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Dear Hillary: Don't Run
The Tampa Tribune ^ | 02/25/06 | Lead Editorial

Posted on 02/25/2006 9:23:31 AM PST by shortstop

Dear Hillary:

We'd like to welcome you to Tampa for your fundraiser today, and thank you for your long service to our country and your party.

We expect that after your re-election this fall as junior senator from New York, you will dedicate yourself to seeking a higher office. But you're a pragmatist, Hillary, so we urge you to be satisfied with the Senate.

If you run for president, chances are good that you'll secure your party's nomination. But realistically, how do you think you can win the White House? You are the most polarizing figure in the Democratic Party, and your negatives among likely voters are prohibitively high. Many people simply don't trust you. You may share your husband's name, but what people liked about him is not transferable to you. You are not the person to help define a party that needs to convince voters it can govern from the vital center.

Even yellow dog Florida Democrats express profound reservations about your presidential ambitions. They worry that you cannot attract moderate and independent voters and that your presence will hurt the election chances of other Democratic candidates up and down the ballot.

They fear, Hillary, that you would doom Democrats to impotence for decades. Republicans might relish that prospect, but on reflection, they would acknowledge the importance of a strong two-party political system. Should the Democratic Party be crippled, the Republican Party is likely to become complacent, uninspired and unaccountable.

Fair or not, you are identified with the far left, and you are not the person to convince voters that Democrats have ideas for keeping families safe and the country secure.

You are not the one who can assure Americans they will have a chance to get ahead.

You may be a champion for women's rights and a strong advocate for children, but you are too much the Washington insider to convince voters you would fix a political system that seems remote from everyday life.

If you run, you'll position yourself from the center, knowing full well that even if you alienate your base, they'll support you, because they have no one else to turn to.

But even if you moderate your positions, you do so at some political risk. When you suddenly support a constitutional amendment to ban flag-burning, your changing position seems superficial and self-serving. Hillary the "moderate progressive" candidate would be a hard sell.

Although you apparently work well with your Senate colleagues, your candidacy would remind voters that you are not a consensus builder. Your health care plan failed during your husband's first term because you were largely tone-deaf. You shut people out, and when things went awry, you blamed the media.

By the time George Bush leaves office in 2009, this country will have had 20 years with either a Bush or Clinton at the helm. Citizens want a break from that White House tradition.

Think, Hillary, not about what you want, but what's best for your party and country.

Please, don't run.


TOPICS: Editorial; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: election; hillary; hillary2008; mrsbillclinton; tampa
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To: Bob Dobalina

Ah, yes. I recognize that sound bite. It's from her Martin Luther King, Jr. Day speech.


41 posted on 02/25/2006 12:28:02 PM PST by Texas Eagle (If it wasn't for double-standards, Liberals would have no standards at all.)
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To: shortstop

<< Should the Democratic Party be crippled, the Republican Party is likely to become complacent, uninspired and unaccountable. >>

This written ten years ago was it?

Been spiked all that while?


42 posted on 02/25/2006 12:30:48 PM PST by Brian Allen (How arrogant are we to believe our career political-power-lusting lumpen somehow superior to theirs?)
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To: shortstop

Jeb Bush running for President is sure way to get Hillary elected.. with a MANDATE...


43 posted on 02/25/2006 12:33:21 PM PST by hosepipe (CAUTION: This propaganda is laced with hyperbole..)
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To: shortstop
By the time George Bush leaves office in 2009, this country will have had 20 years with either a Bush or Clinton at the helm. Citizens want a break from that White House tradition.

Amen Brother. Bring on a true Conservative!

44 posted on 02/25/2006 12:45:40 PM PST by upchuck (Wikipedia.com - the most unbelievable web site in the world.)
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To: Radix
Gee, if Hillary brings all of those negatives to the table then I think she should run.

So do I, but the Iowa caucuses come first and the Iowans will put her you-know-where.


45 posted on 02/25/2006 12:51:08 PM PST by Graymatter (...and what are we going to do about it?)
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To: shortstop
They fear, Hillary, that you would doom Democrats to impotence for decades.

If any woman could induce decades of impotence, it's Hillary.

46 posted on 02/25/2006 1:00:12 PM PST by HHFi
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To: Bob Dobalina

Actually, now that I think of it, hillary might have a hard time pulling the dynasty card since she would also represent a dynasty--12 or 16 years of clintons.

Not that that kind of contradiction bothers the MSM. They would just bash one side and cover for the other. But they might have a hard time doing it.


47 posted on 02/25/2006 1:55:57 PM PST by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: shortstop
I see some signs that the GOP ticket in 2008 will be McCain & Jeb as VP. Then McCain declines to run for a second term in 2012 because of his age and Jeb runs for POTUS. This strategy avoids the "Bush monarchy" attack on Jeb and could keep the White House out of Dem hands through 2020 at a critical time in history. The next 15 years are a critical time when nuclear weapons must be kept out of the wrong hands, and failure to do so will be catastrophic for the world.


48 posted on 02/25/2006 2:05:38 PM PST by carl in alaska (The raven watching news of the Florida recounts stirred and spoke. Quoth the raven..."NeverGore.")
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To: shortstop

The Tampa Trib isn't as liberal a rag as the St. Pete Times, but never the less it is a rag.
Hard to believe this came from its editorial board.

Mrs. Clinton as she hates to be called is the most reviled politico in America. While many dems hate G.W., even in her own party she is often disliked. As for repubs I haven't found a one that cares for her.
Mrs Clintos has her supporters but they seem to be the very liberal crazies of the dem. party. She will have to appeal to them to garner the nomination and in so doing will have to show her ture colours.
In the meantime I can't wait to see adds showing her sneaking out of OUR White House carrying silverware and lamps.


49 posted on 02/25/2006 2:07:49 PM PST by Joe Boucher (an enemy of islam)
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To: shortstop
Should the Democratic Party be crippled, the Republican Party is likely to become complacent, uninspired and unaccountable.

From where I sit, both of these things have already happened.

50 posted on 02/25/2006 2:12:58 PM PST by mombonn (¡Viva Bush/Cheney!)
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To: Cicero

She wouldn't level that one herself. Oppo people and 527 like MoveOn would play that card. She'd disavow that argument while the Dem dogs would bark it in the background.


51 posted on 02/25/2006 6:24:06 PM PST by Bob Dobalina
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To: Texas Eagle

Well, whatever gets her off the plantation...


52 posted on 02/25/2006 6:25:18 PM PST by Bob Dobalina
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To: shortstop
I admire and support GW, and certainly don't hate GHW...

But I won't make an exception for Jeb, even though I'm sure he is a good man and able administrator.

It's time for some new blood in DC. Literally.
53 posted on 02/25/2006 6:29:48 PM PST by pollyannaish
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To: Bob Dobalina

Amen.


54 posted on 02/25/2006 8:34:41 PM PST by Texas Eagle (If it wasn't for double-standards, Liberals would have no standards at all.)
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To: All

As a Republican, I would love to see her run because she will energize our base and could possibly be easy to beat.

As an American, I would hate to see her run because I don't want to take the chance that she would end up in the White House. She would easily win the Democratic nomination and have a about a 50/50 shot (especially if a third party runs). Can we take that chance? If it had to be a democrat, I would much rather see a Mark Warner presidency than a Hillary Clinton presidency.


55 posted on 02/25/2006 9:03:15 PM PST by ClarenceThomasfan (It's like a plantation - and you know what I mean!)
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To: Hildy

Didn't see that Leno show, but love the report...priceless! Thanks!


56 posted on 02/26/2006 8:05:33 AM PST by hershey
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To: Cicero

that would be yet another glaring example of MSM hypocrisy. Bush dynasty bad. Kennedy dynasty good.


57 posted on 02/26/2006 8:10:14 AM PST by wny
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To: shortstop
Think, Hillary, not about what you want, but what's best for your party and country.

LOL, for sure. . .

58 posted on 02/26/2006 2:08:30 PM PST by cricket (Truth - the first enemy of a Liberal. . .)
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