The real Hillary Clinton stood up at the Democratic presidential debate this week: angry, sarcastic, stubborn, secretive, arrogant, mired in the past, victim of the media, and still firmly convinced that she is uniquely entitled to the Democratic Party nomination and the presidency.
That Hillary hasn’t really been on display much since the debacle of her disastrous health care plan and the end of Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial, when she haughtily flaunted her combative personality.
But make no mistake about it — that’s the Hillary Clinton that we’ll see if she somehow manages to steal the Democratic nomination.
She’s found her voice. The one that so alienated everyone she came into contact with over her health care plan that her own party destroyed it. The one that publicly and loudly defended Bill and arranged for attacks on Monica Lewinsky when she knew the complete and sordid truth.
She’s always had a chip on her shoulder and a strange paranoia, but it’s definitely gotten worse. Now it’s not just the vast right wing conspiracy that is out to get her. Now it’s the mainstream media. How are they doing that? By asking her the first questions at the debates!
Hillary’s snide comment about whether Barack needed a pillow to be made more comfortable was downright embarrassing. The anticipated applause line on her script never happened. The audience was silent. The press was amazed. And Barack seemed genuinely startled by her nuttiness — he looked over at her as if he was viewing a dotty old aunt at a family dinner, the one that everyone politely humors.
Her lifelong pattern of secrecy was once again evident. While publicly promoting transparency in government, she steadfastly refuses to release her personal income tax returns. That’s a clear tip-off that there’s something to hide. Recall that the Clintons selectively released tax returns in Arkansas, but refused to go back to 1980, when Hillary had her windfall in cattle futures.
During the debate, Hillary suggested that she’d release the returns “soon,” but her staff quickly backtracked. She implied that she’s been too busy to deal with releasing the returns. Does she really think anyone believes that it will take more than simply making a copy of the return? She’s stalling and there’s a reason for that.
Most likely, the return will show how much Bill has been making from his partnership with the Sheik of Dubai and his other business ventures. Should the spouse of a presidential candidate be in business with a foreign leader who needs favors from the U.S. government? Definitely not. That’s why we’ll never see those returns.
And then there are the Clinton Library records that document her schedule as first lady. She doesn’t want them released either because they will definitively show that she was never the co-president. The Library has been stalling on the release of those documents for years. During the debate, she said that she wanted them released as quickly as possible and seemed to blame the Bush administration for the delay. But today, the White House indicated that she had made no requests for any expedited release.
The old Hillary, the real Hillary, is back.
And there’s apparently been no one to stop her from acting on her own worse instincts.
Underneath the veneer of the practiced smile and the strategically used giggle, there is a rage that is always close to the surface. It was on display in the debate.
Hillary Clinton is furious that America has not agreed to her coronation. She doesn’t understand why voters are rejecting her and embracing Barack Obama. She just doesn’t get it.
Never one to engage in self reflection, she can’t blame herself or even her incompetent strategists and advisers. They’re too close to her. She can’t accept the sorry fact that her campaign has been a disaster because it was based on the past and not the future, because it was premised on her phony experience and maintaining the status quo, and because her negative outlook is completely out of step with the mood of America. And finally, because in the positive message of Barack Obama, Americans see a stark contrast with her doom and gloom view of the world.
So, she’ll blame the media. It’s their fault.
And she’ll keep screaming about what a fighter she is.
More like a bully.
Dick Morris, a Fox News Analyst and author of several books, is a former advisor to Senator Trent Lott (R-Miss) and President Bill Clinton. See Wikipedia snippet below for more information on Dick Morris
Views expressed in this column are those of the author, not those of Rasmussen Reports. Rasmussen Reports is an electronic publishing firm specializing in the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information. The Rasmussen Reports ElectionEdge™ Premium Service for Election 2008 offers the most comprehensive public opinion coverage ever provided for a Presidential election. Scott Rasmussen, president of Rasmussen Reports, has been an independent pollster for more than a decade.
Originally posted Saturday, March 01, 2008
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Dick Morris (born November 28, 1948 in New York City) is an American political author, newspaper columnist, and commentator who previously worked as a pollster, political campaign consultant, and general political consultant.
Morris is best known for his influence over Bill Clinton's presidency. Even though Clinton and Morris came from different ends of the political spectrum, Morris became the president's most trusted advisor, especially in terms of marketing and "selling" policy decisions. A shrewd expert on polls and trends, Morris encouraged Clinton to pursue so-called third way policies of triangulation that merged traditional Republican and Democratic proposals, rhetoric, and issues to achieve maximum political gain and popularity.
The president consulted Morris in secret beginning in 1994.[1] In the words of Clinton's Chief of Staff Leon Panetta, "I always had the feeling that the president wanted to listen to the dark side, even though he clearly knew in his guts where the issues were and what he wanted to do. He always wanted to listen to the Morris voice to kind of say, what are the thoughts of the most kind of manipulative operation that could go on in politics? I want to hear that voice. I want to hear what he's thinking." Clinton's communications director George Stephanopoulos has said that "Over the course of the first nine months of 1995, no single person had more power over the president, and therefore over the government, than Dick Morris, no question about it." Morris went on to become Campaign manager of Bill Clinton's successful 1996 bid for re-election to the office of President of the United States. His tenure on that campaign was cut short two months before the election, when it was revealed that he had allowed a prostitute, Sherry Rowlands, to listen in on conversations with the President. Morris then turned his focus to media commentary. He now writes a weekly column for the New York Post which is carried nationwide, and he appears regularly on the Fox News Channel for political commentary. He is also President of VOTE.com.
More recently, Morris has emerged as a harsh critic of the Clintons and has written several books that criticize them, including Rewriting History, a rebuttal to Senator Hillary Clinton's Living History. Morris once joked he will leave the United States if Hillary Clinton were to be elected president in 2008.[2] He currently lives in Redding, Connecticut.
That Hillary hasn’t really been on display much since the debacle of her disastrous health care plan and the end of Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial, when she haughtily flaunted her combative personality.
But make no mistake about it — that’s the Hillary Clinton that we’ll see if she somehow manages to steal the Democratic nomination.
She’s found her voice. The one that so alienated everyone she came into contact with over her health care plan that her own party destroyed it. The one that publicly and loudly defended Bill and arranged for attacks on Monica Lewinsky when she knew the complete and sordid truth.
She’s always had a chip on her shoulder and a strange paranoia, but it’s definitely gotten worse. Now it’s not just the vast right wing conspiracy that is out to get her. Now it’s the mainstream media. How are they doing that? By asking her the first questions at the debates!
Hillary’s snide comment about whether Barack needed a pillow to be made more comfortable was downright embarrassing. The anticipated applause line on her script never happened. The audience was silent. The press was amazed. And Barack seemed genuinely startled by her nuttiness — he looked over at her as if he was viewing a dotty old aunt at a family dinner, the one that everyone politely humors.
Her lifelong pattern of secrecy was once again evident. While publicly promoting transparency in government, she steadfastly refuses to release her personal income tax returns. That’s a clear tip-off that there’s something to hide. Recall that the Clintons selectively released tax returns in Arkansas, but refused to go back to 1980, when Hillary had her windfall in cattle futures.
During the debate, Hillary suggested that she’d release the returns “soon,” but her staff quickly backtracked. She implied that she’s been too busy to deal with releasing the returns. Does she really think anyone believes that it will take more than simply making a copy of the return? She’s stalling and there’s a reason for that.
Most likely, the return will show how much Bill has been making from his partnership with the Sheik of Dubai and his other business ventures. Should the spouse of a presidential candidate be in business with a foreign leader who needs favors from the U.S. government? Definitely not. That’s why we’ll never see those returns.
And then there are the Clinton Library records that document her schedule as first lady. She doesn’t want them released either because they will definitively show that she was never the co-president. The Library has been stalling on the release of those documents for years. During the debate, she said that she wanted them released as quickly as possible and seemed to blame the Bush administration for the delay. But today, the White House indicated that she had made no requests for any expedited release.
The old Hillary, the real Hillary, is back.
And there’s apparently been no one to stop her from acting on her own worse instincts.
Underneath the veneer of the practiced smile and the strategically used giggle, there is a rage that is always close to the surface. It was on display in the debate.
Hillary Clinton is furious that America has not agreed to her coronation. She doesn’t understand why voters are rejecting her and embracing Barack Obama. She just doesn’t get it.
Never one to engage in self reflection, she can’t blame herself or even her incompetent strategists and advisers. They’re too close to her. She can’t accept the sorry fact that her campaign has been a disaster because it was based on the past and not the future, because it was premised on her phony experience and maintaining the status quo, and because her negative outlook is completely out of step with the mood of America. And finally, because in the positive message of Barack Obama, Americans see a stark contrast with her doom and gloom view of the world.
So, she’ll blame the media. It’s their fault.
And she’ll keep screaming about what a fighter she is.
More like a bully.
Dick Morris, a Fox News Analyst and author of several books, is a former advisor to Senator Trent Lott (R-Miss) and President Bill Clinton. See Wikipedia snippet below for more information on Dick Morris
Views expressed in this column are those of the author, not those of Rasmussen Reports. Rasmussen Reports is an electronic publishing firm specializing in the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information. The Rasmussen Reports ElectionEdge™ Premium Service for Election 2008 offers the most comprehensive public opinion coverage ever provided for a Presidential election. Scott Rasmussen, president of Rasmussen Reports, has been an independent pollster for more than a decade.
Originally posted Saturday, March 01, 2008
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Dick Morris (born November 28, 1948 in New York City) is an American political author, newspaper columnist, and commentator who previously worked as a pollster, political campaign consultant, and general political consultant.
Morris is best known for his influence over Bill Clinton's presidency. Even though Clinton and Morris came from different ends of the political spectrum, Morris became the president's most trusted advisor, especially in terms of marketing and "selling" policy decisions. A shrewd expert on polls and trends, Morris encouraged Clinton to pursue so-called third way policies of triangulation that merged traditional Republican and Democratic proposals, rhetoric, and issues to achieve maximum political gain and popularity.
The president consulted Morris in secret beginning in 1994.[1] In the words of Clinton's Chief of Staff Leon Panetta, "I always had the feeling that the president wanted to listen to the dark side, even though he clearly knew in his guts where the issues were and what he wanted to do. He always wanted to listen to the Morris voice to kind of say, what are the thoughts of the most kind of manipulative operation that could go on in politics? I want to hear that voice. I want to hear what he's thinking." Clinton's communications director George Stephanopoulos has said that "Over the course of the first nine months of 1995, no single person had more power over the president, and therefore over the government, than Dick Morris, no question about it." Morris went on to become Campaign manager of Bill Clinton's successful 1996 bid for re-election to the office of President of the United States. His tenure on that campaign was cut short two months before the election, when it was revealed that he had allowed a prostitute, Sherry Rowlands, to listen in on conversations with the President. Morris then turned his focus to media commentary. He now writes a weekly column for the New York Post which is carried nationwide, and he appears regularly on the Fox News Channel for political commentary. He is also President of VOTE.com.
More recently, Morris has emerged as a harsh critic of the Clintons and has written several books that criticize them, including Rewriting History, a rebuttal to Senator Hillary Clinton's Living History. Morris once joked he will leave the United States if Hillary Clinton were to be elected president in 2008.[2] He currently lives in Redding, Connecticut.
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