[RobsList] Dems Fear Hillary Would Lose, G.O.P. Fear She Would Win in 2008

Tue, 14 Mar 2006 08:54:08 -0800



---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Steven McCabe <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Mar 14, 2006 1:49 AM
Subject: [progressive] Dems Fear Hillary Would Lose, G.O.P. Fear She Would Win in 2008
To: "K. B." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

Never have both Parties been so afraid of the same person, for different reasons

     Preening presidential hopefuls gather in a very early test of the best man to defeat the dreaded Hillary Clinton in 2008.  The Democrats fear Hillary Clinton would lose a general election, while Republicans fear she would win a general election in 2008.        March 13, 2006 | MEMPHIS, Tenn. --       Walking into the lobby of the Peabody Hotel last Friday afternoon was akin to taking a time-warp trip back to an old-style Republican convention where politicos plotted behind potted palms, reporters swapped rumors and delegates demonstrated devotion to differing candidates with decorations and lapel pins.
    Fans of Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, an all-but-certain 2008 presidential contender, wore buttons that simply stated his last name as if no further explanation were needed. Supporters of hometown hero Bill Frist wore decals that read, "Frist Is My Leader," which made these Tennesseans seem like members of a cult that discouraged free will. When Bob Dole was Senate majority leader, the job that Frist currently holds, he merely called his dog "Leader."
    Politics is that rare American industry that does not have to worry about foreign competition or the outsourcing of vital jobs like press handler and briefcase fetcher to India. The robust health of this pivotal economic sector was on display at the Peabody over the weekend, where roughly 2,000 Republicans assembled to witness a headline-making product launch -- the fresh-from-the-factory rollout of the 2008 presidential race.
    Officially the event was billed as the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, but that bland name did not provide much camouflage. With six putative White House contenders preening before the delegates (who paid between $150 and $225 for the honor) and national political reporters (who really ought to get a life), this was presidential politics at its finest and earliest.
     Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who wants to be the second American president to hail from a place called Hope, cut through the flimsy we're-only-trying-to-hold-Congress-in-November cover story when he jokingly told the delegates Saturday afternoon, "I'm supposed to be able to convince you that not a single person on this program has any interest beyond the 2006 elections ... [and] nobody at all is thinking about 2008."
    Even Frist, who is a master at robotic denials of the obvious, could not keep up the pretense that he was disinterested in the results of a presidential-preference straw poll sponsored by the Hotline, the online political newsletter. During a question-and-answer session with reporters that lasted almost four whole minutes, Frist admitted, "This is my home state. Of course, you want to do well."
    It is easy to understand why Democrats can't stop thinking about tomorrow, since today in politics is bleak. Far more mystifying is why the GOP seems so eager to click through to the 2008 campaign even though George W. Bush's White House lease has nearly three more years to run. Part of the explanation may be that politicking is far more fun than governing. And with no obvious political heir to Bush, ambitious Republicans are behaving like avaricious relatives scheming to be prominently mentioned in the family patriarch's will.
    South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham -- a leading John McCain supporter in 2000 who remains close to the Arizona senator -- partly attributed the too-much-too-soon start of the presidential race to cable television and its unending appetite for political talk. (MSNBC's Chris Matthews seemed to be trying to replicate a Jerry Lewis telethon in the lobby of the Peabody with nonstop installments of "Hardball.")
As Graham said in an interview, "Those interested in being president in '08 have to react to the media discussions about who will be running for president in '08. You can't afford to sit on the sidelines when other people are beginning to sign up political operatives and donors. The constant talk about who will be the nominee forces everybody into the game because they think the next guy is getting an advantage while they're sitting on the sidelines."
    Yet there is another major factor lurking out there, stressed by New Hampshire's Tom Rath, a well-connected member of the Republican National Committee, who spent a day in Memphis reveling in the political scene. And that is the Republican fear and loathing of Hillary Clinton in the White House. The New York senator inspires a level of demonology so intense that you could probably have gotten the GOP delegates in Memphis to believe that she wants to model her presidency after the regime of Pol Pot.
    This brings us to the Hillary Paradox. Almost all the doubts that I hear about her political prospects come from downcast Democrats, who are convinced that she will romp to the 2008 nomination and then prove unelectable in November. Republicans, in contrast, seem almost fatalistic in their conviction that she would be a formidable foe, which is why they are so eager to find a champion who could unite the GOP in holy war to smite the Clintonian infidels. Never in modern political history can I recall a time when both parties were equally petrified that the same person (Hillary Clinton) might win a presidential nomination.  http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/03/13/straw_poll/


 << America in Distress  

Yahoo! Travel
Find great deals to the top 10 hottest destinations!

SPONSORED LINKS
United state citizenship United state coin United state government grant
United state patent Trademark united state United state military

YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS




--
Powered by NewOrleansEmail.Com http://neworleansemail.com
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
[RobsList]
A progressive group that is part of http://robwire.com

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RobsList" group.
To post to this group, send email to [email protected]
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Robslist
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

Reply via email to