How Hillary Won Over the Skeptical Left - NewRepublic

[WillyT]

How Hillary Won Over the Skeptical Left
The surprising source of Clinton's invincibility
By Noam Scheiber - NewRepublic
6/29/14



<snip>

Jay Brown is a blunt-talking doctor from Ames, Iowa, the kind of guy who believes the biggest threats to the republic are the Koch brothers, Rupert Murdoch, and the corporatization of politics. Back in 2007, he signed up as a precinct captain for Barack Obama with one stated goal: to “undermine Hillary Clinton,” whom he referred to simply as “the nemesis.” He thought she had too little experience to be president and that her judgment on Iraq had been terrible. “I’m pleased to report that the Ames 2-2 precinct went heavily for Obama, who got four delegates,” he told me last month. “We shut Hillary out entirely.”

This time around, Brown talks like a man in the market for another crusading liberal, perhaps Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. “Wall Street would be fine with a Clinton administration. I don’t think it would be fine with a Warren administration. It would send a really deep chill,” he explained. And yet, despite all the personal history and the ideological grudges, Brown is unequivocal about whom he’ll support in 2016. “I’m a booster of Hillary Clinton,” he said. “I would go so far as to say an ardent booster.”

As it happens, Brown is not an outlier among plugged-in liberals. Seven of the ten former Obama precinct captains I contacted said they were enthusiastic about Clinton (and an eighth said she was slowly coming around). Harry Enten of FiveThirtyEight has observed that 13 of the 21 U.S. senators who’ve already endorsed Clinton hail from the left side of the party. A Democratic fund-raiser confided to me that it’s highly unusual to meet a big donor who is pro-Warren but down on Hillary. So much so that he was actually surprised when he encountered such a person several weeks ago. “I haven’t heard that very many times,” says the fund-raiser.

Amid Clinton’s miscues while promoting her new book, widely seen as a test-launch for 2016, the media has been quick to revive memories of 2008. A Politico article noted that her defensiveness in response to questions about her wealth, gay marriage, and Benghazi “reminded liberal Democrats who’ve viewed her warily of what troubles them about her.” MSNBC followed with a segment wondering if Clinton was the Democrats’ Mitt Romney—someone “kind of tone deaf and unrelatable,” who “exuded competence but no core belief.”

There is maybe some truth to those claims, but when you look at the polls, Democrats are more enthusiastic about Hillary Clinton than ever. Her favorability rating within the party stood at 90 percent in the latest Gallup poll, versus 81 percent this time eight years ago. A Wall Street Journal survey of Democrats during the book tour found that their opinion of Clinton has vastly improved since late 2007. Many more Democrats now consider her knowledgeable (88 percent versus 76 percent), compassionate (80 versus 69), easygoing and likeable (67 versus 49), aligned with them on the issues (76 versus 61), and honest and straightforward (75 versus 53).

More interestingly, Clinton’s popularity turns out to be highest in places you might least expect...

<snip>

More: http://www.newrepublic.com/article/118432/hillary-clinton-2016-how-she-won-over-left-become-invincible

[quinnox]

1. lol, are you becoming a Hillary fan?

I wouldn't have expected that from you.

Ignore me if I'm reading too much into it, seeing a positive Hillary article being posted is rare around here lately.

[WillyT]

8. As Almost Always... I Find An Article Than Hasn't Been Posted Here... And Put It Up For Discussion..

[quinnox]

11. ok, gotcha

I was just momentarily stunned to see an article posted that wasn't negative towards Hillary here.

[djean111]

30. Tonight seems awash in OPs informing liberals that they MUST LOVE HILLARY....

[winter is coming]

32. If at first you don't succeed... n/t

[djean111]

34. Bwah! Gonna be a long week.

[fadedrose]

50. Or else what?

I must know. Will it be painful?

[newthinking]

56. If Hillary becomes the only choice she will win, but don't expect it to be a smooth ride

Just saying.

[Scuba]

60. I don't believe she can win.

[BootinUp]

2. Interesting nt

[L0oniX]

3. No doubt ...the Dino's choice.

[MohRokTah]

37. Those who are most likely to be Dinos are those who first scream DINO! eom

[L0oniX]

64. Wow such words of wisdom. pffft

[peacebird]

4. No way. No how. No HRC/DLC

[ccinamon]

16. I agree.

I will vote for her if she is the nominee, under extreme protest.

[Phlem]

5. Inevitable?

[ccinamon]

17. +1000 n/t

[Fawke Em]

23. Seems that was said in 2004, too.

And we all know how that turned out.

[TheKentuckian]

6. The article contained so much dissonance that it approaches unreadable.

Seemed really light on the how considering the title and what was there was circling double talk.

This shot has been cooked up in the power circle and marching orders have been sent.

The Queen of the DLC is owed and will have her turn.

[KoKo]

25. Indeed........n/t

[Beacool]

7. Hold on, let me get the popcorn.

This should be interesting............

[onehandle]

10. You DLCers are all the same.

With your popcorn and s.

Finding things interesting.

Heh...

[Beacool]

12. Well, going by every other Hillary post, the fur will fly in 3...2...1

That also goes for any Bill and even Chelsea thread.

[MohRokTah]

38. There is no such thing as a "DLC"

The DLC disbanded in 2011.

[MannyGoldstein]

51. James Brown is dead too.

But we hear his music all the time - just like the DLC!

[TheKentuckian]

66. A turd by any other name is still a turd, kinda like there is no Blackwater.

The spirit of the DLC is alive and well and it's members are large and in charge. The "think tank" and fundraising aspects are just seeded into different groups with the same ideology.

[MohRokTah]

67. There is no Blackwater either.

If you are going to criticize, criticize the existing form so that everybody knows the existing form.

Third Way

Academi

The more people get used to the new names, the more of a blotch that can be placed on their record.

[TheKentuckian]

70. I don't care if they call a bulb of garlic a jackhammer, I know exactly what it is.

I see your point but find the distinction to carry no difference.

[Orlandodem]

9. I hope teachers withhold endorsing her until they find out if she'll back stab us like Obama has.

If she continues Obama's Race to The Top, advocates Common Core, privatization and pay tied to CC test scores I hope they all vote for someone else.

[KoKo]

20. Good Points....Recommend!

[Agony]

13. fuck the big donors

"A Democratic fund-raiser confided to me that it’s highly unusual to meet a big donor who is pro-Warren but down on Hillary."

one more data point to prove the negative correlation between wealth and intelligence.

this is our problem.

[ccinamon]

14. this hard-core, ultra-liberal hasn't been won over by her ….

Just read where she is IN FAVOR of GMO foods…but she eats organic…hypocrite much?

http://althealthworks.com/2739/hillary-clinton-serves-as-cheerleader-for-gmos-at-biotech-event-but-whats-she-eating-at-home/

She speaks more for corporations than she does for people.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

15. Still a no sale for me.

[Logical]

18. So the media has started telling us already that Hillary is the candidate?? n-t

[hobbit709]

19. This leftist is STILL a skeptic.

[NYC_SKP]

21. Knock wood, I hope I outlive in my solitude her perpetual ambition to be the center of the universe.

The photo almost made me sick.

Hey, Hill, retire already and give some support to someone who can really lift up the 99%.

[cantbeserious]

22. Still Progressive - Still Skeptical

eom

[Warren DeMontague]

24. There's that word again... "Inevitable"

I am starting to think it's some sort of post modern performance art thing.

[KoKo]

27. Wasn't it Hitler's Joeseph Goebbles who said:

"Repeat the Lie Often Enough and the People Will Believe it?"

Or..

Was it Karl Rove! I have hard time separating the two of them after Rove rambled something about "We write our Own Reality" or something like that...

sorry...fading off here.

[Warren DeMontague]

28. Yes, but there's a flip side to that.

You can only pass bullshit off as boeuf bourguignon one time, tops.

Sometimes, not at all.

[Nye Bevan]

42. Where? I could not find that word in the OP, or in the article linked in the OP.

Perhaps my "find on this page" tool has developed a bug.

[winter is coming]

43. It's in white capital letters at the top of the photo of Hillary. n/t

[Nye Bevan]

45. Oops, so it is. My bad (nt)

[winter is coming]

47. Well, it wouldn't turn up on a search and the top of the word is truncated,

so I can see how you missed it.

[Beacool]

46. Take it up with the media.

They are the ones pushing this meme. She's not the one claiming to be inevitable, neither are her people.

[Marr]

26. Only the most thoroughly corporate candidate could be pronounced "inevitable" TWICE.

She's already lost a presidential primary. If she were a liberal, the entire political establishment would be saying, 'you had your shot, stop dividing us'.

[djean111]

35. I think this is an attempt to lock in so many big donors that there will be no primary.

Not too good at those.

[winter is coming]

52. A sham primary process is a piss-poor way to generate Dem interest/involvement. n/t

[BuelahWitch]

29. She did?

I didn't get that memo. Or maybe that's the one I shredded & put in the litter box...

[Union Scribe]

31. That should be her campaign poster.

At the very least I expect to see it as an avatar here

[winter is coming]

33. Mission Accomplished? n/t

[Blue_In_AK]

36. Color me "still skeptical."

[MohRokTah]

39. Only the extremist left won't support her if she is nominated

Nobody needs the left version of teabaggers anyway.

Fuck extremists on both sides.

[BootinUp]

41. lol nt

[davidpdx]

61. I'm not an extremist and I won't support her

It's funny how broad brushes don't work isn't it?

[MohRokTah]

62. Because failing to support the Democratic Party nominee because they aren't liberal enough...

isn't an extreme position.

[bigtree]

40. an entire 2+ weeks of handwringing and 'concern' premised off of phoney, trumped-up gossiping

. . . and the public's supposed reaction to all of that.

Ha!

Latest Turn-on-Hillary Plan is a BUST

[woo me with science]

44. Bwah!

She's *also* already secretly been president for two years, converted the the entire Western hemisphere to solar power, and solved that pesky problem where the seats in a Mazda won't properly recline.

[bigtree]

49. and Sanders and Warren are measuring the drapes

. . . or keeping their powder dry, or something.

[MisterP]

48. didn't TNR back the Contras? the guys who asked village teachers and clinicians to step forward,

machine-gunned them, and then took everyone else home as slave-soldiers?

didn't TNR have any archbishops to gun down during Mass? didn't they have anyone named "Blowtorch Bob" to support? y'know he was actually WORSE than that nickname would suggest

[betterdemsonly]

59. Yep.

The also supported the Iraq War, and the Bell Curve.

[DJ13]

53. It's true, it's her time

They told me so.

[woo me with science]

55. It's those synthetically blue corporate eyes on the cover.

They are trademarked and have something to do with mind control and obedience.

[LuvNewcastle]

54. .....

[betterdemsonly]

57. I would hardly call the New Republican

the skeptical left, and those are anecdotals stories of people who were activist for a President who turned out to be far more conservative than ordinary people were led to believe. There is no reason to assume Obama activists were truthful.

[Jasana]

58. All very interesting points...

There are two fronts where I'm wary about her. 1) Connection to Wall Street and 2) Foreign policy hawk but then again, in the Warren thread I made a prediction that any woman would be attacked as weak if she didn't come out as a hawk. It's sick and it's sad but I believe it's true.

[Romulox]

63. Oh yeah. Hillary should do a victory lap after the week she had last week.

[Warren Stupidity]

65. The New Republic has been a rightwing propaganda outfit for decades now.

[mylye2222]

68. I disagree on her being "the only choice"

and for those wxho say " Warren is less-experiented"...well, didn't had Obama a single national term on his resumé when he was elected? Yes, Wall streed would likely be more happy with an HRC an with a EW.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

69. Did the New Republic really just print that?

How come I have the feeling they are trying very, very hard to convince us of something.

Shades of Romney's pollsters....

[JEB]

71. My vote is not for sale.