Newspaper editorial boards will almost always go for the more conservative, establishment candidate. Perhaps more importantly, nobody has ever given a shit as to who they endorse. Keep in mind: as far as Republicans go, the New York Times is the New Pravda Times and as far as Democrats go, they're the house of Jayson Blair and Judith Miller. We're also talking about a New York paper attempting to influence an Iowa caucus, which illustrates the ridiculousness of the whole process, I think. How many people in Des Moines do you think give a shit about the New York Times? Here's what I think: I phonebanked and canvassed for John Kerry in 2004 and that fucker gave up after about 20 minutes, despite the fact that exit polls had him creaming the shit out of Bush and despite the fact that there were (and are) credible allegations of vote manipulation. And here's what I think: I phonebanked and canvassed for Jay Inslee back when he was a representative but when I said "a living wage" was my number one issue he looked at me like a Venusian. Fuck, maybe I just came from the future. So I don't really expect anything that I want is going to be represented by my government because I'm 100% positive that's not how government works. But you know what? I've been a big fan of Bernie Sanders since he was one of like three people not to support the Patriot Act. And fuckin' A - I was a big fan of Hillary Clinton back when she tried to create Obamacare. I legit voted for Clinton twice, not against Bush, not against Dole. And yeah, NAFTA fucked a lot of people and holy shit you can blame the Clintons for Walmart but sweet merciful jesus this is simply what it looks like when ACLU-lovin' dope-smokin' Arkansas liberals have to survive in a conservative maelstrom for 40 years. Adapt or die. I know Elizabeth Warren has a bone to pick with Clinton and she's right but fuckadoodle do you gonna vote for Meg Whitman? Carly Fiorina? Sarah Palin? Hillary Clinton is what you get when a legit conspiracy spends billions of dollars spreading the slander that had your lawyer killed because he was going to rat on your secret Arkansas airstrips for drug running. Hillary Clinton is what you get when Congress makes your president husband testify under oath because you were swindled in a land deal 20 years previously. We've got a fuckin' Michael Bay movie over whether or not Hillary has proper email etiquette. It's fuckin' batshit. And I'm all about the socialists and god bless Bernie Sanders and I probably agree with him on 90% of his policies but he's been studiously NOT steering the conversation in congress since before we invaded Iraq the first time. I would love to vote for Bernie Sanders. Shit - I'd love to vote for Hillary Clinton. But at the end of the day, I don't live in Iowa so what I think doesn't mater even in the abstract for another ten months.
You know, I think it's illuminating to point to the Republican maelstrom that has been the environment that Hillary came of age politically. It's easy to be the perfect embodiment of liberal ideals if we live in a socialist Nordic utopia... It's decidedly more difficult if you try to campaign in a country where there is only one non-religious member of Congress, where 41% of Americans believe that Jesus Christ definitely (23%) or probably (18%) will return to Earth by the year 2050, and 30% of polled Republicans believe that we should bomb Agrabah, the fictional home city of Alladin. And Hillary can't come out and say it, but some non-zero amount of her political posturing is simply because she doesn't just how much she has to dumb things down to not scare the bejesus out of a striking proportion of the population. Bill Burr "has been bitching about the population problem for three specials now." (And by the way, I am being completely facetious linking to Bill Burr. I don't think it's wise or feasible or in the slightest way moral to eliminate 85% of the population... but the man is funny.)Hillary Clinton is what you get when a legit conspiracy spends billions of dollars spreading the slander...
Gene Lyons and Joe Conason start The Hunting of the President with a chapter called "The Ghost of Lee Atwater." Apparently one of the last edicts issued by the man before he died of a brain tumor was that the upstart governor of Arkansas needed to be taken out before he amounted to anything or he'd be the number one thorn in the side of the conservative establishment as long as he lived. That was '91. The Today Show, January 27 1998, to Matt Lauer They made a lot of hay with that. It took about six years for David Brock to admit that he was a high-ranking lieutenant in that very same vast right wing conspiracy. He wrote Blinded by the Right and formed Media Matters for America. Richard Mellon Scaife alone spent $2m on Troopergate. The Republicans have been trying to "burn the witch" for 40 years now. Yet when Hillary mentions this, she's painted as a whiner. Is she as liberal as I'd like? Nope. But goddamn she's a survivor. People forget that Jimmy Carter ran as an outsider. Know what sucks about outsiders? They have no connections and can't get anything done. Given a chance, I'll vote for Sanders in a primary. Not that anyone has ever given a shit about the Washington primaries. Of course, I voted for GWB in the 2000 primaries for the simple reason that I figured McCain was the only credible candidate so...Hillary Clinton: "Well, I don't know if I've been that dramatic. That would sound like a good line from a movie. But I do believe that this is a battle. I mean, look at the very people who are involved in this — they have popped up in other settings. This is — the great story here for anybody willing to find it and write about it and explain it is this vast right-wing conspiracy that has been conspiring against my husband since the day he announced for president."
Bringing Carter into this discussion is apt. Carter did this when the Southern Strategy was at its most effective. Sure, Nixon imploding helped him out, but he was also very popular, and his loosing in 1980 had as much to do with Ted Kennedy attacking him from the left in the primaries as with Reagan. Sure, no one knew how bad Reagan was going to turn out, but Carter might well have realigned the South if he had held on. I wonder if that's what Atwater was thinking of when he named Clinton a threat.People forget that Jimmy Carter ran as an outsider. Know what sucks about outsiders? They have no connections and can't get anything done.
Page 1. Before Clinton so much as investigated running for President, Atwater had already started a campaign to defeat him as governor so that Bush wouldn't have to deal with him in '92. Atwater stated publicly that the Democrats' only chance of retaking the presidency was a fiscally-conservative southern democrat and the only one of any merit was Clinton.
I hate opinion pieces. They are entirely irrelevant IMO. I found this info interesting today: How does Iowa predict Republicans? How does Iowa predict Democrats?. Strangely enough, the Iowa caucus voters are worse at predicting Republicans than Democrats on both the nominee and nominated levels.