Today’s E.J.Dionne column is absolutely astonishing. I’ll sneak you the answer: It was Bill
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/24/AR2008012402801.html?hpid=opinionsbo
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The column discusses some riveting, iconoclastic speeches Clinton gave, back when he had integrity and honor. Today, when he has neither, all he has is the burning need for a “do-over” and anything, anyone that gets in the way will be covered in tire prints.
Ronald Reagan, Clinton said, deserved credit for winning the Cold War. He praised Reagan’s “rhetoric in defense of freedom” and his role in “advancing the idea that communism could be rolled back.”
“The idea that we were going to stand firm and reaffirm our containment strategy, and the fact that we forced them to spend even more when they were already producing a Cadillac defense system and a dinosaur economy, I think it hastened their undoing,” Clinton declared.
Clinton was careful to add that the Reagan military program included “a lot of wasted money and unnecessary expenditure,” but the signal had been sent: Clinton was willing to move beyond “the brain-dead politics in both parties,” as he so often put it.
The campaign is rapidly losing its lustre. Edwards is looking better, and Clinton looks less electable, if that is possible, by the day. Bill Clinton is dead to me as a person of integrity and with personal qualities that could be admired.
Gerald Ford gave a number of interviews to a journalist on the condition that they not be published until Ford’s death. Somewhat cowardly, especially since he CASTIGATED DER DINGLEBUSH. Ford did say that he thought Clinton had a serious problem in his addiction to women. This campaign of Hillary’s and Bill’s out-of-control behavior makes a person value this insight of Ford’s even more. There is a serious imbalance in Bill’s character. He loves himself all too much, and is determined to get that “do-over” to rehab his rep.
As for Hillary, my doubts are growing. If you do not already support her, can you in the general? What Republican will support her? Will independents support her? What the Clintons are staking the future of the country on is a simple proposition:
| Group | % Populace | % Clinton | Total % |
| Democratic women | 20-22 | 80 | 18 |
| Democratic men | 20-22 | 50 | 11 |
| Indep women | 10-12 | 80 | 8 |
| Indep men | 10-12 | 39 | 3 |
| Repub women | 20-22 | ? | ? |
| Repub men | 20-22 | 5 | 1 |
| 41+? |
By advanced math, I get
? = 10
and by similarly advanced math we get
% Clinton = 50
We are staking the next 4 years on the proposition that 50 % of Republican women will support Clinton.