The Coming War

[Tigermike 3,055]

October 23, 2007

The Coming War

Posted by TOM BEVAN

The most telling moment from Sunday's GOP debate didn't take place during the debate itself, but in the focus group of Republican primary voters conducted by pollster Frank Luntz after the debate had ended. Watch the reaction Luntz gets as he quizzes the group on why they nearly spun the favorable dials off the hinges when the GOP candidates started attacking Hillary Clinton:

U Tube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykxT8wWxPRk

The visceral reaction Hillary generates is not unique to Florida Republicans. Indeed, the anger and fear she arouses in most Republicans at the thought of her winning the White House is clearly the force that is sustaining the strength of Rudy Giuliani's candidacy and helping him defy the traditional laws of political gravity in the GOP nominating process that a great many pundits believed would have brought him down to earth by now.

Republicans see a mean and utterly ruthless warrior in Hillary Clinton, and they're looking for a warrior of their own capable of waging a victorious battle against her. Most continue to see Rudy as that GOP gladiator.

A similar sentiment is helping shape the race on the other side as well. As Alec MacGillis noted last week in the Washington Post, Democrats appreciate Barack Obama's hopeful message about "changing the tone" of our divisive politics. But at the same time they look across the political divide and see what they perceive to be a "right wing smear machine" that requires someone of Hillary Clinton's toughness to beat.

When Obama tells people that he's "not coming from the tradition of spending all my time bashing Republicans," Democrats see that rhetoric as idealistic, naive and weak. No matter how much rank-and-file Democrats may like him, they fear he'll be chewed up and spit out by Republicans in the general election. They have no such fear about Hillary. And to make matters worse for Obama, his initial promise to "change our politics" has put him a box and prevents him from proving to Democratic primary voters he possesses the kind of toughness they're looking for.

Ironically enough, each party's perception of the other side as ruthless and girded for battle is leading them in the direction of settling on flawed candidates. Republicans may quite possibly crack the coalition that has served as the foundation of the party by nominating a pro-choice candidate for the first time since the pro-life plank was put in the party platform.

And Democrats, who continue to have the political wind at their back, are going to risk their best chance at winning the White House on a candidate with the highest unfavorable ratings of any candidate in recent history, and one whose baggage continues to spill out onto the front pages of newspapers with alarming frequency.

In short, there appears to be a centrifugal force at work that is pushing the parties toward all-out political war, with Rudy and Hillary currently being the most favored warriors on each respective side. If that match up does in fact come to pass, it'll be a ferocious political war unlike any we've seen before.

http://time-blog.com/real_clear_politics/2...coming_war.html

[AURaptor 1,126]

What I really like about these folks is their answers. Substantive, thinking answers to why Hillary would be a horrible choice as President. More taxes, higher taxes, the world's ( socialist ) interest before her own country's, her lack of real leadership experience ( she's never run anything of substance, not a business, not a gov't dept, etc... ) This wasn't a group of " ditto heads " who simply were espousing Right wing talking points, but a cross section of working , real Americans who want a better future, not a throw back to a socialist utopian view point.