Second Thoughts on the Democrat “Debate”: The Left Really Doesn’t Know What to Do About Hillary Clinton

In thinking on the events of last night, I’ve come to the conclusion that the left is really worried about Hillary Clinton winning the nomination. I mean, REALLY worried. The usual Hillary Clinton cheering sections, such a Ezra Klein, are royally PISSED at Tim Russert. So is Paul Waldman. The rest, not so much, though they seem to be making a lot of noises casting Hillary Clinton as a victim of ‘blistering attacks’. (I wonder, now, if that’s intended to cast their own guy as someone willing to push against the Clinton Machine, or to cast Hillary as a Victim... perhaps so far as THAT goes, the ‘blistering attack’ angle is something both Hillary’s people and everyone else with a horse in the Dem race can agree on.

Look, it’s clear that Hillary Clinton didn’t get the softballs she was expecting… and got backed into the corner by Russert on the question of releasing correspondence between her and her erstwhile husband… (Clearly she doesn’t want that info out before 2012)

If Hillary Clinton has a talent it is answering a question put to her, without even coming close to answering it. And yes she was (Mildly) called on it by the other candidates. The bit with Eliot Spitzer’s licenses, didn’t help HIllary much either.

Trust me; what Hillary Clinton got was hardly an attack, blistering or otherwise. Indeed… it’s amazing to me…. Russert left some low hanging fruit that any one of the others could have taken… but they didn’t.  Even when complaining that Hillary really wasn’t answering the questions being put to her, they did so with kid gloves. Only thing I can think of to explain it is a lack of desire to be President with Hillary Clinton pissed at THEM, and still sitting in the office of Senator from NY.

When they decided to run for POTUS, did they really think they’d get the Clinton Machine’s blessing, for pity’s sake?

But what we have here is a left conflicted. They know the Republicans are salivating at the idea of having Hillary Clinton being the Democrat nominee. Yet, they can’t bring themselves to react accordingly… because they know it’s not nice to fool with the Wicked Witch of the South.

Well, that’s OK. I can deal with it.

Hey, Hillary; What’s this FEC complaint against you and your campaign all about, eh?

Boortz yesterday, picked up in mid-description…

It seems that this person focus right now is in helping this sector of our economy avoid unionization. Unions are, apparently, hot to organize senior living facilities. OK .. so there’s no surprise there either. So what’s the big deal here? Well, clearly the seniors that live in these facilities are no more anxious than the owners to see the workers form unions. But there is one particular class of residents of these senior living centers that are more opposed to unionization than almost any other. Can you guess who they might be?

Let’s end the suspense quickly. The one group of residents in senior living facilities who are, according to this expert, more opposed to unionization than any other group are …former union members. Who knows better the culture of unionized workers than a former union worker? While these people were out there drawing paychecks, unionization was one thing. Now the shoe is on another foot. Now they are more concerned about the quality of the work than they are the size of the paycheck. These are people who in the not-to-distant past were dedicated to the union principal of less work for more pay. Now they find themselves in a position where they could be the victim, rather than the beneficiary of such a policy.

That should be a warning to anyone considering joining a union.

Right Wing News, this morning, notices that the KOSsacks are not happy with Nancy Pelosi.

Has it occurred to any of these simian rejects, I wonder, that the reason she rates as low in the polling as she does is the numbskull policy they want her to enact?

Now there was a voice.

Bloomberg – Robert Goulet, the singer whose rich baritone voice and classic tall, dark, dashing good looks made him a star on stage and television, has died. He was 73.

Goulet suffered from a rare form of pulmonary fibrosis, a progressive and fatal condition. He was being treated at Cedars- Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and was awaiting a lung transplant when he died yesterday, the Associated Press reported.

The winner, last night was clearly Obama… unfortunately. His obviously scripted lines seemed to score well among the test rats in Frank Luntz’ cage, but I take this as a measurement of the quality of the voters, not of the candidate.

Edwards clearly understands that he cannot win with just Democrats alone, even in the Democratic Caucus. I take his rather deliberate comment about ‘Democratic voters and caucus goers.’ to be indication of this. What this says for his ability in the general election is debatable, but frankly, my view is he’s already hobbled.

Hillary Clinton clearly ignored the charges being tossed at her last night. (Flip flop, for example, and where Obama hits her for transparency issues “Turn the page”) She can’t ignore this stuff and hope it goes away on it’s own, however. She sounds shrill to my ear, and more than a little desperate. And the rest of the jackals were obviously smelling blood.

Biden should have been disqualified form the office he holds now, much less the one he seeks, if he really intends to argue, as it seemed last night, that our Iran policy is dictated by the price of oil. It will sell in the Democrat primary, however… which again would seem to give us some rather solid measure of the qaulity of the Democrat voter. Namely, shallow, and unthinking.

Oh… and Chris Mathews… will someone PLEASE shut him up?

Memeorandum has lots of links on the topic this morning.

Crooks and Liars, posts New York State Governor Eliot Spitzer accusing CNN’s Lou Dobbs of spreading venom and hate.  Wow.  It is Spitzer who has divided the state and provooked demonstrations by illegals.

Honorable mention at Rodney Dill’s OTB Caption Contest

From the quips list:

I would put Glenn Greenwald calling anyone’s masculinity into question, on par with Greenwald’s Hero, Harry Reid, calling anyone “incompetent”, and for the same reason.

I should have put something in there about Dennis Kucinich, I guess.

  PHILADELPHIA – Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich questioned President Bush‘s mental health in light of comments he made about a nuclear Iran precipitating World War III.

“I seriously believe we have to start asking questions about his mental health,” Kucinich, an Ohio congressman, said in an interview with The Philadelphia Inquirer’s editorial board on Tuesday. “There’s something wrong. He does not seem to understand his words have real impact.”

Remember, gang, this is the guy who talks to the mothership. 

TPM says

In Shirley MacLaine’s new book, the actress and longtime friend of Dennis Kucinich makes an interesting claim: During a visit to her home in Washington state, Kucinich said he saw a UFO and heard messages from it.

“Dennis found his encounter extremely moving,” MacLaine writes. “The smell of roses drew him out to my balcony where, when he looked up, he saw a gigantic triangular craft, silent, and observing him.

“It hovered, soundless, for 10 minutes or so, and sped away with a speed he couldn’t comprehend. He said he felt a connection in his heart and heard directions in his mind.”

And THIS is the guy questioning the President’s sanity?  

Good Lord, this guy’s got his own rubber room booster club… I mean, even most of the Democrats think he’s bonkers… how bad is THAT?

Addeundum:  (David L)

Dan Ronayne, Republican National Committee sayth:

“Dennis Kucinich has always been a hard guy to take seriously. but this takes the cake,”

And the public sayth, via Rasmussen:

 “Stephen Colbert Tops Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich in Presidential Poll.”

Colbert a joker, and Kuchinich is a joke.    It’s over Dennis.  Go home.  Nobody takes  you seriously.

McQ at Q&O:

Seems the only real case of voter disenfranchisement in ’04 may have been perpetrated by the Democrats:

Consumer advocate and 2004 independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader sued the Democratic Party on Tuesday, contending officials conspired to keep him from taking votes away from nominee John Kerry.

Nader’s lawsuit, filed in District of Columbia Superior Court, also named as co-defendants Kerry’s campaign, the Service Employees International Union and several so-called 527 organizations such as America Coming Together, which were created to promote voter turnout on behalf of the Democratic ticket.

The lawsuit also alleges that the Democratic National Committee conspired to force Nader off the ballot in several states.

“The Democratic Party is going after anyone who presents a credible challenge to their monopoly over their perceived voters,” Nader said in a statement. “This lawsuit was filed to help advance a free and open electoral process for all candidates and voters. Candidate rights and voter rights nourish each other for more voices, choices, and a more open and competitive democracy.”

Among other things, the lawsuit alleges that the DNC tried to bankrupt Nader’s campaign by suing to keep him off the ballot in 18 states. It also suggests the DNC sent Kerry supporters to crash a Nader petition drive in Portland, Ore., in June 2004, preventing him from collecting enough signatures to get on the ballot.

What do you know… Nader may actually serve the purpose freedom yet. McQ suggests getting him to run with Motor-mouth McKinney.  Personally, I’d rather see him run with Cindy Sheehan.

But it interests me; Every dollar is being counted twice over on the Democrats side… even the ones coming from China. If Nader wins the suit, does that mean the Democrats will have less money for salesmanship?

Look, let’s call this what it is:

Saying that Glen Greenwald is a drooling, lying, sock puppeting idiot, is not a political statement.  Provacative, perhaps, and arguably correct, but it’s not political.
And that goes for Greg Mitchell, too.

See, here’s the thing… the likes of Greenwald and Mitchell, can moralize all they want, and demand responses from the military in their moralization.  But when they GET the straight truth, if they aren’t getting the desired genuflecting before the liberal press, and  accepting their slanted premises as word, and confirming the left’s stunted worldview, Greenwald and Mitchell stokeup the presses, claiming that the mean old general was getting political on them, when in fact he’s speaking the straight, apolitical truth. It’s disingenuous as hell but it is a neat way to control the narrative, huh, guys? It’s obviously important to the political future of such as Greenwald to keep this narrative flowing in his favor, or he’d not expend all the trouble to knock down anything that might stand in it’s way… like noting some holes in his narrative.

(Hmmmm… the words straight, apolitical, and truth… and Greenwald… in the same sentence… Oh, never mind)

And we’ve still not addressed this question of Greenwald’s claims about the mailnote being confirmed.  It’s still an open question. Nor has he addressed the credibility issues brought up by his make believe friend, Rick Ellensburg.

Oops. Guess by Greenwald’s lights, I got a bit political with that last one, huh? (yeah, right)

As for Mitchell, I’ll let someone else have fun with that.

BBCT: Memeorandum

You know,  there are a lot of pathetic sights in this world… and we’ve pointed a number of them out here. But I have to say that this one knows few equals. Even as a Bills fan, I can sympathize… almost.

We recently posted about how the Democrats… particularly those in his home state of Pennsylvania should have had enough long ago, and should start moving to remove him from office. 

Interestingly, there’s a number of Democrats looking to do exactly that to Nancy Pelosi, says Michelle Malkin. 

Check out the latest Field Poll results in California. This should wipe the smirk off Nancy Pelosi’s face…for a moment, anyway:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s own party is turning on her, apparently because of a perception among California Democrats that she has not done enough to shake up the status quo in Washington, D.C., according to a Field Poll released Friday.

Congress overall is doing even worse with California voters, with an approval rating sagging to 30 percent or below for only the seventh time in the past 15 years, the poll of 1,201 registered voters found. Both Pelosi, the San Francisco Democrat who became speaker this year, and Congress as a whole have fallen short of voter expectations since taking over both houses, poll director Mark DiCamillo said.

“I think the reason for her decline and the low ratings Congress is getting is that voters here are not seeing any change,” DiCamillo said.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s approval rating of 51 percent is down 10 percentage points since March, but consistent with her average over the years. Sen. Barbara Boxer’s rating also has slumped, from 54 percent in March to 44 percent. Both Boxer and Feinstein, however, still enjoy the approval of more voters than disapproval of them.

For Pelosi, it was the first time the poll showed more people disapproving than approving of her performance – 40 percent to 35 percent, with 25 percent having no opinion.

***

I’ve been telling you all along about the split among the Democrats and how as a result it is the Republican’s race to lose, this year. I figure the Democrats are in for a really rough ride, this cycle… one which they’ll lose.  Assuming the Republicans actually start acting like Republicans.

The evidence continues to mount, to make my case, here.

Ya know, there is a certain point at which BDS leaves the world of the slightly mad, and moves into the world of the utterly insane. The KOSacks are pole vaulting over that line, today:

 I wrote a diary a short time ago about how the Bush administration helped ruin my marriage.  It wasn’t because my husband was a Bush supporter or anything…it was because of all the stresses from job loses, living without health insurance and getting sick, to my husband being forced to take a job where he wasn’t home much that helped ruin my marriage.

I mean, does this guy take responsibility for ANYTHING that happens in his life? And he goes about looking for  others to support his insanity. And finds no shortage of fellow crazies:

  Sad truth is, I do avoid my brother and his wife.  Back in 2000, after I worked really hard to make a beautiful Thanksgiving meal for my family, they came to dinner and thought it was “hilarious” to keep referring to Al Gore as Sore Loserman.  And every year since then they’re inflicted themselves upon me.  They manage to say something stupid every year when I see them.  Last year we discussed the importance of the war on Christmas and my brother said Bill OReily was a “hoot, because he really tells it like it is!”  In the interest of family unity, I keep busy and work to put out a nice meal and we all play nice.  But let me tell you, I don’t look forward to it at all and I pretty much avoid them the rest of the year.  Real truth, this NEVER happened before he was selected.  We all got together, talked almost no politics and enjoyed each others company.  They watch FOX and I think they get so wound up by it, they just can not help but act like idiots.  They know how the rest of the family feels and they can not shut their mouths.  Thanks W you really are a uniter!!

Of course the problem isn’t this one, it’s the rest of the family. Such is what laughingly passes for a ‘mind’ set at Kos.

There’s more, if you have the  antacid for it… at Right Wing News and The Jawa Report  

Mike Goldfarb at the Weekly Standard:

The Wall Street Journal reports on the stunning success of Representative John Murtha in channeling taxpayer dollars to pork-barrel projects in his district, including awards for companies under FBI investigation and others which show no results, as well as many for projects the Pentagon did not request.

Johnstown’s good fortune has come at the expense of taxpayers everywhere else. Defense contractors have found that if they open an office here and hire the right lobbyist, they can get lucrative, no-bid contracts. Over the past decade, Concurrent Technologies Corp., a defense-research firm that employs 800 here, got hundreds of millions of dollars thanks to Rep. Murtha despite poor reviews by Pentagon auditors. The National Drug Intelligence Center, with 300 workers, got $509 million, though the White House has tried for years to shut it down as wasteful and unnecessary. Another beneficiary: MTS Technologies, run by a man who got his start some 40 years ago shining shoes at Mr. Murtha’s Johnstown Minute Car Wash.

A review by The Wall Street Journal of dozens of such contracts funded by Mr. Murtha’s committee shows that many weren’t sought by the military or federal agencies they were intended to benefit. Some were inefficient or mismanaged, according to interviews, public records and previously unpublished Pentagon audits. One Murtha-backed firm, ProLogic Inc., is under federal investigation for allegedly diverting public funds to develop commercial software, people close to the case say. The company denies wrongdoing and is in line to get millions of dollars more in the pending defense bill.

Is any of this a surprise?  It is entirely consistent with Murtha’s whole career.

We’ve covered the fact that Murtha has received donations from every interest to which he granted an earmark–many in the last few days before he introduced the earmarks in legislation. He’s funneled money to a group headed by a former staffer which supposedly helps wounded veterans find jobs–but there’s no evidence that they’ve helped anyone.  He falsely claimed that the Department of Energy supported one of his earmarks.  He falsely claimed Department of Justice support for another.  He’s threatened his colleagues.  He’s broken House rules to get earmarks.

And all that is merely this year! We have not yet touched upon Haditha, or ‘slow-bleed,’the draft, or AbScam.

Says Goldfarb:

Hasn’t Pennsylvania Had Enough?

Well, yeah, you’d think they’d have had enough by now. Then again, people with any sense at all would have dumped Murtha a long time ago. But you know, the tide appears to be turning. When even the leftist mecca of CBS news notices the WSJ article, you know the tide has begun turning.

It’s time for Jack Murtha to leave office… now.

See also Mutha must go, Boot Murtha  and  Captain Ed

I’ll expect the same outrage for Pelosi’s actions, if not more, that FEMA generated by staging a press conference.

The Hill is reporting that Speaker of the House Pelosi (D) is concerned that Republicans will use the Rangel’s “controversial new tax bill ” against them in 2008 that she altered the transcript of said tax bill’s unveiling to soften her support of the bill.  Pelosi stated at the unveiling, “I certainly support his plan” per the original transcripts provided by The Federal News Service and LexisNexis.  However, the Speaker’s office released a copy of the transcript with additional comments in brackets “clarifying” the Speaker’s position.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is finessing her support of Rep. Charles Rangel’s (D-N.Y.) controversial new tax bill, highlighting Democrats’ concern about how Republicans plan to use it in the 2008 elections.

Following the unveiling of arguably the most politically explosive domestic policy bill of the 110th Congress last Thursday, Pelosi seemed to wholeheartedly support the tax overhaul authored by Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rangel.

“I certainly support his plan,” Pelosi (D-Calif.) said to the assembled reporters.
But when the transcript of the briefing came out, words were inserted — highlighted by brackets — clarifying that she supported his goal, if not his specific proposals.

The final transcript read: “I certainly support his plan [to begin tax reform.]”

Interestingly, ‘irritated aides’ were quick to point out that Speaker Pelosi (D) wasn’t trying to deceive, just clarify.

Republicans criticized the change, but irritated Pelosi aides said too much is being made of an innocent change that was not intended to deceive.

Isn’t it funny that clarifying your thoughts isn’t deceiving when you are on the left side of the aisle?