Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

What's Wrong with Hillary's Campaign Team?
FPM ^ | 22 MARCH 2007 | Dick Morris

Posted on 03/22/2007 6:04:35 AM PDT by rdb3

What's Wrong with Hillary's Campaign Team?
By Dick Morris
FrontPageMagazine.com | March 22, 2007


Why is Hillary Clinton’s campaign team -- supposedly so experienced and so far superior to those of the other candidates-- advising her straight into defeat?

She’s gone steadily downhill since she announced, and at this rate, Joe Biden and Chris Dodd will be ahead of her in a few months.

One key reason may be that her ‘team’ may not be used to working in Democratic primaries and never expected any real opposition this time. They simply don’t know how to deal with the nuances of a primary, as we can see in what’s happened to her ratings.
 
Bill Clinton didn’t have a primary in 1996 and Hillary has none in 2000 and only token opposition in 2006. So, two of her top three advisers – Mark Penn and Howard Wolfson,- have had no experience in serious national primary campaigns.  It shows. And the third member of the top tier, Mandy Grunwald, is a film producer, not a strategist.
 
But one thing is clear: All of them, and Hillary, too, expected to simply walk away with the Democratic nomination and then grab the White House. Just like the two New York Senate races.
 
But then along came Obama.
 
After his announcement, Hillary had no choice. She had to jump in. But she and her advisers still thought that she could run as a sort of imperial- incumbent- in- waiting whose ascendancy was a given.
 
That didn’t work.
 
Obama and Edwards didn’t hesitate to criticize call her on her Iraq war vote. (The one that was never mentioned in the New York Senate campaign) And the Democratic left has repeatedly challenged her conservative positions.
 
Her advisers thought that they could use the same tactics that they had used in the Clinton White House and in her two virtually unopposed Senate races. And so they attacked Obama.
 
Those didn’t work.
 
Instead of helping her, she completely lost her lead over black voters. It was a disaster.
 
They thought that she would charm the voters once they got to know her.
 
That certainly hasn’t worked.
 
It’s going to be a very long campaign and already, she doesn’t seem to be wearing too well. A year and a half more of Hillary as Oprah is not something to look forward to. The flat voice, the canned lines, the “Bill and I” lines are already grating on her listeners. So far, the ‘charm’ hasn’t worked.
 
They thought that the voters wouldn’t pick up on her flip flops and canned lines.
 
They were wrong about that. She’s been castigated by the left at every campaign stop and the term ‘scripted’ is probably the single most frequently used description of her.
 
They thought that they could still treat the emotional and angry rantings of Bill Clinton as if they were the emotional and angry rantings of a sitting President of the United States. So when he said: “Attack”, they aimed.
 
That backfired.
 
They thought that Bill Clinton was her ace in the hole – the world’s best political consultant, her private guru, who would guide her to an easy and early victory.
 
But that certainly hasn’t been true. His clouded judgment and obsession with rewriting his own legacy gets in the way of objective advice.
 
So, the woman with most brilliant political team in the country has been repeatedly outmaneuvered and outsmarted. She’s on the defensive and going downhill.
 
Her attack dog Wolfson has been put on the bench. Bill Clinton has been relegated to private fund raisers. And Hillary is tanking in the polls.
 
Some team!
 
Look for some heads to roll. Already, there are leaks at a very high level, as the Novack column suggests.
 
Look for the ‘team’ to start pointing fingers.
 
Click Here to support Frontpagemag.com.


TOPICS: Extended News; Politics/Elections; Unclassified
KEYWORDS: hildebeast; hitlary; obama
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-59 next last

1 posted on 03/22/2007 6:04:37 AM PDT by rdb3
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: rdb3

"...advising her straight into defeat?..."

And that is bad becase.....?


2 posted on 03/22/2007 6:06:54 AM PDT by NCC-1701 (PUT AN END TO ORGANIZED CRIME. ABOLISH THE IRS.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: rdb3

A fish rots from the head down.


3 posted on 03/22/2007 6:07:49 AM PDT by Izzy Dunne (Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: rdb3
She’s gone steadily downhill since she announced

That is because she is campaigning. If she would quit, her numbers would go up.
4 posted on 03/22/2007 6:09:36 AM PDT by P-40 (Al Qaeda was working in Iraq. They were just undocumented.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NCC-1701

You just wait and see what's going to take her place.


5 posted on 03/22/2007 6:10:29 AM PDT by OKSooner
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: rdb3

She can't win a normal primary. She missed her chance last round - to come in at the 11th hour, rescuing the floundering party from defeat by her own high-profile arrival and sweeping up an impassioned electorate high on hype and desperate to replace a breakfast food candidate ... and pulling it off in just 30 days, before the hype waned and the skeletons started marching out of the closet.

She waited too long. Having been the nominee-in-waiting for years, she _had_ to announce early - way way way too early. The media's short attention span follows its usual path from fawning hype to hostile interrogator, a cycle which takes - and took - about 30 days. Unable to gloss over the negatives for long, she's toast.


6 posted on 03/22/2007 6:11:19 AM PDT by ctdonath2 (The color blue tastes like the square root of 0?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: P-40
If she would quit, her numbers would go up.<

That sounds stupid, but dang if it's not the truth.

Her numbers are best when the whitewash crew is out front selling it.

When she comes out of the tent, people realize they've been sold.

7 posted on 03/22/2007 6:11:52 AM PDT by Izzy Dunne (Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: rdb3
And the Democratic left has repeatedly challenged her conservative positions.

Aww SH*T....I'm sending Morris the cleaning bill for that. This shirt is NEW!

8 posted on 03/22/2007 6:12:05 AM PDT by DCPatriot ("It aint what you don't know that kills you. It's what you know that aint so" Theodore Sturgeon))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: rdb3
So, the woman with most brilliant political team in the country has been repeatedly outmaneuvered and outsmarted.

"There are no such things as contradictions. When you think you have found a contradiction, check your premises. One of them is wrong." -- Ayn Rand

9 posted on 03/22/2007 6:14:18 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (Enoch Powell was right.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Izzy Dunne
I think The Onion agrees with us. :)

Hillary Clinton Tries To Woo Voters By Rescinding Candidacy

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/hillary_clinton_tries_to_woo
10 posted on 03/22/2007 6:15:23 AM PDT by P-40 (Al Qaeda was working in Iraq. They were just undocumented.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: rdb3

Novac uses the word "coronation", Morris uses the more eloquent "imperial- incumbent- in- waiting", and BOTH are stopping just short of calling her the second Sheets Byrd....when the truth comes out in print like that, somebody's in trouble.


11 posted on 03/22/2007 6:18:07 AM PDT by cake_crumb (When Congress prosecutes wars, you get Another Viet Nam)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: rdb3

I love the Morris article dissing Hillary. But it also reeks of his own personal egotism over his own campaign prowess (and lack of a curent job).

Soon it will be Carville and Begala time. Snake and Forehead know how to take care of candidates like the upstart Obamarama. and watch for the MSM-embedded Clintanoids, Steffi et al., to begin to come to Hillary's rescue.


12 posted on 03/22/2007 6:18:32 AM PDT by rod1 (uake)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: rdb3

Some have stated in convincing fashion that it will be a Hillary/Obama ticket in one form or another.

However, to restate my case: Hill & the Harpy Squad are comprised of Mandy Grunwald & her clones: unhappy, vengeful, condescending martinets who are convinced that a large swath of the electorate will buy any brand of snake oil marked with a 'D' and believe any lie, no matter how outrageous. They have, of course, 8 years of a previous Clinton presidency as evidence. Since they usually demand and exercise total control, there are two wild cards that are making life difficult for them:

1) Competition. This time the rival is in plain sight and receiving truckloads of daily media coverage. Any dirty tricks will have to be carried out with pinpoint precision to avoid detection. The question occupying Team Hill: how do we play the race card and make it look like Obama is at fault?

2) The candidate. Let's ignore her surname, party, politics, title and record. Based on a partial first Senate term, what on earth would lead anyone to think that this person has leadership qualities? If you'd never been introduced and had to listen to a live speech wouldn't you take a permanent bathroom break at the first opportunity? What does it say about a candidate whose handlers won't permit ANY off-the-cuff comments? Edwards was rightly ridiculed for his visit-the-country-cousins DIY photo op but can you imagine the comedy potential of Hillary in a flannel shirt & dungarees planting tulip bulbs with Mabel in Nashua NH? The one thing Team Hill cannot overcome with money or press coverage is that the candidate does not appear to have an existence or interest outside of politics. The "I'm a mom" thing is largely a non-starter when one's only child is already an adult woman.


13 posted on 03/22/2007 6:22:55 AM PDT by relictele
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: rod1

I'm not so sure.
I think Hill's in big trouble.

All the sleaze without the slick.

and Obama has the Oprah endorsement already, LOL


14 posted on 03/22/2007 6:23:51 AM PDT by nascarnation
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: rdb3

Their candidate?


15 posted on 03/22/2007 6:23:58 AM PDT by PBRSTREETGANG
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: rdb3

The problem with Hillary's campaign is HILLARY. She's evil and it oozes from every pore of her body. She's not liked because of her arrogance, evil heart, pro-terrorist, socialist, anti-military ideology. Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?


16 posted on 03/22/2007 6:25:17 AM PDT by ExTexasRedhead
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: rdb3
Hillary's poor performance in recent polls is probably attributable to the bad polling habits of popular pollsters. These are the companies which have been shown to regularly oversample cities, and women and other liberal democrats when they purport to sample an objective slice of America. Consequently, they are receiving more moonbat responses than an objective slice of America might deliver.

The libs and the press pollsters have forgotten how to poll impartially and it is biting their favored candidate. Sweet!

17 posted on 03/22/2007 6:25:24 AM PDT by Sgt_Schultze
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: rod1
Soon it will be Carville and Begala time. Snake and Forehead know how to take care of candidates like the upstart Obamarama.

Where have they been up to now? Aren't they on the team already? If so, they must be in "stealth" mode planning their attacks.
18 posted on 03/22/2007 6:25:49 AM PDT by no dems (Fred Thompson for Prez /Herman Cain for VEEP in '08)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: rdb3
imagine Hildebeast "charming" voters!
19 posted on 03/22/2007 6:25:51 AM PDT by GeorgefromGeorgia
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DCPatriot

I noticed the same thing.....


20 posted on 03/22/2007 6:27:24 AM PDT by ken5050 (The 2008 winning ticket: Rudy/Newtie, with Hunter for SecDef, Pete King at DHS, Bill Simon at Treas)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-59 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson