Hillary - powerful or polarizing?
This appears to be the opening salvo for Hillary's campaign for the 08 nomination. Hot on the heels of her having hired Peter Daou to help her reach the netroots, James Carville and Mark Penn post an op-ed in the WaPo deeming her electable. I think they're wrong, wrong, wrong.
The trouble is Carville, (and you'll remember he is married to Cheney's Gal Friday, Mary Matalin), and Penn are establishment insiders who can't get past the conventional wisdom. Mark my words friends, following the conventional wisdom is a ticket to oblivion in 08, a lesson I hope they'll learn in 06. They seem to be counting on the women's vote, thinking we'll vote for her just because she has a womb but they're wrong. I don't vote on gender. I don't vote on religious affliation. I don't give a flying leap about their sexual morals either. I care about ideology and Hillary doesn't have any firm priniciples that I can see. She's just one more beltway insider willing to trade ethics for power. She freaking co-sponsored the flag burning amendment for Pete's sake. Even conservatives hated that one.
The editorial notes well that a lot of women sat out in 04. Those would be the WalMart voters. Single women, struggling to make ends meet, who love social programs but generally vote Republican for reasons I suspect aren't even clear to them. These women do not like Hillary. They loathe her. She symbolizes everything they hate about the so-called elite limo liberals. And they're none too fond of her philandering hubby either.
I don't know who might come forward as a candidate to save the Democratic party and indeed the country, because it's clear we must wrest control from the GOP zealots who are running our ship of state into the ground, but I guarantee that Hillary won't be able to pull it off. Sure she can win the nomination in a heartbeat, but she'll never take the election.
The trouble is Carville, (and you'll remember he is married to Cheney's Gal Friday, Mary Matalin), and Penn are establishment insiders who can't get past the conventional wisdom. Mark my words friends, following the conventional wisdom is a ticket to oblivion in 08, a lesson I hope they'll learn in 06. They seem to be counting on the women's vote, thinking we'll vote for her just because she has a womb but they're wrong. I don't vote on gender. I don't vote on religious affliation. I don't give a flying leap about their sexual morals either. I care about ideology and Hillary doesn't have any firm priniciples that I can see. She's just one more beltway insider willing to trade ethics for power. She freaking co-sponsored the flag burning amendment for Pete's sake. Even conservatives hated that one.
The editorial notes well that a lot of women sat out in 04. Those would be the WalMart voters. Single women, struggling to make ends meet, who love social programs but generally vote Republican for reasons I suspect aren't even clear to them. These women do not like Hillary. They loathe her. She symbolizes everything they hate about the so-called elite limo liberals. And they're none too fond of her philandering hubby either.
I don't know who might come forward as a candidate to save the Democratic party and indeed the country, because it's clear we must wrest control from the GOP zealots who are running our ship of state into the ground, but I guarantee that Hillary won't be able to pull it off. Sure she can win the nomination in a heartbeat, but she'll never take the election.
posted by Libby Spencer at 3:34 PM
4 Comments:
There is a documentary out about carville and shrums pr firm and they're dealings with candidates in peru. it is apparently really damning. They come across as amateur rove-ists who give the US a bad name.
I think they're wrong, wrong, wrong.
Hey! Common ground: it's been a while.
When I talk to people in the Boston area, they are 1) convinced that Hillary would win in '08, and 2) shocked when I say that she plays poorly in the midwest and would therefore lose. They (never having been west of the Appalachians, except perhaps on a flight to the West Coast) then often proceed to condescend to me about how she's really not that progressive and so on...
I then reply that I cut my teeth on politics growing up in Michigan and that hell would freeze over before the unions (such as are left in the region) would come out in force for her because of her past support for various industrial and environmental regulations.
I think you are going to see a messy Democratic primary season in '08 if enough other candidates can get bases of grassroots support before then. I'll bring the popcorn.
Carville and Shrum are a joke. I can't believe they still get work. And Snark, I think it is going to turn into a spectacle unless and until the Dems wake up and see the old ways are no longer best.....
Forget the popcorn. We're going to need dramamine.
Powerful...yes. Polarizing...yes. Electable...probably not. Kind of sad really. The one burning issue in my mind is health care in this country, and I think that Senator Clinton would do a great job of dealing with it as President.
Alas, it's not to be.
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