Dick Morris Says Hillary Will Be America's Next President (MAJOR BARF ALERT!!!)

NewsMax.com ^ | Wednesday, May 8, 2002 | Carl Limbacher

[Capitalist Eric]

Not only will Sen. Hillary Clinton make a run for the White House before the decade is out, the former first lady has an excellent chance of winning a national election and becoming the next president of the United States.

That's the staggering prediction from former senior White House political adviser Dick Morris, who lamented to NewsMax.com Tuesday, "The order of succession to the presidency in this poor benighted country may well be Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton."

Morris, of course, is the man who seven years ago transformed Bill Clinton's withering White House career into a political juggernaut that made him the first Democrat president since FDR to win re-election. As such, his words on Sen. Clinton's political future carry special weight.

In an exclusive interview with NewsMax.com, Morris put himself in the place of Hillary's top political consultant – and advised her not to take on Bush in 2004.

Will She Wait for '08?

"I think that 2004 is too soon for her. She knows Bush is likely to be re-elected, and I think she needs to run against someone who isn't an incumbent."

Morris cautions also that the "New York" Democrat's legal problems could make a 2004 run impractical. "She's still worried about the pending grand jury looking into the Pardongate scandal. And I think she should be," he told NewsMax.

Barring a Clinton indictment, however, Hillary's White House path is clear for 2008.

The key to making her president, Morris counsels, is timing. "She needs to run after a period where the nation is bored with Republican leadership."

"We're now in a period of great energy with the war on terror. But I think that's going to last only through 2004 and 2005. Then the next three years you're going to see not much happening at the federal level."

He sees a second Bush term as one likely to be devoid of any substantial domestic agenda.

"One of the problems Republicans always have is that they don't really believe in government doing a whole lot. They don't want to make a lot of new proposals because they don't believe in them."

That dynamic, says Morris, will open the door for Sen. Clinton to make her move.

'Her Sense of Activism'

"After a period of boredom where not much is going on domestically for two or three years, I think people may well welcome her sense of activism and her energy."

Won't other Democrats have their eye on the White House too?

Morris says the 2004 race is likely to clear out the backlog of presidential hopefuls, such as Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina and former Veep Al Gore.

"They'll run, and they'll lose," he said. "And it's very hard once you lose a presidential race to run again and be successful."

At that point Sen. Clinton will be able to step over the political corpses and grab the nomination, predicts Morris. "Hillary will clearly be the Democratic Party front-runner when she runs in 2008."

And what about winning the ultimate prize: the keys to the Oval Office?

"After eight years of George Bush, the country will be ready for change," Morris contends. "Yes, I think she could win."

A "Hillary for President" campaign would differ from her husband's in certain important respects. For instance, don't look for former Clinton strategist James Carville to head their next White House bid.

"He has formidable abilities, but he prefers to play the role of court jester," Morris said. "I don't think he wants to be a serious consultant anymore."

McCain Too Old to Run With Her?

And he doesn't see liberal GOP Sen. John McCain of Arizona playing a role in Hillary's political future. "By 2008 he'll be awfully old," Morris told NewsMax.

What about Terry McAuliffe, who isn't likely to stay on as Democratic National Committee chairman for six more years?

"I think he'll continue to be a factor as a major Clinton money person, but not as head of the DNC," said Morris.

Boob-Tube Bill

One development that could give the former first lady a big boost is the rumored Bill Clinton TV talk show, which Morris said would likely consist of four or five TV specials over the course of 2003 and 2004.

"These might be two-hour prime-time shows on major topics and major issues where he would be a kind of Bill Moyers. That would help redeem his image and make voters less reluctant to back Hillary."

A TV show would also give the ex-president a platform from where he could answer his critics and rebut any old scandal allegations. Morris said the show would serve the same purpose as Clinton's presidential State of the Union addresses.

"He always survived in his presidency off State of the Union addresses," Morris said. "He lacks that now, but a prime-time TV show would give him a major venue again."

On the presidential campaign trail, Hillary is likely to deploy Bill strategically, says Morris, keeping the ex-president under wraps for general audiences but showcasing him to urban voters, with whom he remains wildly popular.

A Big Boost From ... Bush

In the end, however, it's President Bush who may have done more to make Hillary Clinton president than anyone else – by ignoring the scandals of the first two Clinton terms and ordering his Justice Department to slow investigations.

"In retrospect it will look like a mistake on his part," Morris told NewsMax. "He's treating the scandals as an inconvenience, but that's because of one of the core convictions of the Bush family. They always oppose aggressive action against former presidents."

He argues that, though some of the accusations leveled against his ex-boss were "garbage," the 11th-hour pardons were a different matter.

"That scandal was very real. And if there is no action on the pardon scandal, Bush will ultimately regret that," Morris predicts.

Dick Morris has written a blockbuster new book, "Power Plays: Win or Lose – How History's Great Political Leaders Play the Game."

[Mia T]

Nom de plummet BUMP! 

To: TomGuy

Her political machine is in high gear. She will run in 2004 (pending political events).

I agree. The biggest indicator of this so far is that her staff is now telling people to not refer to her as Hillary "Rodham" Clinton,but as Hillary Clinton instead. She ALWAYS loses her "Rodham" just before political campaigns,and then finds it again after she wins.

43 posted on 5/8/02 3:03 AM Pacific by sneakypete

And Paul, ever the polite gentleman, has always addressed Hillareeeee! by the conventional southern title "Miss Hillary" (her last name is indefinite. It was 'Rodham', became 'Clinton' after she cost Willie an election, then changed to 'Rodham Clinton', and now has morphed to the inelegant "!" ). --Ole Okie

Nom de plummet: the timeline

hillary rodham: birth (such as it was) thru mock feminism-marriage phase

hillary clinton: loss of governorship phase thru theft of presidency phase

hillary rodham clinton: post-theft-of-presidency phase thru Moynihan-rangel-torricelli senatorial anointment phase

hillary rodham clinton: immediate post-anointment phase thru post-announcement of pre-announcement phase

hillary rodham clinton (aka HILLARY!): post-announcement phase (i.e., post-post-announcement of pre-announcement phase)

hillary rodham clinton: post-withdrawal, post-loss, post-indictment, postnuptial, post-boost (warheads or toadies) -- whichever phase comes first.

(Will no one cry at her final departure?)

it won't s-p-i-n

They ARE space aliens

reckless rodham-clinton-gore reinvention-of-government schemata

KNOWNOTHING VICTIMS RODHAM/CLINTON REVISITED

^{Q ERTY2} "There isn't a shred of evidence."

HILLARY, YOU KNOW, ^{KnowNothing Victim} Q ERTY4 ^{double bagel},

W I D E B O D Y. _{low-center-of-gravity} Dim Bulb, _{Congenital Bottom Feeder}

_{Q ERTY3} ^{zipper-hoisted}

clinton zipper vitiated by obvious spilth

_{Humpty Dummies}

Q ERTY6 _{utter failure} ^{4th-Estate Malfeasance} (DEATH BY MISREPORT)

_{rodham-clinton} ^{reality-check} BUMP!

[Plutarch]

Whew, some graphics there!

Despite plastic surgery, Morris doesn't seem to realize just how much uglier Hildebeast will be in 6 years. A'int nobody going to vote for no ugly old woman in the White House.

[aShepard]

"Dick, open that round piece of metal, and crawl back into your sewer!"

[MFSanders]

Does Dick Morris have some sort of crystal ball or has he signed a deal with the devil? Just because he says she will be the next prez (angels and ministers of grace defend us) does NOT mean she will!!!! I frankly wish her luck. I don't think she stands the chance of a snowball in hell.

[fhayek]

It is my belief that Hillary and her machine have calculated that she could win the presidency in 2004 if Bush falters somewhat, and a strong third party candidate ran. Her lackeys in the media would dutifully boost the campaign of McCain as a viable third party candidate at the drop of her broomstick.

Her problem (as she would view it) is to get the nomination. She needs a couple of so-called moderate-conservative Democrats to divide that portion of the primary vote. Trouble is, one or the other would early-on overtake the other in terms of support and or political contributions. That is, unless she had someone run a decoy candidacy whose sole purpose was to syphon support from her rival. I rule out nothing from this bunch.

[breakem]

I agree with Morris. Evidence: the american voters. Clinton 2 terms and Gore the popular vote. No indictments and plenty of weeping women behind her.

Bush is peaking early and it will be difficult for him to sustain it.

I'm thinking she will bail for four years if W is riding high 18 months from now. The most likely scenario is Hildebeast in 2008. I'm hoping Rice will throw in.

[sneakypete]

If you look at the posts about Bush last summer and look at them this spring, last summer if you posted something you didn't like that Bush was doing, you would be bashed. Now you'll find people agreeing with you.

Yup,a LOT of the people who would flame you for saying ANYTHING the least bit critical of Bubba-2 are now being flamed themselves by the few remaining Bush-Bots.

Gore lost enough votes in Florida, whether due to the Reno/Elian fiasco or not, to a third party candidate, that he lost the election and the presidency.

The truth is that if it hadn't of been for Ralph Nader,Goober WOULD have won the election. Nader did the same thing to Goober in 2000 that Perot did to Bush-1 in 92.

The same could very well happen to Bush.

I plan on not voting in the 2004 presidential election unless the Republicans decide to run a REAL Republican instead of Bubba-2,but I have no doubt there are a lot of people who would vote for any reasonable alternative instead of Bubba-2.I think the Libertarian Party and the Constitutional Party will get enough votes this cycle to surprise a lot of people. I honestly think it's already too late for Bubba-2. He has already burned too many bridges behind him.

[Sungirl]

Dick Morris Says Hillary Will Be America's Next President

God help us.

[texlok]

I plan on not voting in the 2004 presidential election unless the Republicans decide to run a REAL Republican instead of Bubba-2,but I have no doubt there are a lot of people who would vote for any reasonable alternative instead of Bubba-2.I think the Libertarian Party and the Constitutional Party will get enough votes this cycle to surprise a lot of people. I honestly think it's already too late for Bubba-2. He has already burned too many bridges behind him.

I will be voting for a 3rd party Conservative candidate (and not Conservative in name only).

I don't know that it's not too late for Bush, however he would have to reverse himself on quite a few issues, and it's a lot easier to stop something before it's in place (say a police state) than it is to remove it once it's in place.

Bush is rapidly reaching a crossroads I believe. He has to decide what votes are more important - Conservatives, or moderate Democrats ("Reagan Democrats"?). The path he is taking, he is trying to make sure that he's not too different from whatever Democrat is picked to challenge him - and I'm not necessarily faulting him politically - there are probably more moderate Democrats than there are true Conservative/Republicans. If he wants to get re-elected, he is going to have to make up the loss of supporters from Conservatives as a whole, and the only place to do that is in the middle or to the left. We all thought it amusing when he and Gore agreed on so many things. Well, now it's not funny.

[Capitalist Eric]

I am laying down a magnum of the best rat poison I can find...

Wow... What're you like when you're really depressed?

Be well,

[DugwayDuke]

Hillary's campaign slogan will be: "It takes a Clinton...". This will appeal to all the democrats who will remember "It took a Clinton to win the White House." It can be combined with "It takes a Clinton to get health care." or "...reform social security." or " .... secure peace in the Middle East."

You heard it here first.

[Capitalist Eric]

who could have believed that her sink-and-dress stain of a husband could win two terms as president?

Yeah. No kidding.

When the name Clinton comes up, all I can think about is the corruption and treason associated with this name... Kinda' like "Benedict Arnold," I have a visceral response without any more provocation than simply having the name mentioned.

It's also crucial to remember that they defy the odds (to say the least) at every turn, able to keep from crashing down so often, it makes one wonder whether they hold the key to anti-gravity technology...

Be well, Boris

[princess leah]

Pray hard...Pray very, very hard for God's intervention (now if the rapture comes and all Christians are gone from the earth, then she'll win easily!)