Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday concluded what had been a quiet week of small-town stops by flinging populist barbs at one of her favorite targets — the Republican-controlled Congress — and hinting at the contours of a campaign that will soon kick into a higher gear.
"It seems as though they would rather threaten the livelihoods" of working people than "stand up to the tea party and talk radio," Clinton said here at Smuttynose Brewing Co. on her second campaign trip to New Hampshire….
The move is … part of the former secretary of state’s strategy of tying the policies of the congressional GOP, which is deeply unpopular, to the field of Republican presidential contenders. By insisting the two are inextricably linked, her hope is to mount a case against the entire party, rather than a specific candidate.
This is precisely the right message at precisely the right moment, both of which are serviceable for months to come. Outside of Paul on foreign policy and Huckabee on entitlements, the GOP's presidential candidates and their congressional lessers are pretty much an undifferentiated bunch of prehensile automatons pandering to the same dying, neanderthal base. Even Bush, who knows better, can't escape the atavistic pull of a willing ignorance that feeds the GOP Congress.
An attack on one is an attack on all, as it should be. Democrats might as well be upfront and aggressive about it. Every good attorney knows that getting under the skin of a testifying witness is likely to provoke the witness into saying something incredibly injudicious — and no one is easier to provoke than tea partiers and talk-radio goons. So poke 'em and poke 'em relentlessly. Then sit back and watch them self-immolate — frying their allied politicos in a defensive mode and alienating the moderates.
Your description of the GOP's presidential candidates is sheer poetry. Lest this be lost on an older thread I'll repeat Hillary should run a JFK type campaign issuing a challenge to improve life for Americans. Why can't we retake the world lead in civilization and technology? Why can't we encourage expansion of international law to meet the country's needs? And so on in age-defying style.
Posted by: Bob | May 22, 2015 at 01:58 PM
Against this eventuality I have invested in a case of Orville Redenbacher's finest.I have some presentiments and misgivings though. This is going too well.
Posted by: Peter G | May 22, 2015 at 02:33 PM
"By insisting the two are inextricably linked, her hope is to mount a case against the entire party, rather than a specific candidate."
IT'S ABOUT TIME a Democrat did that. Use their party unity against them.
Posted by: RT | May 22, 2015 at 03:02 PM
I love it and I hope she keeps up the good work! They can't even get her on Benghazi anymore and whenever I hear people in the media try to discuss the details of the other fake scandals, the details seem so boring, my eyes just glaze over. I also heard someone say the other day, I think it was on "Hardball" that Hillary Clinton is already a known entity and most of the country pretty much already has their mind made up about her. I will admit it now, that a lot of it for me is going off of just certain feelings. Like for one, I think that out of the whole field she is the one who just feels the most presidential to me. Also, if they want to be dumb enough to bring up her husband's administration, then people could be apt to remember the nineties and how much better everything felt back then. It was a time before 9/11 and the Iraq war and the great recession. It was a time of high job creation, peace, and budget surpluses. Everything just felt warmer and sunnier back then. I also remember that she tried to accomplish universal health care in this country long before we heard of Barack Obama. (Not that I'm knocking him, I will always be in awe of what he accomplished there) She is the one who said it takes a village to raise a child. Now I'm not saying that having her as president would be just like having her husband back and the sunny, warm nineties, nor should it. But now I'm feeling better about her chances this time around. There is no Barack Obama equivalent contender coming in from the left, and when you look to the right, well- I just don't know whether to laugh or cry about that sorry bunch. Yes, we've still got a long way to go, but I think this time she is discovering slow and steady wins the race.
Posted by: Anne J | May 22, 2015 at 06:34 PM
This morning I'm watching Kornicki and Costa discuss the hypothetical structure of Republican debates. If they included all the candidates on stage it would look like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. No can do. But who to include or exclude when so many poll within the margin of error of the polls that will be used to set the bar. I offer a modest proposal. Anybody remember the television competition American Gladiator? Let's put some fun in this thing.
Posted by: Peter G | May 23, 2015 at 05:50 AM
Hilariously, the RNC is attempting to put choke chains on the more obvious crazies. I can't wait for the excluded crazies to bray about how it's a conspiracy ( http://time.com/3092972/2016-republican-presidential-primary-debates-rnc/ ).
Posted by: Bob | May 23, 2015 at 08:17 AM