A lesson in today's skim-the-headlines world of social media. Read the full article folks.
From the Sunday NY Times article, “Stung in 2008, Hillary Clinton Builds Formidable Team in Iowa,” this little gem had me chuckling and to my mind really just about sums up the hapless fortune of this wooden, forced and Wall St-funded campaign:
The careful, ground-up organizing seems designed to counter the kind of threat to Mrs. Clinton that has emerged from Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, whose hard-left policies have inspired huge crowds at rallies. Many at the Clinton house party in Newton said Mr. Sanders was the candidate they were most drawn to. “I like everything he says,” said Dean Lane, who farms 1,800 acres of corn and soybeans.
“I’m a pretty wealthy farmer,” he added. “I think it’s ridiculous the way we treat poor people. Nobody wants to pay a dime in taxes.”
Few of the 45 in attendance signed the Clinton commitment cards or said they were ready to volunteer for her.
Ostensibly this was to be a bold-faced, "we're serious about not letting this happen again," but it turned out that, as many Clinton supporters here have readily admitted, there's just not a lot of enthusiasm for her candidacy. And if Sanders loses there will be even less if she gets the nomination, and that should deeply concern the Dem party machine.
Oh yes, there's plenty of name recognition. And there's many, including myself, who'd love to see a female President. But when you add it all up, the First Lady from 23 years ago and well-known corporatist and noted hawk represents a very damaging case. Like it or not, she will be the face for continued monarchy in the United States, and she also wears the vest of Protectorate for her biggest donors on Wall St, and not for the vast 99% on Main St still slogging through this grinding economic crisis. This will be all too abundantly clear once the public begins seeing them side by side and determining which of the two is more believable and genuine.
If Sanders continues to get the kinds of support he keeps building day by day, week by week, then the Dem party chiefs are going to have to contend with a very serious dilemma, should they have already decided to throw all their weight behind Clinton. Her negatives will continue to rise, I predict, inversely to Sanders' positives which will increase at 2 or 3x that.
At some point the few sane and rational ones will have to stand up and ask the old guard if they're prepared to go down with the ship and blow a huge opportunity to return this party back to its roots. Middle America is opening their arms to Sanders in a big and impassioned way. If all that energy gets supplanted by Wall St and corporate campaign donors and the Machine doubles down on the Monarchy Candidate we will hear the greatest, penetrating sucking-sound of a vacuum ever heard.
What about the numbers showing Clinton way ahead of Sanders? I think they're going to drastically change once folks get to finally see Sanders, while at the same time having to see yet more and more of Clinton. I predict then the changes in poll numbers will be dramatic and fast.
As far as I can see there's a gathering storm that represents the zeitgeist, and this was a little twinkling premonition out there at the house party in Iowa.