Yes folks, you read the headline correctly and no you are not dreaming. A prominent NEOCON has endorsed Hillary for the nomination because he believes that having her as President would enable the discredited neocons to reconstitute their power under a Democratic presidency. Many of us on the blogosphere have been making this prediction over the past couple of months (myself included) and it appears are worst fears are coming true.
So who is this neocon? He is none other than Bruce Bartlett, a supply-side loving economist who held positions under Reagan and Poppy Bush as well as a prominent writer for the National Review. Here is the gist of his logic:
It is in this context that one must evaluate Sen. Clinton’s position. Given the views of the Democratic base and the enormous unpopularity of the Iraq War, it is a real act of courage for her to steadfastly refuse to say her vote for the war was wrong. Of course, like all Democrats and most Americans, she opposes the war today and favors a rapid pullout.
So the fact that Hillary is a neocon warmonger, and because she refuses to apologize in any way shape or form for her Iraq vote, means that she'll receive neocon support. That's great, I'm really looking forward to the day Hillary sends our men and women in uniform into the deserts of Iran.
Why else are these ideological rejects supporting Clinton? Well, they like her economic philosophy as well:
On economics, it is reasonable to assume that Sen. Clinton’s policies would not be altogether different from Bill Clinton’s. This is not a bad thing. On trade, his record was outstanding, and on the budget was far better than George W. Bush’s. While Clinton raised taxes in 1993, it should be remembered that he cut them in 1997, including a cut in the capital gains tax. On regulatory policy, Clinton was no worse than the current administration and probably better on net.
Democrats know all this, which is why our most liberal pundits, like Bob Kuttner, are attacking Sen. Clinton for being a clone of her husband on economics and criticizing her support for “Rubinomics,” named after former Treasury Secretary Bob Rubin. Its essential elements are a commitment to deficit reduction and globalization — which are both anathema to the Democratic party’s liberal base. It wants a hard line against imports to save jobs and an expansive fiscal policy to pay for a wide range of new social programs.
So, let me get this straight.....neocons are supporting Hillary Clinton because she supports unbridled free-trade, depleted social benefits, and more war. And furthermore, on issues pertaining to regulatory policy, Hillary would follow in the footsteps of her husband who "was no worse than the current administration and probably better on net" and would follow in the tradition of the tax cuts he enacted in 1997.
I know I'm going to get flamed by the Hillaristas (and I guarantee you not one of them will make a logical rebuttal of this, they'll just post some lame polls showing Hillary in the lead with 35%). But this stuff needs to come to light. All too often, beneath the facade of Hillary worship, is the tacit understanding that Hillary Clinton is a neocon. Neocons have destroyed our country by decimating its manufacturing capacity and they have started a bullsh1t war in Iraq. Furthermore, the have a long-term agenda of rooted in attacking every country in the Middle East (Wes Clark exposed this fact a few years ago).
The biggest mistake we as Dems can make is to assume that neocons are finished in this country. They are not. They are clever and will figure of ways to reconstitute their powers and to redefine their deluded ideology under the administration of a Conservative Democrat. After all, that's what guys like Perle, Wolfowitz, Libby, and Feith really are......Conservative Democrats (they were all Dems until the 1970s).
Mark my words folks, Hillary Clinton will welcome the neocons into her administration. And it is our obligation to get the word out before its too late.