Chronicles of the Hildabeast

I was on my way home from work listening to Michael Medved, as I am often want to do… his guess was the hack and slime book author Ed Klein, whom Michael was taking to task on things about Bill and Hillary he (Medved) knew for a fact to be absolutely false. And the over whelming theme was we need to “Stop Hillary” and how Hillary would be a formal general election opponent…. Ok I want to just ask a question here… Who the heck thinks she can win?

Now let’s take a back seat for a moment here and look at the reality of the 2004 democratic primary. The Hollyweird money primary wasn’t a major factor… the major factor was the grassroots-moveon.org-Democratic Underground-borderline Marxist elements of the Democratic Party. These people pushed Howard the Dean, and these people also flocked to John Kerry after the fall of Howard the Dean. And these people to a person hate Bill and Hillary, and what they did to the party. “I’m from the Democratic wing of the Democratic party” they’d say. And as Howard the Dean proved these people can finance a major campaign… it’s a shame he just spent money like a crack head with a winning lottery ticket.

Another major factor is Charisma. Love him or hate him Bill Clinton had his share of charisma, and 10 or 12 other peoples (which explains bob dole). Hillary doesn’t have that. Now, If you think she’ll get elected president by Bill going out to audiences and sayin “My wife is so great… elect her president” then you are really high. Furthermore when Hillary talks on the stump she is shrill, she is irritating and quite frankly sounds like every bad stereotype of a wife you can imagine. While she might get better on the stump by 2008.... Don’t count on it folks.

Another factor… very few candidates who don’t have a certain amount of gregariousness in their personality can win nationally. John Kerry even had the kind of personality that made him love to mingle with people ( he just sounded like your physics teacher) time after time Hillary has shown herself more like Dick Nixon ( a comparison that Dick Morris has made a few times) and while Nixon won a national race, and a primary he did so with a great deal of strategy. For Hillary to do that she would have to embrace the left hard and hope and pray for a republican schism ala Chicago in 68. Now this could happen, but I wouldn’t risk the rent on it.

Scandals… go read ‘Because he could’ and ‘rewriting History’ (I think that’s the title). I think Dick Morris in his love/hate relationships with both of the Clintons paints an honest picture. And when it comes to every scandal bill had that wasn’t a bedroom dalliance Hillary was at the heart of it. And the slime machine really dug for dirt mostly on bill. Add that in and factor some questionable finances from her 2000 campaign and you can see Hilary running with a serious amount of baggage.

And really the Metaphysical issues of her campaign. We’ve elected Cousins, and we’ve elected sons in this country. But electing a wife or a husband is a different matter all together. A son and a cousin can be their own man, but a wife can seem held over by the specter of their husband in the shadows. It was like the old days when Earl K Long and Huey long used to trade the governors mansion with their cronies. The crony was governor just long enough to satisfy the laws of the state of Louisiana till the long boys could get it back. I just don’t think at a psychological level Americans are willing to be that banana republic about their nation as a whole.

Even more Metaphysic issues to her campaign; as a woman Hillary will be viewed differently. While we have all that hippie peace and love and equality stuff going on Women are still instinctively viewed by a lot of the folks in a certain avatar. And Hillary is going to have to run tough on war issues…. And can she be tough and still fit in that Jungian view of what a woman should be? I don’t see that happening with her personality. Some other woman it might be possible but I don’t see it with her.

So why do so many GOP talking heads speak of the fear of the Hildabeast? The reason is very simple… much like the GOP primary in 08 and for the first time in a real long time there is a legitimate sense of the unknown. Hillary has a great deal of fame, a good ability to raise money so many of the talking heads needing a “leader of the opposition” to rail against picked her. But in 08 both the Kingdom of Blue and Kingdom of Red shall be in turmoil over whom will hold the miter of authority… People need to believe in a Kaiser Souize, even if she isn’t real.