Bill Clinton's Secret Plan to Humiliate his Wife

Those of you who think Hillary stands a snowballs chance in hell of beating John McCain in November make Amy Winehouse look sober.

Let's anaylyze this, shall we? Every time I post one of my Cassandra specials, I get attacked for not providing any "evidence" and just throwing around biased opinions.

So, OK. Here goes.

In 2004, John Kerry lead George W. Bush by 7 points on February 3rd.

That's John Kerry. Against a sitting President. Who still had approval ratings hovering around 45-50%.

What are Hillary's current numbers against John McCain? She loses to him by about 3 points in all the recent polls.

Now, I know what many Hillary fans will say. "Obama does even worse than Hillary in recent matchups with McCain."

That is true to some extent. But, I think the difference is that Hillary is pretty much at her ceiling, and once she is being compared on a daily basis to the more likeable McCain, it will only widen his lead. As former Bush political advisor Peter Wehner put it about Obama:

"I find him to be very impressive. He would be much more difficult for Republicans to handle. He has much more breakout potential [than Hillary]."

With Obama, the likeability factor of McCain -- and even the media infatuation with him -- will be negated. Thus, the election will not turn so much on personalities, but on policy and vision. Grounds where the Democratic candidate, no matter who it is, has a huge advantage.

So, why the title for this post? I think Bill Clinton is a great political mind. He can tell the difference between a political winner and a political loser. And he has to believe, deep down, that Hillary would get demolished by John McCain in the genreal election.

Oh, he may fight like hell to give her as good a chance to win as possible. But, at the end of the day, people are going to ask themselves whether they want to see Hillary Clinton on their TeeVees for the next 4 years. I know a lot of Democrats who will vote for Hillary, but who just can't stand the thought of her being President for 4 or 8 years. I am one of them.

So, Bill must know that Hillary is going to get beat. And, not only will she lose, she will lose in a year in which no Republican DESERVES to come within 5 points of the Democrat in the popular vote or within 100 electoral votes, let alone win the damn election. So, wouldn't it be better for Hillary to go down to the supposedly inspiring, charismatic, and tranformational Barack Obama who then goes on to win big in the fall? I think, if I were a caring husband, I'd rather Hillary lost that way, rather than get humiliated in the general election, after which Hillary would become the source of major opprobirum and recriminations within the party. "How could she blow it THIS year? How?!?" It would be like blowing a huge 4th quarter lead in the Suprebowl.

In the end, I will support the Democratic nominee because, there are no better alternatives. [Unless Al Gore decides to run on the Unity '08 ticket!]

But, let's be clear about this. Hillary will not win the Presidential election. She is already doing worse against John McCain than John Kerry was doing against a less likeable, more hated incumbant President George W. Bush at this point in 2004.

Do any of you truly believe her numbers will IMPROVE over the next 9 months?

I just hate to see the Democrats throw away an historic oportunity to really usher in a new progressive era. Instead, we will be lucky if Hillary wins the election by a narrow margin, governs like a scared rabbit, and the Republicans take the Congress back in 2010 because Hillary has dissapointed and demoralized the base of the Democratic party, and was saddled with a deep recession.

Don't say I didn't warn you if Hillary is forced to appoint some rightwing goon to the Supreme Court to appease the newly elected Republican Senate in 2011.

Maybe I am crazy. Maybe I am wrong. I hope to God I am wrong. But I see the handwriting on the wall. Unless a miracle happens, and Barack Obama somehow manages to pull off an upset in California, I just don't see any other result.

•  What a day to

  be out of tinfoil.

  Re: tags -- Hillary has a last name and McCain and Obama have first names.

  by gchaucer2 on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 08:31:55 AM PDT

  •  I took care of the tags

    I try to catch as many as I can but it's a tough struggle...

    by Cali Scribe on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 09:00:05 AM PDT

    •  funny, I fixed the tags too

      I'm not entirely sure how the "previous tag versions" works. It looks like I switched them to full names, then Hesiod switched them back to the way it was originally, and then repeated that move a couple times, then you fixed them again, and then Hesiod redid what you did twice.

      Is that how the system works, or does the system repeat itself a lot?

      by astraea on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 09:10:24 AM PDT

•  Elvis has a last name too.

  What's your point.

  by Hesiod on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 08:32:58 AM PDT

  •  gchaucer can speak for herself, but I'll give it

    a shot....referring to Clinton as just "Hillary" while you refer to the McCain and Obama by  their last names shows a lack of parity born of either familiarity (I doubt it's the fond kind) or, perhaps, a sexist view (not saying you are, just pointing out the subtext of language).

    It's my opinion that when folks here (all Dems for the most part) rag on Hillary (and she's not above criticism), they at least owe her the respect of her name, especially when they refer to her competitors by their last names.

    by ksh01 on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 08:41:19 AM PDT

    •  I think

      We're just trying to standardize tags, so all Hillary Clinton diaries will be under "Hillary Clinton" instead of "Hillary" "Sen. Clinton" "H. Clinton" "Senator Clinton", etc.

      by Mikey on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 08:42:34 AM PDT

    •  Just putting "Clinton" would bring up Bill stuff.

      ...as well as Hillary Stuff. So, I used her first name, which is a prefectly good tag.

      I respect the "stabdardization" argument, but that is the lament of a librarian or an archivist.

      by Hesiod on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 08:44:04 AM PDT

      •  I was talking about your diary in general

        but you're right, gchaucer was talking about tags only.

        by ksh01 on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 08:58:22 AM PDT

    •  well I would

      like to point out calling her by her first name and the others by their last might just be because of that's the way they refer to their campaigns...
      Hillary '08
      Obama '08
      McCain '08
      See, there really might be no disrespect, just sort of following her own lead...

      by housesella on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 08:46:09 AM PDT

    •  Her bumper stickers say "Hillary"

      not Clinton. And she constantly incorporates her first name into her campaign (Hill-o-copter, anyone?). Calling her by her first name is merely following her example.

      by beltane on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 08:47:55 AM PDT

      •  If you're a supporter, I guess you're right

        But she deserves a last name in an article/diary/story that mentions her rivals by their last names.

        by ksh01 on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 08:59:48 AM PDT

•  I agree with everything

  you say, but it doesn't matter.

  Hillary will most likely win the primary.  She will do it by being deceitful and duplicitous and nasty.  When the primary is over everyone in the country will remember all those things they didn't like about the Clintons.  Indeed, some who never believed the Republican noise machine about the Clintons in the 90s will come to realize in large part they were wrong; the Clintons are neither nice nor honest people.

  But it doesn't matter.

  Hillary will do whatever it takes to win the nomination.  If she has to lie a million times a day in a thousand different ways she will.  If she has to sink to using Rovian tactics like voter disenfranchisement she will.  If she has to tear the Democratic Party in half she will.  Whatever it takes to win she will do.

  It doesn’t matter because she is owed the Presidency, and woe be unto those who try to get in her way

  by nisleib on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 08:33:26 AM PDT

•  My point is,

  read the FAQs.  They are always instructive.

  by gchaucer2 on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 08:33:46 AM PDT

  •  Click on the Obama or the Hillary tag.

    LOTS of diaries pop up for some reason.

    by Hesiod on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 08:35:28 AM PDT

    •  The Tag Librarian crew

      can't catch all of them, and a lot of us are getting really burned out.

      Hopefully in dKos 4.0 there'll be a better way.

      by Cali Scribe on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 09:07:35 AM PDT

      •  Tags are so 2004 anyway.

        by Hesiod on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 09:08:44 AM PDT

•  I think you did two things

  made a very interesting argument about McCain and Clinton and then ruined it by brining in Bill.  I think that made the diary way too speculative.  But since I'm no blog god, that's only a guess.

  by Nulwee on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 08:34:11 AM PDT

  •  I am not a blog god.....

    ....but, rather, a blog demi-god. And I agree with your post.

    by Hillbilly Dem on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 08:49:06 AM PDT

    •  Not to me immodest, but...

      ...I AM a blog God.

      by Hesiod on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 08:52:06 AM PDT

•  Call the National Equirer or Star magazine

  I'll send a note to Hillary telling her to drop out since this is Bill's plan to humiliate her.  Did you tell the National Equirer yet?

  by arogue7 on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 08:35:02 AM PDT

  •  It's tongue in cheek.

    Jeebus.

    by Hesiod on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 08:36:14 AM PDT

•  McCain's family is very attractive

  I don't like McCain's policies and I think he is a warmonger, but his family is attractive, no doubt about it.  His mother is a pip and his wife is very appealing.  I saw his wife talk about their adopted daughter and I gotta tell you, I like Cindy McCain.  We've seen it with Laura Bush:  the wife can humanize the candidate.

  by Lois on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 08:37:38 AM PDT

  •  Ask Redstate about John McCain....

    and his model wife or should I say second wife.

    by JustinL on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 08:41:24 AM PDT

    •  They will fall in line, though.

      Republicans always do. As soon as it becomes apparent that he will be the nominee, that means he's the new fuhrer, and they will all start sluting him.

      by Hesiod on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 08:42:36 AM PDT

      •  I don't know...

        as I stay on Kos and sites like it all day at work, a co-worker of mine does the same on Redstate....and he has said this:  "if John McCain is the nominee he will vote for Hillary Clinton", now I told him I will need some blood or something to hold him to it, but the hatred of McCain is real.

        by JustinL on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 08:59:20 AM PDT

•  sigh

  Hillary is the debil.

  by crazyshirley2100 on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 08:37:44 AM PDT

  •  She's not the debil.

    She's just going to drag the party down, when there is no Earthly reason why that has to be the case.

    by Hesiod on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 08:41:46 AM PDT

    •  Brilliant post!

      I could not agree more.

      We need to figure out how WE can defeat the politics of HRC sleaze.

      Please email your friends/colleagues the links to articles that correct HRC and point out the sleaze.

      Please email your Democratic senators and congressmen/women asking them to take a public stand against HRC's politics of sleaze. Ask them to ENDORSE Obama.

      Please volunteer for the Obama campaign. You might have questions about Obama, but remember, not helping him be the nominee pretty much ensures that a Republican (Romney!) wins in '08.

      Stand Up against the sleazy politics right now.

      We can win without being sleazy, with a sense of decency and integrity. Believe that.

      by V in Vermont on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 08:58:27 AM PDT

•  Hil's "experience" will be met by McCain. . .

  with a cold stare.

  by play jurist on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 08:59:18 AM PDT

  •  Yup.

    Her "asset" against Obama will be turned into a laughable liability. Porbably thorugh a cute McCain joke, toom, that will get all the pundits giggling at her.

    She is just going to look foolish. Her only real shot is to paint McCain as the second coming of George W. Bush -- and force McCain to distance himself from Bush. Thus kind of pissingoff his base.

    That strategy can definitely work, but McCain has the most potential to wiggle out of it.

    by Hesiod on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 09:06:07 AM PDT

    •  100 years in Iraq? Bomb, bomb bomb Iran?

      I don't think he can distance himself that much.

      by Wee Mama on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 09:10:40 AM PDT

  •  He won't feel obligated to give it any creedence.

    He can just say, "After the failure of your health csre reform task force, I never heard anyone mention your name again with connection to anything.  Nobody cared what you thought or what you wanted.  If you were working at the White House, it was a secret from all of us."

    And he doesn't care if he gets called a sexist for demeaning the role of wife and First Lady, either.

    by Inland on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 09:08:05 AM PDT

•  I think

  you are truly underestimating how much John McCain is loathed by the right wing of the party.  Limbaugh has said he won't vote for him, and the base hates him pretty much as much as Hillary.

  Don't give up.

  by KibbutzAmiad on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 09:04:24 AM PDT

  •  Vs. Hillary?!?

    Please. Limbaugh will be sucking McCain's shrivelled up knob in the general election if his choice is between Hillary and McCain.

    by Hesiod on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 09:07:47 AM PDT

    •  grody. n/t

      by CC Music Factory on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 09:27:53 AM PDT

    •  Well, thanks for THAT lunchtime mental image n/t

      by bwintx on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 09:35:13 AM PDT

    •  I honestly

      disagree.  

      The hatred of McCain is astonishing on the right.  They hate him at least as much as they do Hillary.

      by KibbutzAmiad on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 09:46:10 AM PDT

•  My biggest worries are.....

  1. If Hillary Clinton is elected POTUS she will move the country to the right, move the party to the right and drop the liberal base like a hot potato.

  2.  She'll appoint all her '90's White House cronies and nothing new will happen for her term in office.

  3.  Iraq?  Are you kidding?  Withdrawing the troops will happen at a trickle and we'll still be over there in '12, just in time for her to say she must be elected again in order to "finish the job".

  4. Supreme Court appointments will be centrist.  Goodbye Roe vs. Wade.

  In my opinion, she will be polarizing from the moment she steps into the White House and will alienate the base.  Who's Howard Dean and what's a 50-state strategy?  It's all power all the time for the Clinton Dynasty.  I'm sorry to be so blunt about this, but I think reality is starting to seep into me.  I wish John Edwards would save the day and everyone would suddenly wake-up and realize he's the best for our country.  That's not going to happen.  

  by ejsmom on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 09:29:26 AM PDT

•  she has hit her ceiling but not her floor

  that is what is so dangerous.

  by Zacapoet on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 09:52:43 AM PDT