Tag Archives: Bill Clinton

Progressives and Tea Partiers, Unite

I’ve already noted how bizarre the 2016 contest could be in terms of foreign/defense policy in that we might have a serious GOP candidate (Rand Paul) running to the left of the Dems.  Already there’s talk of neo-cons like Robert Kagan supporting Hillary.

But we might also see some strange turns in domestic policy as well.  A lot of attention is being paid to Hillary’s attitude toward, and relationship with, Wall Street, particularly compared to Elizabeth Warren.  However Hillary runs, you can be sure she’d govern as a friend of Wall Street, as she and Bill have consistently been.

We may well see a “populist” GOP candidate or two in the primary running to the left of Hillary on domestic policy.

What I find especially interesting is the conviction that populist rhetoric should be encouraged among Republicans, combined with a certainty that it would be the kiss of death for the Dems to nominate that “scary” Elizabeth Warren.  Candidates are judged not on the content of their character, but on the red or blue color of their party.

While I know that Warren would be turned into George McGovern, the truth is that if Tea Party voters could listen to her in a “blind taste test” setting, a lot of them would feel that she understands their frustration and speaks for them.  While she’d be painted as anti-capitalist, the more subtle truth is that she is against crony capitalism, and so is the Tea Party.

Both parties represent crony capitalism, and that’s something the Progressive wing of the Democratic party and the Tea Party wing of the GOP agree on.  The Dems are for the rich and the poor, the Republicans are for the rich, but really nobody is for the middle class.  That’s why they have to woo middle-class voters and get us wee wee’d up about issues like abortion and immigration and climate change.

All the 2016 candidates will talk about the middle class, but those most likely to mean it either won’t get nominated or would get painted as a hippie Commie freak in the general.

I don’t know who our next president will be, but I’m certain he or she will be someone Wall Street won’t have to worry its pretty little head about.

Probably Not How Hillary Wanted to Announce

Disgraced exhibitionist and fading NYC mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner told BuzzFeed’s Ben Smith that he knows what role his wife Huma Abedin will play in Hillary’s 2016 campaign.

So Weiner appears to have made Hillary’s announcement for her.  I didn’t think the Clintons could be more pissed at him, but I expect they are.

Monica’s Back!

Just as Bill and Hillary are struggling with Weiner and Huma, Monica’s back and just where you’d expect to find her — the National Enquirer, of course.

They are publishing an old tape she made for him after their affair ended, begging to see him alone and proposing that she take off her clothes, plus assorted love notes.

In one note she refers to Gingko Biloba as Gingko Blowjoba.

In the last photos I saw of Monica, taken in New York City, she looked like Rosie O’Donnell.

God, She’s Become Annoying

Here’s Peggy Noonan* at the opening of the Bush library:

“President Obama was more formal than the other speakers and less confident than usual, as if he knew he was surrounded by people who have something he doesn’t.”

Carter, Clinton, Bush 41, and Bush 43 are all so different from one another.  You know, Peggy, the only thing I think they all have that Obama doesn’t is white skin.

Whenever she writes about the President, she really turns into a nasty piece of work.

*  “The Presidential Wheel Turns,” WSJ

Hillary Can’t Say No Now

It’s a little over a week since the Inauguration, and I’m already sick of the Hillary speculation.

Even if she knows what she wants to do, she can’t make a definitive statement.  If she’s going to run, she can’t step on the President’s toes so early in his term.

If she’s not going to run, she’ll want to delay saying so as long as possible.  Bill has to keep the speculation going because he needs the attention and money for his Clinton Global Initiative that a possible Billary return to the White House generates.  If the Clinton era is truly over, Bill loses buzz.  And Bill the Big Baby desperately needs buzz like the rest of us need oxygen.

My gut feeling is that she won’t run.

So to Andrew Cuomo and Martin O’Malley, I say, “Please proceed, Governor.”

Do Remaining Debates Work Against an Obama Comeback?

The next Obama-Romney debate on October 16 is a town-hall forum, rather than a head-to-head with podiums like the last one.  Given that the two men will respond to audience members, I’m not sure how much opportunity Obama will have to really pound Mitt’s lies the way he needs to.  The audience will act as a buffer and offer Mitt some protection.

Bill Clinton told Obama donors on Monday that “if either of them really tries to take a question and use it to attack the other, that’s going to come across poorly.”*

The third debate on October 22 is about foreign policy.  Unless Mitt says something incredibly stupid, foreign policy isn’t going to decide the election, and Obama won’t have the chance he needs to say what he should have said on domestic issues.

Bottom line — Obama won’t have another debate with the first one’s format to go after Mitt on domestic issues.  It’s going to be even more challenging for him to fix last week’s disaster in the remaining debates.  Each debate is unique and precious.  You can’t afford to throw one away as Obama did.

*  “Obama Is Urged to Get Tough,” Peter Nicholas and Carol E. Lee, WSJ

On Eve of Convention, Clinton-Obama ’08 Primary Wounds Reopened

As Bill Clinton prepares to make a major speech on President Obama’s behalf at the Democratic Convention in Charlotte this week, Ryan Lizza* offers this gem from the 2008 campaign:

“Tim Russert told me that, according to his sources, Bill Clinton, in an effort to secure an endorsement for Hillary from Ted Kennedy, said to Kennedy, ‘A few years ago, this guy would have been carrying our bags.'”

* “Let’s Be Friends,” The New Yorker

UPDATE — This sounded vaguely familiar, and I went back and found that in Game Change, this incident was reported as Clinton telling Teddy, “A few years ago, this guy would have been getting us coffee.”