The official blog of the Libertarian Party
December 06, 2006
Hillary to Run for Prez, Dick Morris Scared
According to WaPo, Hillary Clinton seems to be very serious about a potential presidential bid in 2008:
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) is taking a series of concrete steps toward a likely campaign for president in 2008, settling on key members of her campaign team, recruiting potential new additions to her staff, and calling Democratic activists in states with early primaries and caucuses.
No final decision on running is expected before the end of the year, according to sources knowledgeable about her thinking, as Clinton works methodically through a checklist of preparatory steps. But she and her inner circle are already ramping up for what could be a history-making bid for the White House.
Dick Morris, former political advisor to Bill Clinton, seems very concerned about this. In a commentary piece at The Hill, Morris provided quite a few reasons to be scared of Hillary:
1) She rarely has a new idea but specializes in advocacy — the rote recitation of talking points.
2) She is obtuse in her understanding of people and ham-handed in her approach.
3) She seeks popularity as a means to the goal of getting elected but otherwise marches to the beat of her inner, liberal drummer.
4) She swallows the ideological line of the guru du jour hook, line and sinker. During the healthcare years, it was Ira Magaziner who pushed her buttons. When she decided to back the Iraq War, it was the generals who paraded before her committee. She is vulnerable to a cultish adoration of the guys with all the answers.
5) She has a rigidly dichotomized view of friends and enemies, demanding total loyalty and public silence from the former and maintaining a ruthless determination to destroy the latter. She is a Democratic Nixon to those whom she perceives as her enemies.
6) She devotedly and deeply believes in a European-style socialism in which government takes much more of our national income and offers a far wider array of services and benefits.
7) She'll increase [taxes] just to redistribute income.
8) She is more like LBJ, Nixon or Bush Jr. - determined to charge ahead and do what she thinks needs to be done, the torpedoes be damned.
9) She constantly seeks to reinvent herself and rigidly maintains an almost totally inaccurate image in public of what she is really like in private.
10) She would be a disaster at home and abroad.
If anyone knows how disasterous a Clinton presidency would be, Dick Morris would.
Posted by Stephen Gordon at December 6, 2006 10:21 AM
Reader Comments:
Dick Morris may be scared. I am ****ing terrified. If she wins, Canada may start looking like a rather capitalistic place to live. :) Hell, Commie China might end up being better than what Madame Hillary would bring.
Ok, on a more serious note. The woman is a psycho, paranoid bitch. She would actually probably have much the same perceptions as Nixon did, about enemies and would be totally ruthless in office. She will pursue an agenda which would make McGovern look moderate in comparison.
Her success will be dependent on her opponents. In a primary should could win in a landslide but against Guiliani it would be very interesting, especially here in NY where both are very popular.
Looking for a moment from a strictly political perspective:
I would imagine that Hillary would do extremely well in the Democratic caucuses and primary. The left will be out in force behind her and I think she will likely have the nomination secured very early in the process, probably before the March primaries. Barack Obama is fairly photogenic and appealing, but doesn't have the organization to defeat Hillary. I would not at all be suprised to see him on the bottom of her ticket in November. So you will have a Clinton/Obama Democratic ticket versus ?/? Republican ticket. There is no clear Republican front runner. Guiliani simply won't pass muster with conservatives. It will likely be several months before we see any trends.
As for the General Election of 2008. It will almost certainly be another strong Democratic cycle, with Democrats certain to maintain the House and increase their majority in the Senate. As for the Electoral College picture. I think Ohio could be the state that throws the election to Clinton. The Republican Party has all but collapsed in that state and the Democrats have taken control. That should be enough to elect her President.
All of this debate makes it sounds like there really is a difference between Democrats and Republicans - which in the area of liberty - there is none. You'll be happy to know that there is a new bestselling book out that makesa persuasive case for the Libertarian philosophy. It's called "Why You're Dumb, Sick and Broke" by Randy Gage, and it is blunt and in your face, but dead on. I believe it will bring a lot of people over to the party.
-CP
I note that Christine Smith describes herself as socially "progressive". I wish she would use a better term. It doesn't accurately describe her views.
Generally, when you see the term "progressive" used in the political arena, you can safely substitute the term "socialist" which is what progressives actually are. It is about "progressively" turning this country into a socialist pit.
So Christine, your a good candidate, but please lose the "progresive" from your description. I am glad to see she is anything but progressive in her actual platform. She seems to have a strong libertarian platform.
Unfortunately, no one in America recognizes the name Christine Smith. Just like no one in America recognized the names Michael Badnarik, Andre Marrou, Ed Clark, Harry Browne or John Hospers. And unfortunately, even after they've run for President, still no one no one in America recognizes the above names.
Isn't doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results the definition of insanity? Why do we keep running no names for President? Are libertarians insane?
Maybe Hillary Clinton is affiliated with hammeroftruth.com and libertymix.com, as they are similar to tax and spend democrats - request money from the constituency (in this case, over $10,000 from libertarians at the recommendation of Michael Badnarik) and provide no goods or services. Search out Nancy Pelosi and unions on Youtube, you'll see something similar.
You would think that since the person who runs this blog is a staff member of hammeroftruth.com, there would be an official response of some sort!
Chris, I've read your posts. Surprising no one involved is responding. Anybody out there?
I'd like to apologize for the spam lately (and the last post, wasn't letting me post for some reason, thought I might be banned, which would be ironic on a libertarian website!) but here's the course of events:
1. E-mailed hammeroftruth.com staff - no response.
2. E-mailed pr@lp.org - they apparently just tried to "guess" on the issue and said that it looks like they're working on it as the site went down earlier that day.
3. Two weeks later I e-mailed them again, and no response. I would have hoped they would try to do some research on the matter with an LP member on staff there, but no dice I guess.
I really don't know what to do now. Apparently, my time is worth less than the effort I've put forth to see some sort of payback at this point, because I still soldier on. I guess my big concern is not necessarily my $25, but the fact that they received at LEAST $10,000 according to their little progress bar, and have essentially run off with it. hammeroftruth.com recently came back up with links to news items from other libertarian websites, but no comment posting capabilities. libertymix.com still has the same "coming soon" message with links to old hammeroftruth.com "update" items that are now broken links. I don't see what other course of action I have besides class action lawsuit, and THAT is not worth the $25. I'd rather have the satisfaction of making a public stink about an issue I am right on, and hope to have some sort of positive effect that way (like most libertarians on most issues, *sigh*)
Chris,
I know exactly what you're going through. If there is anything I can do to help you "make a stink" - let me know. We don't deserve to be treated like this.
Have you seen this thread? There are a bunch of other people in your boat wondering the same things you are. If you haven't already, leave a comment and add your voices to the chorus of people wondering what the Communications Director of the Libertarian Party did with their money.
You didn't include a link (unless it was stripped out somehow, but did you mean this: http://thirdpartywatch.com/2006/12/04/hammer-of-truth/ - thanks gooooooogle
I also put it in the "URL" field on this post, so I believe you'll get it if you click on my name.
I hope the money was not diverted into the campaign for Badnarik. I refused to vote for him in 2004 after he was nominated by the LP and whitewashed his website of his true views such strapping violent criminals sentenced to jail to their bed for a month so that their muscles shrink and they are less of a threat to society, replacing them with a fairly generic LP platform and slicker design. It's people like him who made me stop donating to the LP and instead contribute to organizations with libertarian ideals. I thought the Hammer of Truth site was a site worthy of my donations as it was a very popular site; though better news aggregate than blog. The vague claims for libertymix sounded promising. Badnarik was the one stumping for donations but I was willing to look past that. How naive and stupid this decision turned out to be!
Oh and by the way, Hillary Clinton would be an AWFUL president. I'm all for women in power, just not that one.
How about creating anvil-of-truth.com? Seems appropriate.
Hillary is just another pragmatic politician who is incapable of producing anything of substance. If she is elected, the conservatives will lock horns with her for four years, the liberals will run and hide, and we will all suffer. She and Bush are BOTH part of the problem. Libertarianism is the only solution, in my eyes.
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Dick Morris may be scared. I am ****ing terrified. If she wins, Canada may start looking like a rather capitalistic place to live. :) Hell, Commie China might end up being better than what Madame Hillary would bring.
Ok, on a more serious note. The woman is a psycho, paranoid bitch. She would actually probably have much the same perceptions as Nixon did, about enemies and would be totally ruthless in office. She will pursue an agenda which would make McGovern look moderate in comparison.
Posted by: Mark B. at December 6, 2006 03:26 PM