Old Dirt, New Dirt - Some Folks Just Need Dirt

Kevin Drum lists some reasons why he thinks Hillary will win - not just the primary, but the whole thing. One of them:

She has nowhere to go but up. Seriously. Every nasty thing that can possibly be said about her has already been said. Her negatives may be high, but that's mostly among Republicans who won't influence her primary chances and wouldn't vote for a Democrat in the general election anyway. Rush Limbaugh will spew his usual swill to the dittoheads, but for the most part all the old attacks will seem, well, old. (And this is one area where the iron laws of the press corps will work in her favor. Old scandals are almost never deemed worthy of revival in a presidential campaign. You have to dig up fresh dirt to get their attention.)

That seems like a pretty good point. As much as Republicans salivate over the chance to go negative on Hillary, she's probably already been as damaged as she'll ever be by it, so if the polls say she's still competitive, that's a pretty formidable sign of strength for her.

Still, the conservative movement tends to thrive when it has a good enemy - communism was great; "Islamicism" has been a disappointment, but Bill Clinton was almost as good as the Reds. And we all know how Hillary will play that role for the right. Not that Democrats should choose their nominee based on fears of what the conservatives will think - and it might not be enough to stop her. But candidate Hillary - and especially President Hillary - would be a boon to a conservative movement currently struggling with serious internal strife.

Labels: 2008, conservatives, Hillary Clinton, Presidential election

  ¶ Posted by Paul Curtis 10:53 PM