>> Hillary Must Not Run
>>
>> By Stephen Pizzo
>> Created Dec 15 2006 - 9:26am
>>
>> A recent poll of registered Democrats showed that 37%% say they would vote
>> for Hillary Clinton should she run for President.
>>
>> What are those people thinking? More to the point, are they thinking at
>> all?
>> Is that number an indication of genuine support or simply celebrity
>> reflex?
>>
>> I believe it's the latter. Because there's no there, there, with Hillary
>> Clinton. Hillary wants to be President for the simple and singular reason
>> that Hillary wants to be President. That's it -- the whole enchilada.
>>
>> Should Hillary succeed in sleepwalking her party to the nomination,
>> Democrats will almost certainly lose the White House in 2008. Because
>> Republicans are not stupid. They learn. (They even evolve, though they
>> would
>> not want their base to know that.) Come next election I guarantee you
>> Republicans will run a candidate for President selected so as not to
>> scare
>> the bejeebers out of sane voters. They will run a moderate, even a
>> centrist.
>> They will run someone people trust, even if they may not agree entirely
>> with
>> every one of his positions.
>>
>> For example, imagine how far Hillary/Anybody ticket would get against,
>> say,
>> a McCain/Giuliani ticket? Not far. Hillary's 37%% would not be nearly
>> enough
>> to make up for the millions of centrist voters, including conservative
>> Reagan Democrats, who would be attracted to a McCain/Giuliani ticket,
>> especially if Hillary was the alternative choice.
>>
>> So, I am begging Hillary not to throw her hat into the ring. Just say no,
>> Hillary. Instead let your party leaders know that, in return for not
>> running, you want be the next Senate Majority Leader. Bowing out of the
>> presidential race would allow much needed oxygen into the campaigns of
>> Dems
>> with a real chance to win.
>>
>> Imagine instead an Edwards/Obama vs. McCain/Giuliani race in 2008! Now
>> that
>> would be a real horse race! And one Dems could win, because both Edwards
>> and
>> Obama speak in ways that resonate with the aching hearts of both
>> America's
>> liberal and centrist voters.
>>
>> So Hillary, please listen. Here are just a few reasons:
>>
>> a.. The more people see you and hear you, the less they like you. I
>> don't
>> say that to be cruel. It's just true. Some people, through no fault of
>> their
>> own, get on other people's nerves. And you're one of them. You not only
>> wear
>> thin, but you wear thin fast. That's a killer of a handicap for any
>> politician, but for someone running for president --- forgetaboutit!
>> b.. You stand for nothing most folks can articulate if asked. You have
>> been so careful not to offend any particular constituency that you have
>> failed to endear yourself to any either. What do I get if I vote for you?
>> If
>> you water-boarded me, I couldn't tell.
>> c.. While out promoting your book, "It Takes a Village," you seem
>> oblivious of an obvious - even glaring contradiction ... to wit, that
>> your
>> vote giving Bush the authority to wage war in Iraq has created villages
>> chuck full of Iraqi orphans.
>> d.. Your position on that vote, and the war, is transparently
>> dishonest.
>> You say you voted to give the president the authority to wage war, not to
>> wage it poorly. No you didn't. Your vote was part of your plan to run for
>> president. Your advisers told you that you needed to look tough so you
>> would
>> not be painted as a limp-wristed liberal. That's why you voted the way
>> you
>> did, and everyone out here knows it.
>> e.. We also know you are lying when you claim you have not decided yet
>> whether you will run for president. Of course you have. That decision was
>> in
>> the bag years ago. It's why you ran for the Senate, because you knew that
>> running as a former First Lady was non-starter. You needed a better
>> launching pad, you pursued it and you got it. Every time you tell a
>> reporter
>> you have not decided yet, you are lying, and we know it.
>> f.. You voted for the war for the same reasons you haven't embraced
>> those
>> in your own party, particularly Rep. John Murtha, advocating a rapid
>> unwinding of Bush's military miscarriage in Iraq. You have calculated
>> that
>> it's better that more US troops get killed and maimed than run the risk
>> of
>> being tagged as a "cut and runner." (Clue for Hillary: We already have a
>> president who thinks like that, and his approval rating is now in the
>> 20s.)
>> g.. Remember what the Swift-boater thugs [1] did to John Kerry? Well
>> they
>> can't wait to get their grubby hands on you. They had to work at smearing
>> Kerry. Kerry had a real record of service you'd kill for. He had seen
>> combat, been wounded and been awarded medals for it. Still they were able
>> to
>> smear him. You, on the other hand, provide a virtually unobstructed,
>> target-rich environment for that pack of reputation snipers. By the time
>> the
>> November 2008 election rolls around those guys would have morphed you
>> into
>> Lizzy Borden. (I see ads featuring Kenneth Starr, in which he muses out
>> loud
>> about the charges "I could have brought against Hillary, had she not
>> hidden/destroyed evidence...etc etc etc...blah blah, bladdy, blah. And
>> how
>> about that Vince Foster? What was going on there? They will ask...
>> implying
>> much.) Are you really ready to put us, and your party, through all that
>> again? Please don't.
>> h.. And then there's Bill. His cheatin' ways aside, Bill was our last
>> good
>> president. No argument there. But we know Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton was
>> our
>> friend. And, Hillary, you're no Bill Clinton. So, that's problem One with
>> Bill. The second problem is that, we can't have him back as president but
>> we
>> sure as hell don't want him as the nation's first First Husband. Jeezus
>> woman, imagine that! We have. Bill roaming the White House, unattended,
>> the
>> toast of the town, with folks - female folks - not only hanging on his
>> every
>> word - but his arm. By the time you two left the White House in 2001 you
>> had
>> us totally burned out on the Clinton family soap opera. Reality TV, Oprah
>> and Jerry Springer now provide us with all the dysfunctional domestic
>> life
>> voyeurism we can stomach. We sure as hell don't want to have to sit
>> through
>> 4 years of "Switching Places - The Clinton Show II."
>> I could go on. And you can bet your sweet bippy those GOP hit squads will
>> do
>> just that -- go on, and on and on. Why would you want to go through that?
>> Why would you make us go through that, especially at a time like this?
>>
>> Hillary, just don't go there. Personal ambition is a good thing, until it
>> becomes a selfish quest. And that's what you're on right now - a selfish,
>> it's-my-turn, quest. How much do you want it? Already there are rumors of
>> your opposition researchers digging for slanderous rumors to undercut an
>> Obama candidacy. This is too dangerous a moment in our history for that
>> kind
>> of intramural, sophomoric nonsense.
>>
>> If you were doing this in a different context, Hillary, a time of peace
>> and
>> prosperity, a time when the Supreme Court were not literally up for
>> grabs, a
>> time when America's standing in the world hadn't hit a rock bottom -- -
>> we
>> probably wouldn't care. The majority opinion might be -- "You want the
>> job,
>> it's yours. You get to be the country's first woman president. You go
>> girl!
>> Have a ball."
>>
>> Trouble is, Hill, this is not such a time. Not even close. Instead we
>> live
>> at a perilous moment for America, for our check and balances democracy,
>> for
>> the human rights upon which America was founded, for our workers, for our
>> schools, for our health care system and for our foreign policy. Not since
>> the early days of the Great Depression has America held such a critical
>> election.
>>
>> Which means that this is the worst possible time for the likes of you,
>> (and
>> I won't mince words) -- a conniving, plotting, polling, shape shifting,
>> vanity candidate.
>>
>> But Hillary, this may still be your moment, just not in the way you would
>> like. This could be your moment to display a genuine profile in
>> courage --
>> by bowing out.
>> _______
>>
newsforreal.com
>>
>>
>> About author Stephen Pizzo is the author of numerous books, including
>> "Inside Job: The Looting of America's Savings and Loans," which was
>> nominated for a Pulitzer. His web site is News For Real [2].
>>
>> --
>> NOTICE: This post contains copyrighted material the use of which has not
>> always been authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material
>> available to advance understanding of
>> political, human rights, democracy, scientific, and social justice
>> issues. I
>> believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material as
>> provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright
>> Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107
>>
>> "A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their
>> spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore
>> their
>> government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we
>> are
>> suffering deeply in spirit,
>> and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous
>> public
>> debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have
>> patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of
>> winning
>> back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are
>> at
>> stake."
>> -Thomas Jefferson
