"Look at me. Look at me! I am the sanest democrat!"
Posted on 02/02/2006 1:46:05 PM PST by FerdieMurphy
Political junkies are witnessing a true phenomenon in presidential politics: more than two years before the next presidential election cycle there's a movement to target someone considered by the news media and pundits to be a frontrunner in 2008 -- Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Even with softball interviews by the likes of Katie Couric and Diane Sawyer, and with almost a daily practice by some members of the mainstream news media of publishing her press releases as if they were news, Hillary Clinton is facing tough opposition not only from Republicans but also from members of her own party.
Right after a poll showed last week that most Americans would “definitely” not vote for her, Senator John Kerry suddenly sprung to life on the ski slopes of Switzerland to head up an attempt at filibustering the confirmation of US Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel Alito. It's no secret within the Beltway that Kerry believes he has a shot at the presidency even after losing to President Bush in 2004. There's no doubt that Kerry monitors the polls that are showing Hillary is vulnerable to attack from both the right and the left.
In fact, there are many Republicans storing their symbolic "flip-flop" sandals for the next Presidential campaign since Clinton is all over the place on issues, taking positions based on whom she's addressing. She's for tough border security, but votes no on legislation that would increase the number of border agents and detention beds. She claims she supports the war, but says she's sorry she voted to go to war after the reigning queen of the anti-war movement, Cindy Sheehan, spanked her in California by calling her a warmonger. She wants to curtail illegal immigration, but she also wants to provide illegal immigrants with education and healthcare.
Former staff members in Bill Clinton’s White House are privately saying she could be a risky choice. To the left, an anti-war “stop Hillary” movement is gathering traction, threatening her ability to unite the Democrats. Which is possibly why Al Gore is criss-crossing the US giving the most vitriolic speeches for left-wing groups such as MoveOn.Org. He too envisions another shot at the White House prize.
According to the Sunday Times, Mike McCurry, Bill Clinton’s White House press secretary, claims he fears the 2008 campaign could be brutal for the former first lady. He said he remembers how she became a “lightning rod” for conservatives during her husband’s years in office.
“She has proven that she works hard at being senator and does that job well, but bringing the country together and moving it in a different direction is an entirely different matter,” McCurry said. “It is very hard to reinvent yourself in politics.”
However, McCurry proves that old habits, such as blowing smoke when it comes to the Clintons, are hard to break. Ask McCurry what piece of legislation Hillary has sponsored and you will get a glazed look. When New Yorkers are asked what's she done for New York State or for the nation, besides bloviating at functions and hobnobbing with the Manhattan and Hollywood elite, they usually answer with abstract notions such as "she gives us hope."
It's the same reaction you get if you ask African-Americans what Bill Clinton, the "first black president" did for them in his eight years in office. They think and think and then say, "He gave us hope." Hope doesn't pay the rent, feed the kids or make car payments. The true answer for both Clintons is: they do nothing but talk your ears off.
A CNN/Gallup/USA Today poll last week found that 51% of Americans “definitely” would not vote for Hillary and only 16% said they definitely would. Among men, 60% said they would not vote for her. And 43% of women said they wouldn't vote for her either.
“Ultimately the issue is: do we turn to something new? We’ve been through the Clintons, we’ve been through the Gores, we’ve been through the Kerrys, all of whom are known quantities in politics,” said Leon Panetta, a driving force within the Democrat Party and a Bill Clinton loyalist.
The Democrats have a new rising star in Mark Warner, who recently stepped down as governor of the conservative state of Virginia. His proven appeal to moderate voters is attracting Democrats of all shades who are eager to win, but he remains little known on the national scene at this point. However, that is likely to change as the perception of Senator Clinton as damaged good starts to take hold within the Democrat Party.
The doubts about Clinton’s electabilty are growing almost with each speech. On Martin Luther King's Birthday, during a memorial in Harlem, Hillary chose to attack Republicans rather than honor the civil rights icon. She even managed to include the words "plantation" and "Republicans" in the same sentence in order to continue the myth of Republican racism.
Talk host Laura Ingraham was incensed over Hillary's playing of the race card. Ingraham told her listeners it was a speech designed to create fear in blacks that the evil Republicans can't be trusted. Even news stories about her ignoring washed-up Calypso singer Harry Belafonte at a New York function were promulgated to protect her from being linked to the rantings of an ignorant fool who prides himself as an intellectual.
Conservatives know that Hillary's heart is with Belafonte, but her mind wants to reside once again in the White House. As with singer Madonna, Hillary tries and tries to reinvent herself and it could have worked had there been no Internet news and blogs, no talk radio, and no Fox News Channel.
Clinton’s small successes with voters in the small towns in New York is seen as proof that she can win over conservatives, although according to last week’s poll, 90% of Republicans will “definitely” not vote for her. Even New York Democrats -- many of whom are former Reagan Democrats -- may be comfortable with her warming a seat in the senate, but giving her the power of President and Commander-in-Chief is a horse -- or donkey -- of a different color.
New Republic magazine, the left-wing weekly, argues in its current issue that the voters of rural New York bear little comparison to diehard Republican voters in the South and Midwest. “She is going to have to bring something else to the national stage,” it warned.
So folks, the Stop Hillary train is leaving the station. And it's coming to a station near you.
Relax, Ketchup Boy, you haven't a snowball's chance in hell!
Morons?
The more I think about it the more I'm convinced that the Dems will nominate Al Gore again.
same base as always, idiots
Maybe if Kerry runs with Billary their flip-flopping will cancel each other out and the will be centrists. Or mayne they could mate and produce flying pigs.
"Look at me. Look at me! I am the sanest democrat!"
Wow...I bet her list of "Who to execute as soon as I'm in power" is over 50 volumes by now.
The last time I lurked at DU (always good for a laugh) they had a poll up about the 2008 primaries. Gore was leading by a landslide. He had close to 50%, while Shrillary only had 7%.
The dummies take recycle/reuse way too literal......
If all the liberal journalists in the US got together they couldn't elect a dog catcher in a major US City. And that's Hillary's real problem. She's got to get support beyond the MSM. And it ain't there...
I see this picture all over the place, and assume it was taken at the SOTU. But does anyone know for sure the circumstances under which this pic was taken?
It is amazing.
If Mark Warner is their rising star, the Dem Party is in worse shape than I thought. As for Hillary, she'll say anything to anybody at any time, as long as it results in her getting 51% of the vote.
This boring, shrill witch is thought by some imbeciles to be the smartest woman in the world, but after studying her speeches I find her to be absolutely sophomorically vacant. The same goes for her commie husband thingy too. He prattles on like Castro.
(So who's left to vote for her?)
Craig Livingstone?
and Dead People.
You just may be right. He's doing everything to position himself as the really whacked-out far left choice. Hillary's negatives are too high--unpoliticized women will hate her with a passion. Kerry is just too much a caricature of himself to be a 2nd time candidate. Howard Dean is still Howard Dean. The ambulance chasing V.P. candidate from last time (forget his name) didn't make much of an impression on anybody. It's too early for Obama/Osama too run. There are no viable Dem candidates. That leaves AlGore. You've nailed it!!
He'd fit right in: He could REALLY speak!
about nothing
Her card was punched by the Soviet Union along with that thing she married. I believe that the USSR matched these two communists up and sponsored their entire lives and when the USSR went belly-up (but they're baaaack!) the communist Chinese picked up their contract.
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