Say Anything Blog

Pilgrim’s aunt’s cat in ‘08!

Between that and Kerry I’d vote for the cat.

Election ‘08 - We Are So Screwed

I don’t think Hillary can win. No one near her will admit it for fear of death, but I really don’t think she can pull it off… at all.
Maybe Harry Brown will have his day in the sun yet.

Don’t know about HRC...if it was me, I’d divorce the blow hard (or the blown hard) and run as Hillary Rodham. That way she can deflect most of the ethical questions that accompany the stained blue Presidency, and add a layer of victimhood to herself which could deflect the rest…

For any voter trying to choose between the two candidates for commander in chief, there is no better test than this: When American strategy in a critical theater was up for grabs, John McCain proposed a highly unpopular and risky path, which he accurately predicted could lead to success. Barack Obama proposed a popular and politically safe route that would have led to an unnecessary and debilitating American defeat at the hands of al Qaeda.

Frederick W. Kagan

Hillary will not win the Democratic nomination.  She shifts in the wind too damn much.

Pilgrim,

For a change, I have to disagree with you.  Every poll I recall says that Hillary has nearly as strong a negative quotient as she has positive.

Furthermore, on each side of the aisle, there are really two battles to be fought.  This first is for the nomination, and in each case that will involve a shift to that party’s extreme.  And in each case, the front-runner faces difficulty, Hillary from the leftists of her party and McCain from the GOP’s conservatives.

There is one issue, however, that tilts both contests in favor of the GOP, the War on Terror.  To the Democrats this is of little relative importance, which will tend to exacerbate their internal strife over other liberal “issues.”

On the Right, however, the War is of such importance that many of us are likely, however reluctantly, to put aside our other differences in favor of a consensus candidate who will take our national defense seriously.

Hillary’s march to both the nomination and the White House are by no means insured.  After all, the Democrats are the ones who nominated Kerry last time around.  That sort of feral stupidity is not so easily dismissed.

Bat,

I agree that it’s a fluid situation. But as it stands now she’s the standout. If things don’t change she’ll stay that way. Political winds, however, blow where they will. Another serious terrorist attack like 911 and the hawks on the right could find themselves in favor again.

You’re right that the far left are leery of Hillary. She’s tried too hard to straddle the fence and they want a bomb thrower as a candidate. If we stay attack free, though, she may increase her standings with that crowd as she sways with the political breeze. If we’re attacked she’ll have no choice but to put on her hawk face and they won’t like that.

As far as I can see, unless a heretofore unknown dark horse comes from the right our choices this time around will be grim.

Election ‘08 - We Are So Screwed

Pilgrim,

And your take on a Gingrich candidacy?  His so-called “baggage” is far less than that of Hillary, although ethical concerns are clearly more important to conservative voters than they are to Democrats.  On the plus side, Newt was one of the ones who engineered the 1994 takeover of the House after 40 years.  That experience is NOT inconsequential today.  And, yes, he IS running.

Gingrich and Hillary will both loose… or so it seems. If some viable candidates don’t show up we’re going to start having to stop saying ah.. well, they’re all losers. I think McCain would absolutely crush Hillary. THe nomination though…
I also agree that the super-brain-commies on the left look at ‘HRC’ as a republican.

Bat,

I can’t seriously count Newt as a contender. But, that being said I have to consider him a wild card. He’s a canny and shrewd politician. If he sees a clear opportunity - and that means a realistic chance of winning - he might jump in. He won’t do so just to fight the good fight. He’s too cagey for that. He’ll stick to the adviser role if he doesn’t think he can win.

Election ‘08 - We Are So Screwed

Pilgrim,

We disagree again, marginally, as I believe he is as much “in” as Rudy, Romney, or even John McCain.  It’s just that he is as yet undeclared.

Newt can legitimately claim to be the only candidate with the requisite experience to redeem the Reagan legacy.  I think he can appeal to “movement” conservatives, party insiders itching to return to power, and even “blue dog” Democrats.  I noted earlier that some of the most effective local statewide commercials, radio and TV, for Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue’s re-election were done by former Senator and former 2-term Governor, Zell Miller.

If Hillary has to move too far to the left to get the Democrats’ nomination, she opens the door for Gingrich to challenge her from the right for the “centrist” Reagan democrats.  And don’t kid yourself, he has the ideas with which to wage that war.

Newt can legitimately claim to be the only candidate with the requisite experience to redeem the Reagan legacy.

I totally agree with that point. It’s just a matter of whether he will run or not. Therein lies the rub.

Election ‘08 - We Are So Screwed

Berkeley economics professor J. Bradford DeLong, who worked on Hillary-Care with Hillary -

“My two cents’ worth—and I think it is the two cents’ worth of everybody who worked for the Clinton administration health care reform effort of 1993-1994—is that Hillary Rodham Clinton needs to be kept very far away from the White House for the rest of her life.”

Nowadays falsehood stands erect and truth lies prostrate on the ground.

Bezu....

Couldn’t agree more. Please bear in mind that I never said I endorsed to idea. It’s just becoming painfully - and alarmingly - apparent that she may have a leg up on the others. If nobody with any pizzaz runs the voters may just decide that the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t. Scary stuff.

Election ‘08 - We Are So Screwed

Bezu,

Interesting quote.  Brad DeLong is no movement conservative, and his opinion of Hillary is much the same as that of Dick Morris, who worked with the Clintons for years.

Still, give her this:  with very few public missteps, she has positioned herself so that her policy pronouncements are all but indiscernible from those of John McCain or Rudy Giuliani.  I notice too that few people are claiming that she is “the smartest woman in the world” any longer.  But there is still a considerable chorus of those who consider her the most dangerous.

But there is still a considerable chorus of those who consider her the most dangerous.

Me.

Election ‘08 - We Are So Screwed