Smart Move
Did Hillary Clinton have her first Sister Souljah Moment in preparation for Decision ’08? According to Drudge, it sure looks that way:
Proposing new political language about abortion rights for an increasingly skittish Democratic Party, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that friends and foes on the issue should come together on “common ground” to reduce the number of “unwanted pregnancies” and ultimately abortions, which she called a “sad, even tragic choice to many, many women.”
Clinton, in a speech to about 1,000 abortion rights supporters at the state Capitol, firmly restated her support for Roe v. Wade.
But then she offered warm words to opponents of abortion and said that faith and organized religion were the “primary” reasons teenagers abstained from sexual relations.
The New York Times has the full story.
This is “move to the right” month for Hillary. First her comments about being pro-faith based initiatives, and now this?
Much more of this nonsense from her and I think I’ll have myself a Sister Toldjah moment. Sheesh.
I believe that her game is even larger than a presidential run.
She’s trying to supercede the Democratic Party. If she continues on anything like this pace, she will have driven the “Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party” (aka: the socialists) insane by, oh, about late ’05. Which leaves her in a perfect position to start a new party, with her at the top, espousing a Third Way between Socialism and Fundamentalism.
There’s a market for it, and it’s just crazy enough to work…
It’s the old Clinton game of triangulation. Hillary is picking out a position that is “in between” everybody. She is doing preliminary moving to the center. Look for her to do it on a lot of issues. She has been mildly hawkish on Iraq, too.
I agree about Hilary’s triangulation, I just don’t think it will work. For Bill, he had it easy. Bush 41 had no “vision thing” and the end of the Cold War made gambling for the general public more acceptable.
More to the point, the Internet and the rise of the Kos Kidz and the money they raised along with the liberal billionaires is something new for the Democratic Party.
Back in Bill’s day, the main sources of funding were Emily’s List, Children’s Defense Fund, NOW, Sierra Club, etc. all of which could at least tolerate a run to the center for protecting abortion rights, the environment, affirmative action, etc.
For the Deaniacs/Kos Kidz/MoveOn/Soros/Hollywood crowd the litmus test is a lot more rigid. Anti-War, Gay Marriage, anti-security policies are rigid litmus tests. Hilary will NOT be successful and end up marginalized as much as Lieberman or Gephardt or Miller before them.
The money in the Dem party is all wildly left of center, dooming Hilary.
Abortion rights is not a hot issue for me, but I am happy to see at least one leading Democrat making a move (even if it’s just a token move) toward the rational center of American politics.
I don’t know if I could trust Hillary after her attempt to socialize medicine in her husband’s first term, but if she came out in favor of privatizing Social Security, I might give her a second look in 2008.
Hillary is doing what she has to. She set up Bill to win and now she is doing the same for herself.
The Deaniacs/Kos Kidz/MoveOn/Soros/Hollywood crowd will still back her even if she says she now is in charge of the VRWC. They know she doesn’t mean what she says.
Dude, I don’t care what she has to say about abortion rights. She’s the anti-Christ. She’s going to say whatever moderate BS she needs to gain support and then proceed with her own leftist agenda the second she gets the chance. I would loooove to see a woman become President but I hope to HELL it ain’t her!
She’s going to deserve and Oscar.
She was always like this, but her party wouldn’t let her be her true self.
The Unannounced Candidate
Few people doubted that Hillary Clinton harbored ambitions far beyond the Junior Senatorship of New York State. Her husband served as her co-President for two years and she developed a taste for the power and the lifestyle the way bruised and muddy r…
Uh, Hillary Clinton is the anti-christ? That’s a relief, actually. I always thought the anti-christ would have some devious plan to seize power, like utilizing Halloween in some fiendishly clever plan to rule the world through monopolization of the supply of mini Mars bars. Getting elected President is so banal and obvious.
I know Sebastian, I am a little let down too…esp b/c World Domination Through Chocolate is an idea I could truly get behind…
Regarless of my drama-queen phrasing, she sucks and it’s going to hurt my heart to vote against one of the first women who stands a chance of becoming President.
Her plan to “move to the right” is a shabby farce, but a cleverly calculated shabby farce.
It looks like she wants to play both ends of the right side of the electorate against the middle.
She knows that the conservative base is the GOPs greatest strength. By positioning herself in line with that base on a few hot button issues, she thinks that she can make them forget that she’s a raging liberal on just about every other issue. It also takes away her opponent’s most effective means of attacking her by playing to that base.
The problem is that for this kind of thing to work, she needs 100% backing from the media…to sweep her former positions under the rug and avoid akward questions. She’ll get whatever the media can give her, but it just may not be enough to keep up the facade. The MSM has lost too much audience and influence. Just ask John Kerry.
I believe the Clinton’s long history of trangulating and staking out positions they and now the public understands are nothing more than sound bites not to be taken seriously has a short shelf life. It expired long ago for much of America.
Is this really news? Bubba himself once opined that abortion should be “safe and rare.” Of course, he did so in the context of vetoing a law against partial birth abortion, so one might be inclined to doubt his sincerity. It wouldn’t be the first time Shrillary took one of Bill’s old ideas and trotted it out for a spin.
Bubba Clinton said in 92 thet abortion should be “safe, legal and rare.” In the next eight years he did nothing about the last adjective. No news here, just a good soundbite.