Hillary Clinton Has Great Week: Anti-Clinton Media Recoils

I am beginning to understand what my right-wing friends and family members are forever griping about. This week, Hillary Clinton's very good September became clear for everyone to see: she outraised Obama by a fair amount, got the endorsement of an important teachers' group, and saw several polls from reputable polling organizations released which showed her with massive leads.

And then the knee-jerk Anti-Clintonites is the fourth estate start to chime in. It really is rediculous. A few examples:

On Drudge tonight, this headline: NYT SATURDAY: HILLARY HAS $$, BUT OBAMA HAS THE CROWDS IN IOWA... Thank you, New York Times, for running a story that everyone has heard over and over again. Why now? Interesting timing, to be sure.

I made the mistake of tuning into Hardball on MSNBC the other night, a practice I engage in only when in need of a splitting headache from Chris Matthews' incessant and obnoxious yelling. (Seriously, I think that he either has a hearing problem or some nervous disorder dealing with the volume of his voice.) Following are examples of some of the very impartial analysis from Matthews, the moderator:

*"If Hillary sits on her lead and doesn‘t say anything and simply has a smart operation, smug and smart, can she get blown away here?" Hmm..."smug" is always a word I choose when in need of a non-loaded and completely impartial adjective when on camera as a moderator.

*"Let me ask you about Hillary Clinton. She went on the Sunday talk shows, all five of them, made no news in five appearances." Speaking of smug...Actually, she did go on all five talk shows and made a lot of news...and received rave reviews. An inconvenient fact...

It did not help that David Yepsen was Matthews' guest. He is the Des Moines Register political pundit who is allegedly the go-to guy regarding Iowa politics. He was full of little gems like those of Matthews detailed above, but they aren't surprising or worth noting. Yepsen lost his credibility as an informed observer of the Iowa political scene when he began to carry Obama's water blatantly every time a camera is pointed at him. He looked discheveled and distracted on Wednesday night. I think his crush on Obama is starting to get to him.

Hardball transcript 10/3/07

And some of the Hillary critics are returning to the old electability saw, and as pre-refuted in this earlier post, have resorted to half-truths and distortions to make their case. In this piece on Real Clear Politics, Steven Stark (who?) penned this missive yesterday. It's title: Edwards, Not Hillary, is Dems' Best Chance. This is truly wonderful journalism. My favorite excerpt:

Clinton's problem is that, according to some polls, Rudy Giuliani is currently running even or only slightly behind her in New Jersey, Missouri, Ohio, and Pennsylvania - up-for-grabs states Clinton has to sweep in order to win. Given his current showing, it's likely Giuliani will win some of those contests in November 2008 and deny Clinton a majority.

Well written. It's also utter crap. Missouri hasn't voted for a Democrat since 1996, and is not a must-win for Dems. Ohio is the biggest swing state in the country. New Jersey and Pennsylvania are more and more blue all the time.

What Stark doesn't say is what I outlined in my post on the Northeast: Hillary is of ahead or even with Guiliani in the Northeast, but Obama and Edwards are well behind. People who twist facts to support a thesis are abhorrent.

The media should be impartial and truthful. I am amazed at the lengths media outlets will go to in order to change a narrative. That's the job of political operatives, not "reporters."

Obama Quits Wearing Flag Pin

Barack Obama had this to say in a radio interview today:

"The truth is that right after 9/11 I had a pin...Shortly after 9/11, particularly because as we're talking about the Iraq war, that became a substitute for I think true patriotism, which is speaking out on issues that are of importance to our national security."

These are the sorts of statements that should disqualify Obama as a nominee. How do you think that this is going to play in the "flyover" states? What will the Republican filth machine have to say about this if Obama wins the nomination? Every week, these dumb statements give the Republicans more fodder. And don't think that they're not paying attention, in case Hillary falters. It won't be pretty. He's just not ready...

Full Breitbart article
Post from 8/14: Barack Obama Must Be Defeated

FOX poll out: Hillary Leading GOP Contenders

FOX News, even with its conservative bent, is showing Hillary Clinton ahead of all of the leading rivals.

LINK to the poll

Clinton is at:
+6 over Guiliani
+13 over Thompson
+7 over McCain

It is worth noting that Obama does not garner numbers nearly as strong as these. Edwards is not polled.

Debate Reaction

Last night, MSNBC hosted their New Hampshire debate. Lots of media reaction:

WaPo: Obama Pulls Punches

New Republic: Edwards More Agressive

Time (Halperin): Win Goes to Edwards

Yepsen (Des Moines Register) : Not Hillary's Best Debate

Perhaps the silliest commentary of the debate came from preeminent Iowa political pundit and noted Clinton critic David Yepsen, linked above. The key quote of the Yepsen piece:

While the evening couldn't have been pleasant for Clinton, it opened a necessary
discussion Democrats must have: If they don't probe her weaknesses, the
Republicans will.

What a rediculous statement. Of course Democrats, being in the middle of a primary battle, are considering the relative weakenesses and strengths of all candidates. This assumes that frontrunner Clinton has more weaknesses than the other candidates (patently false). David Yepsen aside, Democrats and the broader spectrum of Americans seem to be concluding that she is a better potential President than not only her rivals in the Democratic party, but also better than leading Republicans. Note her margin in polling averages over leading GOP candidates, which has been increasing in recent months.

Hillary did fine. She had the memorable moment of the evening (she'll "talk to [President Clinton] later..."), and the instapolls after the debate, whatever they're worth, indicated that she won. Everyone did basically well. The loser of the debate was probably Obama, because he basically conceded the ground of challenging Hillary Clinton to John Edwards. Obama can have all the money in the world, but if he doesn't make a move soon (probably no later than Halloween) he will be the best funded also-ran in American history. Which is fine with me.

Hillary Continues to Pull Away in New Hampshire

Latest polls show a statistically significant shift in Senator Clinton's direction in New Hampshire. Looks like she put the August recess to good use there.

Franklin Pierce College poll: Hillary at 36%, double her nearest rival.
Rasmussen: 40%- more than double Obama's 17%, and more than Obama and Edwards combined.

The New Hampshire primary is of pivotal importance- it may be her firewall against a loss to Edwards in Iowa. Although, Sen. Clinton's numbers in Iowa are improving dramatically.

So much for those who said she wasn't electable...Democrats seem eager to nominate her.

Hillary Clinton as Goldilocks

Incredibly disciplined campaign, opines Roger Simon at Politico.com. Even imparts the brothers Grimm.

ARG is out with a new round of polling showing large Clinton leads in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. I want to believe these numbers, but ARG is notoriously wrong. The NH numbers particularly are out of line with all other contemporaneous polling.

Sen. Obama- the "experience is overrated" candidate- was subliminally insulting Hillary all Labor Day weekend in Iowa and New Hampshire. Change, change, change, bad foreign policy judgement- the typical and tired Obama mantle.

On the GOP side, Senator Thompson will miss the FOX News debate in NH tomorrow, but will officially enter the race on Thursday. The big question that the talking heads are debating is whether he missed his moment, by waiting so long to enter. And also whether it was wise to wear Gucci loafers to the Iowa State Fair. It was clearly August in terms of news cycles.

Now that Labor Day is behind us, the primaries are officially in full swing. Should be a very interesting autumn.

Hillary: Changing the Map

Fascinating post at Open Left by Chris Bowers. He has taken the most recent head-to-head general election polls to illustrate the invalidity of the "Hillary is unelectable" point and made an electoral map out of these polls. They show huge gains by Senator Clinton over Kerry and Gore, when she is matched against either of the two GOP frontrunners, Guiliani and Romney. She wins by massive margins.

Guiliani is well known nationally, and Romney is not. Therefore, I think that in the Clinton vs. Romney map, the results, while accurate as of this moment, overstate the eventual electoral outcome. I don't think that Hillary would win, for example, Mississippi & Alabama. Based on long term electoral trends, very early polling, and in the case of Arkansas, past residency, I do think that it is more likely than not that Hillary is likely to flip the following previously red states:

(Based in order of my certainty, which is worth basically nothing)

Arkansas
New Mexico
Iowa
Florida
Nevada
Ohio
Colorado
Virginia
Missouri.

Which is enough to win the general election with scores of electoral votes to spare. I think that Obama or Edwards would probably produce largely the same result with the following differences:

* Neither would carry Arkansas.
* Obama would probably several of these based on his propensity to say things that would be easily exploited by the Republican filth machine.
* Edwards might bring North Carolina into play. He might not, based on his performance as a VP candidate in 2004.

Interesting map, though, based on early polling.

Wednesday Roundup

Gallup is out with a new poll: Clinton and Guiliani holding steady leads. USA Today points out that in the internals of the poll, she beats Obama 2 to 1 in a head to head race.

It seems everyone in America has an opinion: I think that Michelle Obama was praising her husband, not necessarily insulting the Clintons. Barack Obama defended her today.

Denny Hastert looks to be resigning in November. An excellent red-to-blue pickup opportunity, claims MyDD.

Another Week, Another Obama Foreign Policy Screw Up

Maybe popular with the left of the Democratic party, but if you want to win Florida in a general election, going soft on the Cuban regime doesn't really get you anywhere. It's been a week since he slandered the troops fighting in Afghanistan (and got a pass on it from the Oba-media), so I knew it wouldn't be long until he did something to further endanger his chances of winning.

LINK- AP

Hey- I don't like the Cuba policy either. The LIBERTAD Act is an embarrassment and a step in the wrong direction. But, once again, Barack Obama has displayed the adroitness of a hippopotamus in volunteering an unpopular opinion when no one asked. What a marvelous candidate...

Barack Obama Must Be Defeated

I have made no secret in posting to this blog that I have a favorite candidate for President--one who I think is overwhelmingly likely to be nominated by the Democratic party and probably elected President. But, as a good Democrat, I would likely support almost anyone that the Democrats nominated for President. I, as of today, have serious doubts about whether I could, in good conscience, pull a lever for Barack Obama.

We live in dangerous times, and people of seriousness are required to lead us. Experience is not a bad word and it should be valued in potential commanders-in-chief. Good judgement is key. Obama demonstrates none of the above.

In the last three weeks, he has promised to meet with the likes of Hugo Chavez and Kim Jong Il in the first year of an Obama Presidency, he has taken the use of nuclear weapons (ever) off the table, he has advocated invading Pakistan in certain circumstances. All of these claims and promises are not only inconsistent with each other in some ways, but they are also extremely bad policy.

Yesterday, with this statement about the war in Afghanistan, Barack Obama went too far:

We've got to get the job done there,and that requires us to have enough troops so that we're not just air-raiding villages and killing civilians, which is causing enormous problems there."

In uttering this statement, Obama has lost the Presidential election. If he were to be the nominee of the Democratic party, the Republican filth machine would use this quote in advertising with a frequency so great that we would all be able to recite it. And they would not be wrong. Because, as bad as the Bush execution of the war in Afghanistan has been, as bad as their policy has been there- this is not the policy. I don't like George Bush. He is as bad a President as we have seen in modern times. But his policy is not the indescriminate creation of collateral damage. I am sure that that has happened, but it is not the intent. Futher, and most importantly, this comment comes very close to being a slander of our troops. That has never won an election, not even in 1968. A candidate who is willing to do this should never win an election.

In fact, the utterly justified piling on has begun. Governor Romney, no great font of seriousness himself, had plenty to say about this today. Others will follow.

I thought for a while that Obama was suffering from a naivete that was to be expected of a first-term Senator who had bitten off more ego than he could chew by running for President. But the truth is, I don't know of many other Senators, of any length of service, who would say things that are quite this bizarre with such alarming frequency. It does not speak well of Barack Obama, and it would be a death knell for the party in next year's elections. And, as I pointed out, we would deserve it.

We have other good options. I have a favorite, but I could vote for Dodd or Biden. I could cast my lot with Richardson if circumstances required. The same is true of almost every other Democratic candidate. I think that we would be making a severe mistake in nominating Obama. He had demonstrated that he has only a cursory understanding of extremely important foreign policy issues, and starlingly bad judgement in what he says about them.

The last time we elected a President with such a dearth of experience, with such wreckless disregard for good policy, and who lacks basic good judgement, we got George W. Bush. We don't need to repeat that mistake, regardless of party.


Video of Obama's statement on Afghanistan.

Obama Ad Up in Iowa...

and, I'll admit, it's pretty good.


LINK

The AFL-CIO Forum: "I'm your girl!"

My favorite clip of the night: Hillary Clinton finally makes the point that she has the most experience fighting the Republican filth machine. Clip here.

There was a lot of piling on of Obama. He was really, really on defense vis-a-vis the Pakistan debate. Edwards was shrill, I thought. Chuck Todd thought so too.

Transcript

I am sure that the spinmeisters will change peoples' viewpoints, but as of now, it seems to me that nothing changed tonight in the fight for the Democratic nomination.

Poll Update

CNN / USA Today / Gallup new poll out this evening. Hillary +22%. (48% support...)

RCP average: Clinton +17.4

Obama camp has put out this humiliating missive reassuring supporters that their candidate is still relevant.

GOP numbers: Guiliani rebounding nationally. (Romney still seems to lead by a good amount in IA and NH.)

Monday Wrap

Interesting details about the evolution of the Clinton / Obama relationship. From the New York Times. Apparently, she doesn't "very much like Barack."

New week, another new high for Hillary in the Rasmussen tracking poll. Rasmussen analysis: Hillary will almost certainly be the Democratic nominee.

More on the controversy about Hillary's poor choice of words vis-a-vis lobbyists at the Yearly Kos convention. From My DD. Her point is well taken, but it did seem like she was defending lobbyists. However, overall, her reception at Yearly Kos, while chilly, was not as bad as it could have been. For a group of liberal bloggers not to throw rotten vegetables at Hillary! as she enters a room is a good day for her.

The Fix's wrap on the GOP's Iowa debate yesterday. I think that Romney is a little nutty, but his "Dr. Strangelove / Jane Fonda" comment about Obama was particularly cutting. Even a stopped clock is right once in a while...

Different Day, Different Obama Worldview

I am getting dizzy. Last week, Barack Obama was all for meeting with tyrants without preconditions. Yesterday, he was ready to invade Pakistan. Today, he has ruled out using nuclear weapons as commander-in-cheif. This guy would be a dream come true for the Republicans.

Clinton responds to the daily vacillation that is the Obama foreign policy:

"Presidents should be very careful at all times in discussing the use or nonuse of nuclear weapons," Clinton said. "Presidents since the Cold War have used nuclear deterrence to keep the peace. And I don't believe that any president should make any blanket statements with respect to the use or nonuse of nuclear weapons."

Dodd responds, also from ABC:

"Over the past several days, Senator Obama's assertions about foreign and military affairs have been, frankly, confusing and confused," said Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn. "He has made threats he should not make and made unwise categorical statements about military options."

The New York Post's Brookes calls the wisdom of Obama's Pakistan speech into question. Who's Bush - Cheney Lite now?

What with Rupert Murdoch taking over The Wall Street Journal, John Edwards is calling on Hillary Clinton to return the contributions made to her campaign by News Corp officials.

Poll Report

Clinton's lead is expanding. As of today, the Real Clear Politics average for her is the highest it has been all year.

A new Pew Poll out today confirms almost to the number yesterday's NBC / WSJ poll. Also, the most recent Rasmussen tracking poll has almost identical numbers.

The Christian Science Monitor on the GOP race in South Carolina. Interesting read.

Obama Talks Tough / Clinton Expands Lead

The Obama people crack me up. Last week, a substantial portion of Democratic primary voters were shown how their candidate's lack of experience can manifest itself: naive and potentially dangerous policy making from a debate lectern. So, what's the solution? Get together a few experts and write a wonkish speech on American policy toward Pakistan. And the Oba-media fawns.........

Obama wants to redeploy the forces from Iraq and send two brigades to Afghanistan. And condition assistance for Pakistan on the Musharraf government's cooperation in hunting Al-Qaeda.

The speech is drawing mixed reviews. From the Washington Post's The Trail blog.

John Podhoretz is not impressed.

Obama is all thumbs when it comes to this foreign policy stuff. If I understand correctly, what he wants to do is condition aid. If they don't cooperate, we invade. So, we pull out of what Obama rightly calls a wrong-headed war in Iraq, only to possibly invade another Muslim country, of nearly 200 million people that we know has nuclear weapons and has been cooperating with us in our hunt for Al Qaeda to the extent that the government can politically and survive. What a novel construct.

New NBC / WSJ poll

Apparently, Obama needed to show a little foreign policy gravitas this week. NBC and the Wall Street Journal are out with a new poll today that shows Sen. Clinton's lead nationally to have grown to 21 percent, with another 8 points back to Edwards. I know this is a national poll and not an Iowa / NH / SC poll, but it is hard to see how she loses with numbers like these.

From the WSJ, this represents a net 7 percent increase for Hillary! over Obama since June.

Monday Politics Roundup

Big News from Capitol Hill:

Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK), the senior Republican in the Senate and former chair of the Appropriations Committee has been targeted by the FBI. They have searched his home in Alaska. This is part of a public corruption investigation.

This has long been considered a safe seat for Republicans. It has also been thought to be safe even in an open race, with a Stevens retirement. It might be pickup fodder for Dems if Stevens runs again. This is the most blatant, public acknowledgment of Stevens' connection with the investigation, but it has long been rumored. Here is Rothenberg's rating from last week. Will be interesting to see if it changes.

This is the NYT's piece on Obama's state legislative career today. Largely biographical in nature, it is neither overwhelmingly positive or negative.

Obama Flip-Flops Detailed

Barack Obama has made a HUGE deal this week about under what circumstances he would talk to hostile dictators. (See posts below, including "Tea and Crumpets with Kim Johg Il). HillaryHub is up with banner headlines linking to an ABC story profiling Obama's flipflopping on the issue.

Apparently he was for talks with no conditions before he was against them.

The fact that Hillary got the better of him on this whole story, which has lasted for a week, plus the fact that he has been incredibly inconsistent from day to day shows a couple of things:

1. Barack doesn't do well when he is in a defensibe posture.

2. His judgement is lacking about how and when to respond. (Recall the ill-fated "Bush-Cheney Lite" conflagration on Thursday. ) He lashes out.

3. He has Kerry-esque issues in terms of arriving at and articulating a clear position. I like John Kerry, and I think that he got a raw deal on not having a "clear" position on Iraq in 2004. It was a complex issue and he was pretty consistent. Obama has had four positions in four days on a very simple question.

He is not ready to face the Republican filth machine.

The Friday Mammary Roundup

Hillary! has boobs and she knows how to use them. A fundraising letter about your cleavage seems to be an odd postscript to a week in which she scored lots of points in many circles vis-a-vis being a serious potential President.

From Real Clear Politics: Hillary beats Obama this week.

New York Times weighs in on 2008 Congressional battle.

Finally updated- the Federal Election Commission with findraising totals and an interactive map for the Presidential race through 2q 07.

Thursday Roundup

South Carolina Poll: Hillary +15 (and this was supposed to be Obama's best shot in early primaries....) This is a post-debate poll.

"Don't fuss at me..." Fred Thompson gets heckled and responds. From CNN.

And Romney weighs in on the Clinton-Obama fight.

So much for that Bush economy:

37 million Americans living below the poverty line.
28 million working Americans without any health insurance whatsoever.
Housing starts at a four year low.
The previously strong stock market tumbled today.
Heckuva job.