Speaking of polls that really count, the only kind of national poll
that means anything is one that looks toward the general election. So
it is that I pass this on from the Rasmussen folks, in case you had missed it:
McCain and Clinton Are Neck-and-NeckMonday, October 15, 2007
Arizona Senator JohnMcCain has fallen nearly out of the top tier in the race for the Republican Presidential Nomination, but he’s still competitive in a general election match-up with Senator HillaryClinton . The latest Rasmussen Reports survey shows Clinton with just a single point edge over McCain, 44% to 43%.
McCain also trailed Clinton by just one percentage point in September and by two points in August. Those consistent results put McCain in a more competitive position at this time than any other Republican hopeful.
The new survey shows Clinton with a 47% to 41% lead over former
Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. Clinton has led Romney every time
we’ve polled this match-up. In September, she had a nine-point advantage.
Clinton
currently leads former NYC mayor and Republican frontrunner Rudy
Giuliani by seven and former Senator Fred Thompson by 15. Her lead has been growing steadily over these two in recent months.
So, a little something for you Republican ideologues to ponder:
Either get over whatever problems you may have with McCain, or get
ready to start saying "President Clinton" again (if she is indeed the
nominee).
It’s up to you — unfortunately.
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I think the Clinton War Room will shred the Mayor and the Hair (Mit) when they release their attack dogs. Of course that’s if they make it past the hounds of hell unleashed here.
Hillary is just as calculating and deceitful as Bill but not as charismatic. If she or the Mayor are elected I’m moving to a bunker in Idaho…but will still blog with Brad.
Brad, in a recent post you ponered why people jump on bandwagons, well, it apparently isn’t that simple and I think your post here (which pre-suposes Hillary winning, and that only McCain can beat her) elucidates that point marvelously by attempting to push people onto the McCain bandwagon – not based on whether or not they think McCain ‘should’ win. And for the record I am about as far away from being a Hillary supporter as you can get (that is, a Democrat with brain who hopes the party does well in 2008).
It’s interesting, the visceral negative response that many Democrats have toward Mrs. Clinton.
Conversely, you have some center-right types who really seem to like her. I noted that awhile back, and we just had another example of it a few days ago. That said, Mr. Brooks also gave a boost to Mike Huckabee, which we ran on today’s op-ed page. He makes a good case for him.
Brad, I consider myself center-left, and I have an extreme dislike and distaste for Hillary Clinton, but it is on a personal level in large part because I used to work with (not for, but with) her, and even when her policy positions make sense to me/I agree with them, it is of no consequence whatsoever to my overall opinion of her as a candidate because I know I can’t trust her (whether it be to follow through on that position or anything else). I think a lot of dems are fooled into believing she is going to be another Bill Clinton and frankly I think she will be as much like Bill Clinton (a pretty good President in my opinion overall) as G.W. Bush (a very bad President in my opinion overall) as G.W. Bush is like his father G.H.W.Bush (a pretty good President overall) that is to say she will be a as bad a president for this nation as G.W. Bush. I would easily vote for Mike Huckabee over Hillary Clinton. He is much more conservative than I, but I find him personally appealing because he has a maturity to him that many of the other candidates do not, and seems to be genuinely concerned about the entire electorate and is not just those in his party. That is something we should hope for in our next President EVEN if his (or her) policy positions are not similar to our own.
Are you speaking of the traits that Peggy Noonan refers to in her column today? I particularly thought this passage was pertinent:
Aside from Clinton’s carved smile, Noonan doesn’t touch the reason for my repulsion.
Clinton stands for little aside from winning. Her belief statements are based on expediency and calculation and not principle. She is like a middle school kid who can brazenly lie without flinching even though everyone knows it’s a lie.
It was shameless how she could blast Obama for his willingness to talk to rogue leaders when she had made the same statements BEFORE he did and then AFTER he did.
She can share volumes about the big issues that face our country without taking even the slightest stance. She shows backbone in crushing her opponents but is a jellyfish when it comes to standing up for a belief.
I would maintain than John McCain is a very devisive, extremist candidate. That statement certainly does not conform to conventional wisdom but the facts say that he is. That is because of his extrodinary stance on the most significant issue of our time, Iraq. Here’s the latest from Rasmussen on how the American people think:
Iraq Troop Withdrawal
64% Want Troops Home From Iraq
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
For the second straight week, a Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 64% of Americans would like to see U.S. troops brought home from Iraq within a year. Prior to this week’s results, support for bringing the troops home had increased in three consecutive weeks.
-Rasmussen
Given Senator McCain’s extremely hawkish views on this issue he should not be considered a mainstream candidate worthy of bipartisan support.
It’s time to be positive about the future of our country. I believe that Hillary Clinton offers our best chance to move the nation forward from the horror years of the Bush administration. Her vast experience in the White House and Senate come through on the campaign trail in her speeches and demeanor in the debates and on television. She has learned from the national health care failure of the early 90s and I think we will see a vastly improved health care system under her administration. It won’t be everything Dr. Demarco or I would want but it will certainly address some of the devasting shortcomings of the failed, Republican version of health care that we’ve suffered with for far too long.
In the foreign policy arena there really is no contest as to who has the best chance for reversing the downward spiral we’ve had to endure. The continued deterioration of our military and lost esteem from around the world has led us to the brink of some very serious security problems. We’ve enjoyed an extrodinary level of security for our entire history of our nation. Thanks to the Bush Administration and his neocon cronies that is now changing. Witness the latest calamity in nuclear Pakistan.
If you want a president who can move the nation back to prosperity and peace there is only one candidate with a proven name who can do that. And her name is Hillary Clinton.
Oh Brad you just don’t get it! Politics is about winning. It is about moving the ball forward a few yards at a time – rarely about Hail Mary passes or grand slams. Ideologues standing in concrete over “ill advised principal” is not what this nation needs. It needs a smart, pragmatic, competent and capable President that can negotiate the ship of state through the icebergs thrown in its path by ideologues from the right or from the left.
Our nation is frozen in place by political divisions forged by the intractability of the right and the left.
There is no candidate from either party that has demonstrated a command of the issues and realities we face better than Hillary Clinton and that is exactly why she is receiving my vote! She will apply a slightly left of center orientation to problem solving — and after 20 of the past 28 years of right wing “purity” and demagoguery emanating from the White House that is the correct perspective to use in order to restore some semblance of balance to a deeply divided nation.
Dennis Kucinich and John Edwards are as problematic as Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson.
That leaves Giuliani and Clinton and based upon what the public can truly know and observe (not the million dollar spin and smear camapigns) about the character, motives, intent, and political believe systems of those two, I will take Clinton any day of the week! Hands down!!!!!!
It is disgusting to watch the GOP candidates engage in their food fights to establish who is the most conservative among them. They guaranty 4 or 8 more years of polarization. Thank God the Democrats have a least one viable (electable) candidate tacking toward the center.
This election should be about change but not change from the rabid right to the lunatic left but to the sensible center, to mainstream American common sense and values and about COMPROMISE in order to accomplish what needs to be done.
It’s what our founding fathers envisioned – not hard right ideologues or hard left ideologues but rather competent pragmatic leaders and compromise between conflicting opinions for the sake of a nation that would always be filled to capacity with conflicting and very often ill advised “principled” opinions.