Beinart: Truth is, Hillary has always been a centrist

Austin American-Statesman ^ | 05/10/2005 | Peter Beinart

[Sen Jack S. Fogbound]

COMMENTARY Beinart: Truth is, Hillary has always been a centrist

Peter Beinart, SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON POST Advertisement

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

Hillary Clinton has moved to the center in preparation for 2008. It's become a cliche — so self-evidently true that it shows up not merely in editorials but in news articles as well.

One of the reasons it's so uncontroversial is that it seems innocuous, even flattering. It shows how shrewd a politician Clinton is. She knows Democrats must do better among hawkish, culturally traditional voters — so she's moving in that direction herself.

But in fact the "Hillary shifts to the center" line isn't innocuous at all. It's crucial to the campaign that conservatives will wage against her in years to come. That campaign is likely to revolve around character.

[Sen Jack S. Fogbound]

I wish I hadn't read this after I've had my coffee!

[facedown]

Humor break.

[NativeNewYorker]

Peter Beinart has been Editor of The New Republic since November 1999. He graduated from Yale University in 1993, winning both Rhodes and Marshall (declined) scholarships for graduate study at Oxford University. After graduating from University College, Oxford in the summer of 1995 with a Masters of Philosophy degree in international relations, Beinart returned to TNR as Managing Editor.

QED.

[mgc1122]

The guy goes to a lot of effort to polish a turd ...

[jneesy]

BWAAAHAHAAAAHHAAAHAAAAHAAAAAAAAAA

breathe....

BWAAAAAHAAAHAAAHAAHAAHAHAAHAHAAAA

[b4its2late]

Yeah, right. Only in this liberals' (Peter Beinart) dreams.......

[Piquaboy]

Hillary is shifty all right.

[Brilliant]

Sure she's a centrist. She really did not want to nationalize the health care system. She only tried to do that because Bill made her do so.

[Always Right]

From the perspective of far-out DU types, Hillary may be a centrist. But in the world or reality, Hillary has moved to the right on issues like war and gay rights and abortion.

[onedoug]

She's a Marxist communist, plain and simple.

[iconoclast]

Truth is, Hillary has always been a centrist

Five years ago I would have guffawed at that statement. :o(

[SamFromLivingston]

You forgot to put BARF ALERT in the title.

[Seeking the truth]

Masters of Philosophy degree in international relations

Huh?

[capydick]

Ugh! This guy is already first in line with his knee pads on for sHillary!

[iconoclast]

She'd move farther right than Michael Savage if she thought it would bring her the white house.

Kinda the mirror image of a "compassionate" conservative?

[frankiep]

One of the reasons it's so uncontroversial is that it seems innocuous, even flattering. It shows how shrewd a politician Clinton is.

Um, no. A shrewd politician would have been able to pull off a shift to the center, like the Beast is trying to do, in such a subtle way that the sham job wouldn't be so blindingly obvious. Hitlery's attempt here is way beyond obvious; that's not what I call shrewd.

[cvq3842]

And the Democrats seem to have this creepy "cult of personality" built around her. Some of them, at least. And while the Republicans cannot ever afford to underestimate her, I wish we could somehow think about her less also.

Maybe the problem is that too many people DON'T think in this country, and many of them are just knee-jerk Hillary supporters. She is working hard and laying the organizational groundwork, I know. But she's not royalty. She has a lot of weaknesses. Heck, I'm old enough to remember when Ted Kennedy was the "heir apparent" of the left for about a decade. He couldn't even topple Carter!

I think, and hope even more, that the Hillary campaign balloon will pop, or deflate, sooner than we think. It is possible. We still have to do everything we can to organize and work for a Republican win in 2008, of course. But my gut instinct is that Hillary Clinton can damage herself more than the right wing ever can, and that she might just do that. We have to be extra careful that any criticism of her have a sound basis, since even the most solid and thoughtful critique will be labeled "Hillary bashing" in the MSM anyway.

Just my opinion. but "slow and steady wins the race."

[Lazamataz]

Beinart: Truth is, Hillary has always been a centrist

Interesting. Today I have determined that there is one individual in America, last name of Beinart, who is stark, staring mad.

[gridlock]

Hillary! has always been a centrist...

See! There she is, right in the center!