A Past We Can Believe In II

Sometimes it is a liberal not blinded by Hillary hatred who can illuminate her flaws quite clearly. Frank Bruni of the Times probably has no sympathy for my Hillary disdain but he is likely to be in touch with the reasons his fellow lefties are not thrilling to her trumpet.

How to explain her weakness as a candidate?

Hillary Clinton’s Dutiful Slog

...

Perhaps with the sturdiest truism of politics: Elections are about the future. And so much about Clinton screams the past.

A rally of hers that I attended in Iowa last week actually began with a highlights reel of Clinton through time, including plenty of footage from the 1990s.

I understand why. The retrospective underscored her extraordinary experience. But nothing in her subsequent speech looked forward as stirringly as those images looked backward.

She’s forever stressing what she’s put up with, what she’s survived. “I’ve been around a long time,” she said in Des Moines a week ago, answering — but not really — a young voter’s question about the dearth of enthusiasm for her. “They throw all this stuff at me, and I’m still standing.”

It’s the language of drudgery and duty rather than inspiration, and she can sound as if she’s collecting on an i.o.u. and asking voters to complete her trajectory rather than begin one of their own.

Bill Clinton may well garner applause, but every time he stumps for her, it’s an implicit promise to revisit yesterday, not to chart tomorrow. On Monday night, he and Chelsea stood with her as she spoke, and I was struck by the overwhelming familiarity of that tableau. It has been with us for a quarter of a century.

We might as well date Hillary's first major appearance on the national stage to February 1992, when she appeared on 60 Minutes with hubby Wild Bill after the Super Bowl to defend him against allegations of womanizing.

That was twenty-four years ago. So (no one promised there would be no math!) young progressives in their early thirties can not remember a time when Hillary was not in the news. And yet she is supposed to be rolled out as the Next New Thing to dazzle America's liberal youth? Good luck!

Bernie Sanders is even older, obviously, but he has been toiling in well-deserved obscurity for decades. Hence his newfound success as a novelty act.

Suggested theme song for Team Hillarity! - "Don't Start Thinking About Tomorrow".

Mr. Bruni continues:

At this point the Clintons are royalty, and royalty sits at a remove from all else. Among Democratic caucusgoers most concerned about voting for a candidate who cared about people like them, 74 percent picked Sanders, while only 22 percent chose Clinton. (Martin O’Malley got the remainder.)

For caucusgoers acting primarily on the basis of who they deemed most “honest and trustworthy,” 83 percent voted for Sanders, while just 10 percent voted for Clinton. That’s the toll of all the attention to her emails, a topic that’s not disappearing anytime soon.

Dems are whistling past the courthouse on this one. The Dem establishment must be very confident that 9a) the fix is in at the Department of Politicized Justice (it surely is), but also (b) the fix will hold.

FBI Director James Comey is a Republican who made his reputation staring down Team Cheney in a dramatic hospital showdown about the reauthorization of an NSA surveillance program. What might he do if a recommendation by the FBI to indict Hillary is buried by AG Loretta Lynch? Drama!

Maybe. In any case, loyal Dems are being asked to carry some pretty heavy baggage for at least another nine months. Who can listen to Hillary's denunciations of crony capitalism during this display of obvious crony justice? And that doesn't even get to her millions in speaking fees from these evil corporations or their cozy relationship with the Clinton philanthropies.

 

Comments

[henry]

Club Fed needs a bigger cell door at the rate Hilligula is packing on pounds.

[henry]

Plus if the Dems use super delegates to shaft Bernie, the occupoopers may have an occupoopin at the Dem convention.

[GMax]

The Clinton sell by date is well past. Even Bill is now a liability. Amen.

[Jeff Dobbs]

Yesterday, all her troubles seemed so far away. Now it looks as though they're here to stay. Oh, she believes in yesterday.

Suddenly she's not half the pol she used to be.
There's a shadow hanging over she.
Oh, yesterday came suddenly.

Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play. Now she needs a place to hide away. Oh, she believes in yesterday.

[Sandy ن Daze]

hrc is has no honor, no duty, no country.

Where is John Reese?

... a nation turns its lonely eyes to you...

[Captain Hate]

The Clinton sell by date is well past. Even Bill is now a liability. Amen.

I read that Doc Brown got 86% of the millennial votes, which is obviously the fault of The Omen's assistants not connecting with the yutes since the First Perpetual Child can't be held responsible for anything.

[henry]

Don't worry, there will be blame. (ht our lurking friend)

[James D.]

JiB, in case you missed it on the last threat, check your email...

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

--At this point the Clintons are royalty...--

And the Borgias were Popes...

[Rick Ballard]

Henry,

He's damned lucky she didn't have him shot. He may yet wish she had.

[narciso]

I coined Razorback Borgia,

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Oh yeah, narc. Should have consulted my lexicon.

[narciso]

I've rendered my view of inspector dreyfus, I expect little from him.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Guy at Powerline made the astute observation that BillyJeff RapeKit is looking an awful lot like Raylan's pappy, Arlo Givens on Justified;

Hill n Bill can be outfitted in matching pantsuits.

[DrJ]

From the last thread...

Hit -- a belated Happy Birthday to you! May all the breaks go your way!

[Manuel Transmission]

Late to the day as usual, but HB Hit. My sis over in New Bern turns 75 today. Maybe something in the water in NC.

[pagar a bacon, country ham and sausage supporter]

"there will be blame". IMO,They should be looking at the person who suggested she run for President.

[henry]

Rick, I suspect the Hillary campaign HQ is like the downfall meme right now, except with more lamp tossing.

[narciso]

even in a rerun, steyn eviscerates,

Hillary, by contrast, is in trouble not because she's a sleazy, corrupt, cronyist, money-laundering, Saud-kissing liar. Democrats have a strong stomach and boundless tolerance for all of that and wouldn't care were it not for the fact that she's a dud and a bore. A "Hillary rally" is a contradiction in terms: the thin, vetted crowd leave more demoralized and depressed than when they went in. To vote for Bernie is to be part of a romance, as it was with Obama. To vote for Hillary is to validate the Clintons' indestructible sense of their own indispensability - and nothing else. Hillary is a wooden charmless stiff who supposedly has enough money to be carefully managed across the finish line. But that requires Democratic electors to agree to be managed, too, and the Sanders surge is a strong sign that, while they're relaxed about voting for an unprincipled arrogant phony marinated in ever more malodorous and toxic corruption, they draw the line at such a tedious and charisma-free specimen thereof.

[Jack is Back!]

Interesting how all the Super Bowl festivities and organization is taking place in San Franciso when the game is being played at Levi Field in Santa Clara, near San Jose and about an hour away from SF. Of course, if you can afford the SB experience better to have it in San Francisco than Sunnyvale or Palo Alto or San Jose.

I think it may be the greatest distance ever between a host city and the playing field.

[Frau Spotten]

Yes, henry! Where is the "Hillary! in the Bunker" video?

Huma in a dirndl, Chelsea and Cheryl Mills crying in the corridor? David Brock as Steiner who failed to protect her flank? Come on, the script writes itself.

[henry]

Frau, need to edit in some lamp tossing.

[narciso]

it does require a small talent for metaphor, much of this world is filtered through the prism of the Renaissance Court, Tudor and Italian princes,

[daddy]

Good Morning! This Breitbart story might explain why THE DW (Duetsch) TV coverage link I posted yesterday was so overwhelmingly positive of Muslim immigrants and so slanted on pointing out Germany's faults in welcoming them:

Top German Journalist Admits Live On Air National News Agenda Set By Government

one of their former bureau chiefs admitted the company takes orders from the government on what it reports. He said journalists received instructions to write news that would be “to Ms. Merkel’s liking”...“…the topics about which are reported are laid down by the government."

[anonamom]

How did NPR/NYT/WaPo/CNN miss noting that 60% of white Iowan Republicans voted for two Hispanics and a black man?

That a Hispanic won a presidential primary for the first time ever
in the USA?

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/02/02/two-hispanics-one-black-man-win-60-of-white-republican-iowa/

[Miss Marple]

Good evening.

Had dinner with my former neighbor (she's a federal marshal and he's a detective in the IPD).

They both share my political views, so it was a very pleasant dinner.

daddy,

Holy cow! Merkel must be running their press like she's still in East Germany!

[Miss Marple]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_2016_ELECTION_THE_LATEST?SITE=AP

Barbara Bush will join Jeb on the campaign trail in New Hampshire.

[Jeff Dobbs]

I've been holding off so I only do this once.

I want to thank everyone for all the HB wishes (and any and all who wishes the same here on forward).

I love you. Each and every one of you.

[narciso]

is it possible to be more trite then frank bruni, I haven't read ej dionne, in my fishwrap yet, so I don't know the answer,

[henry]

His mother is going to middle school with him so the other kids don't beat him up?

[narciso]

I proferred an example of what passes for journalism, at his alma mater now, where geography is apparently a form of alchemy,

[daddy]

Happy Birthday, Jeff Dobbs:(

Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō

Hit, if you can recall what awful crime you did in your last life which 46 years ago caused you to be reborn on this sad day into this "vale of toil and tears" as a CowBoy's fan, please "enlighten" us. I'm guessing you were probably chasing some avatar of Sylvia around with an axe, but I await clarification. Karma, neh?

BTW,

"Decay is inherent in all corporate things", and If I bump into one of your previous wives, Shirley McClaine, I'll be sure to say "Hey," for you. Cheers:(

[Rick Ballard]

She's trying to get her donation back.

[Jeff Dobbs]

Miss Marple:
Barbara Bush will join Jeb on the campaign trail in New Hampshire.

I always had a soft spot for this Barbara Bush....

...but then again:

Though she has no political affiliation, the republican president's daughter admitted that she's rooting for Hillary Clinton to run for president in 2016.

She called the former first lady and secretary of state 'unbelievably accomplished' but didn't promise she would vote for her in a general election. 'I don't know who she'd be running against,' Ms Bush said.

In her charity work, Ms Bush works with both the Clinton Health Initiative and Michelle Obama's 'Let's Move' campaign.

The moar Bushes the merrier, amirite?

[Jeff Dobbs]

daddy:
I'm guessing you were probably chasing some avatar of Sylvia around with an axe, but I await clarification.

Chainsaw....

[narciso]

touching or creepy,

http://www.weaselzippers.us/254489-jeb-bush-awkward-plea-to-young-voter-i-just-want-to-be-your-first/

[daddy]

Barbara Bush will join Jeb on the campaign trail

Reading that I was thinking this might be a colossal error as it might wind up making Hillary look like a "spring chicken" in comparison, but on second thought...

[Miss Marple]

Jeff, This is the whole thing in a nutshell. Barbara gets money from the Clinton Foundation. Jeb gives Hillary a medal.

I stood out in the cold downtown to demonstrate against Al Gore trying to steal the election. I remember Hillary standing in the well of the Senate waving a newspaper (New York Post which Murdoch owns) with the headline "Bush Knew" in December of 2011. Why anyone in that family would give Hillary a medal I do not know.

So I have come to believe the whole thing is elaborate kabuki to keep us rubes divided and arguing while they loot the Treasury and get cushy jobs for friends and relations.

[Jeff Dobbs]

Someone else besides me is voting right now. Counter going up more than just my votes. Not sure if it's for James or not.

Onward!

[narciso]

it's much like the renaissance like in that series, reign where you have the stuarts, the medicis, and their crossboarder rivals the tudors,

http://twitchy.com/2016/02/02/guess-what-the-sierra-club-blames-for-zika-virus-spread-hint-not-mosquitoes/

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

--She called the former first lady and secretary of state 'unbelievably accomplished'--

Concur. Her "accomplishments" are just as unbelievable as everything else about the wretched succubus.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

That was me. I pushed James from 36 to 37 and that hack on the bottom from 22 to 21. :)

[Jeff Dobbs]

I'm locked out again. I vote - and the page shows the counter going up by 1. Then I refresh (before going back and tossing my cookies) and the counter goes back down as if I haven't voted.

I'm waiting ~10 minutes and I'm back at it.

[Buckeye]

Barbara isn't coming out to campaign for him.

She is coming out to tell him to quit being a nitwit and get his butt home.

[JMHanes]

Was Reign any good, narciso? I thought about giving it a whirl, as it seemed to be tackling Mary Q/S from a different angle than the usual fare.

[narciso]

it's not that bad, it's a Renaissance Soap somewhat like the Tudors, less historically minded then Wolf Hall,

[Jeff Dobbs]

I'm back in. For now.

[Jeff Dobbs]

Patience isn't a strong suit of mine.

[Beasts of England]

If I guess Global Warming do I win a prize, narciso?

[narciso]

a copy of the home game, don't ask me what that would entail.

[lyle]

If only, Buckeye.

[Frau Spotten]

daddy @ 9:00 -The top photo earns a full plural
Yikes!
How much does it take to smoothe that face?

[Buckeye]

JEB reminds me of a kid In high school. The harder he tried, the more awkward he became. Tone deaf, clueless and prone to continuous strings of faux pas.

He got knick-named "The Clap."

Like the STD, you just didn't want to come in contact with it.

[squaredance]

Let me gues, they are blaming it on Barbara Bush?

[Jeff Dobbs]

I'm out. I'm an old man.

Buenas Nacogdoches.

[narciso]

no sky dragons and abstinence, yes, that's their story,

[Frau Spotten]

Our morning McClatchy newsette announced that Cruz and Clinton were the winners. I hope some local Bernie Bros verbally carpet bomb the editors with barbed complaints.
I have seen *no* Hillary! signs so far, but Bernie has appeared in a few yards.

The religious left is not yet organized. Even my loony ex-Canadian neighbor who put out anti-Palin signs has not put Hillary! in his yard. He stated earlier to another neighbor that Cackles Clinton was the *only* qualified candidate. Period.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

I'm locked out too after getting a half dozen or so in there.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

--He stated earlier to another neighbor that Cackles Clinton was the *only* qualified candidate. Period.--

That's the kind of logical guy you just know voted for the war hero, long serving Maverick in 08 over the wet behind the jug ears Barry.

[anonamom]

I just checked. Barbara Bush is 90.

Jeb is dragging a 90 year old woman 1800 miles to risk breaking a hip
on the ice because---

Pathetic. Just so pathetic.

[sbw]

Happy birthday, Jeff!

[Frau Spotten]

"They both share my political views, so it was a very pleasant dinner."

Miss Marple, you are so lucky. We have only two neighbors--a couple-- who share ours and they are afraid to level with their three liberal adult children and grandchildren.

Thank goodness Mark Steyn can speak truth to the Clinton Carp.

[Miss Marple]

Frau,

My daughter does not share my views but we are united in despising Hillary, so there's that.

I wish those California transplants across the street would move. They are always agitating for stuff like teachers unions, higher taxes (they think ours are too low) and other stuff. I know there are conservatives in California, but for some reason every time some relocate here they are always of the dem variety.

They could go back to San Francisco and live in a small apartment which was all they could afford there, but now they have a HOUSE and they want to tell us all how to live. Bah.

Most of my area s pretty conservative. I think we are one of the top 5 in the country for % conservative. Dan Burton used to be our congressman before he retired.

[narciso]

well it is much like invasion of he body snatchers seed pods, that kevin mccarthy never found,

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

--Jeb is dragging a 90 year old woman 1800 miles to risk breaking a hip
on the ice because---

That was my first thought too, anonamom.
Reminds me of the time my dear, idiot brother informed me our 80 year old mom had failed a stress test, implying it was my refusal to knuckle under to him that had caused her problem.
And then a couple of weeks later he rags her to some meeting to use her as a puppt wherein he high jacked a non profit with papers he'd forged.
Everybody is a prop on the crazy's stage.
Not that Jeb is like my brother but still...

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

MM,
They're the ones who can't stand the world they made and so move, but can never quite figure out that the problem follows them because they are the effin problem, not the location.

[narciso]

so for those who haven't been following Shannara, one of the skullbearers killed king eventine, and
took his place,

[Miss Marple]

I am watching Ted Cruz on Hannity. This is the FIRST time I have seen him speaking in a normal tone and not speechifying. He is much better that way, rather than orating. His voice also isn't so nasally.

Maybe he's more relaxed with Hannity. That's the only explanation I can think of.

Someone should tell the campaign to get him more appearances like this.

[daddy]

This is scary:

An A-321 Passenger jet had an explosion go off on climb out passing through about 10,000 feet.

Very, very, very lucky it did not go off at higher altitude--possibly/probably ripping the plane to pieces.

Here's a link to the story: Daallo A321 near Mogadishu on Feb 2nd 2016, explosion rips fuselage open

Great job by the pilots getting it back safely on deck. Possibly 1 dead, maybe another 2 or 3 badly injured.

Little bit of confusion in the write up and the comments. I'll be interested in seeing of it's being reported stateside, and if a probable cause is identified.

[Miss Marple]

daddy,

The Brits have it!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3428090/Pictured-Fire-breaks-passenger-jet-minutes-leaving-gaping-hole-aircraft.html

[narciso]

yikes, they detected explosive residue, according to one account, and that's right in Al Shahaaab territory, and across the straights from yemen,

[narciso]

straits from yemen,

[daddy]

Thanks, Miss M. Scary stuff.

Also thanks for the link way back on catching that Antiquities salesman with all those stolen artifacts from Pompeii. Hope they hang him. I've been to Pompeii twice as an adult and I never recall having seen any of those fascinating items.

[lyle]

My orbit in my town is smack dab in progville. A growing number of Bern stickers, NO Hilligula stickers. Even in lib Blaine county, no Cankles stickers. She's a festering pustule. Like her hubs.

[Frau Spotten]

Miss Marple, keep clarice's Pikes 'R Us number on the speed dial if it becomes necessary to defend your territory from ingrates from my native state. Yes, they are carriers.
Pfui!
G'nytall...

[Miss Marple]

Frau,

Good night!

(My neighbor stole my Romney sign4 years ago.)

[Miss Marple]

http://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/as-oil-puts-russia-over-a-barrel-a-gutsy-move-to-privatize/

Putin is going to privatize state industries.

[JerryRigged]

You don't have to clear cache to re-vote...just open an incognito window, vote, then close it and open another...seems to work all the time...

[glasater]

On the coin toss for Hillary's precinct wins, I thought one always called tails especially if the coin is a quarter because the 'head' side is just a little bit heavier.

[narciso]

tell us again about her extraordinary experience,

http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2016/02/ansar-al-sharia-libya-relies-on-al-qaeda-ideologues-to-guide-followers.php

[Belle]

Let us hope Barbara Bush, the elder, has been sent to Jeb's side as the "hook", to tell him: "It is over".

[daddy]

Somebody on FOX should do a panel and have everyone on the panel each flip a coin 6 times and see how often it comes up the same. Then invite the TV audience to do the same. Bring home the implausibility of this coincidence to the masses.

Cattle Futures we could be bulls##ted about, since nobody did Cattle Futures. Same with Rose Law Firm Billing papers and all the rest, since none of us do that on a daily basis---but 6 for 6 on Voting coin tosses?

Dr Venkman as you'll recall explained the phenomenon pretty well I think in Ghost Busters 1.

[narciso]

of ghost busters 2, the less said the better,

[Miss Marple]

http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/267991-warren-congress-should-reject-obama-trade-deal

Unusual opposition from both McConnell and Reid.

Laura Ingraham has read parts of it and she says no.

We need for people to see what's in it and edit out bad stuff. I am not an expert but this is why I don't appreciate candidates dodging this by saying they are "waiting for the committee report".

Warren is a formidable opponent and if she ends up getting in this race either on her own or with Biden, she is trouble.

[narciso]

as capt says, the uniparty so what is the surprise,

[daddy]

And I was no where near Seattle last month!

[narciso]

I think he's going fox mulder, but considering recent history,

http://blog.dilbert.com/post/138541628036/news-flash-cartoonist-gets-one-wrong

[glasater]

daddy, I've read about probabilities and forgotten all of those statistics so what you're suggesting about a bunch of people flipping coins is a good one.

The people flipping the coins in the Iowa caucus I saw were flipping the coin up in the air and then letting the coin drop to the floor while tails was being called.

The only way I would accept a coin toss is to flip the coin up in the air, catch it and flop it on the back of one's hand or arm.

[narciso]

imagine if the shoe was on the other foot, and six county results had been determined in favor of the gop, well you don't have to imagine, they judged florida guilty, and tapper was among those with the bill of attainder,

[jimmyk]

but 6 for 6 on Voting coin tosses?

Maybe Hill's team consulted with the Patriots?

[daddy]

Hey,

Ain't it time for Bill DeBlasio to kill another groundhog?

[Captain Hate]

Let us hope Barbara Bush, the elder, has been sent to Jeb's side as the "hook", to tell him: "It is over".

I think she's the Lady Macbeth behind him running all along.

[Miss Marple]

Captain Hate,

I agree.

When W was sent to Andover, Jeb was at home and from what I can tell, became close to Barbara. He was the next child after Robin, the daughter who died.

I always wondered why W had a Texas accent and Jeb didn't. There's some deep psychology there for which I am unqualified to comment.

[narciso]

bringing renaissance and the spy thriller, concerns some of these characters in a recent novel by christopher depoley

http://www.marlowe-society.org/marlowe/life/deptford1.htmlcter

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

I feel kind of bad for Misty Griffin. She's declined to 0% which is still ahead of O'Malley but only by a nose.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

A few more votes and we can get James to 40%.
BTW I have no idea what a book trailer is or what I'm voting for but I happen to believe that's the American way.

[Miss Marple]

Ignatz,

At least that's how Congress operates! That's the spirit!

[Momto2]

Thanks for the tip on opening the incognito window! I'm voting away - trying to help you get him to 40%, Iggy!!!

[narciso]

ah no, this is where I got off the bus,

http://thinkprogress.org/education/2016/02/02/3745204/standardized-testing-state-improvements/

the medici doesn't even know there are four flat tires.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Seems to be stuck on 1361 votes.
We need fresh fraud.