Clinton says she'll increase criticism of Democratic rivals

[preservanation]

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?


Clinton says she'll increase criticism of Democratic rivals
By LISA ROSSI • REGISTER STAFF WRITER • December 2, 2007

Cedar Rapids, Ia. --- Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton ramped up criticism of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama today, and said his positions on health care and handling of campaign finance rules have begun to reflect on his character.


The latest Des Moines Register poll shows Obama in the lead for the first time with 28 percent of caucusgoers saying he is their first choice. Clinton slipped to second place with 25 percent, down from 29 percent in October.

Clinton said at a Cedar Rapids stop designed to encourage first-time caucusgoers to attend and vote for her, that she would spend the next month drawing more contrasts between her and her Democratic rivals.

“I have said for months that I would much rather be attacking Republicans and attacking the problems of our country, because ultimately, that’s what I want to do as president, but I have been for months on the receiving act of consistent attacks,” she said. “Now the fun part starts.” She is in her element now. Here comes the Clinton Machine, in the form of a steam roller to flatten Obama, and anyone else who gets in her way of her birth right...the dem nomination.

This is what she does best and Hillary was very effective in opposition research and the politics of personal destruction while Bill was in office, that was her job more than anything else during that time...even health care.. Just ask Ken Star, Newt Gingrich, Jen Flowers, Cathlene Willie, Broderic, the list goes on and on. Even her own staffers were terrified of her.

She will ultimately try to deflect her attempts at dirty pool on enigmatic staffers, her nebulous campaign or more likely on "The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy". The only thing that might change is that I think the American people are on to her. Once that happens, they wont believe anything she says, even if it's true. That, my friends is a lousy position to be in.

If voters on the left are willing to vote for a black man, Obama should be able to run away with the general election and defeat the GOP in a resounding fashion if he can garner the nomination...and that's a big if.

[Elrathin]

Yes because as we all know NO REPUBLICANS ever run a smear campaign against their Republican rivals during the primaries, right Pres?

If you are going to post something like this, don't be so blatantly partisan to act like Hillary is any different than your Republican Hopefuls that you will support if they get the nomination.

Well maybe Hillary is different, because she actually is telling the truth and saying she will, while your guys normally just lie and backstab each other while trying to smile and act innocent about it.

[preservanation]

Vive La Hillary!

[AlonzoMourning23]

Yes because as we all know NO REPUBLICANS ever run a smear campaign against their Republican rivals during the primaries, right Pres?

Black baby. BLACK BABY!!

That about sums it up.

[preservanation]

The hypocrisy factor is apparent with Hillary (isn't that always the driving impetus behind lib's criticism of the religious right?).
First she said attacking a fellow Dem (going from policy to personality) was verboten...Now she is quoted as saying "Now The Fun Starts"
IMO, she's relishing the fact that the gloves are coming off, of course she'll say that others started it or it's her minions who she has no control over are doing it or it's Bush's and the vast right wing conspiracy's fault.

I think the politics of personal destruction is Hillary's forte and is relieved and excited to finally be able to apply her formidable skill in this area.

Now the fun starts...for me as well.

[Elrathin]

Let me just ask you this Pres, what Presidential candidate (doesn't matter which side) do you think that is NOT hypocritical?

[preservanation]

El, I don't know.
Can you name one person on the planet who is free from some level of hypocrisy in their life?
We are all humans, even Queen Hillary. This might be a hard pill to swallow, but true.

[Elrathin]

El, I don't know.
Can you name one person on the planet who is free from some level of hypocrisy in their life?
We are all humans, even Queen Hillary. This might be a hard pill to swallow, but true.


So then why your selective outrage over Hillary's hypocrisy?

[preservanation]

Personal attack is her element and I think it will propel her to the Dem nomination, and she is more than happy and comfortable to go down that road.
Welcome to the big league of rough and tumble American politics.
Nothing wrong with that except she changed her tune again. It amazes me that libs still support her when she refuses to be pinned down on important issues such as this or her vote for war with Iraq. I'm just trying to point out who you are voting for.
Kucinich is probably the least hypocritical on the left and maybe Paul on the right, to answer you previous question...(sort of):)

[Elrathin]

I'm just trying to point out who you are voting for.



That's funny, because I haven't even figured out who I am voting for yet.

As for Hilary being hypocritical, you just admitted that everyone is, so what's the problem. The candidate you are going to vote for is hypocritical to right?

[ViolaLee]

I find it fascinating, all the anti-Hillary stuff that you post preserva....stuff that she might do in the future, stuff she does that everyone else also does.....but you can't find anything real to bash her on.

Try harder man!

You're losing my interest.

[preservanation]

I'm not bashing her enough, now?
Will I continue to be more "interesting" if I do?
I got much more bash left in me, if you really want it.
Hooooo Boy!

[Elrathin]

How about coming up with something that is actually substantial? I'll give an example, the $5k for all children for college fund. At least that was something debatable and interesting.

[preservanation]

Who pays for that, and where is that proposal now?
I think she dropped that idea like a hot rock when the polls came out on that.
She still might try to do it if elected, and strong arm Congress to pass it.
But it sure dropped off the table as a campaign issue as of late.
I've heard nothing about this since after she first proposed it a month ago or so.
She's got more important things to work at now anyway, like eviscerating Obama as long as he is a threat.
I don't see Hillary introducing anything new publicly until her nomination is sewed up.

[Shintao]

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?
[quote]This is what she does best and Hillary was very effective in opposition research and the politics of personal destruction while Bill was in office, that was her job more than anything else during that time...even health care.. Just ask Ken Star, Newt Gingrich, Jen Flowers, Cathlene Willie, Broderic, the list goes on and on. Even her own staffers were terrified of her.

Have any proof of your assertions?

She will ultimately try to deflect her attempts at dirty pool on enigmatic staffers, her nebulous campaign or more likely on "The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy". The only thing that might change is that I think the American people are on to her. Once that happens, they wont believe anything she says, even if it's true. That, my friends is a lousy position to be in.

They are locked onto her alright - even the your idoit in the WHite House knows she won the election. Some things are just self-evident, self-fulfilled, and Hillary winning is one of those things.

If voters on the left are willing to vote for a black man, Obama should be able to run away with the general election and defeat the GOP in a resounding fashion if he can garner the nomination...and that's a big if.


No doubt the rightwing couldn't beat the dog catcher this election.[hr]
I find it fascinating, all the anti-Hillary stuff that you post preserva....stuff that she might do in the future, stuff she does that everyone else also does.....but you can't find anything real to bash her on.

Try harder man!

You're losing my interest.


I have been waiting for anything out of him myself, that he could hang his hat on, and say see here!! The problem for Replugs is they used up all their ammunition over the last 16 years of attacks, and the Clinton Team 08' is still coming at them like their worst nightmare. The Clintons haven't been setting around waiting to campaign since 2000, they have been planning, they have been campaigning, they have been in the trenches giving speeches all over the world. This day of reckoning was predicted, and it is almost here.

[hr]
Who pays for that, and where is that proposal now? I think she dropped that idea like a hot rock when the polls came out on that. She still might try to do it if elected, and strong arm Congress to pass it.

We will pay for it the same way we pay for the war, drilling holes in ANWAR, losing billions of dollars in Afghanistan & Iraq, free handouts to Haliburton, etc. It's all a state of mind - what you chose to spend money on. Just getting you to pay off the taxcuts we borrowed from China will provide enough cash for her little program of investing in American children's futures. If we get rid of enough replugs in 08' there will be no need for any strong arming. In fact, if Henry Hyde gets busy on the investigations there won't be much of a right isle precense come 08'.

[preservanation]

Who pays for that, and where is that proposal now? I think she dropped that idea like a hot rock when the polls came out on that. She still might try to do it if elected, and strong arm Congress to pass it.

We will pay for it the same way we pay for the war, drilling holes in ANWAR, losing billions of dollars in Afghanistan & Iraq, free handouts to Haliburton, etc. It's all a state of mind - what you chose to spend money on. Just getting you to pay off the taxcuts we borrowed from China will provide enough cash for her little program of investing in American children's futures. If we get rid of enough replugs in 08' there will be no need for any strong arming. In fact, if Henry Hyde gets busy on the investigations there won't be much of a right isle precense come 08'.
I never knew Hillary was in favor of drilling in Anwar (fyi, We're not now...remember?) or that she was in Halliburton's pocket.
But to the point, common and national defense as well as tax cuts are in the constitution, and actually encouraged! The socialist agendas pursued by some Dems are clearly not guaranteed nor allowed within our Constitution, like health care for all or some $500 per child boondoggle.

People's lack of knowledge of our Constitution and the limits it places on the federal gov is absolutely stunning.
I blame it on the absence of any sort of meaningful civics education in our own gov schools, and people's intellectual laziness.
Tell you what, do us all a favor... read our Constitution and our Bill of Rights once, attempt to understand it, then get back to me.

[Elrathin]

People's lack of knowledge of our Constitution and the limits it places on the federal gov is absolutely stunning.
I blame it on the absence of any sort of meaningful civics education in our own gov schools, and people's intellectual laziness.
Tell you what, do us all a favor... read our Constitution and our Bill of Rights once, attempt to understand it, then get back to me.


Show me where Bush's "no child left behind" is constitutional.

[preservanation]

People's lack of knowledge of our Constitution and the limits it places on the federal gov is absolutely stunning.
I blame it on the absence of any sort of meaningful civics education in our own gov schools, and people's intellectual laziness.
Tell you what, do us all a favor... read our Constitution and our Bill of Rights once, attempt to understand it, then get back to me.


Show me where Bush's "no child left behind" is constitutional.
It probably isn't...my only defence of that, as well as the prescription drug entitlement boondoggle is that Bush was trying to make the best of a bad situation which was started long before he was elected.

I reiterate...I have many issues with what Bush has done in his administration. They are just different from the ones that the libs have.

[Elrathin]

[It probably isn't...my only defence of that, as well as the prescription drug entitlement boondoggle is that Bush was trying to make the best of a bad situation which was started long before he was elected.

I reiterate...I have many issues with what Bush has done in his administration. They are just different from the ones that the libs have.


Ok so you think Bush was trying to make the best of a bad situation, so why don't you think Hillary is doing the same thing? You may not agree with it, but to act like she is destroying America for it is ridiculous. I mean I've listened to your arguments against what Hillary was proposing and while I disagree with them, you have valid points against it.

It just seems to me you are ok with Bush doing what he feels is right, yet you automatically disagree with insults when Hillary wants to do the same thing just because she is a Dem. Disagreeing with it is fine, it's when you bring insultive rhetoric that it just lessens your arugment.

For instance the main reason I am against Bush's no child left behind policy is it only addresses 1 of 3 major problems I see that can cause a child not to to learn.

The 3 problems I see that cause a child not to learn is (in no particular order)

#1. The school system
#2. The parents
#3. The student.

Bush's no child left behind addresses the school system, however, it doesn't address the other two and as a result, the school system is now just teaching kids what they need to know to pass the standardize test, but not necessarily what they need to know.

Without the other 2 or at least the student wanting to learn, there is nothing a school system can do to help that student.

[preservanation]

IMO Hillary' s ilk have been the problem to begin with and she will only make it worse...much worse.

I agree with your assessment...
#1. The school system
#2. The parents
#3. The student.

Personally I would put the parent at the top.

What socialists (Hillary being their poster child) want to to is to replace all of that with Big Gov.
This I can't understand. As A self described lib in the 70's this was anathema to my philosophy.
"Power to the people" has been supplanted by power to the "Nanny state" and big money bureaucrats.
This baffles me.

[Scorpion]

Grab a beer, a bowl of popcorn, sit back and watch the Democratic candidates do what they do best. Destroy each other while paving the way for a Republican victory.

Don't you just love liberals during a campaign? It's like watching reruns of the Simpsons. Go get 'em "Mad Dog" Hillary. :madlaugh:

[Elrathin]

Grab a beer, a bowl of popcorn, sit back and watch the Democratic candidates do what they do best. Destroy each other while paving the way for a Republican victory.


It's interesting you say that, and I don't deny it, but just look at how conservatives and conservative media (i.e. fox) ignore and berate Ron Paul a fellow conservative.

All sides turn on their own, it's just a matter of time.


Don't you just love liberals during a campaign? It's like watching reruns of the Simpsons. Go get 'em "Mad Dog" Hillary. :madlaugh:


I hope you aren't suggesting Republicans actually play fair game with their own during primaries are you?

To be honest I don't know what's worse. The mudslinging done to the same party during primaries, or the mudslinging done to the opposite party during the actual election. IMO, the primaries are some of the worst mudslinging that is done.

[Pookie]

El, I think I agree with you on that. The mudslinging is everywhere, and every candidate in the same party or not, is a target. I said something in another thread that our local election last year was the nastiest one yet. I think you're right about the primaries, too. I'll bet they're going to get really heated soon, and that this is just the tip of the mudslinging iceberg.
Purrs,
Pookie

[preservanation]

Hillary's prowess in the politics of personal destruction is legendary, if she could run on that platform, it would certainly qualify her for the pres, over all her other so called qualifications.
However if she overplays her hand, America might catch on and reject her.
IMO she will be able to destroy both Obama and Edwards in the long run, but by employing the tactics to do so in the primaries, she will damage herself so much in the eyes of the American voter, that it will be almost impossible for her to beat the GOP candidate, whomever that might be.

[Elrathin]

Hillary's prowess in the politics of personal destruction is legendary, if she could run on that platform, it would certainly qualify her for the pres, over all her other so called qualifications.
However if she overplays her hand, America might catch on and reject her.
IMO she will be able to destroy both Obama and Edwards in the long run, but by employing the tactics to do so in the primaries, she will damage herself so much in the eyes of the American voter, that it will be almost impossible for her to beat the GOP candidate, whomever that might be.


I don't necessarily disagree with what you have said about her mudslinging, but I think she is going to save the big guns for the Republican Candidate and not use so much on Obama or Edwards.

[AlanC]

I don't necessarily disagree with what you have said about her mudslinging, but I think she is going to save the big guns for the Republican Candidate and not use so much on Obama or Edwards.

She will if she thinks they will keep her from the nomination.

[Scorpion]

All sides turn on their own, it's just a matter of time.



Wonderfully said and so true of politics. Perhaps that's why there of those of us who become political junkies. We like to watch the gladiators fight.

[preservanation]

Hillary's prowess in the politics of personal destruction is legendary, if she could run on that platform, it would certainly qualify her for the pres, over all her other so called qualifications.
However if she overplays her hand, America might catch on and reject her.
IMO she will be able to destroy both Obama and Edwards in the long run, but by employing the tactics to do so in the primaries, she will damage herself so much in the eyes of the American voter, that it will be almost impossible for her to beat the GOP candidate, whomever that might be.


I don't necessarily disagree with what you have said about her mudslinging, but I think she is going to save the big guns for the Republican Candidate and not use so much on Obama or Edwards.
If she was smart, Hillary should do what you suggest, El.
If she shoots her wad at the Dems, voters might tire of her tactics or worse, see her for who she is by the time the general rolls around.

My guess is that if she loses Iowa and NH, she will not be able to keep her powder dry. If she perceives a real threat she will not be able to stop herself nor her operatives in personally destroying her opposition. They have already started in on Obama, as you know.

Furthermore I think she really enjoys it...Go with your strengths, doncha know.