Craig Crawford sez:
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton was definitely not playing to the crowd of liberal bloggers on Saturday when she refused to join her rivals in a round of lobbyist bashing. “A lot of those lobbyists, whether you like it or not, represent real Americans,” she said, talking over audible gripes from the audience. “They actually do. They represent nurses. They represent, you know, social workers.”
Someone shouted “and corporations too,” but Clinton did not back down. “Yes, they represent corporations. They employ a lot of people.” By not pandering to anti-corporate sentiment in her party, Clinton once again showed how determinedly she is protecting herself for a race against the Republicans. And it is such disagreements with party activists that ironically could convince them that she is the most electable of their choices.
Is this wankery…or reality?
I think Craig Crawford is uncomfortable with people like us lately with the way we’ve been beating up on the beltway cocktail-party circuit wankers. I usually enjoy listening to his views but lately he’s a bit sour with us and it’s affecting his analysis. I think he needs a couple months outside of DC…
By the way, I just noticed that Glenn Greenwald will be on C-SPan’s Washington Journal this morning from 7:45 to 8:30 AM Eastern to talk about the changes to FISA laws. He will be opposed by some pro-Bush lawyer.
Reality, God help us.
Not surprising that Clinton would respond such. She has a union buster as one of her chief advisors. Yes, corporations employ people. And many of those people are in India and China. Today’s corporations also try to skirt environmental and safety regulations to save a few pennies. Today’s corporations go to extreme lengths to avoid collective bargaining. Feudal lords “employed” people, too.
The key point is that corporations do not represent employees. They represent shareholders, whose interests are to some degree inherently opposed to those of employees.
Exactly.
Wankery. So Clinton will be more electable if she protects the lobbyist culture in Washington openly. If that’s the case, it would take another generation to educate Americans on the dangers of corporatocracy.
I started to write a dissenting comment here. It grew.
Now a stand-alone post
Do We Really Hate HILLARY CLINTON This Much?
Have fun…
AG
Black is white.
n/t
But still, the “… and corporations too” line is sooooo lame, like it was made by some cartoon version of a grassroots activists.
Only topped in lameness, of course, by Clinton’s rejoinder.
This is why Hillary is who I vote for… if no other Democrat wins the nomination and if a vote for the socialist candidate on the ballot in California won’t throw the election to a Bush spawn or some other Republico-fascist.
I really hate to admit it when you are right. Get ready for Republican Lite all over again. Interesting that Bill could realize that his resurrection is possible and he will rule again. As the presdients First Man, get ready for some more scandals, a pulp news trial, and a no confidence vote for a woman president who was unable to sexually satisfy her husband.
What kind of a president is that? Return of the Jedi all over again. Tancredo for President 2012. Who needs comedians when politicians are doing the job.
The science community reported that, based on current measurements, there are at least 100 billion galaxies in the universe. So figuring that it would take two lifetimes to travel across our own galaxy at the speed of light, it is unlikely that we will find better candidates in the postHillary era. Suicide is not an option here. Anybody have any suggestions?
Being an Obama supporter, I am ashamed of many of my liberal brothers and sisters. They remind me of the ill-religious right by being more about hate, destruction, and 100% litmus test and less about redemption, reconciliation, and hope.
“We have a stake in one another … what binds us together is greater than what drives us apart, and … if enough people believe in the truth of that proposition and act on it, then we might not solve every problem, but we can get something meaningful done for the people with whom we share this Earth.” Obama December 2006
Sen. Clinton is running an “old style” political campaign instead of a modern day campaign. If she cannot attune her message to the average liberal democrat then she should drop-out-of- the presidential campaign today. Anyway great to hear the Teamsters at the DKos Conventions, apparently they will know how to get their voices heard in the future.
What I find amazing and discouraging is how Clinton got away with such a classic evasion. The question was about taking money. She twisted it into a pseudo-populist hurrah for listening to the nurses, the social workers, and I’m surprised she didn’t throw in The Troops for good measure.
If you follow the logic of her statement it becomes a good deal less uplifting: I will take money from everybody and listen to them. In other words, it is money that buys my attention. Seems to me that’s right out there in the open. If she really wants to listen to all those little people, all those nurses and social workers, why do they have to give her money for the privilege?
Somehow she got away with getting even liberals to imagine they were seeing straight talking. What they were really seeing was a perceptual base so twisted by its time in the Beltway that it can’t tell the difference between democracy and bribery.
Obama, Clinton, Edwards, Dodd, Richardson and Biden all receive a great deal of money more or less from ‘corporations’, from the upper-class professions and from the wealthy elite generally.
But the real problem is not that legalized bribery, but ‘Washington lobbyists’? That molehill inspires “Do we really hate ourselves this much?”
“preparing herself for a race against Republicans” is what she ought to be doing. The fact is that Democrats that try to run on “ideals” don’t win. Just put your ideals in one hand and shit in the other and see which one fills up quicker. The reason that guys like Geroge W. Bush win the presidency is not that they are great men…it is that they ran against weak men who didn’t know how to get the job done. Agree with him or not, George Bush accomplishes his goals. For example: his goal was to go into Iraq for an indefinite period of time and raise money for Halliburton shareholders….MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
I don’t necessarily hope that Hillary will be the front-runner, but it is clear that she has got what it takes to accomplish her goals. Maybe a few more Democrats should follow her game-plan.
The Republicans win on being Republicans and for once I think Democrats can win on the value of being a democrat. Last, Sunday’s Republican debate is evidence of enough all Repub. candidates would not endorse the extension of healthcare to children, but wanted to “stay the course” in Iraq.
that’s bullshit…Hillary Clinton said something in the last debate that really inspired me: “It’s time that we started acting like Americans again.”
What she was saying is that the REAL SOLUTION to our problems is that we need to quit being a bunch of uneducated pussies who only care about sports and start innovating again…that’s not so much of an ideal as it is a freakin’ wake up call! I hate to say it, but it looks like old Hillary’s the only one of the “boys” that has any balls.
Senator Clinton’s history of speeches on lobbying can be found at: Senator Clinton’s Record of Speeches
For more information on Senator Clinton’s position on lobbying please visit Project Vote Smart or call our hotline at 1-888-VOTE-SMART.