[Attention Surplus Disorder]

I agree it’s a world of difference, but the perpetual “if only we got the right person in charge” + “we’re here electing the first woman and it’s historical” + “look at how much experience she has” memes are non-ignorable.

For one hideous example: If the election were held today she would kick the crap out of Jeb Bush. If the election is held in 18 months and Hillary’s image is rehabilitated and her opponent is Jeb Bush....I think she would win.

I’ll stipulate that to you and me, she’s utterly nauseating. To those who love and adore her every move and have done so for the past 6 years and think she was cheated out of what was righteously hers, I honestly do not think this latest pile of corruption stuff is that much of a wave off.

[nathanbedford]

You are quite right, the institutional and structural realities confronting Republican presidential hopes are daunting in the extreme. They are so problematical that I have noted that this might well be the last presidential election in which a Republican candidate has a chance of overcoming demographics with issues.

You have noted some of the problems such as the yawning gap in the electoral college and the recent erosion of several states which should be solidly in the Republican column. Immigration has performed as expected and it is probable that in generations to come conservatism will be simply washed away by this tsunami of immigrants. We have also the institutional problems of an educational establishment which is quite proficient at churning out leftists. We have created an entitlement culture which is very difficult to overcome when confronted only in November. We are funding the left with government money at every turn and we are surprised that we cannot win elections with a top-down effort lasting only 90 days every four years.

We think we are right on the issues and we cannot understand how the unwashed could be so terribly deluded. We do not understand that they do not vote on issues, they vote on ethnicity, race, religion and, of course, their pocketbooks. They vote according to the data they receive from a media determined to be politically correct. They vote according to the way they have been educated. They vote according to the way they are unionized and this is just one area among so many in which an evil triangle trade exists between the institution, the federal government or state government treasury and the voter. We have in recent years seen the emergence of crony capitalism which has bought off the establishment in the Republican Party and ultimately divided our strength.

None of this can be defeated by a top-down campaign-except perhaps one last time.

We have a combination of weak candidates on the Democrat side, strong potential candidates (apart from Jeb Bush and other Rinos) on the Republican side. We have a bad economy getting worse and we have a foreign policy in shambles. Against all this the Democrats offer more class warfare and they are shaping together some sort of race demagoguery. That platform is stale and might not be enough to overcome an energized white middle-class.

We will not be facing a black Messiah, the embodiment of absolution for all the sins of America, the man who was politically correct on Iraq war, we will be facing a woman who is inept on the stump, unlikable, loaded with baggage, vulnerable in virtually every respect. She will have only money and structural advantages noted above. Finally, this is not her time.