Wednesday, February 27, 2008

And What of Hillary

It's looking for all the world that Hillary Clinton's campaign is all but over. The fearsome Clinton political machine is about to get knocked out by a relative political neophyte. Who'd have thought that was possible. I know I didn't. So, what next? What's Hillary going to do now.

Option 1: Admit defeat. Quit graciously. Wholeheartedly support Obama for President in the national election. Become just another member of the Senate. Give up on any Presidential aspirations, or wait patiently until 2016 to run (providing Obama wins). I don't know about you, but I'm not seeing this one as too likely.

Option 2: The Doomsday option. Attack Obama with everything they have. Deploy the ninja dirt-diggers and unleash the sharp-tongued surrogate mouthpieces to spread the word on the cable news shows. This might work, it could secure the nomination for Hillary if she fires up the machine ASAP. The problem is the general election. This would turn off many of the independent voters that Obama has energized. And the black voters would completely abandon Hillary. 2008 would be a wash, and future runs would be out of the question.

Option 3: Just keep doing what you're doing. And lose anyway. I see this as the most likely option, as the once-vaunted Clinton political machine seems to have completely lost its mojo. The worst part is that they don't seem to realize what a crappy job they've been doing. They keep rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic with the mistaken belief that the new deck chair arrangement will stop the sinking. It won't.

So, assuming that Hillary doesn't pull the trigger on the Doomsday Machine, what's she going to do after Obama wins the nomination? She has to support him; or at least appear to. If she doesn't, she'll turn off independents, hard-core liberals, and black voters. She'll never get the party's Presidential nomination down the road if that happens.

But if Obama wins the election, a 2012 run is pretty much off-limits for Hill. That means she has to wait until 2016, which means she'd be 69 years old on election day. It also means she has to wait eight whole years to be President. That's eight years of toiling away as one of 100 Senators. Eight years out of the limelight--let's face it, a President Obama will wind up sucking all the air out of the room. It also means eight more years for more scandals to surface. Or for Bill to put his foot in his mouth (again). Or to get busted in a cheesy sex scandal (again). I don't think Hillary would be too happy with that future. Nope, not one bit.

OK, so here's what I think will happen: Obama wins the nomination. Hillary and Bill are gracious--as gracious as they can be, anyway--in defeat. She endorses Obama, and campaigns for him. The campaigning focuses more on attacking McCain and the Republicans than it does on Obama's qualifications to be President.

Behind the scenes, the aforementioned ninja dirt-diggers hit the streets. They scoop up every piece of information they can find on Obama (and his wife, his church, etc) that the campaign would rather you not know. Then the info gets fed through surrogates to right-wing talk radio hosts and bloggers. Once it hits the news, Hillary can feign surprise and declare the information "troubling." Or she can feign outrage and rail against the "vast right-wing conspiracy" and the "Republican smear machine." Either way, it hurts Obama. And Hillary's fingerprints aren't on the weapon, or so she would hope.

If Obama loses the election, that leaves Hillary Clinton free to run in 2012. And without Barrack Obama to contend with.

Of course this is all conjecture on my part. I could be wrong. As in all things, time will tell. If all this does come to pass, remember you read it here first.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

A Valentine for Some Very (Self) Important People

To: The Marine-hating folks of Berkley, CA and Code Pink
From: Col. Nathan R. Jessep, USMC

People, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men and women with guns. Who's gonna do it? You, Medea Benjamin? We have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for dead terrorists, and you curse the military. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what we know. That enemy deaths, while tragic, probably save lives. And our existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you WANT us on that wall, you NEED us on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. We have neither the time nor the inclination to explain ourselves to a bunch of arrogant screechy cowards who rise and sleep under the blanket of the very freedom that we provide, and then attack us for providing it. We would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way. Otherwise, we suggest you drop your bongs, pick up a weapon, and stand a post. Either way, we don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Do the Right Thing (Ya Bunch of Racists!)

Well, isn't this just special:
Rendell: Race Factor Could Hurt Obama

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Gov. Ed Rendell, one of Hillary Rodham Clinton's most visible supporters, said some white Pennsylvanians are likely to vote against her rival Barack Obama because he is black.

"You've got conservative whites here, and I think there are some whites who are probably not ready to vote for an African-American candidate," Rendell told the editorial board of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in remarks that appeared in Tuesday's paper.

So, what do you think? Is Ed Rendell just expressing a low opinion of a portion of his constituency, or is he trying to play the race card for Hillary? Rendell being the partisan hack he is, neither would surprise me. Will his plan backfire and cause liberal "white guilt" to shame voters into voting for Obama? Time will tell.

Friday, February 01, 2008

Alberto Martinez Update

Here's the latest on the case against the man accused of murdering Captain Philip Esposito and Lieutenant Louis E. Allen in Iraq in 2005.

Martinez to face separate courts-martial
A sergeant accused of killing two officers in 2005 will face a separate court-martial for other charges, a judge ruled Thursday.

Lawyers for Army Staff Sgt. Alberto Martinez argued that the jury would be unfairly influenced if Martinez is tried for murder at the same time as additional charges against him, which include stealing office equipment and possessing firearms and explosives.

Judge rules on motions in fragging case
FORT BRAGG, N.C. — The judge in the case against the man accused of killing 1st Lt. Lou Allen has given the defense less than two weeks to give notice of their plan to prove he is mentally retarded.

Staff Sgt. Martinez may avoid death penalty
A New York National Guardsman accused of killing two of his officers in Iraq in 2005 has two weeks to ask for a pre-trial hearing to determine if he is mentally retarded, a military judge ruled Thursday.

Army Staff Sgt. Alberto Martinez is charged with killing Capt. Phillip T. Esposito and 1st Lt. Louis E. Allen. He faces the death penalty.

But if the military judge, Col. Stephen Henley, finds that Martinez is mentally retarded, the law prevents him from being sentenced to death, even if he is found guilty.

This mentally retarded angle really irks me. Not only does it seem like an abuse of the justice system (I don't believe for a second that this guy is mentally retarded), but it smears the entire Non-Commissioned Officer Corps of the US military. I guess I shouldn't be surprised; attorneys have spent decades ruining the public image of their own profession. Why should they hesitate to ruin someone else's?

Twitter Updates

    follow me on Twitter