Posted on 06/24/2005 7:46:57 AM PDT by ken5050
Last night I watched the rebroadcast of the Senate Armed Forces committee hearing on Iraq, and this morning I had breakfast with an old friend who is well connected in NYC Dem circles. Despite the riveting confrontation between the Swimmer and Rummy, and the pathetic display by Sheets, the really interesting moment occured when Hillary Clinton' turn occured. In brief...she totally blew it, BIG TIME...
The stage in the Senate hearing room was high drama. Fireworks were expected. Rummy and the generals vs. Swimmer and Sheets. Huge media contingent. Lots of prime time exposure.
Now, look at Hillary. By her appearance, demeanor, tone and body language, she wanted to be anywhere else but in that room. Root canal, or a gynecologist's appointment. But not there. Why?...easy, because the majority of her party is hard-core anti-war, any war...so, her much vaunted attempt to move to the middle fell totally apart; it showed the strategy won't hold water outside a carefully scripted environment. So she clammed up.
What did she do? Well, she complained about Karl Rove's statement. She said she was upset, it was unfair. She sounded whiny, petulant, soft, wishy-washy, and oh yeah totally unable to be perceived as a commander-in-chief. IOW, NOT presidential material.
I mean, geez, if she gets this upset about a few lines in a speech, well, what would she do in a really tough situation, like an attack on our soil? Why, she'd do a Voinovich...cry. Would anyone think that Voiny was presidential material after his recent Senate performance?
Rove's brilliance is even greater than we thought.Every aspect of the entire event, the speech, the timing, the venue, and those present, was carefully crafted, and the implications are just being picked up on the political seismograph.
First, it was done right after Durbin's awful comments, and his quasi-apology. Rove knew his comments were like waving a red flag in front of a bull, it would drive Dems insane. It would also allow the issue of Durbin's comments, and the fact that not ONE Dem, including Hillary, hadcondemned, them to be kept alive.
Second, these comments were made at at NYS Conservative party dinner, further intended to thumb noses at the Dems. And, look who was on the dais with Rove, NY Governor Pataki. Those of you not from NY, and NOT aware of current Conservative Party feelings; well let's just say that if the party membership were polled, up until yesterday, I'm not sure if Pataki would have beaten Mario Cuomo in a popularity contest; that's how much he is despised by the party faithful. Yet here he is, and the next day, he pops off with a superb denunciation of Hillary Clinton's comments. He directly repudiated everything she said, he went right after her, in her face..and George is NOT the most eloquent speaker, not really noted for his ability at off the cuff comments, so you can bet those "talking points" were carefully scripted.
So, let's put the political calculus together, and see where we now stand. I'd say it's probably a sure thing that Pataki will run against Hillary for the Senate in 2006. And right now, this has to be driving the Clintons up the walls.
Look, Pataki is not going to run again for governor. He's sick of Albany, the state is in a fiscal mess, and even if he ran, he'd probably lose. He wants OUT in the worst way possible. He just bought a vacation home in Florida, something a governor in NY does NOT do, unless he's a lame duck. All this talk about Pataki for Pres or VP..pure horse manure...trying to get his name noticed. If W had named him ambassador to New Zealand last year, he'd have taken it.
The GOP has no candidate to oppose Hillary for the Senate next year. Ed Cox, Tricia Nixon's husband? Please.....Wallpaper has more personality. Jeanine Pirro, the Westchester DA, would be an interesting candidate, but the Clinton slime machine would destroy her because of her husbands criminal past and mob connections. Remember the mess with Geraldine Ferraro's husband, and his questionable real-estate dealings? Imagine that blown-up by a factor of 1000x and you have some idea of what would happen to Pirro.
Nope, it's gonna be Pataki. Now that Rudy has firmly taken himself out of a Senate race to prep for 2008, George has picked up GOP banner. And everyone wins, BIG.
1. If he beats her, he gets to move to DC, be in the Senate, make the A-list, go to all the fancy parties. He and wife Libby LOVE the glamor,the glitz, the high life. And there ain't much of that, or much of anything, for that matter, in Albany.
2. If he loses, it'll still be a close race, and that will wound her politically in Dem circles. The question is often asked: what Red state would Hillary win in 2008 that Kerry didn't win in 2004? If she can, at best, only win a narrow victory in liberal blue NY, well, how the hell will she play nationally? Not good, f'sure...
3. If Pataki loses, he will get a major positon in the Bush administration. A well deserved reard for taking one for the team. A cabinet appointment, or a major ambassadorship, as a reward for taking on Hillary and wounding her. And either way he gets out of Albany.
A Pataki-Hillary race, at the very least, it will force her to spend time, and big $$$$ on her Senate campaign, instead of coasting to re-election, and hoarding the money to prepare for her 2008 race. This really messes her up, big time..
Pataki, just by his comments yesterday, challenging everything she said, has indicated that he will define the Senate race on national security issues, where she's afraid to open her mouth. See yesterday's Senate hearing.
One further convincing bit of proof. The NY Post reported yesterday that Pataki's son Owen, just graduated from college, and accepted to law school this fall, has decided to forego law school and instead, is joining the Marine Corps. The story didn't state if he's enlisting, or entering the officers' course at Quantico. Either way, bless him for his patriotism, his willingness to serve his country.
But you can also expect to see Owen, in dress blues, in a lot of pics with his dad. A nice contrast, eh, with Chelsea, who seems to get a lot of $$ for doing NO work, and her curley-haired beau, Ian, a metrosexual's metrosexual. Hillary and all the Clintons won't play so well in upstate New York anymore..
BTW..Look for Pataki to resign as governor this fall to run full time for the Senate. You heard it ALL here first..
And remember, this is all brought to you and made possible, courtesy of Karl Rove. Kudos to you, sir...
FYI..ping lists please..
Well, he's better than Hillary, but then, so is a bag of hammers.
Hey thats pretty darn good. You should submit your work and try to get a job doing this.
FYI..my take..
Wow, that sounds really good. Excellent prognostication, sir. I'm not a big Pataki fan, but I would love to see another +1 toward the (R) side of the aisle.
Who becomes governor if Pataki steps down?
One thing's for darn sure, they buggered up their image. Just imagine comparing our current war with all those 'better wars' in a text book. Are they actually going to say, "disaster" when the death counts are compared? Complete tripe.
Rumsfeld, whether it's deserved or not, is mathematically the most successful wartime SOD in our history. No one came close. We flat-out lost Vietnam and lost how many men? How many regimes were dismantled in that war? And griping about Gitmo, in the historic context, is patheticly trivial.
Yoo hoo!!!!
Looking forward to it, Ken. But I gotta disagree with your last statement. Two years ago I predicted that Pataki would not run for re-election as governor of New York, and that he'd run for the U.S. Senate in 2006.
I also said the GOP candidate for the New York governor's race would be Rudy Giuliani, but I'm not so sure about that right now.
I am green with envy over your way with words. LOL.
Sounds like a workable plan to me...
Thanks for the post. It is so much more interesting since I know who your neighbors are!
No argument there. I also said years ago that he wouldn't run again. My sentence was less than eloquent. I meant by "heard it here first" to stress that he would RESIGN as governor, NOT serve out his term, to run for the Senate seat..
Lt Governor succeeds..she's female, a lame duck..who's barely ever in town. She wants out also...we might even get a real conservative running ..
You're too kind..but I have to admit I really liked the way that came out...(G)
"And remember, this is all brought to you and made possible, courtesy of Karl Rove. Kudos to you, sir..."
I'll bump that!
Good read, and analysis.
Thanks for sharing with us.
Aren't you forgetting:
4. Order a clone army
5. Take a young apprentice
Enjoy....
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