Back in high school there was a boy you figured you would end up going to the prom with. He didn't really excite you, and in fact there were some pretty obvious flaws in his makeup. Despite that, you really wanted to go to the prom and he was a good, safe bet. You could go with him and be guaranteed of having a decent time. It wouldn't be great, but he wouldn't show up in a Pantera t-shirt or take you to McDonald's or get loaded and vomit on your nice dress. He wasn't the richest or best looking or most popular or most interesting guy available but you knew what you were getting.
So of course your dominant strategy, not being in a committed relationship, was to make a vague promise short of agreeing to go with him while you waited for someone better to ask you out. Don't feel bad. You were young and immature. It's what high school kids do.
This pretty much sums up Hillary Clinton and the Democratic voter.
Maybe it's just a means of generating content during a lull in the pre-election hullabaloo, but over the weekend a burst of "What if Joe Biden runs? Joe Biden should run, shouldn't he?" pieces flooded the internet. Look. I like Joe Biden. Joe Biden has had a long political career of which he can and should be proud. Joe Biden would be a terrible presidential candidate.
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His lack of a brain-mouth filter would be like pouring gas on the right wing noise machine's fire. Think of the field day they would have quoting him out of context and exploiting his endless "gaffes." The idea of a Joe Biden candidacy being greeted with enthusiasm or even interest is the surest sign that the Democratic electorate (or possibly just the media, it's hard to tell the difference with Trend Pieces) is absolutely, positively going to kick the tires on every candidate in the country before settling for Hillary Clinton.
There is a lot to like about Clinton as a candidate. She could probably destroy any of the jackasses running for the Republican nomination with little drama. She'd be a more tolerable president than any of them, certainly, although likely an uninspiring one.
She has experience. She's not stupid. She would appoint people to positions of power who believe in something other than wrecking the public sector to make privatization look more appealing to lowbrow puds. If she remained in office for two terms she might even get the chance to appoint Scalia's replacement, God willing. So the world is not going to be a dark and depressing place if the Democratic Party nominates Hillary and she wins.
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There is also a lot not to like. Everything about her 2008 campaign, especially the race baiting. The Ahab-like lust for the Oval Office and the fact that her reason for running for president appears to be that she really, really f-ing wants to be president.
The classic New Democrat vacillating – the refusal to take a stand on anything until public opinion is overwhelmingly in favor of it. The foreign policy hawkishness stemming from the misguided belief that conservatives will respect Democrats if they too show a willingness to bomb the hell out of some brown people. The constant appeals to moderation and bipartisanship, code words for letting Republicans do whatever they want even if they're not in power. Like Biden and Sanders, she's very old and, according to some accounts, not in the finest health. She is, to say the least, not without her unpleasant aspects.
That's why the Party is likely to exhaust every conceivable option before turning to her, much as the Republicans did in 2012 before finally giving up and telling Mitt Romney, "Alright, fine. You can do it." That any aspect of her candidacy can be compared to Mitt Romney's should be enough to explain why someone who appears so well situated to win is greeted with so little enthusiasm.
Daphne says:
A point and a question: Clinton is not "very old" and where, if anywhere, does Al Gore fit in the analogy?
HoosierPoli says:
I see her as a GHWB figure, an obvious successor to a relatively popular President who will almost certainly inherit an economic slump and be drummed out of office on that basis.
I don't see any Clintons on the Red Team's bench but it might not even matter.
Eric Titus says:
In 2008, I thought that at least the Dems had 2 great candidates, and was slightly in the Clinton camp since I didn't think Obama's bipartisan politics would work (but I had no idea republicans would be this nuts).
This go-around we also have two very good candidates in Clinton and Sanders. Clinton is flawed but…I think your perspective might be colored by the non-stop media coverage and Republican smearage that she's been getting for the past 20 years. Sure she's ambitious…what presidential candidate isn't? I am concerned about her foreign policy. But on domestic issues she is pretty clearly left of Obama–was in 2008 and still is.
She could already have a full policy agenda written up but it's still half a year before primary season really happens. I'm ignoring any article with "polls say" in the title until we get to december…
Dave Dell says:
Donated some money to B. Sanders. I wish to see him stay in the race until the debates. Someone has to get some pretty serious issues front and center in the discussion. Force Hillary to actually have a position on the keystone pipeline, for instance.
buckyblue says:
I can't believe the Koch Bros haven't set up a SuperPac for Bernie yet, because the only chance any in the clown car have of winning the presidency is if Hillary doesn't win the nom. And she is one hell of a lot better than any of those assholes. Hell, they've all basically come out in favor of ending Social Security, despite its popularity, and deporting 11 million illegals and their children. I'm sure they have the train cars already bought to load them in and ship them out under the banner that says, "Arbeit Macht Frei". I would rather have Sanders, but he's the ticket to republican control of the federal gov't. with president Jeb! or Scooter Walker. And I don't trust the Senate Democratic Caucus to hold the line against the craziness that will ensue. Besides, what could be more entertaining than watching Bill run around basically unsupervised in the WH for 4/8 years?
anotherbozo says:
With Hillary vs. _______________ (fill in the blank yourself), the voters who haven't already been disenfranchised or suppressed will stay home on election day, having been driven to think that both candidates are equally flawed, bland, uninspiring, what's the diff. Maybe the lowest turnout ever, as half the voting-age population texts and tweets about the latest celebrity scandal or kitten video.
And the rest of the world will look on in stupefied disbelief. Well, maybe they know us by now.
J.D. says:
@ Daphne
Hillary is "very old" for a presidential candidate. If she wins, she would be the second-oldest president at time of inauguration, only a few months behind Ronnie Raygun.
Emerson Dameron says:
The right-wing noise machine will work a lot harder against Clinton than it would against Biden. As you say, it's already been gunning for her since '91, and misogynist pant-shitting is one of its core principles.
No one seems to be thrilled about her becoming president, but I don't really have a problem with it (to the point where, for instance, I'd actually rather vote for Bernie or Diamond Joe). She'll be tougher than Obama by half, and, on a personal level, I respect the hell out of anyone who can take the abuse she does and keep fighting.
I hope Biden knows that, if he runs, he'll throw the primaries into chaos and bring out the Angry Hills no one likes. As it stands, at least the Ds have one candidate who looks like a winner.
c u n d gulag says:
I'm not her biggest fan, but Hillary is light years better than any of the clownish psychopaths and sociopaths running in the GOP.
They are nucking futs!!!
And they are guaranteed to finish the jobs started by Reagan and w.
They will do everything they can in the guise of patriotism and love of freeDUMB and liberTEA, to turn this country into a well-armed "Christian" Theocratic Fascist Plutocracy/Oligarchy – I mean even more of a Fascist P/O than it already is.
If she wins the nomination, and takes one of TX's young Castro brothers to run by her side, she can win pretty big.
And yes, I know having a Latino as you VP candidate will rile-up the bigots and xenophobes, to add on to the misogynists who'll be aghast that after a "Blah" President, we may have a woman, but those kinds of people wouldn't vote for a lily-white Southern Democrat, so, why the fuck not? If only to piss those loons off, and show the contrast between the Dem's, and the Republicans, who all want to round-up the undocumented aliens, and stick them in Detention Centers until the cattle-cars are ready to ship them back to…
Where?
And who's going to pay for all of this?
Dumb–'n-old Chump is the GOP wild-card so far.
I hope he fades, or the GOP establishment can find some way of pissing him off by putting every resource into someone else, and Chump goes all 3rd Party ticket on the GOP – this, insuring a Dem victory.
What scares me about him is that we all laughed at the idea of Ronald Reagan running for POTUS, and being the POTUS.
I haven't laughed much in the last 35 years.
Chump, so far, says a lot of stupid and funny shit – just like Reagan. But, just like with Ronnie, it all bounces off of him.
He's hit and titillated the Republicans bases "G-OP Spot."
Reagan did too.
I'll take Hillary, warts and all, thank you!
The alternative is unthinkable.
Unthinkable, but very, very possible.
Well mostly says:
The analogy is apt. It's the fascinating 'what if' phase. A girl, or boy, can dream, right? Soon enough it's campaigne time and you simply can't beat Clinton's organization with all the money or enthusiasm in the world.
Best line so far? Trump calling them contestants, not candidates. Now that truly describes the process. Sadly. Let's just enjoy the show for a while. No call to get too serious in the early part of Americ's Got Talent. Things will get sorted out soon enough.
NonyNony says:
Jeebus – you guys need to get off the Internet and talk to some Democrats.
I'm not going to say that every Democrat in meat-space is excited about voting for Hillary Clinton, but then most of the Democrats I know in meat-space don't get excited about voting for anyone. And this year a lot of them are pumped up to vote for Clinton. Already. And it's only August – most of them don't even start thinking about elections until closer to January (except for the ones volunteering – and I know more who are planning to volunteer this year than in the past couple of elections as well).
The echo chamber on the internet and the political press trying to make stories during "silly season" all makes it seem like there's no enthusiasm. This is not real – getting your ideas of what people think of Clinton from what's being talked about on various liberal blogs right now is almost like getting your ideas of what the world is like from watching Fox News.
Tim H. says:
Mixed feelings about Hillary, in some ways more conservative than I'm comfortable with, but truly "Less worse" than the GOP alternatives. And might the "B" word suit? No biggy, she'll use it for us.
Xynzee says:
Personally, I'd go for the Pantera wearing shirt guy. It could prove to be a truly memorable evening ;)
Clinton strikes me as Jeb, only with a pro-choice stance.
Where does she stand on Keystone? Erm… IIRC she drafted the deal didn't she?
I don't trust her on Soc Sec or much of anything really. She's pretty much backed the S/S trope that the media pushes.
On pretty much every metric if anything the Krazy Klown Kar Posse is at least honest. They are telling us up front that gang rape is on the cards. It's just a question will they use a chain saw or a bread knife?
With Clinton, the car will "run outta gas" on the "short cut" back to home, and the van full of friends just "happens" to show up.
democommie says:
If Hillary ate her daughter's babies she would STILL get my vote.
One reason.
With a Repukelican in the WH a Teabaggist controlled House and a $$KKKochtrolled Senate, it will be ME that's walking around with "End Times" sandwichboard and bullhorn*.
* Both items, of course, shipped in from China.
Delbort says:
I just hope that we left-leaning people do not get complacent about the inevitability of Clinton's presidency and think it is acceptable for us to stay home. Hillary's not great, but she's probably not viciously anti-choice or pro-sick people dying in the streets.
Barry says:
"The idea of a Joe Biden candidacy being greeted with enthusiasm or even interest is the surest sign that the Democratic electorate (or possibly just the media, it's hard to tell the difference with Trend Pieces) is absolutely, positively going to kick the tires on every candidate in the country before settling for Hillary Clinton."
I strongly disagree. This is a pundit thing, where they make up sh*t, pure and simple.
Barry says:
Emerson Dameron Says:
"The right-wing noise machine will work a lot harder against Clinton than it would against Biden. As you say, it's already been gunning for her since '91, and misogynist pant-shitting is one of its core principles."
No, it will work very, very hard against *any* Democratic nominee, including Jesus Christ. Remember in '08, people figured that Obama didn't have the baggage that Clinton had?
In the end, it didn't matter, because they just lied.
Barry says:
Xynzee: "On pretty much every metric if anything the Krazy Klown Kar Posse is at least honest. They are telling us up front that gang rape is on the cards. It's just a question will they use a chain saw or a bread knife?
With Clinton, the car will "run outta gas" on the "short cut" back to home, and the van full of friends just "happens" to show up."
This is just dumb.
Emerson Dameron says:
@Barry:
Sure, but it's hardwired to go extra hard on minorities. The silliness of all those Obama nontroversies was how easily they could be divided by simple racism. Hillary has more actual blotches than BO, but Rush Limbaugh would have a special, disturbingly Freudian line of attack against her.
Major Kong says:
To paraphrase Churchill: we'll do the right thing after exhausting all other possibilities.
Skippper says:
I've said it before and, dammit, I'll say it again. Our current electoral system is just Wars of the Roses all over again.
You have two branches of the same family wanting to rule. They fight bitterly and constantly for years. Who wins matter very much for them, even though there are only small differences between them. But whoever wins, the common people are still screwed.
sluggo says:
The country across the spectrum from left to right is going anti-establishment, my crystal ball tells me. We are also in the mood for a crabby old man leader.
Sanders will beat Trump. Put a bow on it.
Mark says:
Hillary Clinton is a witch without the boiling cauldron. She has no morals, scruples or ethics. She will do and say anything to get elected. I say that to say this; she is the perfect democrat candidate. I would love to see her get destroyed in a debate with Ted Cruz.
Robert says:
I remember some knobheads saying that there wasn't a dime's worth of difference between Gore and Bush.
Even with her flaws, and they are legion, I would prefer Clinton to any of the moral monsters on the other side. But I was raised to be a blue dog; my father worshipped at the shrine of St. FDR and the Blessed Eleanor his entire life.
As for Biden, I have a hard time imagining that he spent the last eight years watching Obama be put through the death of a thousand cuts and thought, Hey, I want that job. Also, if Sanders has any skeletons in his closet, we'll hear about them by Christmas.
Katydid says:
@Mark; and yet, Hillary Clinton is head-and-shoulders more ethical, smart, and non-batshit-insane and malignant than any of the kkklown kkkar kkklan. Ted Cruz? Are you joking? The man who even his own party thinks is incompetent? Don't you have to be an American citizen to run for POTUS, anyway? Where's his long-form birth certificate?
Emerson Dameron says:
@Mark: http://img14.deviantart.net/3b3a/i/2013/019/6/6/they_see_me_trollin___by_stormx6-d5s11i8.jpg
Daphne says:
no JD, Hillary is not very old. Not even particularly old.
Skepticalist says:
While it would be fun to see Bernie run, I'm not sure I want to witness the level of GOP sponsored terror at the possibility and the near Biblical rhetoric aimed at him. A Democratic Socialist running for POTUS. Surely the end times are near. Only FDR had is so good.
I truly hope that Fox News goes after Hillary's email mess with the same dexterity they displayed with its hourly Benghazi tirades. They made Benghazi even less relevant than it was.
I'm 69 in a few days and act it. Hillary doesn't and gets my vote.
Mark says:
@katydid – I can't believe that you could write Hillary Clinton and ethical with a straight face. Ever heard of Whitewater, Travelgate, Vince Foster, looting the white house when her and the perv Bill left, landing under sniper fire, Saul Alinsky…God I could go on. She will be in prison before she can be elected.
Brian M says:
Vince foster?
Looting the white house?
Saul Alinsky?
Off the meds, Marky baby? Or just spending too much time at WND for your news?
I heard that Obama was dropping a nuclear bomb on South carolina until a Proud Christian Soldier STOPPED HIM. I bet you could find all kinds of information on this story…and how Hillary was personally involved in setting the codes for the bomb and helping Obama push the button.
Drew says:
"The Ahab-like lust for the Oval Office and the fact that her reason for running for president appears to be that she really, really f-ing wants to be president."
I'm not Clinton's biggest fan or anything, but what is it about her that inspires this type of comment? Who running for president *doesn't* "really, really f-ing want to be president"? Why are we chiding the one serious female candidate for, essentially, being ambitious?
Drew says:
"I would rather have Sanders, but he's the ticket to republican control of the federal gov't"
People keep saying this, but it appears to be more gut feeling than derived from any actual data. Have you seen the assclowns running for the republican nomination? Sure, the eventual nominee is guaranteed to get 47% of the vote. But the election is most likely going to come down to economic indicators (good economy favoring the incumbent party) and GOTV.
Drew says:
"She'll be tougher than Obama by half"
Yeah. We all know what a shrinking violet Obama is.
On a serious note, there is no excuse for the next Democrat not to have learned from Obama's naive misadventures with bipartisanship.
jon says:
I'll vote for Clinton, Sanders, Biden, O'Malley, Gore, a chemically-castrated Edwards, Senator Boxer, Raul Grijalva, Dukakis in a Stryker, an incarcerated Illinois governor, or even Webb before I'd gnaw my foot off to vote for any of the Republicans.
I want more candidates to run just so the debates can be contrasted to the Republican debates and show a party that may have different ideas of how to improve things but with a clear agenda against cut-and-run governance. Looking at the clowns running for the GOP nomination, I can't figure out what motivates them other than the purest avarice and evil. They can't even admit that a ten-year-old girl might not be well-served by becoming a mother at eleven. Fuck those people. Fuck them with rusty tools from a Nick Cave murder barn.
el mago says:
Looking at the 2016 election possibilities two years ago, I just went fck I'm too old to go expat again because it was obviously going to be a contest between HRC and whatever cosmic monster got the Repub nod.
Ms Clinton is one scary piece of work especially in the foreign affairs department, but then it's even worse on the other side. Oh, shit. Well, I'll stick if the Clint wins; I mean, she's marginally better than anything the whirligig disease party has to offer. Besides, the whole world is insane. As the cliche goes, you can run, but you can't hide. But I might just try.
catbirdman says:
Good point, Mark — someone really should look into this Whitewater affair. And the "Travelgate" matter. Not to mention Vince Foster. I also understand there was some issue with some issue on a blue dress. Has anyone at all ever investigated these Clinton people?
Katydid says:
Last week I had to travel for work, and since I was kind-of in the area, I stopped over to visit relatives. I don't see them often because they're "coast-to-coast" conspiracy-theory nuts and you just can't make people like that visit reality. Mark, you'd fit right in with them. Tell me, do you think aliens blew up an exact replica of the Earth and left it to masquerade as the asteroid belt, too?
ShortWoman says:
I'd still rather some dreamboat progressive would ask me to prom… I mean the polls.
Brian M says:
ShortWoman:
Except that the townspeople would surround you as you left the banquet hall and start throwing clots of flaming pitch, while shouting about the Demon Couple that invaded their sacred prom!
Katydid says:
The Republican party is full of a lot of loud, crude idiots declaring war on women, the environment, immigrants, and gay people, as well as anyone not in the 1%. They're panting with lust for more wars, for spending money on their oil- and war-machine cronies, and cutting basic services (education, infrastructure) at home. They support proven failed trade policies, they'd slash Social Security while rewarding Wall Street.
Pretty much everyone in the Democratic party is better than this.
Skepticalist says:
I really hope the right goes after Bill too.
What would be more fun for us?
democommie says:
It'S always dangerous to make assumptions but, I assume the "Mark" who'S currently spewing his bulls hit is the same ducking moron who'S been wrong on everything else he blockades about here.
Fuck off, troll.
democommie says:
Ducking spellcheck.
"Bloviates"
Khaled says:
I think some of the Clinton fatigue is because people want to see someone other than a Clinton or a Bush run for president. I mean, we're not a monarchy! How many more times must we suffer a member of the Bush clan in power? Why does the Democratic "shoo-in" have to be the wife of an ex-president?
I will vote for any Democrat before voting for any of the current Republican candidates. I may not like Clinton, but she's way better than the alternative.
Emerson Dameron says:
@Drew:
Hillary seems to view the presidency not as a platform for advancing an agenda, but as the ultimate promotion for DC's most shrewd game-player, herself.
Personally, I think that's a flaw in her campaign strategy. She's very careful not to come off as overly human.
noshoes says:
Am I thrilled with Hillary Clinton? In some ways, no, because she will appease Wall St and maintain a hawkish foreign policy, but DAMN, it's our first woman president, basically unthinkable a generation ago. Would I prefer Bernie Sanders? Hell, yes, but I know that if by some miracle an East Coast socialist Jew became prez, we'd never hear the fucking end of the anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and nothing would ever get done because the tea-tards and their pals would find a way to block anything worthwhile going on in congress. I don't want a president who's going to give in to the idiots, but I have accepted that fact that a certain percentage of the American electorate are idiots and like it or not, there has to be some compromise between "us" and "them." Therefore I will vote for Clinton and be happy that there is finally a woman leading the US. There can't and won't be a Republican president
Robert says:
Part of me wants to see Sanders debate Trump. It's not a particularly noble part – I don't drive, so I don't slow down to gawk at accidents, but it's a similar impulse.
At this point, the Democrats could run just about anybody and get my vote; given how things are, I feel certain that they know this. Of the people who are actually going to vote next year, I think about eighty percent have already made up their minds (forty v forty), and all of the money is going to be spent on swaying the remaining twenty percent. The idea that people could be faced with the choice between Clinton and Bush and still have to make up their minds is disturbing. Heck, the choice between Sanders and Trump for that matter.
Major Kong says:
You want nightmares? Imagine any of the likely GOP candidates in the White House:
With a Republican House and Senate, most state legislatures, and for the icing on the cake – they probably get to appoint three Supreme Court justices.
So yeah, I'll vote for Hillary if she's the nominee.
Anonymouse says:
Noshoes: it would be interesting to see the AIPAC Isreal-firsters try to cope with a Jewish president.
Mark says:
@ Major Kong – It wasn't that long ago that there was a Republican President and Republicans were the majority in both the Senate and the House. But the prez was the most unholy George W. Bush who never saw a spending increase that he did not like. Hopefully when Republicans control all three after the next election a more conservative agenda will be followed. Let's start by eliminating the income tax.
Mark says:
@ Brian M – Are you saying than none of those issues existed? Were these things made up to usurp the Clinton agenda? How do you explain the fact that Hillary claimed she was under sniper fire when it has been proven that it never happened. Defend that.
Drew says:
"we'd never hear the fucking end of the anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and nothing would ever get done because the tea-tards and their pals would find a way to block anything worthwhile going on in congress"
Holy shit, you're fucking naive. This is happening NOW, ever since Republicans gained control. It'll happen under Clinton. It'll happen under any democrat. Pay attention.
cromartie says:
If she wins the nomination, and takes one of TX's young Castro brothers to run by her side, she can win pretty big.
Game. Set. Match. This is exactly what the Dem ticket will be as well.
Anyone who thinks Calgary Cruz could compete with Hillary is in serious denial. She'd carve up Scott Walker so badly he'd be sobbing in the chest of his wife/mother at the 60 minute mark.
democommie says:
Mark:
STFU, r3ally, just shut the FUCK up. Every one of your comments reveals your ignorance.
You're an idiot and an asshole, we already know those things a out you.
Please return to whatever trolls table you live in and ask your keepers to send a less assholish replacement.
Bob Munck says:
@J.D.
'Hillary is "very old" for a presidential candidate.'
She's old for a male presidential candidate, but she's not a male. A 67-year-old female can be expected to live as long as a 64-year-old male.
Mark says:
Well, Democommie, i would rather be an ignorant conservative than a really smart liberal.
Templar says:
Do not engage trolls. Studies show that they are typically narcissists who DO NOT CARE what you say so long as you respond. Do not feed a troll and they slink back under the bridge.
Barry says:
Emerson Dameron Says:
"Sure, but it's hardwired to go extra hard on minorities. "
Do you remember 1992? A white, male, Sacred Southerner politician was elected, and the right went mother-loving bug-f*cking nuts.
Believe it or not, but there was a time when a never-ending 'investigation' of a president for alleged acts done before he assumed office wasn't even in people's wildest imagination.
Emerson Dameron says:
@Barry:
I remember it well. I also remember that they really, really, *really* went berzerk on his wife. They hated and distrusted Bill Clinton, of course, but something about Hillary just *really* set them on edge.
"Minorities" here includes women, as they are still underrepresented in politics and, unless they fully conform (Kristi Noem, Sarah Palin, etc.), they take a lot more shit from the right.
democommie says:
@Templar:
Wold that it were so, if but…
DoDouchebnozlzle Mark:
You ARE a smart KKKonservative, honey: IOW, you have an IQ that is somewhat south of submoron.
joel hanes says:
anotherbozo opines:
Maybe the lowest turnout ever
Nonsense.
Most of the people blathering about how HRC is "uninspiring" are men.
Women make up over half the electorate.
They'll turn out to vote for HRC like black folks turned out to vote for BHO.
democommie says:
Unlike a lot of other folks who claim to want, "what is best" for this country, I will vote for ANY Dem candidate, even if I'm gutthurt that MY hero isn'the the nominee.
democommie says:
Just started using an android tablet, I am completely unimpressed with spellcheck. It sucks donkey dick.