Posted on 02/16/2017 7:39:47 PM PST by SeekAndFind
It may be “vindicating” to see a media avalanche on the woes of a president you tried to defeat, but it’s also problematic. What, exactly, does it say about your candidate? And yet, NBC News reported last night that Hillary Clinton and her campaign team want everyone to know they’re laughing about Donald Trump’s controversial and chaotic start, while claiming vindication for their campaign:
Hillary Clinton and her supporters are laughing to keep from crying.
After an election in which Donald Trump led chants of “Lock her up!” over Clinton’s handling of classified material and public transparency and branded her “the most corrupt candidate ever” over ethics conflicts, President Trump’s White House is now under bipartisan fire for multiple stories that Democrats argue outstrip any of their 2016 nominee’s alleged transgressions. …
In interviews with NBC, several veterans of the Clinton campaigned stressed that there’s a point behind the pile-on: Building momentum for investigations into the Trump administration, especially over potential ties with Russia during the campaign.
That may certainly be one point, and one that’s already happening at the FBI even without Team Hillary prodding. So far, though, the probe hasn’t actually found anything actionable — no coordination, and in Michael Flynn’s case, apparently no deception when being interviewed by FBI agents. Both Republicans and Democrats have called for investigations into the Flynn case, but the GOP mainly wants to look into the leaks and whether outside political operatives have influenced the intelligence community.
That might not help with Team Hillary’s sense of vindication, but it certainly will help Republicans. Paul Ryan told a press conference that the leaks are compromising national security, and he wants an end to them:
"If it's classified information, that is criminal and there should be a criminal investigation," Ryan says on leaks https://t.co/T5uqoA85rO pic.twitter.com/lRy7XhhQkb
— CBS News (@CBSNews) February 16, 2017
Does Team Hillary have another point in engaging media and pointing out the foibles of the man who beat them in November? It certainly gives some hint that they see a path to Hillary’s return to presidential politics, and want to position her as her own heir presumptive in the Democratic Party. In my column for The Week, I argue that the last thing Democrats need is the hair of the dog that bit them — twice:
There is no way they concluded in their autopsy that the best option would be to exhume the body. Donald Trump won the election by connecting with Rust Belt voters. Hillary Clinton almost willfully ignored them. She never set foot in Wisconsin during the general election and almost purposefully neglected Michigan and Pennsylvania while throwing resources into Arizona and Georgia. Her campaign ignored the model perfected by Barack Obama and wound up adopting the same top-down, national messaging model that lost Mitt Romney the election in 2012.
An almost relentless focus on identity politics, especially on Clinton’s status as the first woman to get a major-party presidential nomination, fell utterly flat. Clinton only scored slightly better (54/41) among women than Obama in 2012 (55/44), and did worse among men (41/52) than Obama (45/52). As Jim Webb told NBC’s Chuck Todd on Meet the Press this weekend, Clinton and Democrats “lost a key part of their base” with this obsession over identity politics.
That turned out to be true across the board. Not only did this campaign messaging fail to lift Clinton to victory despite initial Electoral College advantages, it also failed to deliver the expected return of Senate control to Democrats. Republicans had to defend 13 more seats than Democrats in 2016, and the loss of just five of those seats would have shifted power. Instead, Democrats only flipped two seats, losing in two races where popular retired Senate Democrats vied for their old seats (in Wisconsin and Indiana). Democrats overwhelmingly lost the House again, and continued to lose seats in state legislatures, too.
American voters have made up their minds about Hillary Clinton. They don’t want her to be president. So if Democrats want to learn a lesson with their autopsy, here’s the first: Bury the dead. That’s the only way you can figure out how to rejoin the living.
Don’t expect Hillary or her apologists to just fade into the sunset. At some point, Democrats will have to head off a hat trick of failure by finding a candidate who can actually relate to voters outside their coastal, urban/academic cloister.
Other than Trump's win, this is the other significant outcome of the election that has gotten surprisingly little play. Its almost unbelievable that a party defending 13 more seats than its opposition could come out still in control of the Senate. But they did it. I was fairly confident of Trump's chances, but was very pessimistic about the Senate. That we held control of it was quite astounding, IMO, and it really exposed the weakness of the 'Rats in this cycle.
Hillary should stop following the Fake News ,LOL
So are we, Trump supporters. He is doing a great job regardless what your lapdog propaganda press reports. Now disappear into the woodwork where you belong loser.
“Rep. Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, sent a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions today asking Sessions to consider convening a grand jury or bringing charges against Hillary Clinton’s former IT guy, Bryan Pagliano.”
SCORE!! I’ve wanted this guy SENT TO JAIL for months, even more than Hillary and Obama - for he ENABLED them.
This clown didn’t even Congress enough respect to show up and take the 5th - he just THUMBED HIS NOSE at Congress.
Oh well, this guy may be the first one to enjoy some (a lot) of jail time.
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/bryan-pagliano-contempt-house-panel-228520
Vindication my a$$.
Trump is doing great. He’s done more in three weeks than most presidents do in three years.
President Trump created countless jobs BEFORE his inauguration.
You don’t feel vanquished?
It’s exactly as Scott Adams has been saying: The Dems are watching one movie and we’re watching another movie but there’s only one movie playing. It’s mass insanity on the Dem side.
He looks addled and she looks like somebody wrapped her up in grandma’s old rug. What a pair of dolts.
I wonder how hard Hillary and her crowd laughed as DJT spoke this afternoon about her humiliatingly naive Russian “reset” effort - and “that stupid plastic button”?
Yeah just imagine if Clinton were President.we would have MILLIONS of these refugee cockroaches invading this country and terrorist attack after terrorist attack every week and of course we would have Clinton go on TV and blame US for it
I think President Trump was being nice earlier when he said he would not investigate Clinton for her scandals..its time that President Trump come back and say YES he will have this b*tch investigated and put her ASS IN JAIL
ROTFL! Ol’ Sling Blade Clinton and his hungover momma....;) Now if you’ll excuse me I have to go rinse my eyes with bleach after seeing this pic.....brrrrr
Is she wearing the castoffs of the First Wookie?
I can see why. Your loss is more understandable with each passing day.
No need to justify it though ... just fade away.
Bill really does look like he had a frontal lobotomy, doesn’t he?
Can you imagine him bumping around the Rose Garden about 3:00 AM?
And Hillary “Hell on wheels” bustling about in her housecoat about while everyone stares at their feet.
One more time: We really dodged a bullet.
The MSM can go to ****.
You mean you’re feeling vindicated by the drive bys’ version of Trump’s first month.
Go away and die in defeat, Cankles. You are nothing anymore. NOTHING.
Miss Bloated Caftan is dripping with entitlement and coddling - that look on her face, ugh!
Bill looks like he’s got 2, maybe 3 brain cells left.
Why does Ryan always talk like solving America's problems is somebody else's job? Congress ought to be steamrolling these people - and impeaching judges and office-holders left and right.
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