Tuesday, February 18, 2014

GOP APOLOGIST SAYS REPUBLICANS' PLAN TO RUN A 100% NEGATIVE 2016 CAMPAIGN IS GOOD FOR AMERICA

Republicans have no ideas, and no interest in governing America in the best interests of the country. Republicans care about only two things: amassing power and transferring even more wealth to the obscenely wealthy, preferably by blasting huge holes in what's left of the social safety net and torching what's left of the social contract. Of course, they can't say that and expect to win presidential elections. So their plan in 2016 is to turn Hillary Clinton into the Antichrist, even though they've been doing that almost unceasingly for more than twenty years, and there's not much more they can say. They know that raking old muck will subject them to criticism even from a Hillary-averse mainstream press. So GOP apparatchik Byron York is hoping to persuade the press that dredging up old scandals and pseudo-scandals is an exercise in civic education rather than a desperate act of mudslinging by a party that can't hope to win the presidency any other way:
There's a debate going on about Hillary Clinton's past. If she runs for president in 2016, should Republicans reach back to the scandals of her years as First Lady? Or should they focus on more recent times, especially her tenure as Secretary of State, to build a case against her?

The GOP doesn't have to choose. Of course Clinton's recent experiences are relevant to a presidential run. But so are her actions in the 90s, the 80s and even the 70s.
Yippee! She'll be the subject of multiple negative campaigns!
... there will be millions of young voters in 2016 who know little about the Clinton White House. Americans who had not even been born when Bill Clinton first took the oath of office in 1993 will be eligible to vote two years from now. They need to know that Hillary Clinton has been more than Secretary of State.
We're doing it for the children!
Those voters need to know, for starters, that Mrs. Clinton once displayed incredible investment skills. In 1978 and 1979, when her husband was attorney general and then governor of Arkansas, she enlisted the help of a well-connected crony to invest $1,000 in the highly volatile and risky cattle futures market. Several months later, she walked away with $100,000 -- a 10,000-percent profit....

New voters also need to learn about Mrs. Clinton's checkered history as a lawyer and the game of hide-and-seek she played with federal prosecutors who subpoenaed her old billing records as part of the Whitewater investigation....

New voters also need to learn about Mrs. Clinton's purge of the White House travel office....

Finally, there is the Lewinsky scandal.

... a focus on Mrs. Clinton's past ... will help define Mrs. Clinton for millions of voters who weren't around or weren't paying attention in the 1990s. They need to know. And that's what campaigns are for.
Notice that York doesn't say that the opportunity to sling all this ancient mud is one of the reasons we have campaigns. About mudslinging, York says categorically, "that's what campaigns are for."

For Republicans, especially in presidential years, that's true. They're not out to sell appealing ideas, because they have none. They're out to stir up old resentments, because that's all they've got.

6 comments:

Victor said...

Though I like Hillary, I'm not exactly her biggest supporter - I'd prefer someone a bit more Progressive.

But if she's the candidate, I'll do whatever I can to help get her elected.

If for no other reason, than to watch Conservative's heads explode!!!

First, they'd have lost to the first black man - then they'd have lost to the first woman.
BOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Maybe after that, they might get the notion that they need to ditch their sociopathic and rabid base, and move into at least the latter part of the 20th Century.

Pops said...

That sounds like winning strategy. Remind Millenials of how bad the economy was during Clintons presidency and then remind Millenials of what A Scoundrel Clinton was for having Oral Sex with a 22 year old who was not raped or forced to have oral sex but was the aggressor. That should really get the "Young Uns" steamed up. Who will deliver this message Rand Paul? Ted Cruz? Christie? LOL. Fools.

The New York Crank said...

You read it here first:

Whether it's Hillary, Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, or (let's get a little crazy here) Anthony Weiner or Attila The Hun, I guarantee that one regularly-repeated line in the negative campaign will be:

"[Name of Candidate] is the most liberal, left wing, socialistic Democrat candidate in history.

Yours very crankily,
The New YOrk Crank

Jules said...

Oh no, the Right Wing has a cunning plan to gain the yout vote. I am sooo concerned!

I note that the Lewinsky Scandal doesn't get an explanation. Perhaps because they aren't sure how to use it and counter the smartypants liberals who will bring up David Vitter etc.

Or maybe they think that if they go into a darkened room and chant Lewinsky three times HRC will turn into a newt.

Also not sure they want to mention HRCs investment skillz. Isn't that the sort of UberCapitalism they admire?

Carol Ann said...

Her investment skills pale next to Mitt's much ballyhooed corporate pirate---oops job creator---skills

Glennis said...

But so are her actions in the 90s, the 80s and even the 70s.

Whitewater retreads! I'm sure that will work.