Can Hillary Clinton, Goldwater Girl, Win Over Republicans?

[elleng]

“How did a nice Republican girl from Park Ridge go wrong?”

That was the question Hillary Clinton posed in March 1992, when she visited her old high school in suburban Park Ridge, Ill., with her husband, who was then running for the Democratic presidential nomination. Mrs. Clinton made her first forays into politics as a teenager in Park Ridge, as an ardent supporter of Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona, the ultraconservative Republican nominee for president in 1964.

Now she’s the one running for president. The Goldwater Girl chapter is in the past, though it is something the veteran Democratic politician talks about as formative to her political identity. “My political beliefs are rooted in the conservatism that I was raised with,” she said in a 1996 interview.

What can Hillary Clinton’s past as a Goldwater Girl tell us about her effort to win over Republicans in the general election?

The Clinton campaign seems to be subtly tapping into her conservative past in the hopes of appealing to anti-Trump Republicans in the general election. In recent weeks, her campaign has started courting Jeb Bush’s donors, and has sent out a flurry of news releases playing up the “risk” posed by a Donald J. Trump presidency and quoting Republicans who have voiced concerns about their presumptive nominee. . .

But it’s unclear whether this strategy will pay off. The Republicans who are horrified by Donald Trump’s invective aren’t exactly leaping at the chance to vote for Hillary Clinton, either. Roughly 84 percent of Republicans view her unfavorably, according to a recent Reuters poll.

Stuart Stevens, who was Mitt Romney’s chief campaign strategist in 2012, told me that Mr. Trump is “uniquely unqualified to be president,” as well as “a moron with no demonstrated ability to acquire information.” He also derided Mr. Trump’s policies on trade and his plan to impose a temporary ban on all Muslims entering the country as “nutty as a fruitcake” and “anti-American,” respectively.

So, does that mean he’ll consider voting for Hillary Clinton in November? “I’m not there,” he said. “I don’t plan to be there.”

He added, “I don’t think there’s any great groundswell of enthusiasm for Hillary Clinton among Republicans, but there’s not a lot of enthusiasm for her among Democrats, either.”'>>>

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/17/opinion/campaign-stops/can-hillary-clinton-goldwater-girl-win-over-republicans.html?

[leftofcool]

1. I just love these pro Republican OP's here on DU

[He loved Big Brother]

5. Yeah I've been on DU since the early 2000s and

took a break after Dean lost the nomination. Back now, and I honestly cannot tell the difference between RWNJs and Sanders' supporters. This place has really gone to pot. You weren't allowed to be against Democrats and leaders of the Democratic Party on DU back then. What happened?

Were we Deaniacs just as annoying as Sanders supporters? I like to think we weren't, but I only vaguely remember. I know we weren't going to refuse to vote for the eventual nominee. Maybe a good question to posit to the lounge.

[Downwinder]

2. Goldwater was for gay rights before Hillary was.

[jaysunb]

3. Goldwater also mistrusted the church crowd. n/t

[world wide wally]

4. The contortions some people go through just to be negative about Democrats in here is amazing