Somebody Help Me.......

I need your help. I know that I have about 50/50 liberal and conservatives reading my site, so I’m hoping someone out there is planning to vote for Hillary Clinton. No? Well one of you has to know someone who is planning to vote for this women. So here’s what I need you to do: Find that person, and have them tell me WHY they plan to vote for this women. I’m being serious here, I really want to know what her appeal is.

And this isn’t coming from a “why would anyone ever vote for a Democrat” angle. I understand the appeal of Obama. I understand on some level the appeal of Edwards. These are not necessary appeals that I relate to, but when it comes to Hillary, outside the fact that she would be our first female president, I don’t get the appeal. The women and her husband have been involved in scandal after scandal, they have shamelessly used race as an issue in this election, and sleaze just seems to follow both her and Bill.

For those that claim she has the most experience, that may be true among the current crop of Democratic hopefuls (assuming what your definition of “experience” is), but we certainly had candidates with MUCH more experience (Dodd, Biden) early in the race, and they never cracked double digits in any of the polls, so I really doubt that the experience card is the one that counts.

Then there is the “voting for her because she is a woman” thing. I guess I can’t just toss this one out, because if I belonged to a group, any group, that had never been represented in a presidential race (black, women, Hispanic, Jewish, gay, Eskimo, etc…..), I’d probably support the candidate that was most like me as well. I don’t think this is a good reason. Imagine if the race came down to Hillary and whoever on the right, and I choose the Republican candidate “because he’s a man”. Or if it was Obama and I chose the Republican “Because he’s white”. Would you support either of those reasons? God I hope not.

Which leaves the reason to vote for her as…… wait, I can’t think of another reason. Because you want Bill back in the White House? Look, as bad as I think George Bush has been as a president, he still has a core group of ardent supports (of which I am not one) that would LOVE to see him in the White House for a third term, yet I have never heard anyone suggest drafting Laura as a candidate to run. “Of course not” you say, “Laura Bush does not have the experience”. Hmm? Oh I know, Hillary has seven years as Senator that Laura doesn’t have, but Hillary keeps going back to those White House years as proof she is ready to “hit the ground running.”

The good news is that a lot of those on the left are FINALLY learning what the rest of the country has known about the Clintons for years. Obviously all of the right wing pundits don’t like her, but each and every day we are hearing from more and more on the left who have set down their Kool-Aid and seen the light. For example, these words from Democratic Senator John Kerry: “I think you had an abuse of the truth, is what happened,” Kerry said. “I mean, being an ex-president does not give you license to abuse the truth, and I think that over the last days it’s been over the top. Things have been said about Barack Obama’s positions that are just plain untrue."

Here is William Greider in The Nation, the venerable left-liberal magazine. The Clintons are "high minded" on the surface but "smarmily duplicitous underneath, meanwhile jabbing hard at the groin area. They are a slippery pair and come as package. The nation is at fair risk of getting them back in the White House for four years."

This from the liberal blog, Digbysblog: "But the Clintons are tearing the party apart. It will not be the same after this. It will not be the same after its most famous leader, and probable ultimate victor, treated a proud and accomplished black man who is a U.S. senator as if he were nothing, a mere impediment to their plans. And to do it in a way that signals, to his supporters, How dare you have the temerity, the ingratitude, after all we've done for you?"

While this is promising, I’m not holding my breath that these folks will not go back to drinking the Kool-Aid should Hillary earn the nomination.

So once again, can anyone tell me why ANYONE is supporting this woman? Anyone?

One other thing. Both Bill and Hillary have been slamming Obama this last week for supposedly praising Ronald Reagan. Well, if that is a sin, consider these comments from the Clintons, from Tom Brokaw’s book “Boom”:

Hillary Clinton: Reagan "Understood" Economic Pressures On The Working And Middle Class, "He Played The Balance And The Music Beautifully." Tom Brokaw wrote, "As for the political climate in America, she (Clinton) understands that America has historically tilted toward the conservative side, with intermittent periods of what she calls 'progressive energy.' She also believes that modern conservatives such as Karl rove are 'obsessed' with defeating her. She prefers the godfather of the modern conservative movement, Ronald Reagan. He was, she says, 'a child of the Depression, so he understood it . When he had those big tax cuts and they went too far, he oversaw the largest tax increase. He could call the Soviet Union the Evil Empire and then negotiate arms-control agreements. He played the balance and the music beautifully.' In 1969, who would have imagined that the Hillary Rodham on the Wellesley commencement stage would find herself thirty-eight years later paying tribute to Ronald Reagan?" ("Boom," p. 404)

Bill Clinton Praised Reagan's "Unflagging Optimism, His Proud Patriotism, His Unabashed Faith In The American People." In dedicating the Reagan building, Bill Clinton said, "The only thing that could make this day more special is if President Reagan could be here himself. But if you look at this atrium, I think we feel the essence of his presence: his unflagging optimism, his proud patriotism, his unabashed faith in the American people. I think every American who walks through this incredible space and lifts his or her eyes to the sky will feel that.... This is a great day for our country. This is a day of honoring the legacy of President Reagan, remembering the service of President Wilson, and rededicating ourselves to the often difficult but ultimately always rewarding work of America. As I stand within the Reagan Building I am confident that we will again make the right choices for America, that we will take up where President Reagan left off -- to lead freedom's march boldly into the 21st century." (Clinton Dedication of Reagan Library, 5/5/98)