My first post is the unedited version of a letter I've sent off to the local paper in response to an Obama supporting friend. Bob and I go back to the Dean NH primary campaign and Bob wrote to me via the paper saying in effect I should listen to my wife and pay attention to the negatives about Hillary.
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Thanks Bob,
Bob, my friend and compadre in campaigns past, you have my thanks for enunciating the exact issues that got me involved with Hillary in the first place.
Yes, I love her politics and I truly believe she is the best qualified to lead us out of the mess the bushies will leave behind. But as my wife knows, I got involved the moment Hillary announced her candidacy for two over riding reasons. We have to win this time and in order to beat the Rovian tactics we must think like them and put forward the candidate best equipped to fight back against their 12 year old focused advertising, lies and rumor mongering. If I did the usual progressive thing and followed my ideals then Gravel or Dennis might have my support. What a waste that would be.
But I digress. I said you stated my points and I'd like to lay them out but first I'd like to say that Bob, it is September and I know any one of a half dozen qualified people may end up with the nomination. I will never say something negative about your candidate. Something like Hillary has the highest negatives. One thing I learned from the false god Reagan is thou shalt not slam another candidate of your own party.
Now, about those negatives. Isn't that Republican speak? Aren't those personal feelings that they've implanted in the mind of the electorate over the past 15 years? Either you are watching way too much Faux News or their constant beating of the bush has worked. I've asked a few outspoken Republican friends why they hate Hillary, and not one could say for sure. All they seem to know is that they are supposed to hate her. Maybe you've fallen for the same crap. I believe the negatives don't matter if the candidate knows where they come from and has solid plans to counter the propaganda. I believe that the wrong wing's fear and distrust of Hillary says a lot about how strong and right she must be.
You also hint at the Rovian attacks to come and seem to think Hillary will be a huge target. Well let me clue you in. The Democrats could run Billy Graham and those scum on the other side would hammer on some point until our church going friends thought he was the devil himself. Attacking strength is what they do and they do it very well. Anything to avoid issues and their own past deceits.
But what will they say bad about Hillary that people who hate her don't already know? It's all been said and she is the only Democrat I know to fight back and come out stronger. On the other hand, all the others are fresh meat and if you don't think there is already a nasty campaign against each just waiting for the go sign, then you Bob have a lot less upstairs than I thought. I'm sorry Bob, but it is about winning and Hillary is a proven winner.
What else have you forgotten from four years ago? When "rumors" started to leak out that Rove wanted to run against Dean many of us realized this was a tactic to move soft support from Dean to Kerry. He scared Dems off Dean who they actually feared as a strong candidate. Kerry was who they wanted and who they got. Now we hear that the republicans assume Hillary is the nominee and they can't wait because she has the highest negatives in history and nobody with those high negatives has ever won. Except of course W who was at one of his lowest negative points when he won. Please stop letting Rove run our campaign and don't tell me he's gone because I don't believe that for a second.
You know Bob, they may also tell us that a woman has never won the presidency so of course we shouldn't try to change that rule. Hey, I bet they try to tell us that a Senator from a Northeastern state can't win or better yet; A woman with 35 years of public service under her belt, a woman who has always been dedicated to helping the less fortunate, a woman who was First Lady should not be President because her husband already was. Maybe she should just be a good wife and stay home to cook dinner?
Well Bob, my other reason for supporting Hillary is very sexist. I think we need a woman President. Not just a woman but a mother to take charge of our future. I like to tell people that my Great Grandmother Rosie ran the house, my Grandmother Deb ran her home while holding down a job, my Mother Marge ran our home and worked full-time and of course my Wife Dian runs our home while working longer hours than I do. We men have screwed things up pretty bad and it's time the country trusted a mother to clean up the mess and take us forward.