'Hillary haters' sharpen their swords

[n2doc]

By Jill Zuckman | Tribune national correspondent
August 26, 2007


DALLAS — Richard Collins, a wealthy Texas philanthropist, businessman and political aficionado, heaps praise on the woman he has set out to destroy, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.).

"She looks like a winner," said Collins, sitting in his high-rise office with sweeping views of the city. "She's run a good campaign, very consistent, no mistakes."

But make no mistake about it: Collins is just one in a vast army of professional "Hillary haters" who are banking on Clinton becoming the Democratic nominee. Like the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in the 2004 election who denigrated John Kerry's military service in Vietnam, Collins and others are searching for just the thing that will crystallize the way voters think and feel about her.


And not in a good way.

Armed with new technologies and fueled by animus, they are bent on preventing "four more years" of Clintonism. Every old charge, it seems, is being repackaged and sold as new. Every rumor is given a new, blog-stoked currency.

The rise of the Internet has meant that more people are getting their message out without the expense of paper, postage or manpower. Anyone with a computer can weigh in on the political debate and alter a candidate's course, and Clinton opponents have started early.

With his affable demeanor and sixth-generation Texas twang, Collins, 60, is the force behind StopHerNow.com, a humorous and snarky Web site, as well as an independent expenditure group dedicated to stopping Clinton's march to the White House.

His efforts have included flying a StopHerNow.com banner over the site of the South Carolina Democratic debate, as well as a cartoon called "The Hillary Show," a "Jetsons"-like satire that portrays Clinton as a mean and unforgiving talk show host.

"This is not personal," said Collins, a Republican who has donated money to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. "It's about her policies. We think they would be wrong for the country."

more: (reg req'd)

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-hillary_haters_bdaug26,1,4382207.story?coll=chi_tab01_layout

[wyldwolf]

1. is there a membership area we can direct some DUers to?

[journalist3072]

2. LOL! Sad, but true. When it comes to Hillary, some DUers are just like the folks on Free Republic

The truth doesn't matter to them. They will swift-boat Hillary for their own political convenience.

[Maribelle]

5. Just like?

Or sybils?

[DURHAM D]

11. FRPT -

I refer to them as FRPT - Free Republic Personality Types.

Sometimes I think they are actually the same people and have migrated here and other times I think they are just that type of person who does not use facts to weigh/form an opinion. Mostly I think they didn't get enough love as a child.

In the prior decades these unhappy people found a home in a Republican Party structure that embraced and used these mostly male anti-social and angry misfits.

Now, because of the internet, they can participate in the Democratic discussions. However, I am pretty sure you won't find this type actually doing any volunteer work or donating a dollar. After a while of watching some of the posters I actually feel sorry for them as they seem so miserable.

[Buzz Clik]

3. Whoever the Dem nominee is, they damn well better be tough.

The level of abuse being dished out here will pale in comparison to the deeply rooted hatred and dirty tricks that will come from the GOP. And if Hillary is the nominee, it will be far worse than for any other.

[paulk]

4. seems like a foolish strategy - the idea that

4 more years of Clintonism is a bad thing - especially after the debacle of the last 8. If that's how these right wingers want to play it - I'd say - "go for it".

Dredging up all that shit from Bill's Presidency - that didn't work last time around - in fact, it worked to the Clinton's advantage - the hatred was just so out of scale that the Clinton's got a sympathy vote. (that's happening this time around, too, IMO - the hatred turned against HRC is so over the top that it's backfiring)

[ccpup]

9. my thoughts exactly

I believe that the swift boating of Kerry was successful because 1) he was an Unknown among many voters, so there was a great deal of brain space to fill with anything but fact and 2) Kerry wimped out and didn't fight back ... or perhaps fought back too late for it to matter.

The "scandals" about Hillary are well-known and she appears to be, successfully, re-educating people about who she really is irrespective of what the slime machine during the 1990s told them. Secondly, she appears to have a fairly strong, no-nonsense, don't-take-any-shit Rapid Response Team in place to correct Right Wing Driven lies. Not tomorrow or next week, after endless round table meetings about how to handle it, but the moment it hits the wires ... NOW!

More importantly, I believe the American Public has been inoculated, to a great degree, when it comes to the tired Hillary Clinton Scandals put out by her republican enemies. They've heard it so much by now that it's just white noise and they kind of tune out. Not everyone, mind you, as there are people who will always hate her no matter what (votes no Democrat would ever get, in my book). But most people shrug their shoulders and think "ah, same ol', same ol'"

If the republicans didn't have the bush fiasco of the last 8 years literally chained to their ankles and drowning them in an oh-so-appropriate bottomless pool of inky black oil, more people might listen to their anti-Hillary message. But more and more people are turning away from republicans and the republican party and are open to hearing the Dem candidates objectively, regardless of manufactured scandals delivered a la swift boating.

[rodeodance]

10. my guess is that many no longer know WHY they 'hate' her. They just do.

[sufrommich]

6. Seems an odd position to take

against the one Democratic candidate who is stealthily seeking to further the right wing machines fascist and corporate goals. :sarcasm:

[msongs]

7. links? proof for this assertion? of course not because there are none

that prove any democratic party candidate is "stealthily seeking to further the right wing machines fascist and corporate goals."

That's because unless proven otherwise by such claimants, there are none doing that.

Msongs
www.msongs.com

[sufrommich]

8. Did you not see the sarcasm tag?eom