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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHillary Clinton Turns Tables On Heckler In Buffalo
BUFFALO, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton turned the tables on a heckler Wednesday, in an effort to make a point about the need to find common ground to solve the nations problems.
During a speech at the University at Buffalo, Clinton first ignored the mans shouts as she spoke of Buffalo as a model for problem-solving through cooperation.
Because we cant move from crisis to crisis, we have to be willing to come together as citizens to focus on the kind of future we want, she said. As the shouts grew louder from an upper section of bleachers, she added, which doesnt include yelling. It includes sitting down and talking.
The 6,500 people in attendance reacted with a sustained standing ovation as the heckler was led out.
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http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/10/24/hillary-clinton-turns-tables-on-heckler-in-buffalo/
BlueStreak
(8,377 posts)I simply note that Hillary Clinton is undoubtedly the most polarizing figure among any who might be in consideration for the 2016 race at the moment. If Hillary were to be elected, I don't see where there would be any relief from the 8 years of food fights we have with Obama.
But realistically, I don't think the GOP will do it any other way.
Gman
(24,780 posts)So it doesn't matter.
Beacool
(30,251 posts)That was used as an excuse in 2008. Some thought that she was too polarizing and that Obama was less so and would do better in uniting the country. Look how that turned out. The extreme Right will despise any Democrat in office. At least with Hillary we would get someone experienced in handling the piles of manure that the Right constantly doles out. Goodness knows that they've been throwing tons of it at her since Bill was governor of AR.
I think Hillary would have come in swinging had she been elected in 2008, which would have been the appropriate response to the 8 year long nightmare that was and is the Republican Party. I think she should have been elected in 08 and Obama in '16-
Anyway. I've read report after report that even some Republicans would vote for Hillary. I've become less enamored with centrist Democrats since 08, including Hillary, but it goes without saying that it would be thrilling for me to see her as President and apparently over half the country feels the same way.
Put up Bernie Sanders, then the polarizing claim would be real.
Beacool
(30,251 posts)"I think she should have been elected in 08 and Obama in '16-"
She would not have had illusions about the Republicans. She and Bill have been through hell and back dealing with them. She also knew all the players quite well. I'm a firm believer that experience does matter in life, although it's no guarantee of high performance (Bush is one example).
I think that Obama dealt with Republicans the best way he knew how, but he got smacked down every single time. It's hard to negotiate with an opponent who is not interested in negotiating. To be fair to mainstream Republicans, the Tea Party fringe has hijacked their party. A clear example was the government shutdown. That fiasco has seriously damaged the Republican brand.
rurallib
(62,448 posts)I am not a Hillary fan, but she is hardly polarizing.
The tea bag party is polarized to anything left of Attilla the Hun.
We will have "food fights" whoever the democrats choose. They'd even shit all over Lieberman if he were the choice.
Maybe Hannity or Krauthammer would call her most polarizing.
Can you identify any plausible 2016 candidate that the right wing hates more than Hillary?
rurallib
(62,448 posts)these folks hate anything democratic. As I said - even Joe Lieberman would face their onslaught of Fox directed hate if he were the Democratic nominee. It is how they play the game.
BlueStreak
(8,377 posts)As I see it, that's a pretty good reason to elect her. I really don't see any possibility of a day when the GOP decides to act like grown-ups. They must be destroyed. Working with them is only possible when they are so overpowered that they have no other option.
And while there are many reasons why I think another Clinton term would not be the best thing for the country long-term, she is the one who really can win decisively -- in a way that effectively takes almost all power away from the far-right radicals. There are never any perfect solutions in politics.
Beacool
(30,251 posts)Going by that criteria every politician is polarizing. They all get hecklers and protesters. It's par for the course.
We should not consider a candidate polarizing if the extreme Right despises that person. That's their problem, not ours. Or do you really think that they would vote for any Democrat?
BlueStreak
(8,377 posts)then you are missing a lot. She always has been a lightning rod. Please tell me one plausible candidate for 2016 who today has the same level of ire Republicans feel for Hillary.
As I see it, that doesn't disqualify her. On the contrary, I want to see the GOP suffer a long, painful death, and Hillary is the perfect person to carry on where Obama leaves off. They have already destroyed any hope of minority support. Now let's see them alienate millions of women too.
Beacool
(30,251 posts)The hell with them!!!! They treated Bill as if he wasn't the legitimate winner of the election. They persecuted him and his wife since day one. Now they are doing the same to Obama and they will do it to any Democratic president.
BlueStreak
(8,377 posts)saying how we need to all come together. Hey, I realize that is a good political stance for her to take. She is just being smart. But it is still ironic.
Rozlee
(2,529 posts)her husband's administration. They had conspiracy theories about her role in Vince Foster's death, going so far as to speculate that they were sexually involved and that she had murdered him or that he'd committed suicide when she broke up with him. They instigated gay rumors, they hinted at her conducting a murder plot against a Clinton lover. They went after her in the Rose Law firm and Whitewater, Travelgate and profits she made in cattle futures. No rumor or innuendo was too low or baseless for them to go after her. I often wondered if they didn't hate her more than Bill. They used to descend on her like zombies on a sorority house. The right hates uppity women just as much as they hate uppity minorities and those that advocate for us.
Beacool
(30,251 posts)They are sick, misogynists bastards. Besides, it's not as if they were going to vote for a Democrat anyway.
hughee99
(16,113 posts)negative reactions. You don't even need to look at the repukes (who aren't going to like whoever we put up), just look at how polarizing she is among Dems alone.
Beacool
(30,251 posts)Du is a mirror image of the Freepers. The majority of the country is closer to the center than to the extreme Left or Right.
hughee99
(16,113 posts)I don't see how they wouldn't be at least somewhat polarizing to the general population.
A polarizing figure is someone who has been prominent long enough and has taken a stand in enough battles that people have developed opinions about them, and Clinton certainly fits that bill. Newer, or "wishy-washy", politicians get to start from essentially zero, but Hillary is the sort of person that people already know and have opinions on. The more politically engaged tend to have stronger opinions, but even the casual political follower has opinions on her already. Hillary will have to actually change some people's minds to get enough votes. It can be tough to get a person who doesn't know much about you to like you, it's even tougher to get a person who already doesn't like you to like you.
Beacool
(30,251 posts)If she runs, she has a lot more solid support than she did in 2008 when the wunderkind rose in the polls. If Obama was not polarizing in 2008 was because he was too new on the national scene and had been in the Senate for a mere 2 years to have accumulated much of a voting record.
Other than Benghazi, which they keep bringing up ad nauseam, there's nothing new the Right can bring up.
hughee99
(16,113 posts)They'll have a lot more to talk about than just Benghazi.
Beacool
(30,251 posts)I mean a viable candidate that has a real chance of winning the general election, not just who they would like to see in the running.
hughee99
(16,113 posts)Yes, he didn't turn out to be as "left" as they wanted, but they lined up behind him. Why do you think that can't happen again?
uponit7771
(90,364 posts)that isn't food the screeching monkeys of the GOP are throwing, BTW...
KurtNYC
(14,549 posts)HappyMe
(20,277 posts)If we can't do it in 2014, 2016 won't mean anything.
magical thyme
(14,881 posts)Hillary is to much of an armchair warrior corporatist for my taste. But her one big positive is she has proven she can stand up to their slash and burn, 'destroy the village in order to save it' approach.
dsc
(52,166 posts)and look what it got us. We could elect the love child of Christ and Gandhi and they still would refuse to work with him.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)Because frankly the batshit crazies have taken over the other party.
Obama was supposed to move us beyond the food fights, too. But that's well-nigh impossible to do when all the other side knows how to do is lob mashed potatoes.
Given that reality, Hillary's abilities as a fighter, tireless campaigner, and connected beltway power-lever puller could come in handy. And she certainly knows how to weather the inevitable storm of bullshit attacks.
datasuspect
(26,591 posts)and you will like it, otherwise here's some plastic cuffs boy-o.
jeff47
(26,549 posts)is after they've been utterly crushed as a movement.
Beacool
(30,251 posts)Thanks to Issa, the other T.P. kooks in Congress, Fox and talk radio; this dead horse gets a constant beating.
aggiesal
(8,923 posts)Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)Beacool
(30,251 posts)The scandals of the 90s are waaayyy past their expiration date. The public doesn't care anymore, so they had to come up with something new.
HappyMe
(20,277 posts)I saw a clip on TV news this a.m. of John Boehner telling the world that he knows what Americans want-Guess? JOBS. This is the only time I have heard that four letter word come out of his mouth since 2008! So, I guess this is the drum the GOP 2014 candidates will be beating next year.
HappyMe
(20,277 posts)about jobs. I don't think that there is any 'common ground' with republicans.
packman
(16,296 posts)I'm looking for another great 8 years with Hillary. Glad to be alive to see America elect Obama and hope to see a women become the President. Good times for America and the Democratic party.
Any chance she'll have a gay vice-president, now that would be something.
Capt. Obvious
(9,002 posts)According to Buffalo TV station WVIB, a man in the audience stood up during Clinton's sold-out speech at the University of Buffalo and yelled "Benghazi, Benghazi, you let them die."
Clinton, who led the State Department at the time of the 2012 attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya, had assumed responsibility for deaths of an ambassador and three other American citizens.
But the former secretary of state took the situation in stride and spoke over the shouting man as he was escorted out.
"We have to be willing to come together as citizens to focus on the kind of future we want, which doesn't include yelling, it includes sitting down and talking with one another," Clinton told the crowd to a standing ovation.
TPM
It's amazing the difference in reporting.
Erose999
(5,624 posts)put into restraints. But the difference is Hillary isn't afraid to call the fuckers out like Obama is. The more they hate her the stronger she gets, lol.
William769
(55,147 posts)BluegrassStateBlues
(881 posts)libdem4life
(13,877 posts)or 16 years of Clintons. That made me a supporter, if not on the cheering squad.
She is the candidate they rightfully fear ... an uppity, intelligent, now well-seasoned and respected international political figure...whose gender would presuppose basic cookie-baking skills and all. Yet, some of my best male friends bake really good cookies.
Beacool
(30,251 posts)History may repeat itself.......