Maggie's Farm

If I were he, I wouldn’t be interested in running. There’s too much in-house pettiness and chicanery within the GOP, and the electorate is in the irrational mood of wanting a supposed change for the sake of change, even if it means rejecting the less than ideal Republicans in favor of the corrupt and demonstrably crazy Dems. “Change” will be another Clinton co-Presidency, but perhaps this one WILL be different, with Chelsea of age and perhaps willing to join a triumvirate.

Fred and the others won’t stand a chance against the Hillary. It will be a gentleman’s loss for him and country club Repubs in ‘08, a domestic and foreign policy defeat for all of us for years to come. Some might say losing will re-energize the party and core principles, but i have to wonder to what end, since the country under two terms of a liberal- transnational Dem WH and Congress could very well Progress to the point that conservatives will be left with arguing whether we should bend on the right or left knee when apologizing to the world and to all of the aggrieved (and growing) minority/ special interest groups here at home.

Oh, the regrets.

What you say is objectively true, but I and some others I know in biz and politics (not arch cons by any means) don't believe it will matter in the case of Hill&Bill. No one dislikes Hillary and her ideas more than conservatives, but our voting allegiance has faltered in recent times over differences, and the vast center seems fairly open to the First Lady-Senator and not the least bit hostile to her proposals, which she frames quite astutely. And voters still like Bill, which I'll never understand. Ever.

The mo is there for some unknowable reason and the back-channel media and policy politicking with oodles of Soros and other money is becoming a below the surface PR tsunami that the Repubs so far have been unable to stem. Or effectively counter with their own.

This could be another '06 election in which the GOP hopes only to hold onto its seats in Congress. Could be a squeaker, but I doubt it- think subconscious choices have already been made, waiting only to be formalized at the polls. We can bet on the media being smarter and more disciplined this Presidential election, too.

I'm less despondent over this likely prospect than accepting of a new political reality, not a good one, imo, but things change and life moves on. I'll adapt to a blue state mentality on the streets and stay red at home, if it's to be Presidents Clinton and a new age of global progress :)

Of course, she could always blow it during the campaign season by dissing Jews, the military, stay-at-home mothers, white men, etc. Oh wait, she's already done that and she's leading the pack of contenders. We'll see. So far she and the Clinton machine are running a pretty tight campaign.

WTH are you talking about? Suicide? Get a grip. The personal swipes are fun here. Civil discourse is no longer for conservatives.

Perhaps someone has not been reading the news and analyses everywhere that show the GOP is playing defense to the Dems who are setting the agenda and showing more party discipline, despite the mental whackos on the Left. It's almost delusional for people to think Hillary isn't a very strong possibility-probablity for the WH in '08.

I've presented a fairly straight-forward case, in civil tones, that isn't earth-shatteringly bizarre, and you'd think I just threw my drink in your faces. How we discuss and disagree matters.

Wow. That was lovely.

Party insiders I know say exactly what I just said. Will pass on your advice.

That's right. They know nothing, and I'm an idiot. Point well taken. We should all be assured that how the "base" acts has nothing to do with the GOP and conservatism having started to slide these least few years. Evidently, it's only about those in charge because they didn't do what we advised them to do (never mind that there have been a thousand absolutely correct positions that the GOP should've taken as pointed out by thousands of us).

I accept shared responsibility for Republican losses. I don't accept ad hominem, though, when nothing personally rude was done to prompt it.

I support Thompson or any other GOP candidate, but just because I happen to think Hillary and her unfortunate policies stand a very good chance of winning in '08 doesn't make me a bad guy, suicidal, or in need of Prozac. With that kind of reflexive denial and shoot the messenger/ smear a discussant mentality, the GOP is sure to keep supporters and win new ones--- (Thanks Anonymous and Scott for your considered replies.)

Quote:

The Republican Party appears to be coalescing around the happy assumption that, while Hillary Clinton will win the Democratic nomination, she cannot be elected. So, the self-delusive logic says, she is really God's gift to the Republican Party.

This optimistic set of assumptions comes through loud and clear in the comments the president and Karl Rove made to Bill Sammon as he interviewed them for his new book Strategery. But their confidence indicates simply that they don't even begin to understand what they will be up against in a Hillary candidacy.

It has always been Mrs. Clinton's strategery to wrap herself in the generic. By embracing a set of liberal issues, she avoids personal scrutiny. By identifying with working women who are "trying to balance career and family", she buys a pass on charges of a conflict of interest over Rose Law Firm representation of Arkansas while her husband was governor. And now, by hiding behind the generic question of "Are we ready for a woman president?" she invites the question of whether we want this particular woman in the Oval Office.

The cultural forces that Hillary's candidacy will unleash - from the media, from Hollywood and from the cultural icons who decree our lifestyles - will be far beyond those that normally line up behind a presidential candidate. A small foretaste emerged in ABC TV's show "Commander in Chief," in which Geena Davis plays a female president who masters the men and the crises that litter her path. What other presidential candidacy was foreshadowed by a prime-time, hour-long weekly television show?

Hillary's candidacy will not be Democratic so much as demographic and not nearly as political as it will be cultural. The pent-up emotions of half of America will rise to the surface just as Catholics rallied to JFK's candidacy in 1960.
And white women are the swing vote in our politics…[read the rest]

http://thehill.com/dick-morris/with-cultural-forces-behind-her-hillary-can-win-in-08-2006-03-01.html

Thanks, BD. Predictions are done in sports and politics all of the time. People even make and lose money over them. You know about those markets.

If we don't face up to the very real possibility that Hillary will win and get it together without all of us thousands of brilliant Repubs who want our own way, second and third guessing every single issue all of the time, even during an important election, our prospects will be dim.

Counting on the anti-Hillary vote isn't near enough. Anyway, polls show her gaining in popularity:(

Go, Thompson! May he and the other candidates offer up some esp resonating real-world conservative principle and platform. And may the rest of us go along more cohesively if we really want the win we say we do.

IOW, it's not enough that our nominee be the anti-Hillary. imo.