Hyping Hillary

[ProSense]

Clinton enters the race the presumed frontrunner. But where it once was assumed she would be vulnerable from the right in a Democratic primary, it now appears that her support for the Iraq invasion will require her to worry more about her left flank. Where the greatest question she expected to face was about whether a figure as polarizing as she is could possibly be electable, it could now be whether she is polarizing enough to appeal to primary voters who are looking to express their own anger. Even the excitement factor — the prospect of being the first woman President — has been blunted by the fact that her leading challenger, Barack Obama, could be the first African-American one. What's more, Clinton is hardly a fresh face. By 2008, voters will have lived for two decades with either a Clinton or a Bush in the White House, and polls — including TIME's — show they are growing uncomfortable with the idea of American dynasties.

Still, she enters the race with two assets no other contender can match at this early point: near universal name identification and the best money-raising operation imaginable. Her style on the stump is often dull and cautious, but the flip side of that is she rarely makes mistakes. Nothing beats having actually done it before, and she has had the experience of having lived through two successful presidential campaigns.

more...

Rarely?

Hillary Clinton 'truly regrets' Gandhi joke

Clinton's 'plantation' remark draws fire

Hillary Hits Bottom

Hillary says young people think "work is a four-letter word," then apologizes ... to Chelsea

I suppose that's why it was important for her to join the RW smear and distort Kerry's comment.

[ray of light]

1. other faux-pas's

"It's not like I stay home baking a cake and waiting for my man..." (Isn't that the quote?)

Also, when she switched from Hillary Clinton to Hillary Rodham Clinton to Hillary Clinton back to Hillary or Hillary Clinton. (Is it just me or is the "Rodham" gone?

[Noisy Democrat]

7. She seems to have one name

Is it just me or is the "Rodham" gone?

As far as I can tell, the "Clinton" is gone. On her website, it's all "Hillary for President." Maybe this could be justified, *maybe*, on the grounds that people might confuse her with her husband. (Except isn't her main claim to fame the fact that she's married to a former president?) But back in 2004 when MoveOn asked people to vote on which candidate to endorse, I decided against Carol Mosely-Brown as soon as I saw that her campaign was called "Carol for President." You don't see any men saying "Bill for President" or "Vote John in '08." I figured that a woman who didn't have enough self-respect to insist on using her last name was obviously not seriously running.

Maybe Clinton figures that Hillary is practically a trademark now, like Britney or J.Lo. But I find something seriously creepy about the idea of a presidential candidate who expects to be taken seriously while she campaigns under her first name. It's an echo of the larger weirdness here -- how much of her momentum appears to be based on celebrity and marital status.

[karynnj]

8. Very interesting comment

That is pretty strange. If you think of if even on this board Most of us will say Senator Kerry, Kerry, or John Kerry. I seriously can not picture myself typing "Oh I just saw John vote." It's a level of familiarity I would be uncomfortable with even though he was surprisingly easy to speak to.

[rockymountaindem]

2. That last one about "work is a four-letter word" really pissed me off

I don't think she cares about youth. She has also beaten the drum for censoring video games as a way to pander to insecure parents who can't or won't control their own kids. As a gamer, even one who doesn't play the kind of violent games she wants to restrict, that really gets to me. I just don't see her being able to embrace issues that matter to the under-30 crowd (economic and social). Beyond that, I'm done with Presidential dynasties.

I also have a huge stake in this race because it will be the first in which I will be old enough to cast a vote for President. I hope the Democratic nominee is someone I can really get behind. Right now, I'd be entheusiastic for Kerry or Gore, happy for Clark, and content with Edwards. Clinton would require some serious nose-holding.

[karynnj]

3. Wonderful post

I agree with your last sentence - that that was why she had to distort Kerry's comment. The truth, in Kerry's case is that there are only four such comments -over at last 3 years of CONSTANT surveillance that can be used - and none show the mean-spiritedness or cluelessness that the links show.

The joke was a misspeak - he said it was, the prewritten text backed it - and he spoke against the spinning. It is impressive that johnkerry.com has kept that response up. What I would like to see is for an independent site to put up Hillary's comment, Kerry's response, Bill Clinton's rage filled response to a reporter asking about the film that was stil in the news. and Hillary's defense of Clinton's rage as "teaching the Democrats to fight back". Hillary's respone to Kerry had to be about one of three things:
- Saying that what Kerry intended to say was innapropriate - Bush didn't do his homework
- Saying what Kerry actually said was inappropriate - as Kerry had already explained, that is pretty unfair.
- Saying that Kerry's response was inappropriate. I suspect this was what see meant because she said "comments". A one line joke, botched or not is not "comments". If this is the case, she is a hypocrite as he was far more in control than her husband was and because - if you listen to it - it is an excellent attack on the RW echo chamber - knowingly using something out of context. (Not to mention a meek correction and apology would have quickly been labelled by her co-hort as not fighting back.)

[Inuca]

4. "growing uncomfortable with the idea of American dynasties"

YES! Finally!

[kerrygoddess]

5. Hillary raising for Primary & GE

http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=5156

[whometense]

6. Well, my daughter ALREADY

received an invitation to join the "Hillary Clinton for President" group on FaceBook.

I'm proud to say she declined. :-)

Edited to add: We'll see - at least where I am, there is ZERO enthusiasm for a Hillary candidacy. The perils of being the frontrunner for over a year already - she's already old news.