Hillary Gets the Hook

by RidesAPaleHorse





Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

Hillary Clinton: Down, But Not Out

Hillary was beaten in Iowa, but like Dracula, she'll rise again

The New York Post has an Op-Ed by DICK MORRIS & EILEEN MCGANN, 'Analyzing Iowa'. Here's what they had to say about Hillary Clinton's performance.

WARNING TO CLINTONITES: It's not very complimentary.

But what of Hillary Clinton? She's down but not out. In the first really contested election of her own political career, she lost dismally - outclassed, outdrawn and outpolled by Obama.

Her campaign professionals (including Bill) decided to stress experience, precisely the wrong message in a Democratic primary. Prematurely appealing to the center and abandoning the left, she fell between two chairs - not sufficiently centrist to win independents or liberal enough to attract Democrats.

The Post's duo of Morris and McGann make this observation about Democratic winner, Barack Obama.

"...Obama - by winning in a totally white state - shows that racism is gone as a factor in American politics."

We agree that racism isn't the over-riding force it's made out to be, especially on the Left--where there's a racist chicken in every racist's pot and a racist car in every racist's garage.

We hate to cross political analysis swords with Dick Morris et. al., but we think what the Iowa Democrat results showed was much more simple.

Obama had the singular advantage of being neither Clinton nor Edwards.

Whether this enough to carry the junior Senator from Illinois to victory in the Democrat tussle, we'll see.

Morris and McGann go on to say:

The Obama win last night probably presages another in New Hampshire and follow-up victories in Nevada and South Carolina. (Clinton will carry Michigan: She's alone on the ballot).

So Hillary's argument that her record of defeating the "Republican attack machine" means she should be the candidate will backfire. Sold as a winner, she's exposed as a loser. The Iowa overhang will dog her for all the early primaries.

Hillary faces a serious problem: Voters rejected her and rejected Bill on a very personal basis. Iowa was a referendum on her, and she lost 30 percent to 70 percent. Her argument of experience only reinforced her phoniness and her issues-positioning showed how contrived her ideology is. This is a stinging personal defeat for Sen. Clinton.

There are items we disagree with in the Post's assessment.

However, we don't disagree with RidesAPaleHorse: Clinton is down, but not out.

by Mondoreb & RidesAPaleHorse
[image: RAPH]
Source:
* Analyzing Iowa: Two Historic Victories





Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

Fred Thompson: Wyoming RTL Endorsement A Pleasant Day-After Iowa Reminder

FRED THOMPSON PICKS UP PRO-LIFE ENDORSEMENT

Encouraging news the day after Iowa should remind the Thompson campaign that grassroots organizations are just now thinking politics.

Today Fred Thompson announced the endorsement of Right to Life of Wyoming.

"We're proud to endorse Senator Thompson for president because he has a long track record of supporting pro-life principles," stated Steven Ertelt, President of Right to Life of Wyoming.

"Senator Thompson had a 100% pro-life voting record during his tenure in Congress. Today, he supports overturning the Roe v Wade decision which allowed for unlimited abortions, he opposes euthanasia, and he opposes forcing taxpayers to fund scientific research that requires the destruction of human life."

Right to Life of Wyoming (RTLW) is the state affiliate of the National Right to Life Committee which has endorsed Senator Thompson for President, along with 13 other state affiliates.

"I'm blessed and honored to have the endorsement of the Right to Life of Wyoming for President of the United States," said Senator Thompson. "Thirteen right to life organizations from coast to coast have voted to endorse my candidacy, and more likely will, because they know I have stood with them yesterday, I stand with them today, and will stand with them tomorrow.

"They know I have the ability to win this election. They know I believe in the sanctity of life and as President I will do all that I can do to protect life."

As a campaign spokesman declared, "Fred Thompson is pro-life. He believes in the sanctity of human life and that every life is worthy of respect."

As stated by the Wyoming RTL chair, Erteld, Thompson's had a 100% pro-life voting record in the Senate and believes Roe v. Wade was a bad decision that ought to be overturned.

He consistently opposed federal funding to promote or pay for abortion and supported the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act, the Child Custody Protection Act, and President Reagan's Mexico City policy. While Fred Thompson supports adult stem cell research, he opposes embryonic stem cell research. He also opposes human cloning.

Huckabee's Conservative Credentials Not Impressive

Senator Thompson is not the prime headline maker the day after Iowa; that title would be for present press darling, Mike Huckabee.

As DBKP has pointed out on numerous occasions, however:

"What the Mainstream Media giveth, the Mainstream Media can taketh away".

Especially, if what they giveth goes to a conservative.

Huckabee's conservative credentials can--and have--been questioned. But, to the press, the perception is more important than reality. To the press, Mike Huckabee is a conservative.

Expect, MUCH closer press scrutiny for Huckabee over the coming weeks, as the MSM plays its own version of Whack-A-Pol, Republican-style.

Some Candidates Started Campaigning Over a Year Ago

Thompson's campaign got a late start nationally and in Iowa. The decision to even have Fred Thompson campaign in Iowa came late in the day, politically-speaking.

It should be pointed out that organizations such as Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Mitt Romney spent millions of dollars and many, many months preparing for yesterday's Iowa caucuses.

John Edwards, who has been actively campaigning in Iowa for over year received 30% --about 45,000 votes, or about 100 people a day for every day the Poverty Crusader has been working the Hawkeye State.

Hillary Clinton received almost 30%--and though her organization has spent a little less time, it's probably spent more money than Edwards.

Mitt Romney gained 25% of the Republican votes--somewhere between 12-13,000. It's been estimated that it cost Romney somewhere between $8-900 per vote in Iowa.

Fred Thompson, even with his late start and conservative campaign spending, only fell 5-6000 votes behind Romney.

That would have to be encouraging to the Thompson campaign.

Many Americans are Just Now Thinking About National Elections

The Thompson campaign continues to line up support--all across America by Right to Life, as well as other conservative groups.

Yesterday was the first step in a long campaign. Unlike candidates, a lot of people were not thinking politics in 2007 and early in 2008.

For some, it will be months before they seriously think about the presidential elections. Unlike pundits and the press, more important things occupy their time right now: paying bills and chauffeuring kids to ballgames.

The Wyoming endorsement is a reminder that there many conservative grassroots organizations all over the country that are just now declaring their support for a particular candidate.

And one suspects that Fred Thompson is going to be the beneficiary of many of those upcoming endorsements.

by Mondoreb
[image:abcnews]
Source:
* Iowa Caucuses - Democrat and Republican Results
* Fred Thompson Announces Endorsement by Wyoming Right to Life





Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

Iowa 2008: Keeping Iowa in Perspective

A Look at a Few of the Important Things in Life

[click on image to enlarge]

We saw this over at Cripes! Suzette.

I pulled out my "Madame President" Pantsuit and Put on My Hollywood Make-up for this?

Suzette is usually not so politically-minded: she's usually blogging on the foibles of air travel or other topics that people think about a lot more than politics.

While over at CS, we noticed she had a history of Hillary Clinton's hairdos. That was interesting enough, but it led us to another blog: Princess Sparkle Pony's Photo Blog, where the Princess promises to "keep track of Condoleeza Rice's hairdos, so you don't have to".

One of PP's posts was a history of Harriet Meier's Hairdos: 1983-Present.

Hairdos don't normally excite much curiosity on most days, but we were interested today for some reason.

Once you start looking at them, it was like a bad car wreck: you can't look away.

The Harriet Mier Look: 1983.

Princess Sparklepony's judgment: "Disaster Strikes in 1985".

These are a few in photo montage that make up Harriet's Hairdo History.

We were going to write this post on Global Warming or the Iowa Caucuses.

But we figured, aw, what the heck.

Hairdos and "Don't You Wish Your Girlfriend Was a Tart Like Me?" was at least as important.

Probably more so.

by Mondoreb
[images: Cripes! Suzette; sparklepony]





Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

Iowa's Forgotten Man: Rudy Giuliani Parodies

The Iowa caucuses were held yesterday and Rudy Giuliani didn't campaign in Iowa, choosing instead to concentrate on other electoral venues.

Would not campaigning in Iowa hurt Rudy?

Not in the political parody department.

Rudy Giuliani was quiet, but not forgotten when it came to the efforts of Internet parody-mongers.

We present a few of their efforts covering Rudy Giuliani, "America's Mayor".



Giuliani was admired for his actions on September 11.



Voters wanted to know: who was the real Rudy?



Rudy had his detractors, especially on the Left.

They thought he was too hard-core.



But they also thought he was too soft.



But he also had his supporters, too.



Rudy was looking fit for his DBKP Political Cage Match against Duncan Hunter.



What would Rudy Giuliani do if his presidential bid didn't work out?



Giuliani pledged to keep America safe from threats.



From ALL threats



Would the presidential match-up feature Rudy Vs. Hillary?

Some certainly thought so.


What would be the Giuliani strategy against Clinton?



Regardless, Rudy will try to appeal to all voters.

The political season is a long one. Especially the 2008 presidential campaign: never has a campaign been such a marathon undertaking.

With that in mind, we're betting these aren't the last parodies of Rudy Giuliani.

by Mondoreb
Images:
* Freaking News
* E-graphics
* allreaders
* barrycrimins
* radioleft
* spinfactor
* voteforbreakfast
* indecision2008





Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

Iowa Caucuses 2008: Press Excited, Everyone Else Plays X-box

Every four years, a relatively few people trudge off to participate in a little political exercise called the Iowa Caucuses.

Based on estimates, Mike Huckabee emerged as the clear choice of slightly over 20,000 Iowa Republicans. Obama commanded the loyalty of a little over 50,000 Iowa Democrats.

Based on this tiny group of people, pundits will now spend the next week warning who is washed up and who can start planning celebrations.



Iowa is important to the people who live in Iowa.

Who else places any importance on Iowa?




Does anyone outside of political junkies care what happens in Iowa?

Well again, there's the press.

The press doesn't normally favor--or deign to travel--midwestern states. But they descended on Iowa.

They interviewed everybody. They interviewed anybody.




They interviewed ordinary farmers.




They interviewed those whose opinions were normally ignored.




They even interviewed each other.




For most weeks, the only news in Iowa was the news the press created.

They created their own news, their own scandals and their own press darlings. In 2008, the press darling was Mike Huckabee.




Having created a press darling, the press had to interview him. So Huckabee gave a press conference while hunting pheasants.

After the interview, Huckabee lost his "press darling" label with some members of the press who got a chance to observe Mike up close with a gun.




They also observed former press darling, John McCain, up close.

He assured them he was OK.

"Wait 'til next week," McCain exclaimed.

So the press is now reporting that McClain's the man next week in New Hampshire, where an almost equally-small amount of people will go to the polls.




During the run-up to the Iowa caucuses, the press dutifully filed their reports.




The voters listened to the candidates, as well as the press.




Iowans carefully made their decisions.




Iowans then made their way to the caucuses to vote.




Even though other, more important news held the attention of the rest of the country, the press insisted that the results in Iowa are important to more than Iowans, the candidates and the press.




The rest of the country anxiously awaited the results from Iowa.

Who would Iowa pick?

Who would be our next president?




Would the winner be as "unstoppable" after Iowa as they were before?

Four years ago in 2004, the press assured us that Howard Dean was "unstoppable".

Much of the press a few months ago assured us that Hillary Clinton was also "unstoppable".

Both proved to be "stoppable" in Iowa.

Huckabee and Obama join other Iowa winners.




Dick Gephardt won Iowa in 1988.




Another Iowa winner was Tom Harkin in 1992. Hillary Clinton finished 2nd in 2008, but husband, Bill, finnished 6th in 1992.




Another famous winner in Iowa was "uncommited".

"Uncommitted" was the choice of Iowa Democrats in both 1972 and 1976.




In 1980, G.H.W. Bush won the Republican caucuses.

The guy standing beside Bush on the left in the photo above finished second in Iowa that year.




The press responded to the news and winners in Iowa as usual.




The rest of the country responded to the news of Huckabee and Obama winning in Iowa as usual, also.

Which is to say, differently than the press.



The press will insist that the results of Iowa are vitally important.




Iowa caucus results are important.

To the press.

Otherwise, why would they be there?

They wouldn't waste our time, would they?



Iowa will clean up after the candidates and the press are gone. Life will return to normal.

Iowa 2008: the candidates and press cared.

Everyone else cared about more important things.

Like playing X-box or watching TV.

by Mondoreb
{images:
* oursaviorchurch;
* Wizard of Odds;
* mackspw;
* blarg;
* syracuse;
* dailymail;
* grinning planet;
* Collectorscum;
* scottish parliment;
* petegraham;
* wednesdayreport;
* seedsofchange;
* parkwayreststop;
* tc
* raxnet]
* flickr





Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.