Chris Bowers posted something interesting in his take the poll of Senate Approval that was talked about yesterday:
You know, I have to admit, that outside of the residual forces disaster, Hillary Clinton is rapidly moving up in my rankings of Democratic candidates for President. Say whatever else you want about the Clintons, but they don't take bullshit Republican attacks lying down or cowering in a corner. And if there is one thing I can't stand right now it is Democrats who won't stand up for themselves, who stab their allies in the back in order to appeal to D.C. elites and Republicans, and then ask us to keep fighting for them. At least Clinton fights back, and hard, whenever attacks are directed her way. That is a big plus in my book.
I would probably amend that statement just a little:
Say whatever else you want about the Clintons, but they don't take bullshit attacks lying down or cowering in a corner.
This right here goes to the root of why people dislike Hillary Clinton.
It's actually quite a profound observation, if you sit back and think about it. What is the number one difference between John Edwards and Hillary Clinton's vote on the war? Edwards apologized for it. Debate all you want about who read the intelligence or whathaveyou, the point always comes back to the fact that it was the most political vote of Bush's presidency and they both voted for it.
Edwards apologized, Clinton refuses.
Why? Because Clinton isn't going to take a bullshit attack lying down. What good is an apology anyways? Do the coming up on 4,000 dead Americans care about an apology? Do their families care? What about the Iraqis that we've slaughtered? How good is an apology for them?
The point is, an apology is politically weak and Hillary knows it. Sure, you could capitulate and let the left have their day. You could pander if you wanted. But that's not what Hillary does. She's a fighter, and she's going to take it to whomever crosses her. She learned from Healthcare in the 90's and now she's come out with a great plan that is hard to attack by any side. It's not "socialism" nor does it really conflict with Obama's or Edwards's plan at all.
This is the key to Clinton's strength. She's not going to back down. She's not going to give in, and she certainly wouldn't have let those bullshit Moveon votes come to the floor yesterday.
So go ahead and dislike Clinton for her alledged politics. But at the end of the day, she's going to stand up for you. She's not going to be portrayed as weak, and she's not going to back down under pressure. The Right thought they'd have a field day with her defending MoveOn but it's barely affected her. Obama is step slowly around the minefield and he got burned. Clinton just ran it over and she's gotten little flak from the right and good praise from the left.
So rally behind Hillary. She'll take on the Republican Noise Machine, and she'll win.
TINY UPDATE: I just want to make sure that I emphasize that my amended quote is missing the word Republican. Just to help those that feel confused. Normally when you add a word, you bold it. What happens when you remove a word?