Al Gore is also going to be a huge problem for Hillary. I heard him say so just a year ago. Because she is very vulnerable in Iowa (where she has a 26 point lead currently). And Gore has done extremely well in Iowa historically (he placed last in 1988 with 0% of the vote).
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Entirely justified in todayâs political journalistic climate.
I would long to be in the journalistic atmosphere of the 1960s when even a centrist person was awarded some respect (let alone LEFT of centre). When even a racist like J. William Fulbright did not have to be a science and Humanities-denying caveman to be a Senator.
Most of the mistakes Democrats tend to make in this sort of environment flow from the perception that, no matter what they do, it will be reported in the most negative way possible, while lying, racist and even felony-level misdeeds by the Right are winked at. That type of fearfulness seeps into a Partyâs soul.
And every sibling who unjustly was never their parentsâ favourite knows that feeling.
[I was the favourite, though, no sour grapes here⌠
]
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As they say in Mexico:
Fuck this fucker.
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He wouldnât even be a spoiler. His support is already baked into every poll right now, and she is still leading by big, big margins in every state but NH. Democrats have been polled about Joe Biden well over 100 times since 2012âŚand they always answer the same âGreat guy, but no, we donât want him as the nomineeâ The average of those polls show Dems supporting Hillary over Biden by 34 points. His best showing still shows Hillary leading by 27 points.
This is not the stuff that spoiler campaigns are made.
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Sorry, I was responding to a few criticisms in the thread, not just you specifically. Iâm calm. 
But the thing is, Hillary is Hillary. Her political persona is very guarded. Sheâs not a warm character. I have no doubt she is a great person in a safe private environment. But her public facade is more like a Thatcher or even some aspect of Obama than say Bill or Dubya. So she will never be that backslapping good ol boy type figure. I think we need to come to terms with that at some point.
Yeah, I love her to death, but Iâm able to see her political flaws. Yes, she comes across like elections are beneath her, that if weâd just hurry up and put her in office sheâd be much happier. But I donât think that is hubris or entitlement. Honestly, i feel that she is champing at the bit to get to work on those things she is passionate about. She wants to make things better for those regular people she has met everyday of her public life. So if she seems like she is impatient it is not coming from the same place that Jeb or Trumpâs hubris is coming from. She genuinely cares for people. She has a very real agenda to help working class people and to help elevate womenâs issues and strengthen families. Like Obama, you gotta know her drive is in service.
Sorry, I get passionate about Hillary. I feel like Iâve been defending her for 20 some odd years without making any progress.
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The party insiders are still smarting from the way they screwed up in 2008, and even though they wanted to run Hillary, the voters got ahead of them and selected Obama. Their paranoia plays right along with Hillaryâs tendency to play an insiderâs game. It will mean, though, that the voters will not get a chance to see âtheirâ chosen candidate competing with and debating with the others and confirm their support for the winner, because there wonât be any contest. Iâd welcome Biden to the race, but itâs fixed. We wonât even see the first Democratic debate until October, and thatâs designed to make it too late to switch candidates even if Hillary craters.
But all the beltway pundits tell me Hillary is losing. Are they just disconnected from reality or are they trying to create an image that fits a narrative that they simply made up?
I have to disagree with that. Everyone has known when the election starts, and could have gotten into campaign mode, Biden in particular. Hillary has made no attempt at hiding her intentions to run for the past two years, but nobody else has bothered to get into the ring. Biden hymmed and hawed for literally years about being a candidate, which is perhaps the clearest indication that he isnât hungry enough for it. And we certainly donât need a candidate that is still unsure if he has the âfuel to runâ being our nominee.
Nothing stopped anybody else from presenting their case to the major donors and the party elite. Or from hiring the necessary talent to staff a campaign. An argument can be put forth that nobody else thought they had a more compelling case than Hillary, but isnât that sort of the point? If you donât believe enough in your story, you certainly arenât going to convince voters.
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Iâd welcome Biden to the race, but itâs fixed. We wonât even see the first Democratic debate until October, and thatâs designed to make it too late to switch candidates even if Hillary craters.
Other candidates had the same opportunities to join the fray as Hillary. At any time before Hillary declared, that time when she demured yet everyone KNEW she was going to run, they could have thrown their hat in and created the foundation and infrastructure and message for a legitimate alternative to Hillary. No one of substance did that. I wish they had. I wish Biden came out the gate with a run. I wish Warren would have run. I wish Hickenlooper here in Colorado would have thrown his name in there because he is a fantastic establishment type of Dem from the inter-mountain west, way better than that asshat Sweitzer. Hell, Jerry Brown would have been fun too!! But nobody had the guts to really challenge Hillary except for Sanders.
At first I was excited as Iâm a Hillary supporter, but then I saw that the news dribbled out of the mouth of Halperin, so now Iâm not excited as thereâs no way to know if itâs true or not.
The âshyâ part of Hillary I get.
When I retired from the classroom I did so so as not to become a âBrett Favreâ of politics (overstaying my welcome). But I genuinely loved being in front of a group of kids and, well, entertaining them while I was teaching them. There was an joy there. I never thought for one second about teaching online because I knew that my Vaudeville act could not be performed there.
And it may well be that Hillary (in a smaller setting) IS as warm as I was in class.
But the particular warmth projected to political constituencies. Well⌠those are some FDR-level abilitiesâŚand like the small-group (classroom) case as well as the âmoving a crowdâ case itâs a TALENT.
I had posted on another thread something to the effect that a clever communications/media director of Hillaryâs could MAXIMIZE those aspects of her personality that are warm and minimize those which the public is MORE inclined to feed on, because, quite frankly, the MSM IS Republican-friendly.
IFâŚHillaryâs skills and warmth projected could be maximizedâŚwell, thatâs where the fun beginsâŚbecause, usually, when I left class, I was surrounded by people who still wanted to listen.
And I still wanted to talk and listen to my students.
Not a chore. And the best campaigners are those for whom the âchoreâ part is not all of it.
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Iâm not buying that narrative. Iâm saying that others will, including especially the MSM. Thereâs a difference. However, I will admit the line is a little smudged on this particular statement, because I do take umbrage with her claiming to have locked up" delegates prior to anyone voting. Thatâs how it worked in MA this past election cycle and, as a result, we were gifted with Coakley, whose political savvy and campaign skills are analogous to the guy who ran around yammering about the rent being too damn high. The party machinery shot us in the face on that one.
The MSM, particularly its conservative components, hate HRC, and the idea that she may have wrapped up the nomination already infuriates them, not just because it spoils a Dem primary horse race narrative, but because itâs her. Heck, one might even argue that with Sanders making the strides heâs making, they possibly could push a more horse-racey narrative already, but instead they opt for trying to tear her down, focusing on her âscandalsâ to the exclusion of all else and speculating non-stop about how much damage theyâre dong to her chances. That says something right there. Itâs gloves-off fine and dandy to step all over her in their minds and theyâd rather do that than risk making her campaign look interesting (or, god forbid, drawing attention to Sandersâ campaign, which they hate for entirely different reasons). The long and short is that she and her team should be focused on avoiding giving the MSMâs and her opponentsâ narratives about her anything to latch onto.
Folks can complain about this being âopticsâ argument if they want, but just watch what eventually happens to Trump, who has thrown all general optics concerns out the window in favor of carefully crafting a perceived persona targeted at a very narrow and predictable known-quantity audienceâŚitâs going to be one helluva glorious flaming toupee Hindenberg disaster for him come the general.
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To be fair, I donât even care if it is or not, because I just want the best candidate. Narcissism is part and parcel of being a politicianâŚsmart folks might even say a necessary partâŚso I donât give a fuck about that in and of itself. Frankly, I do think itâs partly hubris and a sense of entitlement, but I donât care as long as the policies are correct. Complaining about a politician being somewhat arrogant, ego driven and suffering from some degree of superiority complex is like complaining that your broccoli is green.
OTHERS, however, do give a fuck, and itâs those voters about whom I speak. She hasnât won their votes yet and still needs to.
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I like your post and thank you for writing it. My only response is that she must have at least a little talent. She elicits incredible devotion in staff, from the Democratic establishment machine, and in vast numbers of voters like myself. Huge constituencies across America are in her camp. Sheâs a politician that has won over the gatekeepers and is winning over the voters. Not an easy task. Ask John Edwards, someone blessed with plenty political talents before his demons caught up with him.
Again, like I posted in another response, I wish more viable candidates had taken her on for the nomination. I think she could have used the battle and we could have been well served by an honest choice and the MSM would not be so fixated on trivialities like emails or a possible Biden run.
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But donât you see? Halperin IS one of those conservative components. And the only source for the actual quotes is an anonymous one he claims. We actually donât know if she used the phrase âlocked upâ for instance.
This is Halperin trolling the Democratic party. The DNC is basically making a routine check in with all the campaigns, and Hillary told them what they wanted to hear about her campaignâŚthat she is the front runner for a reason. Halperin grabbed one thing that was said, and wordsmithed it to better suit his narrative and dumped it out there as if it were gospel. He specifically is trying to piss off the Sanders people, and piss of indies and middle of the road voters against Hillary.
Its exactly his styleâŚit allows him to say she is arrogant AND that she is desperate in one sitting. And donât forget, Mr Game Change I & II is himself quite desperate for Game Change III to write itself. He wants something to shake up the Democratic primary, and so far, its just not happening. So, time to grease the wheels a bit.
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Love it! Yes.
I do think her gender is at play here for the voters you are worrying about. I think a Bill Clinton gets away with this because balls, but a Hillary Clinton cannot because boobs. But honestly, sheâs gotta play it her way. Nobody will remember todayâs claims next week much less by the first debates in October, much much much less in March of next year.
This is so true. Thatâs why I brought up âthis is great news for John McCainâ. I donât know how many different times and different ways he used that phrase in 2008. There were times where Obama would have completely owned the news cycle, gotten back fabulous polling numbers, and yet Halperin would be on TV in the evening claiming a win for McCain, trying to turn his manufactured narrative into reality. Thatâs exactly what heâs doing here.
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The thought-provoking aspects of this particular website, as well as the acceptance of others and all-around civility, are very gratifying to me
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Not even close, Sparky.
You keep posting witless nonsense about Democrats, and all you accomplish is showing your ass.
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No, they are not. Nor do I think that âstaffersâ released such information on their own authority. Given the history of the Clintons for such frequent unforced gaffes, look to both of them as the reason. The âvast right wing conspiracyâ only feeds off the food they are given.
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