Posted on 02/07/2007 5:48:59 AM PST by Mike Bates
What many conservatives regard as the nightmare scenario -- President Hillary Rodham Clinton -- is increasingly seen by veteran Republican politicians and strategists as a virtual inevitability.
In GOP circles, the Democratic front-runner is seen as so strong, and the political climate for Republicans so hostile, that many influential voices -- including current and former lawmakers, and veterans of President Bush's campaigns -- have grown despairing. These partisans describe a political equivalent of the stages of grief, starting with denial, then resentment and ending with acceptance.
For now, these Republicans say the party needs good luck, including a change of fortune in Iraq, and a revival of organization and leadership in the conservative movement to avert another Clinton presidency.
"If the conservative movement and Republicans don't understand how massive the Clinton coalition is, she will be the next president," former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said in an interview last week, after giving a private talk to GOP lawmakers. Clinton will win, he added, "if we don't use everything available to us and motivate our base, the people that believe in us."
In his closed-door comments to conservative House members, DeLay warned of the wealth and political potency of the Clinton fundraising network.
"We do have to get our act together, and I'd agree with Tom DeLay on that," said Rep. Steve King of Iowa. "At this point, short an inspirational Republican nominee, then I would agree that it's going to be very difficult to beat Hillary if she wins the nomination."
Those comments echoed those by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich last month on Fox News:
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
The loudest "whiners" are certainly not getting their news and views from 60 minutes like you evidently do.
Gingrich/Coulter '08
Newt might be a tad too polite. But our girl Ann. . . .
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