EFFin’ Unsound

I actually don’t think this is local: it’s in the Daily O’s “Local Columnists” section, but it says Dallas Morning News. But the fact that it’s in the Olympian and it made me angry and a reader was nice enough to pass it along to me combine in what the heck, I’ll run it. So, thehim, I know you’re not a big fan, but speaking of until Hillary Clinton is elected:

Dallas businessman Dick Collins and his rich Republican friends figure to have a lot of fun with their Web site bashing Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

Oh my goodness some guy with a website* has said something mean about her. I guess she can’t be president. By that logic, nobody can be president.

The site, www.stophernow.com, is dedicated to “rescuing America from the radical ideas of Hillary Clinton.” It features anti-Hillary cartoons, jokes and, coming soon, T-shirts and other clothing items.

Radical ideas like healthcare for children, and equal pay for work. And, cartoons and jokes on the interweb? That’s worthy of an article. Oh, and he couldn’t find a site with anti-Hillary tees already made? When she’s president, Jonathan will demand their death, surely.

While it’s a bit too soon to determine its potential impact, the effort spotlights one of the New York senator’s biggest handicaps.

Her propensity for one sentence paragraphs?

Unlike other potential 2008 candidates, Clinton enters the race with a reputation as a divisive figure that could handicap her efforts to persuade voters she can bring the country together and end more than a decade of partisan acrimony.

“Unlike other potential 2008 candidates, Clinton enters the race with a reputation” is in fact all that he needed to write. And let’s see who are the top Republicans? Someone who never saw police violence and racial exclusion he couldn’t get behind is the supposedly moderate pick. Someone who repeatedly used the word “gooks” the last time he ran and who made jokes at the expense of a then high school aged Chelsea Clinton is the frontrunner. One of the leaders of impeachment, who shut down the federal government in a hissy fit, is looking like a dark horse candidate. I’m sure there are websites that have said mean things about them, like earlier in this paragraph. I hope you write about how divisive they are. I’m also not selling tee shirts.

That doesn’t mean she can’t overcome that perception and win the 2008 race. She remains the front-runner in Democratic polls, will be able to raise enormous amounts of money and would run in what might be a good Democratic year.

And she wins the head to heads against everyone else. And she won her first Senate race by double digits even when everyone said she couldn’t win.

But the strong feelings she inspires will be a factor, possibly in the Democratic primaries and certainly in the general election.

She’s in the 80’s in approval among Democrats.

Clearly, efforts like the one led by Collins are designed to strengthen those negative perceptions. But in fact, it doesn’t take much to uncover enmity out there.

Yes, it’s like she was in the national spotlight for the last decade and a half or something. She’s also been the most admired woman in the country pretty consistently in all that time. Beating Oprah and the current First Lady.

Recently, Susan Page (to whom I’m married) appeared on C-SPAN to discuss 2008 prospects from both parties. During the 45-minute program, nearly half of the callers volunteered negative comments about Clinton.

One of the things I’m going to like about a Hillary Clinton Administration is the crazy bastards I’m going to get to make fun of.

They questioned her experience, especially in dealing with military matters, and whether her years in the spotlight meant she has already undergone the scrutiny presidential aspirants face.

Yeah, if only someone had put her under some scrutiny.

“Give me a break,” scoffed a caller from Trumbull, Conn.

Oh, someone from Connecticut said something on the ‘SPAN. That settles it: she can’t be president.

Another said that, if Clinton won the White House, she’d really be the vice president while her husband, former President Bill Clinton, ran the country.

It’s funny people were saying the opposite for 8 years. Or not so much people as Republicans. And, man alive would I like to go back to surpluses, peace, and prosperity.

And a caller from Fairfax, Va., cited the passions she stirs.

“The swift-boating of John Kerry is going to pale compared to what she’s going to go through if the Democratic Party is dumb enough to nominate her,” he said, referring to the accusations by some Vietnam veterans against the 2004 Democratic nominee.

The swift-boating of Kerry is going to pale compared to what they are going to throw at anybody now that the war has gone sour and all they have left is their own burning anger. There isn’t anyone we can nominate who the Republican smear merchants won’t make up lie after lie about. There isn’t any right combination of words that our candidates can say that won’t have Rush and the rest of the radio sirens screaming make believe outrage. And there’s no candidate we can nominate who the print and broadcast media is going to give a fair shake. Look at the insanity about Obama’s middle name that’s going on now with someone who was a media darling before he got serious about running.

Unfortunately for Clinton, that last caller might be right. Certainly, Collins’ goal is to make her look as unappealing as possible.

Well, within the bounds of he doesn’t even have his tee shirts up yet.

And her foes could benefit from the fact that, according to polls, the public is far more divided on Clinton than on other potential candidates.

Again, she’s the most well known. I mean are you really so stupid that you can’t figure out why people think about her more than Tom Vilsack and Mike Huckabee? And why aren’t as many people passionate about Vermin Supreme and Dennis Kucinich? Is there some sort of parasite eating at your brain? Because if so I’m sorry for making fun of you. If it’s just teh stupid, then obviously, I’m not sorry at all.

She’s worked closely on legislative issues with top Republicans such as former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas and Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. She’s urged fellow Democrats to reach out to foes of legalized abortion by stressing where they agree.

I didn’t want transitions either. Seriously, she’s won in upstate New York pretty much for the first time for a Democrat since probably ever.

Among Democrats, she is sometimes faulted for being too cautious.

That came out of nowhere. Were you short on your word count or something?

In the end, however, a key to whether she can win may be how well she convinces Americans she would be more unifying than divisive.

I’m not sure that’s actually right. I suspect that it’ll matter more how many votes she gets, rather than if the fringe of the right wing thinks she’s a frigid lesbian who killed Vince Foster because they were having a torrid affair (I don’t know how it works; I refuse to think like them).

* Some guy with a website, of course is all credit to August, who I also steal a joke from when someone calls us the Democrat Party.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 22nd, 2006 at 8:06 pm and is filed under Carl. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.