President Hillary Is Inevitable
I borrowed that line from Terminator III, substituting "President Hillary" for "Judgment Day." Fits that meme quite nicely, doesn't it?
The New York Sun reports today that Democrats around the country are getting increasingly "nervous" about Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential candidacy and its ostensible foregone-conclusion status because {chuckle} they don't think she can win:
First of all, this is January 2006. The 2008 cycle doesn't begin for another year, and not in earnest until a year after that. Polls taken now are worse than useless as indicators of national or political trends.
Second, remember the #1 lesson of the 1990s: The Clintons always win. They're death to the rest of their party, but the Clinton machine is invincible.
And third, keep this in mind: the key to Bill Clinton's two election triumphs had a name - Ross Perot. Without a significant third candidate in the race to split the center-right vote, Mr. Bill never becomes president to begin with, and "the li'l general" provided the same insurance buffer against Bob Dole four years later.
Now let me throw out another name, and one that Republicans should all know all too well: John McCain. The conventional wisdom, which is always wrong, has "Sailor" cruising to the '08 GOP nomination. But I can and will guarantee that that will never happen because when all's said and done few in the GOP nominating electorate really, truly trust the man. And why should they? He's pro-Kyoto, anti-tax cut, waffling on abortion, and is undermining the GWOT effort with his recent "anti-torture" legislation. He's a Rockefeller Republican in every sense of the term. And the Extreme Media love him. The latter is disqualifying all by itself, it seems to me.
Knowing what we know about McCain's petulant reaction to losing the 2000 nomination race to George W. Bush, when he's denied again in 2008, how do you think he'll take that decisive rebuff?
Do the words "third party" ring a bell?
It doesn't matter what the "visceral reaction" to Mrs. Clinton will be in the South and Midwest. With Darth Queeg as her wedge, she will part the "Red" Sea twenty-two months from now and make the Clinton restoration a reality.
And then the nightmare will truly begin.
[HT: CQ]
The New York Sun reports today that Democrats around the country are getting increasingly "nervous" about Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential candidacy and its ostensible foregone-conclusion status because {chuckle} they don't think she can win:
Senator Clinton's emergence as the early and perhaps prohibitive favorite for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008 is fueling anxiety among Democratic strategists and operatives who are worried she would lose to a Republican in the general election.
Recent polling underscores some of those worries. In a CNN/USA Today/ Gallup poll made public yesterday, 51% of voters said they would definitely not vote for Mrs. Clinton if she chooses to run for president in 2008. In a separate nationwide poll conducted this month for a spirits company, Diageo, and a political newsletter, the Hotline, 44% of all voters and 19% of self-described Democrats said they viewed the New York senator unfavorably.
According to Democratic Party insiders, such numbers are adding to skittishness about Mrs. Clinton's potential candidacy. ... A former chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party, Richard Harpootlian, is among those who will own up to such misgivings. "Mrs. Clinton, because of some positions she has taken over the years, gets a visceral reaction to her here, both negative and positive. I'm afraid around the South and Midwest the visceral reaction is not good," he told the New York Sun.
First of all, this is January 2006. The 2008 cycle doesn't begin for another year, and not in earnest until a year after that. Polls taken now are worse than useless as indicators of national or political trends.
Second, remember the #1 lesson of the 1990s: The Clintons always win. They're death to the rest of their party, but the Clinton machine is invincible.
And third, keep this in mind: the key to Bill Clinton's two election triumphs had a name - Ross Perot. Without a significant third candidate in the race to split the center-right vote, Mr. Bill never becomes president to begin with, and "the li'l general" provided the same insurance buffer against Bob Dole four years later.
Now let me throw out another name, and one that Republicans should all know all too well: John McCain. The conventional wisdom, which is always wrong, has "Sailor" cruising to the '08 GOP nomination. But I can and will guarantee that that will never happen because when all's said and done few in the GOP nominating electorate really, truly trust the man. And why should they? He's pro-Kyoto, anti-tax cut, waffling on abortion, and is undermining the GWOT effort with his recent "anti-torture" legislation. He's a Rockefeller Republican in every sense of the term. And the Extreme Media love him. The latter is disqualifying all by itself, it seems to me.
Knowing what we know about McCain's petulant reaction to losing the 2000 nomination race to George W. Bush, when he's denied again in 2008, how do you think he'll take that decisive rebuff?
Do the words "third party" ring a bell?
It doesn't matter what the "visceral reaction" to Mrs. Clinton will be in the South and Midwest. With Darth Queeg as her wedge, she will part the "Red" Sea twenty-two months from now and make the Clinton restoration a reality.
And then the nightmare will truly begin.
[HT: CQ]
posted by JASmius at 8:44 AM
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