Clinton’s Success in Presidential Race Is No Sure Thing

NY Times ^ | 1-21-07 | Patrick Healy

[PGalt]

Baloney! All these 'rat special talent collectivists throwing their hats in the ring will give The Chameleon her orchestrated send-off with feigning admiration on cue at the 'rat convention.

[martin_fierro]

I'll refute your one-lined, unsourced, pseudo-authoritative statement with another one of my own: You're full of it.

[mrsmith]

If the NYTimes , and the WashPost, and the LATimes and all the network news were put out of action by an EMP or some such unlikely event I suppose she may have a hard time...

[Billthedrill]

I gently disagree - She Who Must Not Be Named is, actually, the extant professional politician within the Democratic party at the moment. There are others with more longevity - Ted Kennedy, for example - but none of these has the control of the machine that she has. Her funding efforts are a decade long. Her control, and I use that word precisely, of the media is immeasurable and extremely potent. Obama has no chance against her in the primaries, none, and anyone pretending to the contrary knows nothing about American politics. The media machine that brought him to the fore in the past six months will discard him like a used kleenex when the time comes.

It isn't just her, it's her team - many of these are relatively unideological themselves but they are highly adept at the acquisition of power, as professionals should be. A fair number of them succeeded in foisting BJ Clinton on the country for eight interminable years. They weren't defeated by Bush, they simply stepped aside for the Gore and Kerry teams who were. They are very, very good at what they do.

There is, in addition, a fatigue in the public that is the result of six years of relentless propaganda in the media, that would tend toward a Democrat, any Democrat, just to stop the pain.

There is also a larger demographic than many think who state that they want a "woman" in the position and that talk to the contrary is simply misogyny. We have seen this phenomenon during the Pelosi coronation. They don't mean a Condi Rice, they mean a progressive who uses her sex as a means of political identification and her power against the "other side" meaning conservatives, and especially against conservative women. These tend to be feelings voters and there are a lot of them. I had dinner with one last night. She dislikes most of Her Highness's political objectives but will absolutely vote for her because "it's time we gave a woman a chance." Any woman? Oh, my no.

Do not underestimate Hillary Rodham Clinton. She has the potential to be one of the most damaging Presidents since Lyndon Johnson and for the very same reason.

[MonicaG]

"I'm the Pres! I'm the Pres! I'm the Pres" (ad infinite nauseum)

[MIchaelTArchangel]

Guess I will move up my Mass exodus, move to New Hampshire, hold my nose while I register as a Dimocrap, and vote against the _itch!

[popdonnelly]

"Hillary Rodham Clinton is the most battle-tested"

How so? She ran for the Senate in a State where any liberal Democrat is welcomed. Does the experience with flying ashtrays count as battle-tested?

[popdonnelly]

Please, no comparisons to Harpo! Harpo was a sweetie who wouldn't hurt a soul.

[PGalt]

Good analysis.

[Porterville]

And the winner of the Hillary vs. Obama feud is.... Governor Bill Richardson.

[kabar]

BS. The coronation is underway. None of the other Dem midgets have any hope of beating her. It's a lock.

[Proud_texan]

That's a great analysis but I wonder; what will SWMNBN do about the "Dean element"? They hammered Kerry pretty bad to the point that he made that absurd statement about voting for before he voted against or whatever it was. While it was red meat to us I think there was more to it than that; it caused a general feeling of unease amount at least some non-aware voters.

Since she's never, as far as I know, renounced her vote, what could be the move around that segment of the party?

[Billthedrill]

I think the Dean/Kucinich element will vote Hillary as well come crunch time, because they hate us more than they dislike her. And should she find the numbers against her on that it would be the easiest thing in the world for her to drop a few hints of veering left at the appropriate moment. With the sort of media help she has all she'd have to do is say something equivocal that the press would noisily present one way and that could easily be disavowed later as a "misinterpretation." She has already done this in the form of her notorious "We're going to take things away from you for the common good" speech. Every socialist in the country started dancing and the press took to sternly warning the conservatives not to "Swiftboat" her by stating that it meant what it said. That's a game she and they intend to play all the way to the White House.

It may be possible to split the Dems by appealing to the screamers along the lines of ideology. This was a regrettably effective ploy in the last election when it was aimed at the Republicans. I decline to shake my finger at "conservatives" who stayed home to "teach the GOP a lesson" here beyond the observation that its intended effect, the accession of the Democratic party to majority power, was successful. And that turn about is certainly fair play. It may even take the form of a formal third-party drive - this has proven an effective ploy for the Democrats in the form of Ross Perot and for the Republicans in the form of Ralph Nader, so it isn't unprecedented.

[Proud_texan]

That's been my take on the general election but I'm still unsure of how bloody the primary is going to be; will the hard core anti-war wingnuts go with the leader just to get them election or will it be trench warfare?

I'm stocking up on popcorn.

[cousair]

Well, I hope against hope you are right. Ms. Bitch has done nothing to win this space on FR...but by being one of Mr. Clinton's first assortment of women, she takes control, does nothing in Congress, has passed or written no legislation, gives speeches someone else writes, and most importantly, talks only to the pillow soft no hard question MSM like Larry King and will only answer questions she KNOWS are coming. She is a nothing, running on the shoestrings of her erstwhile political hack husband. She can win and Obama will be her running mate and if this happens.. America loses....bigtime! Pray that our voters become more informed!!

[AmericanMade1776]

Rabid Witch

[pinz-n-needlez]

This whole report sounds painfully contrived.

She's manufacturing her fear of not walking into the job with nary a speck of dust on her black pantsuit.

[onyx]

We are about to witness the slickest political machine ever known to man.