Hillary Clinton: Mission Accomplished

[Herman Munster]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-johnson-and-james-boyce/hillary-clinton-mission-_b_66921.html

What Hillary did was what she did in New York State.

She and her staff rolled up their sleeves and went to work. One voter at a time, one appearance at a time, one county, one district, one state. And what happened in New York State was a pretty good precursor to what is happening nationally. Today, she is at the top of the list of home state own-party favorability ratings. Her 81 percent favorability rating among Democrats in New York State is right up there at the very top, tied with Ted Kennedy's rating among Democrats in Massachusetts. And Kennedy in Massachusetts is probably the golden standard for being liked by your party in your own state.

Grudgingly, we hear from senior people in other campaigns that they are impressed at how hard she works, how good her team is, how they keep working all day, every day.

They're right. She's top in the polls and in the fundraising race not because of some unforeseeable chain of events; she's there because she understood the reality of her situation and she has outworked everyone else.

If she is our nominee, it will because of two core factors.

She didn't attempt to smash the negative perception as much as she shattered it softly and slowly -- one person at a time.

She, and her team, have worked hard, and smart.

Kudos to all of them.

[ncabot22]

1. The authors should be careful

Look how well use of that phrase worked out for Bush. ;)

[Carrieyazel]

22. Yeah.....Mission Accomplished-- for the Repukes

[derby378]

2. Which explains why Texas Democrats will support John Edwards instead

One size definitely does not fit all in 2008.

[Yukari Yakumo]

14. what?

Explain please.

[NoPasaran]

17. The TDP held an e-straw poll that Edwards won

And Edwards supporters like to kid themselves that that means Edwards would sweep the state.

There is no denying that Edwards does have a base of support among the state party activists, the people most likely to be on the TDP's email list and actually go to the website to vote in the straw poll. Edwards was popular here in 2004 and continues to be today.

Of course, as you have illustrated in your polling data maps, Hillary Clinton is leading in Texas, trailed by Obama; pretty much the same story as the rest of the country. Edwards doesn't even seem to be doing well enough to break the Fifteen PerCent threshold for winning any statewide delegates (although if the primary was held today I have no doubt that he would do well enough in some districts to pick up some delegates under the somewhat convoluted delegate allocation plan we use... just as Edwards did in 2004.)

On the GOP side, their straw poll was won by Duncan Hunter, although I haven't seen anyone suggest that he would carry the Lone Star State in a real live primary either.

[avrdream]

15. You know, derby, when I voted in Texas, I never quite felt comfortable that my vote

was actually REALLY going to a Democrat.

That last touch-screen voting thing for Kerry versus Bush...that creeped me out. I could completely understand how things could be rigged with electronic voting. Did I really just vote for Kerry? Never will know the answer but I suspect that we will also never really know how many Texans support John Edwards.

:hi:

[derby378]

18. Yeah, I used one of those touchscreens once - NEVER AGAIN

I was assured that the machines worked and were accurate, but when you get down to brass tacks, the votes are still being tallied by a private corporation, not by election officials.

[truedelphi]

21. As someone who has spent far too much time dealing with one

Local election official - believe me - you don't want the vote tallied by them necessarily either.

If your County is using a certain type of machinery that allows for a private corporation to count the votes, you need to find out if your local Registrar of Voters is for that equipment or against it.

If he/she is for that equipment, you need to get rid of that official (And if you get to know them, and if they go on and on about their honesty and their neutrality - those are almost buzz words for duplicity and their loyalty to whoever has bought them out.)

[MannyGoldstein]

3. Yes! She Beat Such Strong Opponents In New York!

A third-rate opponent, then a fourth rate opponent. Oooh, what an ass-kicker!

And then there's all of the times that she's fought the Right over legislation and won. Like never, ever?

Yep, she formidable. A regular terror.

:rofl:

[durrrty libby]

4. She is fabulous and brilliant.

:woohoo: :applause: :woohoo:

[PurityOfEssence]

7. Patsy and Edina would be proud

Kudos: remarkably well-reasoned, sweetie-baby.

[durrrty libby]

12. "sweetie-baby" So Sorry...I don't swing that way, but keep trolling

and keep hope alive.

[PurityOfEssence]

19. Ab Fab

Thanks for the hollow platitude; it explains the affiliation.

[illinoisprogressive]

5. If she gets the nod it will be the corrupt dealing of Blackwater Penn and corrupt clintons dirty way

[journalist3072]

9. Give me a break. Your diatribe is getting really tired, and it's not based on facts at all. eom

[PurityOfEssence]

6. But it's only for getting elected

It has nothing to do with changing the world or anything other than trading whatever necessary to suck up to as many as possible to get elected. That's a definition of vulgarity. You're worshiping a Donald Trump, while I'd like a George Soros.

Great, she can tirelessly tell everyone whatever they want to hear and cleave away enough people to secure election in a pretty reliable blue state against two stiffs. BIG DAMN DEAL.

She's a technician when we need a scientist.

She's a draftsperson when we need a designer.

She's a critic when we need an artist.

Not only am I not impressed, I'm truly disgusted at the reverence for her studious ability to advance herself. It'll never end. If she can get elected, she'll spend her first term securing her second and her second securing her legacy and she'll give away so much and avoid trying so often that she'll be nothing but a reactor. She even SAYS that she brings nothing to the table; she thinks everyone else should stick their necks out as she claims to be the bold explorer.

[journalist3072]

8. Sen. Clinton is a true workhorse.

She's not afraid of to delve into the issues and 'do nuance.' She knows the issues out there.

And as the article mentioned, look what she did in upstate New York. She educated herself on the issues and concerns facing the people in New York. She paid attention to what was on their minds.

[PurityOfEssence]

20. ...and told them what they wanted to hear.

She doesn't so much "do nuance" as she "does vague". Enough of the subtly-shaded and deeply subjective, I'd like to see her "do obvious"; she ducks and weaves so adroitly that she stands for virtually nothing.

The only thing that's obvious about her Senate tenure is that she's for women's issues, but even there there's a problem: she (being a closet theocrat) is for a version of the Workplace Freedom of Religion Act that would free police officers from their duty if it called upon them to defend threatened women's clinics and would release pharmacists from the obligation to fill certain prescriptions if they were for birth control or other godless substances. When confronted directly by women's groups, she's stiff-armed and ignored them.

On everything else of import to non-reactionaries, she's played the field and positioned herself. There's no evidence she'll ever stand up and fight because she hasn't, even as she paints herself as the most tireless vox populi since Danton.

[zulchzulu]

10. I think using the term "Mission Accomplished" reminds most people of..

I guess since she voted to allow Bush to go to war, I see your point. Mission accomplished...indeed...

[Hardrada]

11. I had a college friend who could win every argument

because his logic was excellent ( I guess you could say he was "fabulous" at logic). But none of this was of avail since his premises were invariably all fucked up. Same with Hill and the DLC crowd.

[superkia]

13. Why does everyone leave out the non stop national advertisement ...

Clinton gets from the MSM? Advertising is great tool in America that does work, does it somehow not play a roll in the election process?

[WeCanWorkItOut]

16. Hillary working hard and smart? On health care? ?

She has worked hard at learning about health care, but --smart? Hasn't she forgotten something of what she learned?

Health care analysis is difficult, of course. Especially since the media does such a bad job of it.
Mostly anecdotes. But according to "The Washington Note" on Hillary's "Health Care Diva," (I'm condensing here), for Hillary's team, the fundamental problem with health care is getting people who can afford it, to do so.

No, it's the rising prices, year after year, that are forcing people out of health care. It's not that people just feel like doing without.

[Wilms]

23. What drivel.

"And Kennedy in Massachusetts is probably the golden standard for being liked by your party in your own state."

So, how did that work for his presidential bid.

:eyes: