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The truth about Hillary
Guardian ^ | 7/30/05 | Natasha Walter

Posted on 07/30/2005 1:54:23 PM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection

Although the next presidential race is three years away, Americans are constantly being asked whom they want to see in the White House next time. A few weeks ago came a startling new development: for the first time a majority of those polled said they were likely to vote for Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The most optimistic observers now talk of a contest between the two most charismatic people in US politics, Hillary Clinton and Condoleezza Rice. Dick Morris, a former adviser to Clinton, will bring out a book this October called Condi v Hillary: the Next Great Presidential Race. Such a scenario would indeed be an incredible turnaround for American women, given that it is more than 20 years since the only time a woman has been put forward by a major political party in the presidential race: Geraldine Ferraro's failed vice-presidency bid in 1984.

Article continues But the candidacy of Condoleezza Rice is still a distant dream. That of Hillary Clinton is a far more likely prospect, but it won't be an easy ride. For her the problems lie not so much in the political arena as the personal.

Observers have been impressed by how Clinton has played her last five years as a cool-headed senator. She has been carving out a position precisely calibrated for a presidential race in these conservative times, carefully distancing herself from positions that might seem too liberal. At the beginning of the year she sought "common ground" with pro-lifers on abortion, and described herself as a "praying person". Earlier this month she called for a crackdown on the sale of violent and sexual video games to children.

These are not just new crowd-pleasing ventures - such views have been part of her public persona for a long time. At the same time Clinton knows she will also have to challenge the Republicans on defence and security; she famously voted for the Iraq war and is spending, as one commentator put it, "hours mastering military arcana", as she must if she is ever to persuade Americans to take her seriously as commander in chief.

Such behaviour may alienate her most liberal supporters. But then Hillary was never the politician that radical feminists dreamed of. Just as the first modern woman leader in Britain had to be tougher than the boys to silence her critics, so the first woman US president will be harder than the men around her. It was all very well for Bill Clinton to show off his human side - everyone knew he was surging with testosterone. If Hillary were to do the same it would be seen as weakness.

Yet this necessity puts her in a bind. US culture may constantly throw up images of powerful females, but they are always seen as lacking something vital - not brains, nor guts, but heart. From Lara Croft to Catwoman, from Condi to Hillary, the power of the superwoman always seems to come at the expense of her perceived humanity. When commentators say that Hillary Clinton is too cold to win over voters, what they are really saying is that she is too powerful to be a real woman. Behaviour that would be forgiven in a man - wariness of confiding in others, self-belief - is seen as evidence of a hyper-ambition that makes her less than fully human.

US culture has not moved on from the idea that a woman who is so keen on power is also sexually deviant. In his vicious new book, The Truth About Hillary, Edward Klein jumps from her alleged promiscuity "Hillary and Vince's love affair was an open secret"; to her supposed frigidity - "Did the Big Girl have any interest in sex with a man?"; to her rumoured lesbianism - "To Arkansas, she walked like a lesbian, talked like a lesbian, and looked like a lesbian."

Whatever Hillary Clinton does to position herself politically, this dirt will keep coming. If she's lucky she will be able to rise above her detractors and speak directly to voters with a voice that seems both reassuring - because she's been around for so long - and new - because she is, after all, a woman. But if she's unlucky she will seem both old hat, tainted with the scandals of the Clinton era, and, as a powerful woman, way too revolutionary for current American society. Perhaps all Republicans will have to do to stop her succeeding is to remind voters that 13 years ago she said didn't want to spend her life baking cookies.

Because while surveys show growing numbers of American voters warming to her, a substantial minority - up to 40% in some polls - are still saying that their country is not ready for a female president. And whatever Hillary Clinton's own self-belief, it may still be beyond her power to change that.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bookreview; hillary2008; news; truthabouthillary
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Scared?
1 posted on 07/30/2005 1:54:24 PM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection

I'd vote for a woman.....but not that woman. This country needs a president, not a dictator.


2 posted on 07/30/2005 1:58:09 PM PDT by Bombardier ("Religion of Peace" my butt.....sell that snakeoil to someone who'll buy it!)
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To: Bombardier

This is an imported story from a media source which promotes liberal philosophy


3 posted on 07/30/2005 2:02:05 PM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection (I urge Roberts to support all sections of the Constitution which uphold abortion)
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection
Scared?

Bring it on, Hillie!

4 posted on 07/30/2005 2:02:17 PM PDT by mewzilla (Property must be secured or liberty cannot exist. John Adams)
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection




5 posted on 07/30/2005 2:06:08 PM PDT by Zacs Mom (Proud wife of a Marine! ... and purveyor of "rampant, unedited dialogue")
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection
"the two most charismatic people in US politics, Hillary Clinton and Condoleezza Rice."

There are many words I would use to describe Hi!!ary, and charismatic would not be one of them!! In fact, I find it quite disturbing to see her name in the same sentence as Condi's.

6 posted on 07/30/2005 2:06:21 PM PDT by Theresawithanh (As long as Dean's the head of the D-N-C, it just looks better for the G-O-P!!)
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection
Scared?

Nope. Not at all.


7 posted on 07/30/2005 2:06:50 PM PDT by rdb3 (You'd PAY to know what you REALLY think.)
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To: rdb3

I was referring to her party


8 posted on 07/30/2005 2:08:06 PM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection (I urge Roberts to support all sections of the Constitution which uphold abortion)
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection
I was referring to her party

Okay. I'm not scared of them, either.


9 posted on 07/30/2005 2:09:50 PM PDT by rdb3 (You'd PAY to know what you REALLY think.)
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To: Zacs Mom

One has to wonder why the people would not have learned


10 posted on 07/30/2005 2:10:57 PM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection (I urge Roberts to support all sections of the Constitution which uphold abortion)
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection
I was referring to her party

I'm a Dem :)

Run, Hillie, run!

Her run will be the political equivalent of exposing a vamp to sunlight. Poof.

11 posted on 07/30/2005 2:11:39 PM PDT by mewzilla (Property must be secured or liberty cannot exist. John Adams)
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection

I realize that. And, like I said, I'd vote for a woman, but Hitlery is NOT that woman. Honestly, Rice likely isn't either, but if it came down to one or the other, I'd vote for Rice because she's not a power hungry bee-otch like the creature from Illinois/Arkansas/NY/Wherever-she-can-con-enough-people-into-voting-for-her is.


12 posted on 07/30/2005 2:14:22 PM PDT by Bombardier ("Religion of Peace" my butt.....sell that snakeoil to someone who'll buy it!)
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection

Two words cover her:

Murdering B!tc&


13 posted on 07/30/2005 2:14:59 PM PDT by ChefKeith (If Diplomacy worked, then we would be sitting here talking.)
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection

"US culture has not moved on from the idea that a woman who is so keen on power is also sexually deviant."

I find this concept ... wierd. I think the Left are trying to make this some kind of gay rights issue. (hey, you against Hillary, you gay-basher).

A women who is so keen on power is a power-mongerer.
That's Hillary.


14 posted on 07/30/2005 2:45:02 PM PDT by WOSG (Liberalism is wrong, it's just the Liberals don't know it yet.)
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection

"Such behaviour may alienate her most liberal supporters."

Such behavior is lying triangulation and her liberal supporter probably know it.

" But then Hillary was never the politician that radical feminists dreamed of."

Load of cr*p. Hillary is exactly what the radical feminists want because she is one of them.

" Just as the first modern woman leader in Britain had to be tougher than the boys to silence her critics, so the first woman US president will be harder than the men around her."

More BS. Thatcher was Conservative, Hillary is a Socialist.

Hillary is naturally hard, actually I'd call it evil. Like her comment about small businesses going under due to her health care proposal.

" It was all very well for Bill Clinton to show off his human side - everyone knew he was surging with testosterone."

(Shaking my head) His classless behavior was okay?

" If Hillary were to do the same it would be seen as weakness. "

Well, it *is* weakness to go after interns.
Hillary had her own weaknesses, in going after White House travel office personnel etc. Her weakness is her pure unabashed desire for power.

Hillary having a human side? No, she has a Clintonian side and a Nixonian side... a liar and a power-hungray ideologue who will stop and nothing to win.

Be very afraid. BJ Clinton's era will be a cakewake in comparison.


15 posted on 07/30/2005 2:52:44 PM PDT by WOSG (Liberalism is wrong, it's just the Liberals don't know it yet.)
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection

Hil for Prez--no way!


16 posted on 07/30/2005 3:00:02 PM PDT by lilylangtree
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection
1. Would you vote for Hillary Clinton?
2. If yes, would you trust her with you personal FBI files?
17 posted on 07/30/2005 3:01:07 PM PDT by umgud (Comment removed by poster before moderator could get to it)
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To: umgud

"1. Would you vote for Hillary Clinton?
2. If yes, would you trust her with you personal FBI files?"

She already has everyone's FBI files.
Why do think the media and most of the Congress roll over for her?


18 posted on 07/30/2005 3:05:12 PM PDT by Cincinna (BEWARE HILLARY and her HINO)
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection
The second header form the article: "Clinton is popular but America is not ready for a woman president".

And then they go on to yuk it up anyway. The Brits crack me up. BTW, this needed a modified-hang-out barf alert or somethin'   ;^)

.

19 posted on 07/30/2005 3:21:54 PM PDT by ForGod'sSake (ABCNNBCBS: An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly.)
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection

"These [moderate positions] are not just new crowd-pleasing ventures - such views have been part of her public persona for a long time."

Yeah, sure. You can put a pig in a dress, but it's still a pig.


20 posted on 07/30/2005 3:23:05 PM PDT by hsalaw
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