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You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2016 / Hillary’s Big Day

Hillary’s Big Day

by | 223 Comments

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I’m watching CNN because the liberal MSNBC is showing jail porn or some other crap, and several times in a row, the 2007-8 Clinton campaign was referred to as disastrous. And so it begins.

The Clinton campaign devolved into a shitshow, and I certainly had my beefs with it, but only in the world of cable news can being a hair away from becoming the nominee for President be considered a disaster. She almost won.

Just a preview of what to expect for the next year, I guess, where everything Hillary does is measured not on its merits, but against the optimal outcome.

Reader Interactions

223Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    Just a preview of what to expect for the next year, I guess, where everything Hillary does is measured not on its merits, but against the optimal outcome.

    So she is running as Obama’s third term.

  2. 2.

    Gene108

    Why do you subject yourself to CNN so early in the morning?

    Also, to early for a Hillary thread.

    I had a prophetic dream. I dreamed I went grocery shopping. I think getting out of bed and going grocery shopping would be a good use of the morning.

  3. 3.

    satby

    Dude, you bigfooted my flowers ;)
    This will be the start of 200 ” I wish it wasn’t Hillary” comments. Which will be repeated ad nauseam until the primaries (hell, till the freaking election) are over.

  4. 4.

    WaterGirl

    Cole, what happened with your evening checkin with geg6 yesterday? How’s Lovey doing? How are the rest of you doing?

  7. 7.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: Basically, I’m still up, which never happens to me. I fell asleep on the couch and woke up at 4am, decided to read for a bit before heading to bed, and here I am.

    If I’m heading back to bed, I have to do it very soon. I am tired, so it would be nice to sleep for a bit before my 10:30 client arrives.

  8. 8.

    Derelict

    It’s a weird dynamic that has taken over the media. A Democrat must be perfect in order to be considered good; a female or minority Democrat must be beyond perfection in some state of Platonic ideal that doesn’t exist in this world in order to be great.

    So, yeah–if Hillary has one challenger in the primaries and that challenger gets more than a dozen votes, it’s going to be a “hotly contested” primary with voters “expressing their dissatisfaction” with Hillary, and every win (even where she wins 95% to 5%) will be exceedingly narrow.

  9. 9.

    geg6

    Well, it was a relatively uneventful evening. Lovey sat on my lap during dinner and ate little bits of sweet potato and steak (Koda got large bits). She also got to lick my bowl after I ate some vanilla ice cream (Koda always gets her own little scoop). We hit the bed after the Pens finally clinched a playoff berth. That was more interesting. Koda was very upset that Lovey got to sleep on my pillow. There was some growling from Koda and some barking from Lovey but everyone settled down eventually. Lovey decided she had pee about 2am and let us know so John took her out. When she came back in, she promptly went into the bathroom and pooped on the floor. LOL! Back to bed (Lovey wrapped around my neck). John is working today, so we all slept in after he left at 6am. Then everybody had breakfast and now are napping. It’s all good.

  11. 11.

    MattF

    @Derelict: And any opposition will be pumped up to scary-size. But, seriously, does anyone think Jeb! is scary? Or, y’know, an attractive candidate? I’d bear in mind what happened at the last Clinton vs. Bush encounter– recall that the elder Bush was the incumbent. Didn’t save him.

  14. 14.

    Baud

    @satby:

    It’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better. Hillary, more so than the other possible Democratic contenders, is going to have to walk a fine line between running as her own person while still supporting Obama while still addressing the issues that we are facing. The media is going to use that to flame internal Democratic conflict. It’ll get messy.

  16. 16.

    Baud

    @geg6:

    There was some growling from Koda and some barking from Lovey but everyone settled down eventually.

    Heh.

  17. 17.

    germy shoemangler

    I have a question:

    I remember reading that HRC had met with Elizabeth Warren for a long meeting. I don’t remember seeing any details. I think it was after that Warren announced her support for HRC.

    Can anyone point me to any information about their meeting? I assume they talked about economic issues. Are there any links to where I can learn more?

  18. 18.

    the Conster

    Already sick of Clinton’s candidacy – last night there was some lengthy discussion about whether 13 yr old Chelsea called the Secret Service agents pigs, and interviews with random agents from that time who denied they ever heard about that, but it had to be discussed because it’s “out there”. When do Bill’s bimbo eruptions start?

    Shoot.Me.Now.

  19. 19.

    the Conster

    @geg6:

    Good for you. That Koda is a fine looking animal, btw. So bright eyed. She definitely needs Lovey’s energy to scrub some of her own off – it’s going to be a match made in heaven for all of you, I can tell.

  21. 21.

    geg6

    @the Conster:

    There’s been a little tussling this morning, too. Koda gets pissed and jealous and growls and Lovey gives it right back with little barks (so squeaky and cute!). But this is all to be expected as they work out the pack dynamics.

  23. 23.

    germy shoemangler

    @Baud: Well here’s the thing: if she spelled “education” wrong on her website launch, ABC, CBS and NBC nightly news would all be leading with it, and it’d be on the front page of the NY Post, Daily News, NY Times, and Jonathan Karl would be telling George Steph that “it’s over” before it even began.

    But beside balloon-juice and maybe crooksandliars.com(?) I saw nothing about Rand’s spelling blunder.

  25. 25.

    the Conster

    @geg6:

    If I were you, I’d love saying “Lovey” all the time. I’d have a hard time not chuckling every.single.time.

  26. 26.

    germy shoemangler

    @the Conster: Jim Backus had a way of saying “Lovey” with that clenched jaw 1% voice. He was wonderful. He voiced Magoo for years and years (I think he started in the late ’40s?) and he did great dramatic work with James Dean.

  27. 27.

    the Conster

    @germy shoemangler:

    Yes, Mr. Conster does a spot on version, complete with jaw thrust that just slays me. How can you not say the name without hearing that in your head?

  28. 28.

    Schlemazel

    I don’t think I would call it a disaster but I believe it turned into a shit show. SHe spent a ton on money on the so-called best talent & the dip shits couldn’t count. The Obama campaign won because they knew all the delegates available and the paths to get them. His campaign leverages that publicly available information and collected delegates, her high priced spread wasted their efforts.

    There are no perfect candidates (AFAIAC) each has pluses and minuses. For me a huge minus with Clinton was the people she chose to run her campaign, and I assume would fill her team when she won. I’d like to think she learned a lesson as she is a very smart person but I have not paid any attention to who she is gathering this time.

    And yes cable 24 hour news is at the heart of what is destroying America. turn. it. off.

  29. 29.

    Schlemazel

    I don’t think I would call it a disaster but I believe it turned into a shit show. SHe spent a ton on money on the so-called best talent & the dip shits couldn’t count. The Obama campaign won because they knew all the delegates available and the paths to get them. His campaign leverages that publicly available information and collected delegates, her high priced spread wasted their efforts.

    There are no perfect candidates (AFAIAC) each has pluses and minuses. For me a huge minus with Clinton was the people she chose to run her campaign, and I assume would fill her team when she won. I’d like to think she learned a lesson as she is a very smart person but I have not paid any attention to who she is gathering this time.

    And yes cable 24 hour news is at the heart of what is destroying America. turn. it. off.

  30. 30.

    Roger Moore

    @Poopyman:
    It wasn’t the tax thing that really got him; it was the recession. I guess in the “mind” of the average Tea Partier, those two things are inevitably linked, so it’s understandable that people would see things that way.

  31. 31.

    germy shoemangler

    Yet Mrs. Clinton and her team have decided that, on balance, the risk of lining up near Mr. Obama’s record is worth taking.

    Rather than run from Mr. Obama, she intends to turn to him as one of her campaign’s most important allies and advocates — second only, perhaps, to her husband, the other president whose record will hover over her bid.

    In a general election, Mr. Obama is expected to help Mrs. Clinton raise money, and he would be asked to campaign for her in, among other places, the most heavily African-American counties of the swing states that he won in 2008 and 2012, according to numerous people briefed on the plans, who discussed them on the condition of anonymity.

    Mr. Obama would most likely be scarce on the stump in places like Ohio and Pennsylvania, where Mrs. Clinton defeated him in the 2008 primaries by appealing to women and white working-class voters.

  32. 32.

    the Conster

    @Schlemazel:

    Not just the people she chose to run her campaign, who were awful, but her inability to control anyone. It was a shitshow of not just delegate count FAIL, but of daily who-was-in-who-was-out drama FAIL. If she’d had the same people but kept them all on the same page marching forward without the drama, then OK, they suck but she’s a leader. Instead, we learned that they sucked and that she isn’t a leader either – she’s much better suited to being a hard working regional manager type. Hopefully she’s learned something, but she’s an old dog.

  33. 33.

    Kay

    @germy shoemangler:

    This doesn’t address your question re: Hillary but there really does seem to be some coordinated effort beginning on your larger point- not “Hillary” so much as “Democrats”

    New York Mayor Bill de Blasio plans to host a meeting of leading progressive elected officials and activists at Gracie Mansion on Thursday with the explicit goal of forcing the issue of income inequality to the forefront of the national political debate and the 2016 elections.

    “As a Democrat, I am very disappointed that my party has not spoken with a clearer voice on this issue,” de Blasio said.

    Sherrod Brown and Marcy Kaptur have started holding events like this in Ohio. I went to one a couple of months ago- bigger than de Blasio’s- there were about a 100 people there and this was lower level than de Blasio’s – it was mostly county chairs, precinct people, that sort of thing.

  34. 34.

    chopper

    @germy shoemangler:

    Yet Mrs. Clinton and her team have decided that, on balance, the risk of lining up near Mr. Obama’s record is worth taking.

    Rather than run from Mr. Obama, she intends to turn to him as one of her campaign’s most important allies and advocates

    oh god, she learned from 2008. thank fucking christ.

  35. 35.

    JPL

    @Kay: The republicans have already let it be known that they plan on running on income inequality, so Hillary and the democrats need to get ahead of it.
    Of course, the republican plan is tax breaks for corporations and the one percent.

  37. 37.

    brantl

    Let’s not delude ourselves, she’s going to make a shitshow of this in some aspect, just like she did with the e-mail accounts. You never had to have 2 phones, to have 2 email accounts on it. That was bullshit, and it was way stupid.

  39. 39.

    the Conster

    @Kay:

    This is hopeful. Every single Republican says the same simple things – mean hateful stupid things, but they’re totemic in their power with their base. Democrats need to find a simple message too, stay on message everywhere, and be more aggressive in front of cameras. It’s frustrating to hear everything in media being framed by the right wing. Democrats suck at lock step, but they need to make it easy for the media clowns to characterize their message.

  40. 40.

    WereBear

    @germy shoemangler: Rather than run from Mr. Obama, she intends to turn to him as one of her campaign’s most important allies and advocates — second only, perhaps, to her husband, the other president whose record will hover over her bid.

    That was my biggest question, answered to my satisfaction.

  42. 42.

    Cervantes

    @the Conster:

    Already sick of Clinton’s candidacy – last night there was some lengthy discussion about whether 13 yr old Chelsea called the Secret Service agents pigs, and interviews with random agents from that time who denied they ever heard about that, but it had to be discussed because it’s “out there”. When do Bill’s bimbo eruptions start? Shoot.Me.Now.

    Is it really her candidacy you’re sick of?

  43. 43.

    El Caganer

    Hillary Rodham Clinton is running for President? Wow. Didn’t see that one coming. Who could have known?

  45. 45.

    satby

    @Baud: yeah, and I have Clinton hater fatigue. I’m fine with people not liking her, but this constant quest for some perfect imaginary candidate instead of accepting that 1/2 of this country has gone fucking nuts and needs to be stopped just gets old.

    I seriously don’t care who gets the Dem nomination on a lot of levels. I wish every microsecond of attention and energy was spent fighting Republican lies and helping our fellow citizens wake the fuck up, not squabbling amoung ourselves who is the most bestest purest pony that we will ride to ultimate victory and a new progressive nirvana. I have spent 42 years watching that argument get us nowhere while progressive gains have rolled back the entire time.

  46. 46.

    max

    @Schlemazel: And yes cable 24 hour news is at the heart of what is destroying America. turn. it. off.

    THERE YOU GO!

    Cole: I’m watching CNN because the liberal MSNBC is showing jail porn or some other crap, and several times in a row, the 2007-8 Clinton campaign was referred to as disastrous. And so it begins.

    See, Cole? Schlemazel is right – if you’ve got the cable TV news on, the gremlins are eating your brain cells there. Starting with the fucking jail porn. Think about it, man: you’re not going to find anything out you wouldn’t discover from Twitter or the front page of the New York Times, but you’re still letting them fuck with your mind. Which will give you the jitters! Cut the cord!

    Just a preview of what to expect for the next year, I guess, where everything Hillary does is measured not on its merits, but against the optimal outcome.

    She won’t be measured against the optimal outcome, she’ll be measured against imaginary Male Godlike Conservative President John Genius Caring Rich Guy Harlow Popular Thurley. The III. Who not only french kisses homeless women but also cuts taxes on rich and has revenues rise!

    Unlike all the other conservative presidents.

    max
    [‘You know, like House of Cards, but much nicer about the whole murder/coup/WWIII thing.’]

  48. 48.

    the Conster

    @Cervantes:

    I have no interest in reliving the 90s. At all. That’s where all the old legacy media made their names and they’re mostly still around but older, lazier and more conservative now then they were then, and I can already hear them digging through their archives and polishing up their favorite dried up old turds because they’re lazy more than anything.

  49. 49.

    Kay

    @the Conster:

    I like that he specifically mentioned “consultants” because I am of the opinion Democrats pulled back on income inequality in 2014 and switched to “opportunity” because donors influenced consultants. There was a change in tone in the late winter/spring. I’d be curious to know who led that change in tone- who pushed it.

    There’s really two issues- they’re tied of course, but they are distinct. There’s income inequality- the gap- and then there’s stagnating or sinking wages. No one would care that the 1% are so wealthy if the bottom 80% were also holding ground or rising. I think voters will be less interested in “income inequality” than they will be stagnant or falling wages. Bridging the gap in income inequality involves taxes and “transfer payments” which leads directly to wonkiness :)

    I would focus on wages and income security because it’s direct and easy to understand.

  51. 51.

    PaulW

    “Hathos” as a word was invented before Hillary’s advent, but it definitely applies to her.

    The media LOVES to HATE her.

    They want her to succeed even as they try to tear her down because it allows them to be judgmental by speaking so “concerned” about her flaws. And being judgmental and holier than thou is how our modern media rolls: not about the facts or issues at hand, but about how “serious” we all can be about things without really doing anything.

  52. 52.

    satby

    @the Conster: and we help them and let them get away with it by repeating how sick we are of the Clinton’s, when what we are sick of is the well coordinated campaign to discredit them. Yeah, they’re not perfect. You know what, if we can continue the Democratic policies that Clinton had and Obama has brought back leading to better employment prospects and better lives for millions of ordinary people I’d blow the Big Dog myself.

    Or maybe that’s just the hellish last few years I’ve had talking.

  53. 53.

    PaulW

    @max:

    She won’t be measured against the optimal outcome, she’ll be measured against imaginary Male Godlike Conservative President John Genius Caring Rich Guy Harlow Popular Thurley. The III. Who not only french kisses homeless women but also cuts taxes on rich and has revenues rise!

    Just on that point alone the entire media industry should be charged with treason: they repeatedly fail to report how the supply-side/tax cut agenda by the Far Right has been a disaster by how those cuts created unwieldy deficits AND created our current economic inequality woes.

  56. 56.

    PaulW

    @El Caganer:

    Hillary Rodham Clinton is running for President? Wow. Didn’t see that one coming. Who could have known?

    Obama knew. Blame Obama. Always Blame Obama.

  57. 57.

    zoot

    She almost won.

    it was a LOT more than that. Clinton won in all the major blue and purple-dem-leaning states. Obama got the nomination because his played the crap nominating system by racking up wins in red states that the Democratic nominee would never win in the general election (and he didn’t). Clinton’s campaign effed up plain and simple, letting obama take the republican states – a mistake they almost, but couldn’t quite overcome in the crap nominating system.

  58. 58.

    mai naem mobile

    I heard the interview with the author of the book with the Chelsea calling the SS pigs anecdote. I don’t believe it. This just sounds like the dildo xmas tree ornaments story. How come we never hear about the Bushes doing some thing incredibly unbelievable? Pisses me off.

  59. 59.

    Kay

    @the Conster:

    It’s too early to tell but along the lines of the de Blasio effort and Warren, we have a county chair in the county east of here who has this big thing going (“big”-relative! it’s 3 counties) on Social Security. He’s retired UAW and he just feels very strongly that Social Security has to be protected. He held an actual rally last Friday.

    Anyway, I was thinking that people may insist on a “primary” whether they get one or not- an “issues” primary, in a way, because that’s one way they can be heard. We’ll see if that happens but it might.

  60. 60.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: HRC focused on the income inequality issue at the Center for American Progress meeting a few weeks back. I hope to Christ she and every other Democrat beat that drum nonstop for the next two years.

    That message needn’t be seen as a knock on President Obama. He has tried to address it too. The narrative could go something like this: Politicians have been putting a finger on the scale for the wealthy since Reagan, and the result was deregulation followed by the financial collapse under Bush II. PBO has done as much as possible given GOP opposition to address the gaping holes in the infrastructure and averted Great Depression II, but now we have to address income equality head-on.

    Of course, Bill Clinton was complicit in ruinous deregulation (repeal of Glass Steagall), but it was spearheaded by Republicans, and if HRC is going to delve into this issue, she’s going to have to address Bill’s role at some point. Take on the goddamn “trickle down” myth directly — Reagan was full of shit! The only people who have ever effectively addressed budget deficits and made noises about making the wealthy pay their fair share have been Democrats!

  64. 64.

    the Conster

    @satby:

    I mostly agree. If Hillary were out there all the time saying what Elizabeth Warren is saying, trying to act as Obama’s force multiplier and the next progressive standard bearer, I’d be in total agreement that it was just all about the media’s inability to move on. She’s no Elizabeth Warren. She waits to see which way the Beltway wind is blowing too much and surrounds herself with others who help tune her antennae to that frequency. But, I’ll vote for her.

  65. 65.

    msdc

    @zoot:

    Obama got the nomination because his played the crap nominating system by racking up wins in red states that the Democratic nominee would never win in the general election (and he didn’t).

    And yet oddly enough, those votes counted too. (Says the resident of a blue state, which sits next to a swing state, both of which Obama won in the primaries and the general. Glad to hear we’re not “major”!)

    I think you want to be fighting the 2016 election, not re-litigating the 2008 one. It’s too late to put your asterisk next to it anyway.

  66. 66.

    JMG

    The Washington press has always and always will hate Clinton because she beat them. She stuck with Bill during the Lewinsky deal, depriving them of driving him from office in shame. She makes it clear she hates them back, which they can’t stand, being toadies and bullies.
    IMO, if the nominees are Clinton and Bush, that would speak to what to be kind could be called a lack of imagination in the American body politic. But I also accept she has exceptional support among rank and file Democrats who aren’t me. The party could do worse — much worse. Right, Jim Webb?

  67. 67.

    Jacks mom

    She’s got much thicker skin than I could ever grow. If I saw unflattering pictures of myself ( and that’s really the only kind there are as a woman ages) 24/7 I would run and hide under the bed.

    I so appreciate that she is willing to do this when she could just retire & enjoy her grand babies and her life.

  68. 68.

    gogol's wife

    @Gene108:

    Not me. I had my doubts, but there’s no one else, and we have to beat those evil jerks. Go Hillary!

    ETA: This was supposed to be directed to satby.

  70. 70.

    WereBear

    @the Conster: Democrats suck at lock step, but they need to make it easy for the media clowns to characterize their message.

    It’s a tough thing for the subtle people (and boy do we love nuance) but we have to do that, I agree.

  71. 71.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    And Larry Summers. That’s the one who shocked me.

    “I am all for improving education,” Summers told Wonkblog earlier this month. “But to suggest that improving education is the solution to inequality is, I think, an evasion.”

    A shot across the bow on the “opportunity agenda”!

    The plain truth is Democrats have to distinguish themselves because Republicans figured it out- it isn’t 2012. Republicans know they have to say something on income inequality and what they will say is “opportunity”. Democrats can’t be saying the same thing, or they’ll end up discussing the details of funding pre-K as “The Democratic Platform”.

    OTOH, I read something yesterday where Clinton may promote employee profit-sharing of some kind, which doesn’t thrill me. That just has the potential to be a real quagmire for someone like her- I’m actively dreading hearing her explain that. Please, no.

  73. 73.

    the Conster

    The only thing I want to know is who she’s got running her campaign. That’s going to be the tell as to what she’s learned, and we should know shortly.

  76. 76.

    Peale

    @WereBear: no. No. No. If we do that, the kids who know all the good bands we’ve never heard of will mock us for trying to “clap louder”. Being accused of being mainstream is worse than anything Jeb could do.

  78. 78.

    Original Lee

    @Schlemazel: That has been one of my issues with Clinton, as well. She seems to have solid policy chops, but her people management skills appear to me to be weak. Picking staff who are competent and making them work well together is a huge part of being President, IMO. Clinton appears to pick staff based on loyalty and doesn’t seem to care that they’re after each other with daggers drawn.

  79. 79.

    Roger Moore

    @Kay:

    OTOH, I read something yesterday where Clinton may promote employee profit-sharing of some kind, which doesn’t thrill me.

    That could be good or it could be awful. I actually like to make a point along those lines to show just how much things have changed. When my father started working, it was pretty common for companies to have things like profit sharing and employee stock plans, which made it possible for even low level employees to do well when the company prospered. That was part of the idea of shared prosperity and a rising tide lifting all boats. Now, the top level executives give themselves huge stock plans, but the ordinary workers get nothing. Even when the company is massively successful, the ordinary people are left out in the cold. Talking about it that way- especially in a “back in the good old days” way- could be very effective.

  80. 80.

    Kay

    @JMG:

    IMO, if the nominees are Clinton and Bush, that would speak to what to be kind could be called a lack of imagination in the American body politic.

    Part of it is our own fault. I think Ted Strickland might beat Portman in Ohio because I would bet only 5 in 10 voters know that Portman is the sitting Senator. They will recognize Strickland’s name because he was the governor. They may think they’re re-electing him to…something or other :)

  81. 81.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: Agreed — HRC (and Democrats in general) cannot afford to get bogged down in policy minutiae. Now if HRC proposed some employee profit-sharing scheme as a way of capping obscenely large profits, that could be an interesting proposal, and something that could mitigate the “gummint wants to steal job-maker profits” charge that the Republicans will invariably level.

  82. 82.

    WereBear

    @Original Lee: Clinton appears to pick staff based on loyalty and doesn’t seem to care that they’re after each other with daggers drawn.

    It’s a Southern thing (LBJ was huge on it) or a Mafia thing, but it comes down to a paranoia thing.

    Give me wonky competence. But I don’t always get it. President Obama is just awesome that way.

  83. 83.

    Violet

    Is it for sure she’s announcing today? I kind of hope she’s punk’d the cable networks and she doesn’t announce. Just wanders out at some point to ask why all the TV cameras are there.

  84. 84.

    Violet

    @Derelict:

    It’s a weird dynamic that has taken over the media. A Democrat must be perfect in order to be considered good; a female or minority Democrat must be beyond perfection in some state of Platonic ideal that doesn’t exist in this world in order to be great.

    If you think the part I bolded is something new from the media, I’ve got an entire fleet of bridges I’d sure like to sell you. Women and minorities have always had to work twice as hard to be seen as half as good. That’s our society.

  86. 86.

    gelfling545

    @germy shoemangler: If she wants the President’s supporters to turn out for her she’d be well advised to align with him. Many failed to heed this lesson in the last election & surprise! Few of the President’s base turned out; not that there aren’t other things involved in the poor turnout as well, but I believe it’s a factor.

  87. 87.

    germy shoemangler

    @the Conster: Robby Mook

    http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/04/robby-mook-hillary-clinton-campaign-manager-profile

    Mook, who will be the first openly gay manager of a major presidential campaign, is largely unknown beyond the insular world of Democratic staffers but well liked within it. In addition to the email listserv, his loyal following—the Mook Mafia—plans yearly reunions, during which they return to a state where they once operated for a weekend of bar-hopping mixed with volunteering for a local campaign.

  88. 88.

    Violet

    @Omnes Omnibus: I think she should do a proper announcement event. With a stage and a speech and the whole thing. This “She might announce today!” thing is just weird. It’s a big deal to announce you’re running for president. If no one really knows if she’s announcing, why not? Strange.

  91. 91.

    geg6

    @germy shoemangler:

    Everything I know and have read about Mook leads me to believe that our Hillary is learning. He wrangled McAuliffe and sold him on progressivism for the VA governor’s race and, miracle of miracles, McAuliffe not only won but has stayed on message even after winning.

  92. 92.

    germy shoemangler

    @geg6: That’s my impression as well. She saw what he did for McAuliffe and hired him. Young smart guy. I hope she keeps learning.

  94. 94.

    Josie

    @satby:

    Or maybe that’s just the hellish last few years I’ve had talking.

    This. Our own experiences do tend to give us a laser like focus on the very real problems in our economy, don’t they?

  96. 96.

    different-church-lady

    @JPL:

    If you google elizabeth warren meeting with hillary, there are about a dozen articles. Most anything at all most of the articles are speculative.

  97. 97.

    Comrade Scrutinizer

    @Jacks mom:

    . If I saw unflattering pictures of myself ( and that’s really the only kind there are as a woman ages) 24/7 I would run and hide under the bed.

    Helen Mirren says you’re wrong.

  98. 98.

    geg6

    Let me clarify…Mook is not some raving liberal ideologue. But he does seem to be able to find out what matters in an election and have the candidate stick to the plan. This is priceless. And good on Hillary for realizing her past mistakes.

  99. 99.

    WaterGirl

    @geg6: When we introduced my friend’s new 4.5 pound pup to my 40 pound 3-year old dog, I said “it’s going to be so cute when the little guy gets big enough for them to play together”.

    Maybe an hour later they were playing chase – through the kitchen, around to the dining room, into the living room, back into the kitchen. Around and around they went… Tucker weighed nearly 10 times what the baby weighed, but they still found a way to play together.

    Of course, my friend’s pup turned into my pup two weeks later, but that’s a different story. It’s been nearly 5 months now and Henry has doubled in size. It’s been fun to watch the way they adjust their play together as Henry gets bigger. But it’s been rough and tumble since about day 2.

  100. 100.

    Davis X. Machina

    @Kay: I’ll bet you anything it’s “opportunity” polling better than ‘inequality’. The second word, after all, is negative. And it has redistributionist overtones. So we’re right back to giving Stuff to Them again.

    Two words — swing voters. There aren’t a lot of them, but in low-turnout/low-information contexts, they’re real and they matter.

    Then there’s the GOP base — the people who actually vote in mid-terms. They don’t want rising tides lifting all boats. They want to sit in their canoe and watch other people capsize.

  104. 104.

    germy shoemangler

    @geg6: After reading the mother jones article on Mook, I’m impressed with his competence and drama-free style.

  105. 105.

    different-church-lady

    @satby:

    …this constant quest for some perfect imaginary candidate…

    Why on earth would they go through the hard work of finding the perfect candidate when hating the actual candidate is so emotionally satisfying?

  107. 107.

    Schlemazel

    @max:
    Thank you! TV in and of itself is evil, I believe you can trace the decline in America directly to the prevalence of and dependence on television in the home. Even in the days of Edward R Murrow it damaged people because he was >1% of what they watched even then. The garbage being spewed at us today is just gas on the fire. Cable news is the very worst example of TV generated brain damage.

  108. 108.

    max

    @PaulW: Just on that point alone the entire media industry should be charged with treason: they repeatedly fail to report how the supply-side/tax cut agenda by the Far Right has been a disaster by how those cuts created unwieldy deficits AND created our current economic inequality woes.

    Saying that would require math and graphs. And then rich people would get mad. So they run and hide.

    @Roger Moore: It’s not obvious how much of a difference Ross Perot made. He siphoned off some votes from Bush, but he got some from Clinton, too.

    At the end of the day, he wound up drawing off a lot more Republican voters than Dem voters. (Clinton got 43% of the vote in a three man race compared to Dukakis getting 45% of the vote in a two man race.) So it seems pretty clear Perot wound up killing Bush.

    max
    [‘Perot may have saved the nation.’]

  109. 109.

    different-church-lady

    @mai naem mobile:

    I heard the interview with the author of the book with the Chelsea calling the SS pigs anecdote. I don’t believe it.

    Even if she didn’t say it, recent events prove she was right.

  111. 111.

    the Conster

    @germy shoemangler:

    He’s the drama free one, but it continues to worry me that his job (as interpreted by the reporter*) seems to be to save the Clintons from themselves. That worries me a lot.

    *caveat emptor, bitchez

  115. 115.

    Violet

    @Betty Cracker: I think I hate that just as much. Announcing on Twitter seems like a lame person’s idea of what cool is. Like how Facebook has turned into Mombook. It’s fine, it’s just kind of meh.

    I’m probably grumpy about it because I detest the “going to announce” no matter which candidate is doing it. If you’re announcing you’re going to announce you’ve already pretty much announced. I guess that’s why I think there should be some theatrics. Make it a big deal, since you’ve already told everyone what you’re doing anyway.

  116. 116.

    Corner Stone

    Just a preview of what to expect for the next year, I guess, where everything Hillary does is measured not on its merits, but against the optimal outcome.

    Primo case in point. It absolutely does not matter how medium of the road, or inspiring, her announcement today might be. It will be universally panned, and nitpicked to within an inch of its life. Get ready to see plenty of it right here, at this very liberal blog.

  117. 117.

    Corner Stone

    @chopper:

    oh god, she learned from 2008. thank fucking christ.

    I think it’s more applicable to say she learned from 2000.

  118. 118.

    germy shoemangler

    @the Conster: Or is that a headline writer for Mother Jones looking for some drama?

    A memo must have gone out to headline writers everywhere to up the drama. I’ve seen article writers actually confess later to being embarrassed by the headlines tacked onto their words.

  121. 121.

    Corner Stone

    @Kay:

    It’s too early to tell but along the lines of the de Blasio effort and Warren, we have a county chair in the county east of here who has this big thing going (“big”-relative! it’s 3 counties) on Social Security. He’s retired UAW and he just feels very strongly that Social Security has to be protected. He held an actual rally last Friday.

    MHP doing a big segment on expanding SS.

  122. 122.

    germy shoemangler

    @Schlemazel: In “A Drinking Life” Pete Hamill recalls the time when tv sets appeared in his neighborhood. Before that, all the neighbors sat outside on summer nights talking to each other. The next year, he didn’t see anyone, just a blue glow from the window of each apartment.

    I grew up with tv and don’t remember the time before, but the transition must have seemed pretty damn weird to someone of that era.

  124. 124.

    Violet

    @geg6: So happy for your family and the new addition of Lovey. Sounds like things are going really well! Lovey is so adorable. Those bat ears. Hilarious. And Koda looks like a total sweetheart.

  126. 126.

    different-church-lady

    @the Conster: Whoever it is, there will be a thousand reasons they are terrible.

    Or maybe only one reason, repeated ad nauseam.

    Or maybe no reason at all, but merely fervently insisted upon.

  127. 127.

    Peale

    @Corner Stone: if she goes big, she’ll be accused to drawing too much attention to herself. If she mentions herself at all, she’ll be accused of making everything about her.

    If she goes small, she’ll be accused of failing to do things to connect with voters and it will be further proof that she’s expecting a coronation, not a campaign.

    If she splits the difference, she’ll be accused of all of the above. It’s almost as if her detractors like to set it up so she appears to be bumbling no matter what she does.

  128. 128.

    Jeremy

    If anyone is worried about the campaign staff Hillary is picking they should be happy that the team she has constructed is more like Obama’s 2008 and 2012 campaign than Clinton’s 2008 campaign. She’s hired a number of key strategists from the Obama campaigns. Robby Mook worked in the Clinton campaign as a ground operator and was responsible for her racking up victories in a number of primaries in 2008. He was the campaign manager for Terry McAuliffe’s in the 2013 Virginia governors race.

  130. 130.

    WereBear

    I’m not only pleased by what I read of Mr. Mook, but also as a sign that this will be Hillary’s Campaign, not anyone else’s. That is what I want to admire.

  131. 131.

    the Conster

    @germy shoemangler:

    Well, the article goes on to neatly characterize what happens (2008 being Exh. A) when Hill and Bill run the show. The fact that Plouffe identified Mook as the only one the Obama camp kept their eye on pleases me enormously.

  133. 133.

    different-church-lady

    @geg6:

    Everything I know and have read about Mook leads me to believe that our Hillary is learning.

    Well, I’m certain there will be some way she’s going to screw this all up. Utterly positive. I can feel it in my gut. How could I not, having been force-fed so much bullshit over the years…

  134. 134.

    germy shoemangler

    Just checked my local news site, and they linked to an AP article. Here’s how it begins:

    WASHINGTON — The brief on Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is expected to announce her presidential campaign this morning:

    ___

    IN SUM

    As first lady to President Bill Clinton during the 1990s, she was a driving figure in a failed health care overhaul and lived through multiple ethics investigations and her husband’s impeachment

    So the liberal media is on her side!

    What’s funny is that the RW trolls I read on other sites are complaining that the media kisses her ass and refuses to cover her multiple scandals.

    So nobody’s happy.

  135. 135.

    Denali

    If Hilary can find a way to connect with the voters who have not decided that they just don’t like her, and it won’t be by talking about wage inequality or other issues, she may pull it off. It is way past time for the United States to be led by a women. She is competant and smart and hard working. She just needs to convince people that she understands them and their needs.

    I just returned from a visit to New Zealand/Australia where people are able to work on real issues such as climate change, and it was so refreshing not to be faced with the idiocy that the media and the Republicans present us with here. Yes, Hilary has baggage, but she is the only candidate who has the financial backing that is necessary today to be a viable condidate.

  136. 136.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    @the Conster: SNL recycled the tired WJC “bimbo eruption” stuff by having Darrell Hammond back to reprise that character during the opening skit. (He looked much better than he did the last time I saw him on TV – hope he’s getting happier.) I expect (hope!) that there won’t be too much recycling of all that stuff – it really is ancient history that anyone can look up if interested.

    One thing one has to give her and WJC credit for is having a thick skin and continuing to fight even after decades of (mostly unfair and hyperbolic) criticism in the public spaces. W and Reagan and Poppy just faded away. Carter didn’t – he continued to work in lots of areas and write lots of books.

    Obama’s announcement speech was quite good. I hope Hillary can make a compelling case herself and not just think that she can flatten any potential opposition out of the gate by building a giant organization and sucking up all the big donors.

    I hope she has more than a clever tweet today… :-/

    FWIW.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  137. 137.

    germy shoemangler

    More from the AP article “Things To Know About Hillary Clinton”:

    Clinton wrote “Hard Choices,” about her time as secretary of state, and promoted the book around the country in 2014. The book generated mediocre sales and Clinton stumbled at times during the book tour, saying in one interview that she and her husband were “dead broke” when they left the White House. While they faced large legal bills from the Whitewater investigation, the couple made millions after Bill Clinton’s presidency; the comments were considered tone-deaf.

    The article isn’t credited to any writer, it just goes out under the AP banner.

  140. 140.

    WaterGirl

    @satby:

    I have Clinton hater fatigue. I’m fine with people not liking her, but this constant quest for some perfect imaginary candidate instead of accepting that 1/2 of this country has gone fucking nuts and needs to be stopped just gets old.

    Love you satby, but reading things like this is why I get so frustrated. With very few exceptions, nearly everyone I have seen here on BJ who says they don’t like Hillary or don’t want her as president has also said they will definitely vote for her in the general election if she is the nominee. Myself included.

    When I read “but this constant quest for some perfect imaginary candidate instead of accepting that half the country has gone fucking nuts and needs to be stopped” I really wonder who you are talking about.

    Because if you’re talking about people here on BJ, I have not seen even 5 serious people who are in a quest for a perfect imaginary candidate. Most of what I’ve seen is people like myself who want to see more than one real candidate on the democratic side with a real primary.

    I am getting tired of all the personal attacks on people like me who either don’t like Hillary Clinton or don’t want to see her as president. I’m not telling the people who love Hillary Clinton to fuck off, and I don’t understand why it’s okay when it happens the other way around. As long as we’re all willing to vote for the democrat in the general election, WE ARE ALL ON THE SAME SIDE.

  141. 141.

    Violet

    @WereBear:

    I’m not only pleased by what I read of Mr. Mook, but also as a sign that this will be Hillary’s Campaign, not anyone else’s. That is what I want to admire.

    Yes, that’s good stuff! I’m encouraged.

  142. 142.

    Aleta

    @geg6:
    A warm puppy neck wrap. Thanks for the stories. The dogs seem like such a cute pair, worthy of cartoons.

  143. 143.

    different-church-lady

    @germy shoemangler:

    she and her husband were “dead broke” when they left the White House. While they faced large legal bills from the Whitewater investigation, the couple made millions after Bill
    Clinton’s presidency;

    TIME, YOU MOTHERFUCKING REPORTER-MORON: HOW DOES IT WORK?

  145. 145.

    Violet

    @I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:

    Darrell Hammond back to reprise that character during the opening skit. (He looked much better than he did the last time I saw him on TV – hope he’s getting happier.)

    I saw an interview with him where he talked about being an alcoholic and drunk most of the time when on SNL. This was a few years ago but he said he was sober at that point. He’s also replaced Don Pardo as the announcer for SNL. Don died last year.

  147. 147.

    WereBear

    @Baud: I just hope Hillary doesn’t propose that we eat the poor.

    Please! I have standards!

    We’d had to feed the poor much much better than we do for me to considering them worth ingesting.

  149. 149.

    different-church-lady

    @WaterGirl:

    WE ARE ALL ON THE SAME SIDE.

    Yes, we’re all on the same side. That’s why we spend so much time punching each other — it’s so much easier than reaching all the way over and punching the people on the other side.

  151. 151.

    WaterGirl

    @Kay:

    I was thinking that people may insist on a “primary” whether they get one or not- an “issues” primary, in a way, because that’s one way they can be heard. We’ll see if that happens but it might.

    That is a really good idea.

  153. 153.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @the Conster:

    Democrats suck at lock step, but they need to make it easy for the media clowns to characterize their message.

    The media are not just clowns, they are Republicans. They will never characterize a liberal message as anything but childish, assuming they relay it at all. They have done a fine job pretending Obama’s most liberal speeches never happened. There are battles we can win, as Obama’s reelection proved, but this is not one of them – which is why, more and more, Obama has treated traditional media with contempt and gone around it.

    @Davis X. Machina:

    They don’t want rising tides lifting all boats. They want to sit in their canoe and watch other people capsize.

    So much this. The petty and yet virulent spite the ticking demographic timer has unleashed is horrifying. If white racists can’t be a majority, and they know they’re stepping off that cliff right now, they will burn the country down and laugh rather than letting anyone else have it.

  155. 155.

    the Conster

    @WaterGirl:

    This is exactly how I feel. Obama has spoiled us, but like you said, not one single criticism of Hillary will change anyone’s determination here to vote for the Democrat. I was banned from Taylor Marsh because I said that if Hill had fought any of Bush’s policies as hard as she fought for those Michigan delegates, I would have preferred her to Obama. The last thing I want is for this place to turn into Taylor Marsh v.2.

  157. 157.

    Kropadope

    only in the world of cable news can being a hair away from becoming the nominee for President be considered a disaster. She almost won.

    It’s her big day, I’m not going there…

  158. 158.

    geg6

    Lovey is finally venturing off my lap and around the house. Good thing Cole put a bell around her neck so I can hear her.

  160. 160.

    JMG

    Article in the Guardian today in which various Iowa Democratic officials complained that Clinton had yet to spend enough time there, that is, come out to headline their various fundraisers. I’m sure they’re nice people, but I am sick of the entitlement Iowa and New Hampshire voters have about the primaries. It’s especially insane for the Democrats to start their winnowing process in two all-white states. I can understand wanting to start in small states, but then why not have a lottery for states with, say, less than eight electoral votes. Connecticut one election, Oregon the next and so on as the first state to vote.

  161. 161.

    Corner Stone

    @different-church-lady:

    Get ready for it? It’s already happening.

    I know, I apologize for being a little late this morning. I made the mistake of riding bikes with my son before jumping onto BJ for my mid-day HRC Defender Shift.

  162. 162.

    Corner Stone

    @Denali:

    If Hilary can find a way to connect with the voters who have not decided that they just don’t like her, and it won’t be by talking about wage inequality or other issues,

    What are you suggesting she should be talking about? Or what way is there she should try to connect with that demographic?

  163. 163.

    Corner Stone

    @Baud:

    I just hope Hillary doesn’t propose that we eat the poor.

    I know! I mean, have you ever tasted a poor?! Blech!

  165. 165.

    WaterGirl

    @Kay: I agree that “profit sharing” will be about as effective as “opportunity”. Those are catch phrases that immediately put distance between the candidate who spouts them and the people who have a very real shortage of income and either cannot pay their bills each month or cannot make ends meet without a lot of stress.

    Democrats need to talk to people where they live. I don’t mean geographically. People need more money in their pockets not “profit sharing” which sounds like something that will put money in other people’s pockets.

    Republicans talk to their base where they live, which is at the intersection of hate & fear. We need to do the same, just at a different intersection. So what would be the democratic equivalent of the intersection of hate & fear?

  167. 167.

    Kropadope

    @Corner Stone: It’s all in the preparation, bruh. I made poor people for Hillary Clinton for 8 years. A delicacy, if you can get it right, but she’s always had kind of a peculiar palate anyway.

  169. 169.

    germy shoemangler

    @WaterGirl: So what would be the democratic equivalent of the intersection of hate & fear?

    I thought it was Hope and Change. But that term has been mocked so much on the right, that folks are embarrassed to say it.

  172. 172.

    Davis X. Machina

    @JMG: Delaware — one big city (Wilmington), close to DC and NYC, to keep costs down — but Philly’s expensive enough to test fund-raising chops, encouraging smaller and bigger campaigns — plus a whole lot of luncheonettes downstate amidst the chicken barns for the photo ops.

    Like New Hampshire, but better.

  175. 175.

    Baud

    @germy shoemangler:

    I thought it was Hope and Change. But that term has been mocked so much on the right, that folks are embarrassed to say it.

    That’s on us. The first two years of Obama’s presidency were dominated by firebaggers. We collectively ran away from hope and change. It’s why I’m here now instead of still at kos.

  177. 177.

    satby

    @gogol’s wife: Indeed!
    @WaterGirl: I don’t see that as a personal attack on anyone. Sorry you interpret it that way. I’m simply saying that at age 60, after voting in every election since Nixon’s, I’m tired of seeing all the internal squabbling which feeds lines to the other side’s oppo teams.
    Clinton isn’t a perfect candidate, O’Malley is an unknown, Warren ISN’T RUNNING, Webb isn’t progressive at all and doesn’t have a chance (I would hope). But Clinton is viewed positively by many Republican women, which can be an asset in a close election.
    And we need to win.
    We need to win. That’s all I care about.

  178. 178.

    the Conster

    @WaterGirl:

    If it’s any of the not-Jeb!s, the intersection is called “non-crazy”. Maybe that’s enough, because she can’t claim change.

  180. 180.

    JMG

    @Davis X. Machina: I was born and raised in Wilmington, so Delaware would be fine by me. You’d think the Beltway media would go for it. Less far to travel and winter is usually less awful than in Iowa and New Hampshire.

  182. 182.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Denali: Perhaps I’m delusional, but I think Secretary Clinton will win in a landslide. So far I cannot imagine that anyone in the Clown Car can defeat her — even Bush and Walker. She should be to get more White votes than President Obama, especially among White women.
    I’m dying to see who she picks as her VP. That person stands a good chance of being a future President.

  183. 183.

    WaterGirl

    @Violet: I thought it was very considerate of Lovey to poop in the bathroom, where I assume there is no carpeting to clean up.

  190. 190.

    Davis X. Machina

    @Patricia Kayden: I believe you’re right, but….

    It’s going to be a poisoned chalice — for the rest of my life (I’m 58) the major job of a President will be vetoing Republican legislation and trying to smuggle crypto-liberals onto the Supreme Court.

    Unless and until people actually start voting in non-Presidential-year elections.

  192. 192.

    Corner Stone

    @Violet:

    If that’s breaking news to you then you really haven’t been paying attention. She’s been on TVs on various networks for years.

    The…uhhh…all caps BREAKING was supposed to be…ummm. Huh.

  193. 193.

    bemused

    @germy shoemangler:

    Some of Hillary’s advisors wanted her to do tv interviews to counter the frenzy over her use of private email. Mook argued for the more risky presser. I think Mook was right on. There have been far too many tv interviews done by politicians to ‘splain themselves over the years keeping an issue, legitimate or not so much, alive highjacking all the oxygen in the room.

  194. 194.

    Corner Stone

    @GregB:

    It’s 794 trillion dollars in debt over the life a turtle.

    That part of the segment did reveal just how silly the SS Scaremongers are, and have always been.

  196. 196.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @satby: Nice squill, young lady. Thanks for sharing. After brunch at our local coffee shop – where my butter lamb(!) will be used for the Belgian waffles – I’m going to get started on weeding.

    @Omnes Omnibus: Zactly. I have never had any interaction with hookers, thank you very much.

  197. 197.

    satby

    @Davis X. Machina:

    Unless and until people actually start voting in non-Presidential-year elections.

    And that goes back to the non-stop negative press on Democrats by Republican leaning (and intimidated) press. The deliberate efforts that have been successful beyond their wildest dreams of conservatives since Goldwater to de-legitimize progressive advances since FDR and the disengagement of the majority of the electorate. Which is why I say we need to be focused like a laser beam on what has been happening under Republicans, why it seems like nothing ever changes except for the worse, and how to turn it around.

    Because people don’t see that voting has mattered or affected their lives for the better at all.
    And most of them aren’t able to dedicate the time to seek out facts that aren’t included in “news” reports, read policy papers, or spend the time researching all the different outcomes possible under the platforms of each party. That has been the major failure of the Democratic party for years: not being as united and as vociferous as the other side when it comes to holding the opposition accountable.

  199. 199.

    Mandalay

    @satby:

    this constant quest for some perfect imaginary candidate

    This is a strawman, and you know perfectly well that it’s bullshit. Why are you writing this?

  200. 200.

    Gene108

    @Roger Moore:

    If companies shared profits, where would the money for stock buy backs come from?

    And without stock buy backs, how can you improve your valuation to large institutional investors?

    Heaven fore fend you are seen as an underperforming stock, which would just leave you open to a hostile take over.

    One of the most lasting things about the Reagan Revolution has been opening the flood gates for Wall Street to go from a conservative ( small ‘c’) place to a more wide open gambling institution. A lot of the problems we have with stagnant wages and inequality come from Reagan’s decision to let a Wall Street do what it wanted with capital. It is hard to organize, when your division or company could be sold or taken over at levels of management much higher than a union would deal with.

  203. 203.

    the Conster

    @Gene108:

    The Wall Street ca$in0 ride started when the investment firms and the rating agencies stopped being partnerships and went public using other people’s money, right around the same time non-coincidentally as the barrier fell between investment and commercial banks. I still believe the rating agencies are the most to blame.

  204. 204.

    Gene108

    @satby:

    It helps when right-wing billionaires are willing to lose millions to build out media outlets to push their ideology. After Watergate the Right really began to organize in a way the Left did not grok; the Right decided to not rely on traditional avenues – the MSM, for example or independent scholars – to build their case, they decided to build their own institutions, even if those institutions lost money year after year.

    There is no one on the Left with the money and willingness to create a liberal equivalent.

  205. 205.

    Mandalay

    @satby:

    Because that’s how I feel?

    Well much as I have respected some of your past posts, I am going to call you a liar. There is no “constant quest for some perfect imaginary candidate” here. None at all, not even remotely, and you know it. Stop posting lies.

  206. 206.

    Gene108

    @the Conster:

    Den of Thieves gives some background on the transformation of Wall Street in the 1980’s.

    Worth reading, especially with an eye on the transformation of M&A activity that allowed companies to consolidate and downsize as departments got merged.

  207. 207.

    the Conster

    @Gene108:

    All done with other people’s money. That’s always where the risk gets taken, with other people’s money, which is where the rating agencies come in.

  208. 208.

    dogwood

    The Mook hire looks great. She needs savvy organizers this time because 2016 will be much more like 2012 than’08. Primary season will be all about the Republicans and team Clinton needs to get all the pieces in place for the general, and that work will not be covered by the media. In 2012 President Obama had more field offices in Iowa than all the republican candidates combined. That’s how democrats win elections.

  210. 210.

    WereBear

    @germy shoemangler: I still use it. It’s still a great phrase.

    I’ve given up giving any molecule of a damn about what the right wing says. Anybody gets up in my grill about it, I have plenty of withering retorts.

  211. 211.

    Jasmine Bleach

    @germy shoemangler:

    Just checked my local news site, and they linked to an AP article. Here’s how it begins:

    Heh. Yeah, the media will try to bury her regardless of what she does. Expecting anything else is ludicrous.

    As to winning liberals who want the “perfect pony” candidate, I’ll just reiterate. In my experience, we left liberals are not about the personality, we’re about the policy. If Hillary can run on issues like wealth inequality, keeping social security, addressing global warming and pushing renewable energy and a revamped electricity grid, squashing the TPP and other trade agreements that would ship more jobs offshore and essentially remove corporations from our regulatory laws, expanding Medicare or pushing for single payer to reign in medical costs that are bankrupting our country (even with Obamacare that has [so far] leveled costs off a bit, but we need to actually push costs down), and expanding support for education and science in this country, and if she can do this in a coherent and convincing way, THEN she may have a shot at the left liberals.

    Just strongly push for two of those above and I’ll reconsider my non-support of her (although I’ll fully expect it’s all bull and she’ll hire Larry Summers to run economic policy the moment she gets in).

    And as to SC replacements, there’s that one study that determined there’s a better than average chance there will be no replacements from 2017-2020. Perhaps one (Ginsberg is most likely, although her chance of surviving until 2021 and serving that entire time is actually quite high). The following presidential session (2021-2024) will most likely see 3 SC replacements (statistically speaking), including some of the right-leaning members. That’ll be the first real opportunity to “switch” the high court to a left-leaning majority.

  213. 213.

    WereBear

    @Gene108: One of the most lasting things about the Reagan Revolution has been opening the flood gates for Wall Street to go from a conservative ( small ‘c’) place to a more wide open gambling institution.

    Exactly true. The mentality is the same as doping racehorses for a sure win. And employees are just expenses.

  214. 214.

    WereBear

    @Gene108: There is no one on the Left with the money and willingness to create a liberal equivalent.

    We have it already. It’s called REAL universities and think tanks and such. They are playing catchup, and because they have access to crazy money (in every meaning of the term) they can put up a good front and get access.

  215. 215.

    PsiFighter37

    @Kay: As someone who voted for him, I couldn’t care less for de Blasio. The amateur manner in which he tried and failed miserably in flipping the NY State Senate last election exposed him. He also has won basically no battles with Cuomo; the WFP ‘compromise’ was a complete joke as well.

    I wish he’d focus on running the city instead of being a self-styled national ‘leader’ on progressive issues. He also comes off as a bit lazy (his inability to wake up on time is a joke for a grown man). Kind of wish we could trade him for Eric Garcetti out in LA.

  216. 216.

    Heliopause

    only in the world of cable news can being a hair away from becoming the nominee for President be considered a disaster.

    I agree. When I think of disastrous campaigns I tend to think of Fred Thompson or Rick Perry.

  219. 219.

    Mandalay

    @different-church-lady:

    You do realize the liberal blogosphere is larger than Balloon Juice

    Nobody anywhere is on “this constant quest for some perfect imaginary candidate”.

    There’s a whole internet out there. Go find any links – even one – where the “perfect imaginary candidate” is being sought. Since the quest is allegedly “constant” there should be plenty of them. Let’s see what you find…

    The claim is pure nonsense.

  221. 221.

    Chris T.

    @JPL:

    The republicans have already let it be known that they plan on running on income inequality

    Yes … they’re for it.

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