Dem Pollsters Urge Hillary to Run

The Wall Street Journal has a jaw-dropping op-ed today by Democratic pollsters Pat Caddell and Douglas Schoen, who worked for Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, respectively.

Not only do Caddell and Schoen urge Hillary Clinton to run for president, they implore Barack Obama to take a cue from Lyndon Johnson and Harry Truman: Decline to seek a second term for the good of the country.

Caddell and Schoen maintain that if Obama runs for reelection, we are in for the most negative campaign in history. So much for hope and change.

Certainly, Mr. Obama could still win re-election in 2012. Even with his all-time low job approval ratings (and even worse ratings on handling the economy) the president could eke out a victory in November. But the kind of campaign required for the president's political survival would make it almost impossible for him to govern—not only during the campaign, but throughout a second term.


Put simply, it seems that the White House has concluded that if the president cannot run on his record, he will need to wage the most negative campaign in history to stand any chance. With his job approval ratings below 45% overall and below 40% on the economy, the president cannot affirmatively make the case that voters are better off now than they were four years ago. He—like everyone else—knows that they are worse off.

. . .


We write as patriots and Democrats—concerned about the fate of our party and, most of all, our country. We do not write as people who have been in contact with Mrs. Clinton or her political operation. Nor would we expect to be directly involved in any Clinton campaign.



If President Obama is not willing to seize the moral high ground and step aside, then the two Democratic leaders in Congress, Sen. Harry Reid and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, must urge the president not to seek re-election—for the good of the party and most of all for the good of the country. And they must present the only clear alternative—Hillary Clinton.

Hillary's a Great Pick

Dick Morris sent an e-blast that warns of the perils of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State. To be sure, Morris has a unique perspective on the Clintons. Nonetheless, I think that President-elect Barack Obama should nominate Hillary to be Secretary of State.

As Joe Biden ominously (and bizarrely) warned during the campaign, the Obama administration will be tested, early on. That is a certainty in an otherwise uncertain world.

Given that reality, we need someone who won't be pushed around by the likes of Vladimir Putin and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Hillary is tough enough, relentless enough and ruthless enough to protect America's interests. She doesn't seem to suffer from the world appeasement syndrome -- the need to be loved by all -- that plagues the rest of her party. Hillary represents the best chance for our country to remain as safe as possible under Obama.

Obama will have his hands full with her. He already does; the leak of her prospective nomination came from her staff, not his. (The infighting will be great fun to watch. )

Following a thorough hearing on all the donations that Bill Clinton has received from assorted despots and tyrants, the Senate should confirm her.

Guthrie Leads By 10 In KY-2

Brett Guthrie leads Dave Boswell by ten points (53-43) in the battle to replace Congressman Ron Lewis. According to a poll commissioned by Roll Call and WHAS, Guthrie leads in all groups except seniors, where the two candidates are tied.

The district, which encompasses Fort Knox, gives President Bush a 39 percent approval rating. That's how conservative it is.

Now, will the DCCC take its money and its ads elsewhere so we can watch TV again in peace? It's not happening for Boswell, no matter how many visits the Clintons pay us.

Let the Gaffes Begin!

Barry and Joe didn't even make it through their teleprompted speeches yesterday -- their first joint appearance -- without stumbling off script.

First Barry introduced Joe Biden as "the next president". As in, "So let me introduce to you the next president - the next vice president of the US of America, Joe Biden." (Emphasis added.) This, from a Democrat who liked to complain that Vice President Dick Cheney was running the White House. (Poor Barry gets accused in public of snoring, having "stinky" breath and leaving his socks on the floor. No wonder he has subliminal issues about control.)

Then Joe called Barry "Barack America."

"My friends, I don't have to tell you, this election year the choice is clear. One man stands ready to deliver change we desperately need. A man I’m proud to call my friend. A man who will be the next president of the United States, Barack America,” Biden said, per ABC News' Sunlen Miller.

Wait a second. Joe can't call us "my friends." John McCain has trademarked that phrase. At least Joe didn't call our country the "US of America," or the "US of Barack America."

A few minutes later, Joe made these weird remarks about his wife: "Ladies and gentlemen, my wife Jill, who you’ll meet soon, is drop dead gorgeous. My wife Jill, who you’ll meet soon, she also has her doctorate degree, which is a problem." Well, at least she hasn't reported to us yet on the state of Joe's morning breath.

Yeah, even for Biden the feminist sympathizer, the problem with girls getting a Ph.D. -- or a J.D. -- is that they get all uppity, start thinking they can lead the country and such.

That may explain why Obama-Biden chose to unleash their "bare knuckles" on Hillary Clinton. They sent out their much anticipated text message, announcing Biden as the Veep choice, at 3:00 a.m. -- the title of Hillary's commercial that almost took the nomination away from Barry. There, Hillary. Take that! Just don't forget to pull your supporters in line or we'll throw you into debtors' prison.

CBS Debunks Hillary's Bosnia Tale

Of all the networks to accuse Hillary Clinton of making stuff up, CBS -- the "Clinton Broadcast Service" -- is the least likely. Yet it was CBS that pointed out that Clinton's tale of risking her neck to go to Bosnia -- under supposed sniper fire -- deviated far from reality.

CBS was able to impeach Clinton's account with actual videotape that the network shot when it accompanied the former First Lady to Bosnia (linked by Drudge). No snipers; just charming children.

Clinton's campaign is attempting to spin the Bosnia story as a simple mistake -- a lapse of memory that stems from Clinton visiting 80 foreign countries as First Lady.

Having made her experience an issue, and having boasted about her bravery in visiting combat zones, this exaggeration reminds the public that when it comes to factual accuracy, the Clintons are rely on a fuzzy truthiness that cannot survive the scrutiny of a YouTube election.

Hillary's Not OK

How about them Cards! A 30-point win over the Sooners yesterday -- quite impressive.

Speaking of decimating Oklahoma, check out this spoof of Hillary singing a famous Broadway tune with new lyrics about her opponent:

Click here: Barack Obama: Walt Handelsman Animation

Please note: The postings of "G. Morris", written by John K. Bush and which end in 2016, stated his views as of the dates of posting and should not be understood as current assertions of his views. The postings, which have not been altered since they came to an end, remain on this blog to preserve the historical record. In 2017, Mr. Bush took a position that precludes further public political comments or endorsements. He will no longer be contributing to this blog.

Hillobama Become Virtual Paper Dolls

Yes, the youth have become fixated on this presidential election in new and bizarre ways. Take my kids. Like many parents, I peek over their shoulders to see what Internet sites they're visiting -- only to find out they were playing games called "Dress Up Hillary" and "Dress Up Barack."

These computer games -- like old-fashioned paper dolls -- start out with Hillary or Barack in their undies. (Barack wears tightie whities; Hillary wears Grandma underwear.) The gamer then dresses the candidate from head to toe.

Hillary's options hearken back to her Gloria Steinem stage, and also include a poodle skirt, and an I Heart NY shirt. There is an ugly yellow blouse, but no black pant suit to complete the bumble bee look. As the game creators describe the choices,

Will Hillary have bare feet, or bear feet? You decide what she wears for her next big speech. Are you going to make her a voice to be reckoned with, or a complete idiot?

Barack's game includes the prediction, "Today he's a game, tomorrow he's a trivia question." Men's clothing doesn't lend itself to caricature to the same extent as women's, so in Barack's game, the emphasis is on hair and accessories: cornrows; an Afro; dreadlocks; some bling and a Black Panther hat. His white tribal outfit and turban are not among the options.

Like the candidates themselves, the games come with approval ratings. The 2.7 million people who have played Dress Up Hillary give her a 27 percent approval rating; a whopping 73 percent of players disapprove. The 1.4 million people who have played Dress Up Barack give him a 57 percent approval rating. It's unclear to whether the gamer is rating the game or the candidate.

The gamers can post comments, and some of them are harsh with respect to Hillary. The most recent comment said, "ok this was funny because Hilary looked fat and I don't like her!!!!!!" The chubbiness of the Hillary doll is a recurring theme in the comments.

Barack's comments generally digressed from the candidate; most of the players complained about a seemingly unrelated chain mail about a girl name Sarah, whose ghost comes up your bathroom drain if you don't forward the email.

In a year when the professionals look foolish every time they make a prediction, the youth who play the Dress Up games seem to have identified new ventures for the Democratic candidates, if they don't make it to the White House. Hillary can become a spokesperson for Jenny Craig and Barack can star in a remake of Ghost Busters.

We Thought Clinton Supporters Stabbed People in the Back

This takes political divisiveness to a whole new level. A Hillary Clinton supporter stabbed his brother-in-law, a Barrack Obama supporter, in the stomach.

Jose Antonio Ortiz, a 41 year old resident of Pennsylvania, was debating Democratic politics with his 28 year old brother-in-law, Sean Shurelds, in the kitchen. Shurelds complained that Obama has been "trashing" Clinton.

The Smoking Gun (via Drudge) reports that:

Ortiz, a Clinton supporter, replied that "Obama was not a realist." While not exactly fighting words, the verbal political tiff led to some mutual choking and punching. And, allegedly, a stabbing in the abdomen.

This explains why Democrats are always so anxious to ban handguns; they just make primaries too dangerous. The Super Delegates are now super scared.

Illinois Is Not A Presidential Birthplace

Though the weather has not cooperated, Kentucky has tried in the past week to educate the world that Republican President Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky, not Illinois. But have you heard the one about the birthplaces of the Democratic presidential candidates?

Reuters reports:

The Republican leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, joked about all the hero worship surrounding Obama in remarks to reporters at annual congressional dinner on Wednesday.

"But now they're down to just two candidates: a New York senator who was born in Illinois, and a senator from Illinois who was apparently born in a manger," said McConnell.

Please note: The postings of "G. Morris", written by John K. Bush and which end in 2016, stated his views as of the dates of posting and should not be understood as current assertions of his views. The postings, which have not been altered since they came to an end, remain on this blog to preserve the historical record. In 2017, Mr. Bush took a position that precludes further public political comments or endorsements. He will no longer be contributing to this blog.

There She Goes Again

Just when it looked like Hillary was done for, she pulled out her ace in the tear duct. That's right, Hillary has cried again. Unlike her last display of emotion in New Hampshire -- which turned around the election for her -- this time her eyes not only filled up, she actually had to wipe a tear.

Sen. Hillary Clinton teared up this morning at an event at the Yale Child Study Center, where she worked while in law school in the early 1970s.

A doctor, who was introducing Clinton, began to choke up, leading Clinton's eyes to fill with tears, which she wiped out of her left eye. At the time, the doctor was saying how proud he was that sheepskin-coat, bell-bottom-wearing young woman he met in 1972 was now running for president.

"Well, I said I would not tear up; already we're not exactly on the path," Clinton said with emotion after the introduction.

Misery loves company. And if Hillary is elected, there will be lots of workers crying real, not crocodile tears when Hillary garnishes their wages. (See post below).

What Was She Thinking?

Hillary Clinton has explained how she would get everyone to sign up for universal healthcare: she'd garnish their wages.

The New York senator has criticized presidential rival Barack Obama for pushing a health plan that would not require universal coverage. Clinton has not always specified the enforcement measures she would embrace, but when pressed on ABC's "This Week," she said: "I think there are a number of mechanisms" that are possible, including "going after people's wages, automatic enrollment."

It's not so surprising that Hillary would use the Nanny State to garnish wages; she assumes that her constituents aren't very smart and she has little regard for personal liberty. What is surprising is her timing -- that Hillary would admit that she would have to garnish wages on the eve of Super Tuesday. I can't wait to see what Barack Obama does with that gem.

Hillary Would Exempt Illegal Aliens With Ovaries

The heat of the Nevada sun is starting to impact Hillary. No, she hasn't cried, but she's advocating an immigration policy that guts the rule of law.

Take this exchange, as reported by a Nevada paper and linked by Drudge:

A man shouted through an opening in the wall that his wife was illegal.

"No woman is illegal," Clinton said, to cheers.

This is absolute nonsense. It suggests that in addition to letting illegal aliens -- who happen to be women -- bear their "anchor" babies, we're going to give these women immunity for breaking the law.

It's hard to square Hillary's assertion that "No woman is illegal" with her supposed commitment to "strict but fair enforcement of our laws." Exempting a segment of the population from our immigration laws, based solely on their gender, does not sound fair. It sounds like sex discrimination.

Imagine if a male candidate promised to exempt men from the immigration laws. No secret service agent could protect that man from the wrath of Hillary and her feminist gal-pals.

The Crying Game

Nobody channels the Clintons like Maureen Dowd:

There was a poignancy about the moment, seeing Hillary crack with exhaustion from decades of yearning to be the principal rather than the plus-one. But there was a whiff of Nixonian self-pity about her choking up. What was moving her so deeply was her recognition that the country was failing to grasp how much it needs her. In a weirdly narcissistic way, she was crying for us. But it was grimly typical of her that what finally made her break down was the prospect of losing.

As Spencer Tracy said to Katharine Hepburn in “Adam’s Rib,” “Here we go again, the old juice. Guaranteed heart melter. A few female tears, stronger than any acid.”

What's peculiar is how well the tactic worked on those women voters over 65. (I can think of a number of ways to characterize that group, but resist the temptation with the fear that if I do, I won't live to join them.) This group has been driving for roughly half a century. They know first hand that the fastest, easiest way to get out of a speeding ticket is to grow misty-eyed. The prospect of tears intimidates more than the actual crying. Consequently, this group of voters should have been the quickest to spot Hillary's manipulation.

Perhaps the mature women voters sympathized with the Hillary tears that we never saw: those that must have flown every time Hillary learned that the Boy President had cheated on her.

Feminist Blowhard for Clinton

I wonder if they issued a "stop the presses" order at the New York Times -- not to inform us that Gloria Steinem is supporting Hillary Clinton, but rather to correct Steinem's mistake in her op-ed. (The Grand Dame of Feminism erroneously wrote that Senator Ted Kennedy had endorsed Hillary.)

The Times should have redacted the entire Steinem op-ed, entitled "Women Are Never Frontrunners." But then we would have missed Steinem's explanation of why Barack Obama can overcome racism but Hillary can't overcome feminism:

because children are still raised mostly by women (to put it mildly) so men especially tend to feel they are regressing to childhood when dealing with a powerful woman; because racism stereotyped black men as more “masculine” for so long that some white men find their presence to be masculinity-affirming (as long as there aren’t too many of them); and because there is still no “right” way to be a woman in public power without being considered a you-know-what.

In sum, Steinem gives us the particular blend of psycho-babble and victimization that epitomizes Old School Feminism.

Steinem's influence on Hillary has been longstanding and not just limited to feminist issues. Indeed, photos of Hillary at Yale and in the years following showed that Hillary aped not only Steinem's rhetoric but also her hair, glasses and style of dress. So it's no surprise that Steinem would support her protege, though her reasoning is startling:

I’m supporting Senator Clinton because like Senator Obama she has community organizing experience, but she also has more years in the Senate, an unprecedented eight years of on-the-job training in the White House, no masculinity to prove, the potential to tap a huge reservoir of this country’s talent by her example, and now even the courage to break the no-tears rule.

Oddly, Steinem's only logical point -- that Hillary has more Senate experience than Obama -- is exactly what sunk her in Iowa. And the notion that she obtained "on-the-job training in the White House," as an unelected co-president is beyond "unprecedented": it's undemocratic. But Steinem's most curious rationale for picking Hillary over Obama is her "courage to break the no-tears rule." That point confirms what most suspected: Hillary's weeping was no spontaneous show of heart; it was calculated manipulation.

Steinem correctly concludes that at the end of the day, Obama and Hillary will steer the country in the same direction -- left. They will change government in the same way -- make it bigger and more expensive. "Indeed, if you look at votes during their two-year overlap in the Senate, they were the same more than 90 percent of the time." They may not look alike, but intellectually, Hillary and Obama are twins.

Huckabee Walks (Across) The Line

Maybe on his plane trip to California, Mike Huckabee has been listening to another famous Arkie, Johnny Cash, singing "I Walk The Line." Hillary surely has not.

The New York Times reports that Huckabee had no idea that he will be crossing a picket line to appear on the Tonight Show. Hugh Hewitt's radio show just speculated that news of the screenwriters' strike must have been reported on the same day as the National Intelligence Estimate of Iran's nuclear capabilities -- the day when Huckabee apparently didn't read the paper.

Hillary is guilty of many things (see the post immediately below, for example), but leaving The New York Times unread is not one of them. So she obviously knew about the strike and has done the politically correct thing, Politico.com reports: tape a cameo appearance for the beginning of the David Letterman show. Hillary's late-night pitch for votes (unlike Huckabee's) will involve no crossing of union lines because Letterman (unlike Jay Leno) has struck a deal with his screenwriters.

Please note: The postings of "G. Morris", written by John K. Bush and which end in 2016, stated his views as of the dates of posting and should not be understood as current assertions of his views. The postings, which have not been altered since they came to an end, remain on this blog to preserve the historical record. In 2017, Mr. Bush took a position that precludes further public political comments or endorsements. He will no longer be contributing to this blog.

Hillary Bribes Iowa Voters with Free Babysitting

Hillary Clinton is offering free babysitters and daycare centers to get her supporters to the Iowa caucus, according to the New York Daily News as linked by Drudge. "The Clinton campaign is opening day care centers across the state, including three in Des Moines, and has enlisted a legion of teenage girls to render their tyke-watching services."

This takes Get Out the Vote drives to a a whole new level. And it's brought to us by the candidate (and party) who think that we should look to government -- or a campaign to run the government -- to perform even the most mundane chores of daily life.

We already knew that Hillary believes that "It Takes a Village" to raise a child. She literally wrote the book on the Nanny State. Hillary gave a speech to promote her book and her philosophy of collectivist child-rearing in 1997 that included this:

We all know that raising kids is a full-time job and since most parents work, they are, we are stretched thin. Just think about what many parents are responsible for on any given day. Packing lunches, dropping the kids off at school, going to work, checking to make sure that the kids get home from school safely, shopping for groceries, making dinner, doing the laundry, helping with homework, paying the bills, and I didn't even mention taking the dog to the vet.

That's why my husband wants to pass a flex-time law that will give parents the option - to take overtime pay either in extra income or in extra time off depending upon whichever is best for your family.

That's right, let's impose federal regulations on small business owners to enable parents to get the dog to the vet and pack the lunches. But by providing the actual babysitters and daycare centers, Hillary has taken her philosophy to its illogical extreme: she'll provide someone to pack the lunch and help with the homework.

It's no surprise that Hillary will do anything to win. This strategy, however, reflects a recklessness that one would not expect from a lawyer. The liability issues boggle the mind. Many schools and churches do not even let parents volunteer before undergoing a criminal background check first. Will Hillary fingerprint her volunteer sitters, or make sure they know CPR? Don't expect her to check whether they are registered sex offenders. After all, this is the party who wants to give voting rights to felons.

But if Bill has any say in selecting the sitters, they will at least be nubile. Who knows, maybe Bill will be one of the babysitters, just to keep campaign expenses low, of course.

Moreover, any parent who would accept Hillary's childcare is gambling their child's safety. There won't be any time to check the sitter's references. Why would anyone leave their child with a stranger -- just to go to a caucus?

I've always taken my children with me when I go to vote; the experience teaches civic responsibility and the mechanics of democracy. So I could not understand why any Iowan with small children would not simply bring them along to the caucus.

Then it hit me. The content matter at a Democratic caucus might not be appropriate for small children. They'd learn that one of their candidates used cocaine. They'd learn that another candidate might have an illegitimate child. And they'd hear plenty of discussion about the value of "choice" -- not school choice, but rather abortion. That would make for an interesting mother-child conversation on the ride home from the caucus.

Get Your Clinton Library Card

Hillary argues that the vast experience she acquired as co-president justifies a vote to send her back to the White House with Bill as First Laddie. But she won't release the papers that discuss her experience. Tell Hillary that we want to see what she's hiding in the Clinton Library.