Rights ticket.

The first for a major party to be running for nomination was Margaret Chase Smith in 1964.

And the first African-American was Shirley Chisholm in 1972.

The main thing wrong with this is that the primary campaign is over whether Hillary admits it or not so this money is just a waste. he should have donated it to something that matters like AIDS in Africa or Darfur relief or Salvation Army or pretty much anything but Hillary's lost campaign.

I noticed the kid's last name is Hatfield. Do you think the McCoy's are Obama or McCain supporters?

First person to get the reference gets a cookie.

"Catboy J Says:
(Out in The country side you can’t really ride)"

say what?
i've ridden my bike all over out in my area, miles down to town, up dirt roads, across tressel bridges, down railroad tracks, and through the forests.
only time i ever needed to jump off is going up overly steep hills or going through swamps...

i agree though, shouldn't have sold the bike... i've never bought a bike in my life, anytime i wanted a new one i had to walk miles on down to the junk yard and loot parts to build one (assuming the dogs didn't chase me out first)
hmm wonder if i could make money doing that though these days... course i'd bet they have a fence around the yards now... heh i should go check just for fun.

What a waste of money, considering she lost the nomination :)

Oh my mother truckin' gosh.This kid either doesn't know about the slaughter that occurred in North Carolina,or he is a complete and total idiot who's hoping for Obama to drop out.

Ahh, the poor lad. I admire his willingness to sacrifice for an ideal, and I believe this quality will be a great boon to him in his adult life; but it is a poorly misguided notion at the present time. He really is too young to be involved in such a thing, and his parents are actually shameful for letting him do this to himself. Well...maybe. If it was their intention to create a publicity stunt, to draw media attention, then their actions are abominable. But if it was to teach him the value of sacrifice...whether that sacrifice leads to the desired end or not...then they are to be applauded.

So, really this whole issue depends on the intention of the parents, as that has a great deal of bearing on perception.

Hey, it is the kids money. Let him waste it the way he wants.

The kid is naieve, end of story. He probably thought that by giving 500 dollars to the Clinton Campaign, he would be helping them, when in reality, they are spending MILLIONS. The blame should be on the parents, though, who let him do this without bringing up the fact that he is selling his belongings and removing fun items from his life and giving to a lost cause.

I find it odd for such a young person to have such strong political convictions. If the story is true then that is a noble thing to do. I have this rumination though, I can't help but think there was some parental influence.

Do the math kid, you just wasted a bike and some video games

When asked why he wanted to raise money for Hillary, the young man answered:

"I really hate blacks, they have no business trying to run the government!"

I'll say it again.

Having the first female president isn't worth having HER in the seat.

Wow. Somehow, the idea of a poor gullible kid doing that much to give cash to a freakin billionaire is beyond me. And the idea of her accepting it is even worse (isn't it outlawed btw?) I mean, I have nothing against politics, on the contrary, and I find admirable that this kid feels involved that early. But why on Earth is everything about money in that country? There are countless ways to get involved in a political campaign. Talking is the first, and cheaper.

And in some months from now, after whoever wins the election and is in charge, I think the boy is so gonna miss his bike...

Wow, that kid can't have many friends, or he didn't think over his decision. Like what is an 11 year old going to do for social life without games or a bicycle, let's pray he lives near a soccer field.

Mom and Dad are racist Democrats. That's really the only justification for supporting Billary now. She's officially done, and the parents really dropped the ball letting him fritter away his whole life (so far) on a failed campaign. This certainly wasn't his idea. The conspiracy theorist in me thinks mom and dad promised to buy him a new bike and videogames if he sold his old ones just to give the proceeds to the floundering twat losing the race for the prez. nomination.

"Any of you that would berate him for his political views are pathetic."

Just like the candidates.

"You sit on the outside looking in with nothing but contempt while those who wish to make a difference do something about it."

Say I wanted to stop carbon emissions. This kid's actions are just like me walking up my street sticking bananas into exhaust pipes. It might make you feel better about "trying to make a difference" (if you're a dolt) but it doesn't really ever even come close to "making a difference." I also fail to see how embracing old politics is making a difference. See where old politics got us?

"You only wish you had the balls to actually stand up and try and change something in your lives. You fail in so many ways."

Every day I change lives. I help people stay in touch with their families and use their technology for enjoyment, profit, self-improvement. Giving money to a failing political candidate takes no balls whatsoever. Stopping your child from making a well-intended mistake does, but I think we've more than covered the fact that Mom and Dad absolutely must have influenced this decision. I mean, only one's parents could turn them on to Hillary. Stupid fucking Boomers.

does he know Hillary tried to regulate games back in 2005 after hot coffee?

I'm not quite sure how to feel about this one. On one side of the coin there's some admiration that a kid is thinking about the bigger picture. On the other side is sadness that he even has to; simply dealing with political bickering from freshman year of high school onward has soured me towards the whole affair. And on the edge of the whole coin is worry that the poor guy really was influenced by a parent. I hope not, but I guess I'm just too cynical to believe otherwise.

hey, i know!

let's sell our video games and use the money to support a candidate that wants to ban them!

Why would a kid sacrifice that much for a candidate that clearly has no shot at the nomination at this point? That's $440 down the tubes. Could have saved it for college. Or a new system...

Kudos to the kid for acting on his beliefs, whether or not I think they are the right ones.

Kid was dumb. Hillary's campaign was dead months ago, and it's only now that the MSM is finally ditching the "close race" bullshit.

On top of that, I'm baffled at how an 11 year old can possibly be interested in politics to the point where they'd sell all there worldly possesions and mail the proceeds to a politician. The fact that the kids parents didn't smack him upside the head for doing this tells me that they're probably hardcore clintonians.

As an aside, I can't imagine how shitty this kid's life at school is gonna be when word gets out that he sold all of his toys to support a candidate who isn't even going to win the nomination.

It's kinda scary really. When I was a kid, I had better things to do than worry about who was going to be the next president. It's not like I could vote or even comprehend the issues.
So what kind of 11 year old sells off his stuff because he devoutly believes in one particular candidate?

A) Brainwashed by his parents.
or
B) This is a PR setup.

Maybe both.

Sorry Little man, you just wasted a probably good bike and even worse removed probably great games from your collection to support someone that is completely against video games and your rights. Then again I agree Kudos for doing something like that and acting on what you believe in like Jay13x Said.

And on second note well at least you removed the games from your life before Hillary did! Also that the games went to someone that will actually want to play video games and not just live a life of what! Lets see what you can do now that
- Play basketball all night on the courts (Check)
- Walk around with friends just hanging out (Check)
- Get a game of Pick-up-Baseball (Check)
- Touch or Tackle Football in the field down the street (Check)
- Arcade (Check)
- Building Tree Forts in the woods and sleep all night in them (Check)
- Go Bike Riding or Skate Boarding (Check)

Geez everything I listed that I grew up on and most of you probably already been removed from either gang related things or curfews that authority's deem bad!

@Brutii

That second paragraph summed it up for me.

I just have to say this that If I met this kid I would wack him in the back of the head (not too hard) calling him stupid. I don't care if it's for Obama or Hillary hell even for McCaine. That is a VERY stupid thing to do.

"- Go Bike Riding or Skate Boarding (Check)"

Nope, he sold his bike too. Uncheck that.

Kid has an opinion and gets behind it. Good for him. :)

@Ben

I think that is how you reply to people on here.

All the checks are things he can't do.
Be it Curfew or things just are now things that are labeled gang related and been deemed bad from parents and politics.

Like playing basketball all night. You'll get kicked off the court, Or Skateboarding. Nope can't do that either because you'll be a menace.

Er...

How many games would an 11 year own as opposed to 'has had bought for him by his parents'?

Just a thought, but I wonder if she was under sniper fire while she received the money?

The kid's eleven, for chrissakes. He doesn't have the faintest grip on the characters or policies of the candidates. Most likely is that his parents are just Shillary worshipers, and that's where he picked up the idea that he should help her, whether they actively incited him to do so or not. That or maybe he was just tired of hearing them talk smack about McCain and Obama.

BTW... all three main candidates are tools. Neo-con or neo-lib globalists that are going to keep screwing the country. It's an amazing mechanism, really... a device that screws deeper whether it's turned to the "left" or to the "right."

Ron Paul/Cynthia McKinney '08!

Regardless of the possibilities of public relations or parental interference, I feel sorry for the kid, because he might not know what he's given up until it's too late. When I was eight, I sold my copy of Blades of Steel. Less than six months later I was regretting it.

On the other hand, now he's made a name for himself -- maybe someday when he's running for class president, he'll bring up this episode to prove that he's willing to commit to his ideals.

I find it a stretch that Clinton would be rendered "speechless" by this action, though. Does that include saying "thank you" to the kid?

@ Nordic: No, rest assured, this was not the kids opinion. I assure you a feminist mother was involved.

:facepalm:

:headdesk:

The second paragraph really does make it sound like a publicity stunt. I mean, an 11 year old REALLY adamant about making a big sacrifice to support Hillary (or any other presidential candidate).

$440 worth of stuff is a big deal for an 11 year old. I remember when that was considered a huge amount of money to me. Something about this says that his parents gave him an incentive to do this (which the article wouldn't mention).

i guess the kid knew that if Hillary wins he wouldn't be allowed to have video games anyway...

Hell I think it's great! Despite the fact that I absolutely HATE Hillary Clinton, I like seeing kids involved in politics. GOOD JOB! :D

someone should have told him that Hillary is getting her ass kicked right now

@ Khabi


You're not alone,I also think this year's crop of candidates sucked ass.

This kid must've been coned into this by his parents,because I don't think I even knew who our President was when I was 11,and my friends probably didn't have a rats ass of scant knowledge either.The point is,most average kids don't know or care about politics at that age,it usually isn't until they're 13-14+ yrs. of age that they do,or it's like what everyone else is saying and it's a stunt to try and save what little faith they still have in their doomed campaign(they being the Clintons).

If this is a publicity stunt, it didn't work. This is the only place Iv'e heard about this, and it's a little late for Hillary to pander to gamers.

That's one stupid kid.

Yes, true - I’ll not fault him for it. I suspect his parents are very dedicated Hillary backers.

This is what worries me. I feel an itch on the back of my neck that this was more of a parental publicity stunt than anything else, and that would be truly tragic. I hope I'm wrong.

Hm.... Well thats money well spent... lol in the end will it have been worth it? We'll see we'll see. Hopefully for the kid, they give refunds hahaha

The more likely story is that this kids parents support hillary and either made the kid donate, or brainwashed him. No 11 year old kid is smart enough to fully have a grasp on politics.

@Belgarian
Hatfields and McCoys. Down south feudalism, oldschool shit.

@Belgarion89:
Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn"!
Cookie, please! :D

Technically the kid can do this as long as he meets three criteria, it's actually his money, his parents don't reimburse him and the contribution is knowing and voluntary. I really don't see how an eleven year old can give a knowing donation but for now at least I'll take the parents at their word.

Also this isn't the first case something like this has happend, the washington post had an article on it last october. The link if you want it
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/23/AR200710...

My money's on attempted publicity stunt too. Perhaps it hasn't made the rounds because they realised it sounded a bit too much like a christmas movie.

Tiny Tim, complete with a crutch for his bad leg, has wanted one special toy for as long as he can remember, he works so hard on his [paper route / lemonade stand / 18th century coal mining job] and despite being desperately poor and helping his sick grandmother, he finally brings his huge jar of pennies to the toystore and walks out the proud owner of his dream toy. When he gets home, he hears about someone sad and shivering in the christmas cold (probably the little match girl freezing to death) and he finally comes to the realisation that worldly goods aren't as important as inner goodness and donates the money to a cause he believes in.

"God bless us every one"

Roll Credits

It's sleazy to take political money from an 11 year old. The kid doesn't realise what he's doing. It feels like child labour.

Wake up people! Anyone who can't see right through this BS of a publicity story would probably also spend thousands on a piece of paper that said they are now the proud owners of a plot of land on the moon! Does the word gullible mean anything to you? If you think for one second that the parents didn't have EVERYTHING to do with this, you are sadly mistaken. "... I like seeing kids involved in politics. GOOD JOB!" Yes, great job on the parents' part for managing to completely brainwash their child into making a pointless sacrifice (assuming he wasn't COMPLETELY FORCED to do it). Just remember, there is NOTHING more impressionable than a child. The parents ought to be ashamed of themselves. This is absolutely deplorable. Honestly, an 11 year-old has no business in such a transaction. For shame people.. for shame.

Poor kid, wasting his resources on a candidate who has no chance. He should've put that money to better use, like a fake ID for GTA4.

@ Keith K

We're not mad at the kid, we're saying that Clinton would be a dirt bag to take campaign money from an impressionable kid. Even if Clinton had a strong chance, that money would have been better spent elsewhere, like savings for college.

When I was 11, I didn't think about politics; I liked the candidates my parents liked because my parents liked them. I didn't become truly politically aware until I was fifteen. Now maybe this kid is some sort of wunderkind who already holds his own political opinions at 11, but the odds of that seem pretty small to me compared to the odds his parents had something to do with this.

And what the crap do you mean by 'conceding defeat to a theocracy'... I wasn't aware there was a clergyman in the race.

It's really cute how he sold his videogames for a president who has, to say the least, no wish for the videogame industry to really flourish.

Cute, but saddly ironic.

If any candidate represents conceding defeat to a theocracy, it's Clinton; I'm sure she'd do everything she could to make sure as little as possible is done about militant Islamic theocracy, just like her husband's presidency.

Thats freakin' amazing that an 11 year old boy would do all that.

@Smarty Pants

I agree 100%. I was very politically minded and aware when i was 14 and wish i could have voted at that age, so i do believe that this kid could be doing it out of his own free will, in which case i'd say kudos to him even if i disagree with his choice of candidate.

Well kid aside, what about Hillary? Isn't she looking to be the next leader of this nation? Someone who's pledged to look out for the people of the United States?

...So why did she just think only of herself?

If she was a TRULY upstanding leader she would have taken the kid and had him open a savings account, put it away for college, what have you, but not taken the donation. Taking the donation just furthers the fact that you really don't care what the people think. All you care about is yourself.

Hillary is someone who believes the government knows best and she's going to build the best gov't ever...

...So with this as an example she's going to build a gov't that gladly accepts your money and gives nothing in return. Great.

This isn't just a publicity stunt. It's a publicity stunt gone bad.

I KNOW DALTON HATFIELD AND HIS FAMILY WELL. I KNOW WITHOUT A DOUBT HIS PARENTS WOULDN'T HAVE TALKED HIM IN TO SELLING HIS BELONGINGS TO GIVE TO HILARY CLINTON IF HE DIDN'T THINK SHE COULD MAKE A DIFFERENCE,  BUT THEY WOULD ENCOURAGE  HIM 100% TO BACK HER IF THATS WHO HE THOUGHT DESERVED TO BE PRESIDENT. I KNOW DALTON HATFIELD AND HE KNOWS MORE ABOUT POLITICS AT ELEVEN YEARS OLD THEN MOST WILL KNOW IN A LIFE TIME.  HIS GOAL IN LIFE IS TO BECOME THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES SOMEDAY( HE WILL) AND WHEN I SEE HIS NAME ON THE BALLET HE'S GOT MY VOTE.  GOOD LUCK DALTON

...amazing. what an idiot.

hilary clinton does not need any more money. no politician does. its funny, if this would have been about some kid selling his stuff in order to feed a family in africa or help someone, i would applaud it and think it was incredibly good for him, and it would have maybe even inspired me or some other people to do the same... but hillary clinton? you gotta be kidding me.

He probably feels like shit, since she lost, and is in DEBT