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"Kill" Bill
National Review Online ^ | 10 Feb 2005 | Myrna Blyth

Posted on 02/10/2005 11:10:49 AM PST by Rummyfan

“Kill” Bill? Hillary’s got a problem of presidential proportions on her road back to the White House.

Let's admit it. Hillary is scary. And not only because she is extremely smart, totally driven, and a formidable fundraiser. Hillary's most impressive and most worrisome quality is that she is a self-improver. That girl can learn and change constantly even if it means contradicting herself. "That's not flip-flopping," I bet she'd say, nodding her head, which she always does when she's agreeing, "it's evolving."

And let's admit this, as well: Most guys are either too self-confident or too insecure to work so constantly and so hard on trying to improve and repackage themselves. Not our Hillary. Remember how she used to always change her hairdos — flip to pouf, long to short — as well as her style — hippie to fussy to de la Renta — until she finally settled on her current easy-to-blow-out do and her black-pantsuits-for-work and colored-ones-for-fundraisers look, both of which can hide those unfortunate legs?

In some ways she seems like one of those Star Trek villains who would baffle Captain Kirk for half a show because they keep changing form. Or, like The Matrix she can, not only change form, but the whole environment in order to protect herself or have her way. Maybe that's why a couple of weeks ago she tacked so noticeably to the right on abortion and, even before that, told a crowd in Boston that she really, really, really believes in faith-based initiatives.

Of course, at practically the same time — after she and Bill attended the Trump wedding reception — she spoke to crowd of the faithful at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach and declared, "I believe that on both political and substantive grounds, my husband did it just right.... He took on hard issues that we pay a president for. Frankly, it is not that hard cutting people's taxes." She also complained "I don't see that thoughtful, visionary direction that got us where we are today," Yes, she was able to say with a straight face that Bill had the vision thing and Dubya doesn't.

Isn't it a relief to know that George and Laura would never attend Donald Trump's fourth wedding reception?

The other night a Democratic fundraiser told me that the only way Hillary could have a chance was to use the Karl Rove strategy and get out the base. But Karl Rove says that his strategy was increasing the base, and Hillary is smart enough to recognize that. Bob McCarthy, a writer at the Buffalo News, reported that she had an interesting little chat on just that subject with the reporters and editors of the paper when she was in Buffalo last week to give back-to-back speeches. She grew queasy and faint before a pro-choice women's group but still soldiered on to Canisius College, a bastion of Jesuit Catholicism. At Canisius, talking about health care, she managed to make respectful references to Cardinals Bernardin and O'Connor and, for good measure, the Gospel of St. Matthew.

According to McCarthy, she gave her opinion of what went wrong with Kerry's strategy, hinting how she might run her own campaign. "[Kerry's] campaign missed a lot of opportunities to make their case. There were a number of decisions — strategic decisions — that just didn't pan out. " Kerry, she said, worked hard to rally his Democratic base in the big cities of Ohio, writing off the outlying areas. Ditto for Nevada when he won Las Vegas and Reno but lost the hinterland. Hillary said when she was running for Senate, she was advised to concentrate on four out of the five boroughs of New York City, and the upstate cities of Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, and Albany. She was told to write off the rural counties as "a waste of time." "But I looked at the numbers and the numbers didn't support that," she told Buffalo News staffers. "I was successful in shrinking the margins against me." In her decisive victory, she even won some traditionally GOP counties. So expect Hillary during the next year, even while she occasionally throws some red meat to her loyalists, to never " stop thinking about tomorrow" and the need to turn some "red" states purple in 2008.

But, of course, her greatest problem remains, not merely moderating her current views, but distancing herself her Hill-and-Bill past. Women — who she would have to win decisively — might find the historic opportunity to help elect the first woman president quite appealing. But not if that means having Bill back in the White House, even if he's merely hanging out in an office in the East Wing.

So what is our girl going to do? A Hillary on her own just might make her a much stronger candidate. Yes, she can change her views, but will she change her husband? Handling that challenge would be the greatest test yet of Senator Clinton's presidential ambitions.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: electionpresident; hillary; hitlery; saveamerica; stophillary
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Lots of things I disagree with here - the commonly accepted fact that Hillary is the 'smartest woman in the world' being a big one - but interesting.
1 posted on 02/10/2005 11:10:49 AM PST by Rummyfan
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To: Rummyfan

This just goes to show that for the MSM it's style over substance every time. Why do you think they went with sKerrystein/Breck Girl in '04? Heck they thought they were the ones with style.


2 posted on 02/10/2005 11:14:40 AM PST by phoenix0468 (One man with courage is a majority. (Andrew Jackson))
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To: Rummyfan

If Bill should happen to die about a month before the election, she would not only lose a loser, but also gain much sympathy from the female vote.


3 posted on 02/10/2005 11:16:55 AM PST by expatpat
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To: Rummyfan
Click Here

4 posted on 02/10/2005 11:16:58 AM PST by Fiddlstix (This Tagline for sale. (Presented by TagLines R US))
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To: Rummyfan

5 posted on 02/10/2005 11:17:25 AM PST by COUNTrecount
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To: Rummyfan
Yeah--somehow I always pictured "The Whore of Babylon" as being a lot better-looking.

You would not believe how effective a fundraiser is Hillary--

6 posted on 02/10/2005 11:18:37 AM PST by Mamzelle
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To: Rummyfan

bump


7 posted on 02/10/2005 11:18:40 AM PST by PilloryHillary (Can vegetarians eat animal crackers?)
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To: Rummyfan

I cannot imagine most women voting for her just because she is a woman. All the women I know, including myself, think she is a self-centered power hungry b**ch who looks like an idiot for continuing to stay married to the biggest whore on the face of the planet. What self-respecting woman allows herself to be consistanly humiliated?


8 posted on 02/10/2005 11:18:54 AM PST by teenyelliott (Soilent green is made of liberals...)
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To: COUNTrecount

Interesting picture--what is the context?


9 posted on 02/10/2005 11:19:39 AM PST by Mamzelle
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To: Rummyfan

One of those celebrity prognosticators - maybe it was Joan Rivers - predicted that the next big "breakup" would be Bill and Hill.

All this predicting was going on after the much-publicized breakup of Brad and Jen. {huge yawn!}

But it's something to wonder about.

Does anyone think Hill would drop Bill if she could further her political aspirations without him as baggage?


10 posted on 02/10/2005 11:19:47 AM PST by Ezekiel 34
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To: Mamzelle

Widow's weeds...viewing the casket.


11 posted on 02/10/2005 11:20:44 AM PST by COUNTrecount
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To: Ezekiel 34

i think the next breakup will be Tereezzaaa and John!


12 posted on 02/10/2005 11:22:34 AM PST by PaRebel (Visualize Whirled Peas!)
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To: teenyelliott
What self-respecting woman allows herself to be consistanly humiliated?

One that requires perpetual victimization for political survival.

13 posted on 02/10/2005 11:23:17 AM PST by JoeSixPack1 (@100mph, you have no friends.)
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To: teenyelliott

She may very well be formidable in some respects, but just like Kerry, she has an extensive record to attack. She also has a rather sordid past (Whitewater, Vince Foster, the list is long). There is also that pesky talent she seems to have for polarizing people. Remember the "I don't want to stay home and bake cookies" remark. "Bring it on!!"


14 posted on 02/10/2005 11:25:49 AM PST by PaRebel (Visualize Whirled Peas!)
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To: JoeSixPack1

Sorry, but I have no sympathy for someone who allows themselves to be victimized. The first time, you are a victim. The second time you're an idiot. Beyond that, you get what you deserve.


15 posted on 02/10/2005 11:26:10 AM PST by teenyelliott (Soilent green is made of liberals...)
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To: teenyelliott

She may very well be formidable in some respects, but just like Kerry, she has an extensive record to attack. She also has a rather sordid past (Whitewater, Vince Foster, the list is long). There is also that pesky talent she seems to have for polarizing people. Remember the "I don't want to stay home and bake cookies" remark. "Bring it on!!"


16 posted on 02/10/2005 11:26:28 AM PST by PaRebel (Visualize Whirled Peas!)
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To: PaRebel

She's already dropped his last name.


17 posted on 02/10/2005 11:27:37 AM PST by Ezekiel 34
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To: Rummyfan

That headline is scary. I had a mental picture of She Who Must Not Be Named coming after me with a meat cleaver.


18 posted on 02/10/2005 11:28:44 AM PST by Billthedrill
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To: teenyelliott

I agree. But that's who she is, and that is her game.


19 posted on 02/10/2005 11:29:42 AM PST by JoeSixPack1 (@100mph, you have no friends.)
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To: PaRebel

Regarding both Kerry and Hillary; I have an absolute inability to understand how any intelligent human being could view either one of them as anything more than repulsive. Oh, and a threat to everything this country was built on.


20 posted on 02/10/2005 11:31:17 AM PST by teenyelliott (Soilent green is made of liberals...)
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