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Will Hillary Drive the GOP to Political Suicide?
hwc notes that the biggest winner of yesterday's Republican debate was... Hillary!
I think it is more than fair to say that our girl Hillary has well and truly gotten in the heads of the angry white men in the Republican party. She has them in a full-blown tizzie and that is the best thing that could ever happen for Democratic Party chances in November 2008. Why?
I would suggest three reasons:
1. By attacking her every waking moment of every waking day, the Republicans are providing a blueprint for their fall campaigns. Penn, Wolfson, and Bill will take this playbook and use it to prepare a brutal gameplan to counter every strike. Even more, the Republicans outlined positions against Social Security, health care, and reployment from Iraq that are wildly unpopular with the electorate. The red-meat audience boo'd Ron Paul for saying he would pull troops out of Iraq.
2. Their efforts to demonize Hillary won't work. If Hillary Clinton is anything on the campaign trail, it's disciplined, focuses, serious, competent, and prepared. When voters see her, on TV or in person, they may or may not like her. They may or may not support her. But, they don't see some wild, crazy monster. Thus the opposite. It is Romney and Rudy who appear to be frothing at the mouth when they speak of Hillary.
3. I keep saying this, but gender is the overriding dynamic in the 2008 election. 54% of the voters are women and the majority of those support Hillary Clinton and the idea of a history-making election. There is an emotional attachment to the election the first female President and this emotion will become even stronger once Hillary is the nominee. These angry white men attacking the female candidate, not on policy issues, but like crazy abusive husbands is going to trigger a deeply emotional response. Not just among women, but among other groups who have felt the wrath of what Bill O'Reilly calls "the traditional white male power structure". The two Republican front-runners, Rudy and Mitt, are already at the point of "pulling a Lazio" and alienating wide swaths of American voters. They think they can use attacks on Hillary to energize their base, but their attacks are actually more likely to energize women voters (54% of the electorate), African American voters, Latino/a voters, Asian American voters, gay voters, and so on and so forth.
For those who didn't follow Hillary's 2000 Senate race in NY, "pulling a Lazio" means aggressively walking across the stage during the most-watched debate to thrust some piece of paper in Hillary's face. While former Rep. Rick Lazio was seen as someone who could unite the anti-Hillary vote (both male and female) to beat her, his assault on Hillary's "space" turned all the undecided women into Hillary supporters.
So yesterday's debate raises a fascinating question: could Hillary make Republicans so blind with rage that their collective heads explode, taking the entire Republican Party with them?
- Bob Fertik's blog
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Agree with you 100% Bob...
I've been listening to what the Repugs are saying. They have pulled out the old Gingrich/Rove book of dirty tricks and are essentailly frothing at the mouth about Hillary.
The more they use these tired old 'cliches,' the more they fall into the depths. The term 'backflash' comes to mind. The more these guys bloviate, the more votes they are making available for Hillary.
As you say, she has a carefully laid-out plan to achieve her goal of becoming president. The 'guys' can't handle this(or they handle it very badly). They are self-destructing while we all watch and enjoy the show.
Might be a good time to buy some extra popcorn to munch on whilst watching the show. This will be the dirtiest campaign ever fought. How can you tell? All the repug candidates are mouthing the exact same litany--word for word in most cases.
Gotta give the lady some real credit--she is on top of the situation.
A mind once expanded can never return to its original dimensions.
Anne Hathaway: 1556-1623
The greatest derangement of the mind is to believe in something because one wishes it to be so.
Sen. Obama, your behavior
Sen. Obama, your behavior and attitude were outrageous for a man seeking to change "business as usual" in Washington. Please come clean on the real estate deals that you obtained as part of your business as usual style. You are losing popularity and there is no promise of re election in Illinois when you lose in the primaries to Clinton. "Change is just a word unless you can do so", and you can't. All the bashing and coverage from the N.Y.T. magazines and Chicago newspapers cannot give you that experience. You cannot emulate J.F.K; you're wit seems slow and it's a tie between you, Ann Coulter and Rudy on who wants the most attention. All that campaign money given to a candidate that will not win. Edwards couldn't win his own state. Evidence enough! Obama would host a party with Bin Laden and our other enemies without an agenda. It's not nice to beat up on a lady especially since you are dropping in the polls. Rudy you suppose to be running for president not arguing who is a Yankee fan or Red Sox fan. You seem to be both and by using 9/11 for photo ops and talk show appearances is a disgrace to the real heroes of 9/11. So who are you fooling? Edwards the Republicans would love to run against a candidate that can't carry his own state. You are one confused man. How are those hedge funds doing? Doesn't add much credibility to your good old boy, working class citizen you want to portray. Nice haircut though. Romney you mentioned that Hillary Clinton "has not even run a country store". All this from a guy who was born into luxury. By the way Mitt, Clinton isn't using 17 million of her own dollars in this campaign, and you keep dipping into that trust fund account. I hope you will be a gracious loser. Practice. Seventeen million Mitt--and it's your own money sends a clear message that you cannot win this election and this is something you do with your money when you're bored. Yeah, you can relate to the working class. But don't trash and be respectful of a woman who has weathered the storms and by Gerald Fords' own account "a very intelligent and ambitious woman. Perhaps you could run a country store and sell hair dye for men because you don't have a chance in---- of winning this campaign. Edwards again you couldn't carry your own state and bashing Hillary with the same old verbiage will get you a job at Mitts' store. You both can discuss hair. Funny that Obama, Clinton, Edwards and all the nominees have a health care program now. Hillary’s has been on this for years.