AP’s Fournier, at Long Last, Lists Dem Groups Unhappy with the Clintons
After the Beltway primaries on Tuesday, the Associated Press’s Ron Fournier compiled a different kind of Clinton Enemies List.
No, not the people and groups Bill and Hillary consider to be their enemies.
Instead, in “Chickens Come Home to Roost,” Fournier listed the types of Democratic Convention superdelegates who have been unhappy with the Clintons for as many as 16 years:
….. they are not all super fans of the Clintons.
Some are labor leaders still angry that Bill Clinton championed the North American Free Trade Agreement as part of his centrist agenda.
Some are social activists who lobbied unsuccessfully to get him to veto welfare reform legislation, a talking point for his 1996 re-election campaign.
Some served in Congress when the Clintons dismissed their advice on health care reform in 1993. Some called her a bully at the time.
Some are DNC members who saw the party committee weakened under the Clintons and watched President Bush use the White House to build up the Republican National Committee.
Some are senators who had to defend Clinton for lying to the country about his affair with Monica Lewinsky.
Some are allies of former Vice President Al Gore who still believe the Lewinsky scandal cost him the presidency in 2000.
Fournier goes on to list still others, ultimately leading to a question he never asked — Is there anyone left who actually likes them?
Old Media reporters never seem to have a problem finding a disgruntled or dissident Republican when the need to find one arises.
So the obvious question for AP, Fournier, and the rest of Old Media is this: Why have we been conditioned to see the Clintons as Democratic royalty all these years, while rarely, if ever, hearing anything from the dissidents?
Cross-posted at NewsBusters.org.
It is not often that I get to appear prescient, so here it is (10/11/07): “Hillary won’t win, and I’ll tell you why. If there is one immutable fact in America today, it is that the majority of people being sufficiently superficial and non-critical won’t vote for someone they don’t like. We are 13 months away from the real election, and HRC has the spotlight sewed up for all that time. If there is one thing we know about Hillary, NO ONE LIKES HER! Not her husband, not her friends, not her colleagues, not the journalists that cover her, not anyone that has ever met her. At best, people tolerate her for some secondary gain.”
Comment by Joe C. — February 14, 2008 @ 6:44 am
#1, indeed. All she’s ever had going is fear — of losing if she’s not the nominee. BOOHOO has expunged that fear. Speaking of predictions, I predicted on 12.20.06 that BOOHOO will be Prez, and I hope I am wrong.
Comment by TBlumer — February 14, 2008 @ 8:41 am
I second your prediction about Obama being president, but I lay a great deal of the blame on a conservative movement that’s been asleep at the wheel for most of the past ten years.
I’ve noticed a “whatever, dude” attitude from local GOP types. They’ll get all angry if they don’t get what they want, but otherwise they’re not much involved, and hardly willing to work at the grassroots level to organize adherents to the cause. ($500 fundraiser breakfast anyone?)
It seems like a very sour, pessimistic way to look at our country, but I suppose many on the Right will “hope” that the country and our standing in the world is seriously damaged under Obama. But keep in mind with a Democrat in the White House that party will also set about the task of building a strong political plurality to future-proof elections. And on that score, with the blood-letting and blame that looks to continue among conservatives, I’m afraid the Democrats odds for success are frighteningly good.
Comment by Brendan — February 14, 2008 @ 9:40 am
#3, agree.
Comment by TBlumer — February 14, 2008 @ 10:10 am
I predict Hillary will be the Dem nominee via the votes of the Super delegates, Florida and Michigan delegates. Obama supporters will cry foul and not vote in the general election. I predict McCain will continue to take his stupid pills, refuse to embrace the conservatives paying them lip service and stick with the I’m entitled line on demanding their vote, thus disaffecting the Conservative vote just as in 2006. So the general election will have the smallest percentage ever turn out and it anyones guess how many people holding their noses will come out to vote. McCain wins the election solely on the basis that there were more voters who hated Hillary than who actually wanted McCain.
Comment by dscott — February 14, 2008 @ 1:27 pm