Tag Archives: Hillary Clinton

Hillary Clinton, scholar-president?

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Yesterday I had some thoughts on Sen. Clinton’s questionable campaign rhetoric that she’s more prepared, on Day 1, to be the Commander-in-Chief than her opponent, Sen. Obama. In a nutshell, I hear the assertion that it’s true, but I see not a scrap of evidence to back what looks like a specious claim.

There are scholars, of the social contructivist school, who argue that all social reality is constructed through language and that there is no such thing as objective reality.

Reality: Social constructivists believe that reality is constructed through human activity. Members of a society together invent the properties of the world (Kukla, 2000). For the social constructivist, reality cannot be discovered: it does not exist prior to its social invention. Read more

Sen. Clinton’s special claim to military expertise

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Sen. Hillary Clinton said something interesting in Youngstown yesterday.

“Both Senator Obama and I would make history,” the New York senator said. “But only one of us is ready on day one to be commander in chief, ready to manage our economy, and ready to defeat the Republicans. Only one of us has spent 35 years being a doer, a fighter and a champion for those who need a voice.”

Note the part I’ve italicized. It’s a point she repeated at least two or three times during the speech (see fuller text here), and it has been the source of some pointed debate among interested Dem-watchers this morning. Read more

Edwards bows out: sustaining hope in a dirty world

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It was only a matter of time.

John Edwards Drops Out of Presidential Race
— Former Senator’s Campaign Adviser: ‘It Just Became Clear It Wasn’t Going to Happen’

Former Senator John Edwards, D-N.C., will drop out of the Democratic presidential race on Wednesday.

“It just became clear it wasn’t going to happen,” a senior Edwards adviser tells ABC News’ Rick Klein.

Edwards, who ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination in 2004 before joining Senator John Kerry, D-Mass., as his vice presidential candidate, had placed poorly in several early contests, lagging behind rivals Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. Read more

Sen. Clinton and our War Against Women

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In a NY Times op-ed today, prominent social analyst Gloria Steinem weighs in on America’s persistent gender and politics problem:

Gender is probably the most restricting force in American life, whether the question is who must be in the kitchen or who could be in the White House. This country is way down the list of countries electing women and, according to one study, it polarizes gender roles more than the average democracy.

Steinem is right about a great deal in this analysis, and while I don’t agree with her that Sen. Clinton is the best candidate for the job of president, I share her frustration at the cynical, regressive gender politics framing the public “debate.”

Women really are screwed when it comes to their pursuit of leadership. Read more

Is Obama the new JFK?

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Something big happened a few nights ago in Iowa. Barack Obama began the evening as one of the top two contenders for the Democratic nomination and by the time people went to bed he was John F. Kennedy.

This might sound like hyperbole – and to be sure, the race is far from won – but if the results we saw in the Hawkeye State last Thursday are replicated in New Hampshire and beyond, then what we are seeing may be a defining shift in American politics and culture. The key factor is the emergence of the 75-100 million strong Millennial Generation as a political force. Let’s look at some of the evidence.

The Young Voter PAC’s roundup provides ample data for consideration. Read more

All I want for Christmas is for Democrats to stop making Ron Paul look good

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Hey, what’s that in our stocking? It’s Ron Paul! Oh joy – we got The Truth® for Christmas!

Ahem. So those of you who thought Ron Paul was going to go away once the big boys got serious have probably been surprised by his staying power so far. He’s polling in the high single digits (something Ronald Reagan Fred Thompson can’t say) and one pollster thinks his actual numbers are in the double digits. He says he’s raised $19M this quarter. His supporters are insane courageously enthusiastic, and he seems to be showing strength among some groups that you wouldn’t expect – progressives, younger voters, etc.

And of course, he’s left the rest of the pack for dead in the highly scientific S&R reader poll, where at the moment of this writing he has over twice as many votes as the rest of the GOP candidates put together (unless you count “other”).

Election watchers in both parties are trying to better understand Paul’s appeal and what it means for their candidates’ chances. Read more

S&R straw poll results

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We’ve just wrapped our first S&R election reader poll, and here are the results.

Q: Which candidate do you currently favor for the Democratic nomination?

  1. John Edwards (47)
  2. Dennis Kucinich (45)
  3. Barack Obama (36)
  4. Hillary Clinton (9)
  5. Christopher Dodd (6)
  6. Bill Richardson (2)
  7. Joe Biden (4)
  8. Other (3)

Up now in the column to your right – same question, GOP candidates. Let us know what you think.

Dodd filibuster teaches a valuable lesson about the American Mess

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As Martin noted earlier, Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT) is filibustering ill-conceived legislation that would give telecommunications companies a pass for engaging in illegal spying activities on behalf of the Bush administration.

Those of you who were hopeful in the wake of last year’s sweep of both houses of Congress by the alleged opposition party, and those who are hopeful that the Democrats will also take the White House next year, should take note of something: the filibuster is being conducted against Democratically driven legislation by a member of the majority party. Read more

Clinton statement on NIE report is an exercise in double-dealing misdirection

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As noted yesterday, a new national intelligence report has caught the Bush White House in yet another round of warmongering lies. No real surprise there. The revelation elicited a range of replies from a variety of predictably interested parties.

John Edwards opted for flat honesty:

The new National Intelligence Estimate shows that George Bush and Dick Cheney’s rush to war with Iran is, in fact, a rush to war. Read more

New polls revive electability questions for Hillary

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I’ve been saying for months now that Hillary Clinton is the only chance the Republicans have in 2008, and some new polls raise the electability question all over again.

First, a new Zogby online poll “shows Democrat Hillary Clinton of New York would lose to every one of the top five Republican presidential contenders.” Her main opponents at present, Barack Obama and John Edwards, both defeat or tie any likely GOP challenger.

However, Gallup has Clinton faring a little better. Read more

The Daily Brushback: excuse me, Sen. Clinton?

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Today we introduce a new feature at S&R. In The Daily Brushback we’ll pose a question to a person famous or infamous that we wish someone in the mainstream media actually had the cojones to ask. We don’t expect answers, of course, but that’s never a reason not to ask. And since we have no “access” to risk losing, we can be honest, penetrating, rude, and even funny. The Daily Brushback won’t, despite its name, appear daily, but we call it that because it sounds better than The Periodic Brushback or The Occasional Brushback.

The inaugural question is for Democratic presidential frontrunner Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY).

TDB:

Sen. Clinton, we’d like to ask you to speculate a little bit. How do you believe you’d have formed critical opinions about policy goals and strategies had you lived in an era before opinion polls were invented?

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