Posted on 04/13/2005 1:10:44 PM PDT by Constitution Day
The Icewoman Cometh By Mark Steyn During the impeachment trial of blessed memory, I had a brief conversation with Sen. Barbara Boxer. “My duty is to the Constitution,” she said gravely. “My duty is to preserve our two-party democratic system. It’s up to the Democrats to save the Republican party from itself.” Warming to her theme, the petite brunette liberal extremist noted the latest Republican poll numbers — down somewhere between Robert Mugabe and the Ebola virus — and explained, “That’s not good for our democracy. This is a tragedy for the Republicans. The GOP has become the Get Our President party. That’s not the Republican party the people want. We have to reach out to them.” “Oh, come off it,” I said. Well, okay, I didn’t. Instead I nodded thoughtfully in a nonpartisan sort of way and marveled at the senator’s ability to reel off her bit with a straight face. Eventually, sensing a massive uncontainable guffaw rising in her gullet, Ms. Boxer wrapped it up and stepped into the Senate elevator. As the doors slid closed, muffled howls of laughter began to shake the Capitol, glass rattled in the windows, plaster fell from the ceiling . . . Politics affords few greater pleasures than offering one’s opponents some friendly but hopefully lethal piece of advice. We’re in one of those phases now — hence, the vogue for columns on the “Conservative Crackup,” a fearsome beast that, like the Loch Ness Monster, more and more folks claim to have spotted looming in the distance. In reality, the unrelieved gloom is on the Dem side of the ledger: The Republicans are all but certain to increase their majority in 2006. Whereas, if you want the state of the Democratic party in a single image, cut out the photograph from the New York Times the other day: a pumped Robert C. Byrd giving a clenched-fist salute at a MoveOn.org rally. That’s the Rainbow Coalition 2005 model: a dwindling band of ancient vindictive legislators yoked to a cash-flush unrepresentative fringe. It would actually be to the Democrats’ advantage if the Byrd-Kos union were to crack up, but instead their union seems merely cracked, like a miscast double-act thrown together by a desperate burlesque agent. There is, however, one exception to the Dems’ dance of death: President-presumptive Rodham Clinton. The chances of a Rodham restoration in the White House are better than even. For one thing, the salient feature of the Clintons’ Democratic party is that it was grand for the Clintons, disastrous for the party: The Dems lost everything — House, Senate, state legislatures, governorships — but somehow Bill and Hill were always the lone exceptions that proved the rule. Clinton couldn’t even bequeath the White House to his vice president in a time of “peace and prosperity,” yet the First Lady won an unprecedented victory in a state she’d never lived in. There is no reason to believe the Clintons’ historical immunity to their party’s remorseless decay will not continue. Second, the fact of a female candidate will send the media into orgies of diversity celebration. Right now, it’s the GOP with the star blacks (Rice), Hispanics (Martinez) and immigrants (Schwarzenegger), while the Dems are a sad collection of angry white males (Kennedy and Byrd). Were Condi to run against, say, Joe Biden in 2008, the press would play it strictly on the issues. But if it’s Bill Frist against Hill, get set for a non-stop cavalcade of stories with little inset photos of Mrs. Thatcher, Mrs. Gandhi, Mrs. Bandaranaike (Sri Lanka), Golda Meir, Benazir Bhutto, Helen Clark (New Zealand), etc., etc., and headlines like “Is America Ready?” that manage to imply ever so subtly that not voting for Hillary is the 2008 equivalent of declaring that Negroes are three-fifths of a human being. Yes, yes, I know — cattle futures, HillaryCare . . . That’ll be 16 years old on Election Day and nobody — or not enough — will care. Third, the senator is a quick learner. Her initial campaign stops in the 2000 race were embarrassing: stiff, evasive, that robotic I Speak Your Weight voice. By the end, she was almost charming — not lightly worn Fred-Astaire-romancing-Audrey-Hepburn charm; you could see she had to work at it. But nevertheless she did, and she succeeded. Smart folks adapt: For Republicans to assume they’ll be running against the Hillary of 1992 is a big mistake. When you look at her feints to the right in the post-9/11 era, what matters is not whether she believes them but that she’s the only Democrat with sufficient star quality to be able to ignore the deranged needs of UnableToMoveOn.org. Evan Bayh can’t — hence his pathetic vote against Condi. No male Democrat could get away with Hillary’s tentative moves away from Dem orthodoxy on abortion: Kerry was reduced to claiming that, while he personally believed life begins at conception, he would never let his deep personal beliefs interfere with his legislative program; Dean was practically offering to perform partial-birth abortions on volunteers from the crowd. But, if a woman runs as kinda-sorta-pro-life-ish, I’ll bet the NOW types decline to protest. Can Hillary be stopped? Obviously she can. But one lesson of the last 15 years is that the Democratic party is basically a dead husk — it’s as effective as whoever’s wearing it. In the Nineties, the Clintons swiped it. For the 2004 St. Vitus’s dance, Michael Moore and Barbra Streisand and MoveOn.org seized it and couldn’t make it work. But, if Hill takes it back . . . Don’t get me wrong. Biennial incremental gains by the GOP are set to continue for a while yet. But don’t be surprised if November 2008 is the usual day of disaster for Democrats in the Senate, House, and states, with the exception of Hillary’s election as president — and Chelsea’s stunning victory in the North Dakota governor’s race.
To Hill and back.
Has the pig ever BEEN to Chappaqua?
I believe anything can happen with these people. They have no boundaries because they will do anything.
I am nervous about her candidacy. I thought she was unelectable anywhere... I never even thought she'd win in NY. My family there told me they were absolutely shocked by some of the people who said they were voting for her.
Once they get in there, they can cheat, cheat, cheat. They sell everything and anything that is not theirs, and they get great returns. NOTHING is below this scum.
Kerry did become a little bit of a source of ridicule, but to the average voter, there was no hatred or fear of Kerry. Maybe just the sense that he wasn't up to the job.
The hatred of Hillary isn't just confined to the far right. She creeps out men and women of all political stripes. If she can pull it off despite that, she'll have come from a far weaker position than Kerry ever had.
If I had to put my money on a GOP candidate right now, I'd go for George Allen. He came into the Virginia governor's race at a staggering disadvantage... he was behind by some astronomical figure. Mary Sue Terry was considered a shoo in. So I would say he's a good campaigner, probably has good ideas about what the media is going to play on the "elect a woman" issue, and of course his current role is only going to expand his campaign insight. Plus I think he's got personal charm that will win over some voters also. My guess is he could make Hillary look even more shrill and unappealing than usual (if such be possible).
Exactly so. That's the beauty and true genius of the system of government the founders created.
If Condi declares that she will be a pro-life president, I believe she will be pro-life. I think she's a woman of her word. Call it expediency if you like, but I don't believe she would lie about it. Expediency is fine with me, as long as the job gets done.
If hillary says it, on the other hand, it will be meaningless. Everyone knows she doesn't mean it. As Safire once remarked in a Times OpEd column, she is an "inveterate liar."
Well-put, Cicero.
It Takes a Village may run, but they're aren't enough village idiots to elect her.
The rapist enabler will never be president of The United States of America.
Run Hillary Run!
That is just wishful thinking. She will carry ever state Kerry won. She had a very good chance of winning Ohio and a couple of others Bush won.. like Iowa. She might win West Virginia.
You are thinking voters react to Hillary the way you do. We know a majority of voters do not react to Bill or Hillary the way you do.
By 2008 the electorate will want nothing changed. That is, they will want grid lock. We will be 5 years into the good times and the public will want absolutely nothing done. Hillary will campaign at being better at doing nothing than anyone.
Styne has it right. The electorate will vote for grid lock. They will have a very strong Republican House and Senate and put Hillary in the White House. They won't be able to think of a better grid lock than that.
thanks for the ping
Great graphic! LOL!
I wish you were right, but this is the country which reelected Bill in 1996.
No we don't. First of all, the votes were cast for Bill, not Hillary. They might have been cast more for Al Gore than her.
Predicting the 2008 election based on 1996 results is just dumb.
Perhaps the electorate will be ready for a party change in the presidency in 2008, but it's hardly a given, nor is it a historical pattern.
The good news is I think she'll be President for two terms. It's good news because I'm always wrong.
...cut out the photograph from the New York Times the other day: a pumped Robert C. Byrd giving a clenched-fist salute at a MoveOn.org rally. That’s the Rainbow Coalition 2005 model: a dwindling band of ancient vindictive legislators yoked to a cash-flush unrepresentative fringe.
Well said.
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