Posted on 11/05/2015 1:06:24 PM PST by Kaslin
In the first Democratic primary debate, each candidate was asked to name an enemy they were proud to have made during their political careers. Hillary Clinton, the current frontrunner, named roughly half the country as her "enemy" when she replied "[...] probably the Republicans."
Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, who is currently polling within the margin of error in nearly every national poll, thinks that Clinton's answer to that question is a sign that she is far too partisan and is unwilling to work with others on Capitol Hill. In a new piece published today on Yahoo! News, O'Malley tries to parlay himself as a middle-of-the-road Democrat, not an overly partisan or "ideologically extreme" candidate.
"How can you pull people together when you declare up front that all Republicans are your enemies?" he asked me, referring to Clinton's striking comment in the first debate. "Or when you hem and haw about whether or not you believe in capitalism?
"I don't believe that all Republicans are my enemy. They're my neighbors. And I actually do believe in capitalism when it's practiced in ways that encourage and defend fair competition and push back against the concentration of monopoly power as the big banks now enjoy it."
While it's all good and dandy that O'Malley doesn't see himself as being as "extreme" as his opponents, and that he's at least on paper open to working across the aisle, this rhetoric isn't resonating well with voters at all. It's rather telling that Clinton's comments regarding Republicans as her enemies barely made a blip on the national media compared to (the now dropped out) Jim Webb's remarks that he killed the Vietnamese soldier who threw a grenade at him.
As the second Democratic primary debate is on November 14, O'Malley had better hope that he is able to convey some kind of message to the voters--or else he'll become even more irrelevant than he already is.
That’s “OK” “Martin” @ 4% polling the GOP doesn’t consider you much of an “Enemy” either.
He has got more than a few screws loose.
I’m sure. They all act like democrats.
“I Don’t Consider Republicans My Enemies”
Then Martin O’Malley is dead for sure. There is no coming back from that declaration.
This from the clod that taxes rain and believes that a strong gun control platform is a winning issue.
Maryland has a 7 day waiting period for background checks. In the few months before Marty’s oh so special “assault rifle” ban went into effect, the 7 day checks had a 6 month backlog. They finally gave up and allowed stores to make delivery at 7 days.
Bull Ship. He’s as ideologically extreme as they come.
There ARE no moderates left in that party.
I like what he said.
I applaud the statement.
I actually like a civil discourse in politics. Being civil doesn’t mean giving up your believes or negotiating away the ideological farm. As a good friend of mine once said, “there is room in any argument for reasonable people to reasonably disagree”.
Actually as far as the party goes More republicans see republican leadership (establishment) as the enemy. I know I do given they have the same agenda as Obama
This is so much bullsqueeze.
Lil’Marty was extremely partisan while he was Governor.
A smarmy, loathsome little turd. I don’t trust him.
The feeling isn’t mutual.
Lil’Marty is not “reasonable.”
Well since you are from Maryland, I take your word for it.
O’Malley may simply be smart enough to figure out that at least half the country needs to pay taxes to support the other half which lives off them.
Heck FR is full of people who think Republicans, past and present are their enemies
Become a bigger thorn in Hillary!’s side and we’ll even consider you a friend, Martin.
hth can anyone tax rain? That is totally ridiculous
I can never say this enough, just in case this joker somehow starts to get traction:
I’m from Maryland. I’m from Baltimore. I know this guy all too well as a mayor and as a governor. I understand fully that this is hard to believe and I get it if you don’t believe it, but he’s worse than Hillary and worse than Bernie. This guy can’t ever be anywhere near the levers of power nationally.
That’s why I’m not a Republican. You’re my enemy you commie POS.
Homeowners and businesses were charged a fee (supposedly for Chesapeake Bay cleanup) at a rate based on the amount of square footage of impervious surface on the property. Some smart Republican dubbed it the Rain Tax, essentially what it is, but you get charged whether or not it rains.
The stupid part is, the Chesapeake Bay is fed almost entirely by the Susquehanna River, an 800 mile long river of which about 10 miles of it is in the State of Maryland. Marylanders are charged for NY and PA pollution.
The rain tax and gun control insanity led to Marty’s hand picked successor getting absolutely smoked by Republican Larry Hogan in the last governors race.
Martin O’Malley is not our friend. He’s partisan hack to the core, and as typical for a liberal, incompetent and bereft of ideas that go beyond raising taxes.
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