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The Consequences of Rejecting Hillary
weeklystandard.com ^ | 09/10/2008

Posted on 09/11/2008 1:44:48 AM PDT by tomymind

IT'S WIDELY ACCEPTED now that Barack Obama would be better off if he'd picked Hillary Clinton as his vice presidential running mate instead of Joe Biden. Obama had his reasons, particularly his discomfort with her as his actual vice president if he's elected. Still, Obama sacrificed a stronger ticket by rejecting Clinton.

Absent Hillary, the contest between Obama-Biden and the Republican ticket of John McCain and Sarah Palin is throwing the Democrats into disarray. The consequences of Obama's veep decision appear mostly to favor McCain. And if Obama had picked Hillary? Here are a few of the differences.

No Palin. Okay, McCain might have picked her anyway. He was looking for a running mate who would help him shake up the campaign. And Palin has delivered spectacularly on that. But choosing her would have seemed far less of a game-changer had Obama picked Clinton. Palin would have been merely the second female running mate in 2008. And her appeal to those who had voted for Clinton in the primaries would have been reduced if not nullified altogether. As a result, the prospects of the other potential game-changers McCain was considering--Democratic senator Joe Lieberman and pro-choice ex-Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge--would surely have risen. And while it's unknowable whether McCain would have picked Palin if Obama had gone with Clinton, selecting Palin would have been a lot less likely.

(...)

(Excerpt) Read more at weeklystandard.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2008; biden; clinton; elections; hillary; hitlery; mccain; mccainpalin; obama; palin; vp; writtenbyfredbarnes
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To: A CA Guy
And the dirtiest way for Hillary to enter would be AFTER the VP debates.

Don't know if they could wait that long. Thirty states have some kind of early voting and I doubt they could change the ticket once voting started. The whole country isn't New Jersey, if they really want to dump Biden (which I strongly doubt would happen) they need to act soon.

21 posted on 09/11/2008 2:33:19 AM PDT by jalisco555 ("My 80% friend is not my 20% enemy" - Ronald Reagan)
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To: A CA Guy

Michelle wouldnt allow a hillary Veep


22 posted on 09/11/2008 2:34:24 AM PDT by TheRedSoxWinThePennant
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To: A CA Guy
Don't be surprised if Biden exits and Hillary takes over.

I agree. As one FReeper put it yesterday; "There's your October Surprise".

And ditto what you said about the timing.

Say...less than two weeks before the election and after the debates. There'd be no time to really respond.

Then again, Hillary isn't exactly popular outside of the PUMA supporters, but it wouldn't stop that group from voting for the ticket.

23 posted on 09/11/2008 2:41:57 AM PDT by Caipirabob (Communists... Socialists... Democrats...Traitors... Who can tell the difference?)
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To: shteebo
I still think Hillary would have turned down the VP spot even if offered

OK, let's assume for a second that you're correct in your thoughts. How would this revelation play out in public perception? Especially now, after Biden's own little revelation, essentially that he's less qualified than Hillary to be on the ticket? The meme has been planted, Obama's judgment is being questioned (not just by us but by the left), a more qualified woman is being percieved as having been passed over ... I see little downside to this. Should Biden actually be thrown under the bus for Hillary, then there's a whole 'nother set of thorns for Obama to contend with. His own most ardent supporters are misogynist. He will be overshadowed by his own VP. The longer we can keep them chasing their collective (and I do mean collective) tails over this, the longer they remain in complete disarray.

24 posted on 09/11/2008 2:42:10 AM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: tomymind
I think this point is entirely nonsense. I think that Hillary Clinton would be more than happy to accept the VP slot under other conditions.

But remember what Gov Bill "Judas" Richardson (D, New Mexico) said Hillary told him after he decided to endorse Obama. "He cannot win, Bill. He cannot win."

I think she realizes exactly what happened. Obama's Hopey McChange routine won him the nomination, and was on track to run out of steam. There's a lot of Wright sermons, Ayers links. Hillary knows what the last 2 months of the election will do to a sham candidate.

Sadly, Obama never got a chance to run out of steam on his own. Sarah Palin turned the coronation into the Hindenburg disaster. Obama is already disintegrating, weeks before the election. And McCain hasn't even really started hitting him. Just playful jabs this far, and they're hitting like sledgehammers. What's Obama going to do against ads showing him smiling in the audience while Wright thunders "God damn America"?

Hillary saw it all coming. "He cannot win, Bill. He cannot win." No way on Earth she'd go near his candidacy. You may as well hope for Santa Claus to join the ticket.

25 posted on 09/11/2008 2:46:19 AM PDT by Steel Wolf (The diamonds in Sarah Palin's earrings were crushed with her own hands.)
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To: tomymind

In Obama’s first big test of Presidential Authority, he fumbled the ball. Big Time.

He could have put this race away in August by swallowing his pride and selecting Hillary Clinton for the ticket. It was a move so obvious, with a pay-off so huge, that a third-grader could have gotten it right. Pick Hillary and win, or pick somebody else and risk losing. In that situation, prospective President Barack Obama picked Joe Biden, and made losing a very real possibility.

The Biden pick revealed deep insecurity and weakness. It showed insecurity because Obama accepted the criticism that he is a policy lightweight who needs others to add heft to his campaign. It showed weakness because he allowed himself to be cowed by others who hate Hillary and by Hillary herself.

In his first test of Presidential decision making, Obama revealed himself to be an insecure and weak deal-maker, who looks for the easy way out, even if that way clearly leads to disaster.

And the Donks have the nerve to criticize the Republican choice for VEEP.


26 posted on 09/11/2008 2:46:59 AM PDT by gridlock (HIX IN STIX DIG MCCAIN CHICK PICK)
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To: A CA Guy
Yes, but in a way it would be a blessing that Palin was debating Biden. He is going to have to be much more careful than Clinton would have to be.

There is so much dirt on Clinton, volumes could be whipped up in a New York minute.

27 posted on 09/11/2008 2:48:27 AM PDT by singfreedom (Obama's solution to the energy crisis: check the air in your tires! Why didn't we think of that?)
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To: Steel Wolf

and that ain’t happening (Santa Claus joining) because the North Pole is in Alaska and Santa is a strong Sarah Palin supporter :-D.


28 posted on 09/11/2008 2:57:25 AM PDT by GOP Poet
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To: ari-freedom
another point: if Hillary was on the ticket, Obama could then lay claim to the Bill Clinton years of balanced budgets and a strong dollar.

On the other hand if he would have picked Hillary he probably would not have lived to give his first State of the Union Address.
29 posted on 09/11/2008 3:00:26 AM PDT by John D
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To: ari-freedom
" You don’t seem to understand. Obama supporters hate Hillary. It’s not just about Barack and his wife. "

So the likelihood of Obama dropping Biden and have Hillary on the ticket is very low ? .. let's hope you are right.
30 posted on 09/11/2008 3:01:35 AM PDT by Prophet in the wilderness (PSALM .53 : 1 The FOOL hath said in his heart, there is no GOD.)
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To: TheRedSoxWinThePennant
Let's be real: Obama made his selection based on Media advice and Michelle. He scrapped Hillary as VP. He had her black base and THOUGHT he had her woman's "loyal dem" vote.

McCain saw something in Palin that "WE, THE PEOPLE" have been asking the Republicans for, over and over....A CONSERVATIVE. It was listening to, "the people", not politics and the media as usual, that helped him in his decision.

There's a lot of irony in all this.

Our forefathers anticipated "socialism". They set up the Senate and the Electoral College to combat it. Unfortunately, the Senate has not lived up to its' responsibilities.

We need a change IN CONGRESS and THE SUPREME COURT to get back to what was intended by our forefathers.

31 posted on 09/11/2008 3:02:52 AM PDT by Sacajaweau (I'm planting corn...Have to feed my car...)
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To: Truthsearcher

Just the image in people’s mind of Obama dropping Biden and putting Hillary on the ticket would look bad ? right ? the campaign dollars would drop off dramatically when they ( donors ) see that the ticket is losing or is in trouble by the fact that Obama has to CHANGE his VP in mid stride in this last stretch to the election.


32 posted on 09/11/2008 3:06:25 AM PDT by Prophet in the wilderness (PSALM .53 : 1 The FOOL hath said in his heart, there is no GOD.)
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To: Prophet in the wilderness
So the likelihood of Obama dropping Biden and have Hillary on the ticket is very low ? .. let's hope you are right

It's not just low. It's nonexistant. Look, pretend you are a Democratic voter, and you'd be perfectly happy with Clinton or Obama.

Ask yourself this. "What will I and all of my Democrat friends say the day after McCain wins?"

(Aside from, "No fair, I think they only counted three of my votes.")

They're going to say, "Damn. We should have gone with Hillary."

She's doing the exact right thing. She ran a good race, she was magnanimous at the convention, now she's fading away into the background to nurse her wounds. When the Democratic party needs a champion, she'll be back. And the Democratic voters will say, "We should have gone with Hillary LAST time."

Too easy. Why muddle things up by jumping on the ticket now, just as that ticket is taking a mach 5 nosedive into the pavement?

33 posted on 09/11/2008 3:12:55 AM PDT by Steel Wolf (The diamonds in Sarah Palin's earrings were crushed with her own hands.)
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To: shteebo

If Hillary had run as VP with Kerry, they would have won and she MIGHT be running as Kerry’s successor. Sometimes, No. 2 is the right step to take. Egomania is a shortcoming.


34 posted on 09/11/2008 3:15:59 AM PDT by Sacajaweau (I'm planting corn...Have to feed my car...)
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To: A CA Guy

The BDS has crippled the lefts thought process and they missed a golden oppertunity with the biden pick.And they damn well know it.


35 posted on 09/11/2008 3:20:19 AM PDT by HANG THE EXPENSE (Defeat liberalism, its the right thing to do for America.)
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To: Sacajaweau

we’ve needed 2 things: a conservative and someone who can connect with people, like Reagan.


36 posted on 09/11/2008 3:20:38 AM PDT by ari-freedom (We never hide from history. We make history!)
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To: singfreedom

“There is so much dirt on Clinton, volumes could be whipped up in a New York minute.”

well the obama people realized that the clinton’s were exactly what we’ve been saying all along. I don’t think the reason why Hillary wasn’t vetted was because of spite...


37 posted on 09/11/2008 3:24:38 AM PDT by ari-freedom (We never hide from history. We make history!)
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To: Steel Wolf

Hillary probably didn’t expect Palin to be a future contender. She probably thought mccain would pick some very conservative guy or some boring guy and she’d run against him.


38 posted on 09/11/2008 3:28:42 AM PDT by ari-freedom (We never hide from history. We make history!)
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To: tomymind

Rusgh’s Operation Chaos is still working!!!!!!!!!!1


39 posted on 09/11/2008 3:43:54 AM PDT by Gumdrop
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To: tomymind

Am I missing something here? Aren’t Hillary’s negatives still above 50%? What would replacing one liar with another really gain Barry? Does Hillary really want to be compared to Sarah?


40 posted on 09/11/2008 3:44:18 AM PDT by anoldafvet (Barack Obama, the "Platte River Politician", a mile wide and an inch deep.)
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