Booman wrote a classic anti-Hillary Clinton screed today titled Hillary and the Netroots.
I started a comment in opposition to what he had written, and it turned into a larger piece than I had intended. So here it is as a stand-alone post.
Short version?
It’s Hillary or Giuliani now.
With probably Obama/Edwards or Thompson as alternatives if either of the front runners blow it big time in the next year or so. And don’t forget Big Al waiting in the wings just in case it’s there for him to scoop up without too much effort.
YOU decide who you want.
Read on.
Of course she will “revert” to what worked for her (and for her allies, including her husband) during the 6 years of the Clinton I presidency during which it functioned successfully. More successfully than any presidency since Eisenhower’s if measured in terms of prosperity, and more successfully than any since FDR’s if measured in terms of progress towards taking care of working people.
What else would you expect?
In regards to the “50 state strategy”, you say “She’ll govern much as her husband did, which was effective but also disastrous for the lower levels of the party.”
How was their political apparatus “disastrous for the lower levels of the party”, Booman?
Bill Clinton’s sexual practices were certainly disastrous. To the entire Democratic Party. But the REAL “”disaster” had to do with the concerted, successful effort of the far right to take over the opinion-making apparatus of this country…at least the parts that worked on the minds of the simpler people here (Fox News, talk radio, the conservative Christian segment)…and forge a working majority on the bases of racial hatred, religious hatred, misogyny and sexual fear. Without THAT effort, Bill Clinton would not have been put in the no-win position in which he found himself, the next Democrat would have won, and everything would have been different.
Including our reaction to 9/11, if THAT disaster indeed even happened.
And how much do you want to bet that if Hillary Clinton and a Democratic congress is elected, that nasty media door will be snapped shut and boarded up for a generation or more to come. Ms. Clinton DOES know where that “vast right wing conspiracy” resides and how it works its evil, new reality-creating magic. Her momma didn’t raise no dummies.
Yes, I also have no use for Begala, Carville, Rahm and the rest of the political insects that inhabit the Clinton hive. To tell you the truth, I am not sure that I have any “use” for any politicians whatsoever. But they are as indigenous to human society as is the common cold, and probably even more necessary. (Yes, disease is “necessary” in the grand scheme of things. The perfect universe is perfectly balanced. Bet on it.) But the continual sniping from the left while it simultaneously builds up the careers of potential losers (or equally bad, dividers of the vote) like Edwards and Gore can only work to the advantage of creatures like Giuliani and Thompson.
Is that what y’all want?
A President Rudy Giuliani?
You have NO IDEA how bad that would be. I do. I lived in the working class districts of NYC through his reign. I would rather live under Bush. At least Bush is incompetent.
And Thompson? Just look at his acting. He has only two available emotional states.
Gloweringly threatening or off-the-wall angry.
Alone in the same room with the red button when crossed?
UH OH!!!
So…keep on sniping.
Keep on complaining.
Cripple her campaign because she realizes that “the left” is not correct in terms of electoral tactics.
Did you read the article(s) regarding her Wellesley thesis written about the far left organizer Saul Alinsky? They are a FASCINATING read. Read this one if you have not done so.
A quote:
And there it is.
Alinsky failed. Just look at the so-called “labor movement” in the U.S. today for all you need to know on that account.
And Hillary Rodham (Clinton) succeeded.
She succeeded in being one of the prime movers behind an extremely successful presidency. (Another quote from her thesis…this time regarding Alinsky himself…is quite revealing as well. “Alinsky is a born organizer who is not easily duplicated, but, in addition to his skill, he is a man of exceptional charm.” Hmmm. Sounds like the Hillary/Bill combo, doesn’t it? Hmmmm.)
She then succeeded in surviving its meltdown and becoming a two-time U.S., Senator from perhaps the most powerful state in the union, New York. Where in her second term she had the (at least tacit and sometimes NOT so tacit) support of a HUGE number of usually Republican upstate pols and power players.
And now she has succeeded in using those two bases…her involvement in the Clinton I presidency and her two terms as a powerful Senator…to get pole position in the Democratic race for the 2008 Presidential nomination. A race that would have to be TOTALLY mismanaged to lose after the many failings of the CheneyBush gang.
And here y’all are…in true “I can’t STAND to win” lefty fashion…just whaling away at her like there is no tomorrow.
Well, Booman…if you are successful in crippling her run I can almost guarantee that there WILL be no tomorrow.
ANOTHER four years in power?
With Giuliani as front man? Crafty and crooked as HE is?
Another chance to consolidate their stranglehold on the Constitution?
Please.
Picture it and weep.
But you are NOT “picturing it”.
You are longing for some Saul Alinsky in the sky.
Well, babies…Homie don’t play that.
Not in America he don’t.
Homie looks MUCH more like Homer Simpson than he does Saul Alinsky. Just step away from your various dream machines…the tube, the newsmedia, the internet…get in a car and drive at least an hour away from any major city in the U.S. to figure THAT shit out. Get out of the car and go into a diner. Have lunch. And look around. That’s all you have to do. We are about 3 percentage points away from a fascist takeover, and the people wolfing down their sleazeburgers will not give a flying FUCK if that happens as long as their gasoline remains affordable for another year or two or three.
So…keep it up, folks.
If you are really successful, you WILL cripple Hillary Clinton. And run some blow dried faker like John Edwards or a pompous ass like Al Gore in her stead.
This woman rolled up her sleeves 40 years ago and dug in. And here she is, with 40 years of winning experience DOING SOMETHING OTHER THAN LOSING ALINSKY STYLE.
And y’all are hellbent on losing again.
Good on ya.
The day in 2008 that the Rats successfully maintain their position of power here in America will be the day that I cut and run.
OUTTA here!!!
Because it will be all over for America
And if that happens…YOU will have been the ones that did it.
Joe Bageant’s “soft, moody, self-absorbed American lefties.”
Yup.
Here’s to ya.
I have one thing to say for y’all.
You sure are consistent.
Later…
AG
