Polls Continue To Show An Unstable Presidential Campaign
He Is Who He Is
Obama Leads McCain In Frequent Flyer Miles
Lies Have Legs, Obama. Don't Let Them Go Unchallenged
Making The Pigs Squeal
A Way Back To The High Road?
Union Bosses Joyful Over Obama Lead
Mr. Obama, Welcome to the NFL!
Martha's Big Adventure - A Parental Guide to Grown Children
George Bush's Unrequited Love
No Credit Where Credit Is Due
Talking Veepstakes
The Next Time You Say, 'Bush Lied, People Died' -- Think
We Can, And Must, Help Gorilla Species Survive
Is Anyone Ready?
Tinseltown Transformations
Mccaffrey: We Can't Shoot Our Way Out Of Afghanistan
Forgetting The Evils of Communism
Hillary's Growing Shadow
Harper's Index
A Nation of Whiners? Perhaps
'Swing Vote': What It Tells Us About The '08 Race, And Why Obama Needs To Put Kevin Costner On His Ipod
Where Is The Outrage?
The Real Competition In China
The Old Guy's Technical Foul
No Name For The River
Do Democrats Want Obama To Be Another 'War President'?
Pelosi: Save the Planet, Let Someone Else Drill
Obama Supports Union Ploy To Drop Secret Ballots
Birth Control: The New Pollutant
Rustling Up Some Bovine Love
The Mccain-Obama Kabuki On Race
What America's Daughters Need To Know About Nancy Pelosi
Al Gore Has Big Ideas But He's Not Running
Bad Economy May Hurt Obama
Septalingualism: The New Language Of New Yorkers
Cartoon Character
Change We Can Believe In
Can McCain Back In Again?
Obama Hasn't Closed The Deal Yet
No Celebrating Others' Misfortune
Barack Obama's Naive Berlin Speech -- Part Two
Whatever Happened To The Straight Talk Express?
Regulation without Representation
Fight or Die
Call In The Civilians
The Shame Of Postville
Free The Oil -- And Other Slick Tricks
Weapons Too Dangerous For Others
New Generation, New Kind of Daddy
Obama Should See This Play
The Great Garet Garrett -- Interview with Bruce Ramsey
Death of A Prophet
Blind Defense of Koran Abrogates Reality
The Rhinoceros in the Room ... RACE
Sacramento Dreaming Again
A Regrettable Retirement



Why Hillary Won’t Quit
Jonah Goldberg 5/16/2008
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She can’t win. The pundits say it. The polls say it. The math says it. It’s even the word on the street. If Huggy Bear from “Starsky and Hutch” were around, he’d say it’s time to stick a fork in her.

So why does she keep going?

One theory is psychological, almost Aesopian. Hillary Clinton — like her husband — is a creature who follows her nature. Scorpions must sting. Ants must save food for winter. Clintons must fight.

Bill Clinton illustrated Clinton grit when he confronted Newt Gingrich during the government shutdown of the mid-’90s. “Do you know who I am?” Clinton said to Gingrich. “I’m the big rubber clown doll you had as a kid, and every time you hit it, it bounces back. That’s me — the harder you hit me, the faster I come back up.”

“That was not bravado,” writes Commentary’s John Podhoretz, author of a book about Hillary Clinton titled “Can She Be Stopped?” “It was a warning, and an accurate one. The Clintons are without shame, and therefore we all believe they are without honor and cannot possibly imagine themselves as heroes. But Bill very much believed, and believes, that he is a hero because he would not allow himself to be defeated, no matter what — and that part of his eventual victory would be that he could use the virulence of his foes to his advantage.”


Hillary sees herself the same way. The Clintons have campaigned as a unit. They see themselves as a team. They are fighters.

But they aren’t fools. The Clintons know how to mount a tactical retreat. Indeed, Bill’s career has been one long jujitsu match in which he’s used his enemies’ weight against them, falling backward to get the advantage.

So again, why is Hillary staying in?

Perhaps it’s the best route to long-term victory. Washington has long swirled with rumors that the Clintons are holding some “nuclear option” in reserve against Barack Obama. The latest theory is that they’ve decided not to use it, as it would destroy them, too. Who knows what it might be, if it exists at all. But it’s worth noting that if Hillary were the take-no-prisoners brawler everyone says she is, she would almost surely have pushed that button by now.

That she hasn’t used the doomsday device buried under Clinton HQ might mean it doesn’t exist. Or it might mean she’s looking beyond 2008.

In her West Virginia victory speech, Hillary emphasized her electability. Obviously, that’s now her best argument for persuading the superdelegates. But it’s an even better argument for positioning herself as the “I told you so” candidate after an Obama defeat.

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Hillary Keeps Going
By Brian Fairrington - Cagle Cartoons * Posted 04/25/2008
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Hillary Keeps Going
© Copyright 2008  Brian Fairrington - All Rights Reserved.

Posted By: Marqueh  on Friday, May 16, 2008

Character assassination posing as insight.  Remember when Bill was elected and all the media could talk about was Hillary's hair.  Hurray for the cult of personality!  By the way, who are you?

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