Hillary Clinton Reminds Me of Richard Nixon

Image Source: BusinessWeek

Hillary Clinton reminds me of Richard Nixon. I'm not 100% sure why. But as I'm sitting here watching some of CNN's Ballot Bowl coverage on TV and seeing her coldly deliver blatantly manipulative half-truths (at best), it triggered something. I am not someone who is steeped in the nuances of American political history, so take this perceived likeness for whatever it's worth. But I have read almost every word published by Hunter S. Thompson, and his consistent characterizations of Nixon as a cold, ruthless professional political hack have stuck with me. When I see Clinton on the trail, obviously willing to say and do anything to get herself into the seat of power, I see a political cockroach on a mission of stubborn defiance and self-interest, no matter how much she tries to cloak herself in the trappings of populist advocacy and compassion.

A few of Thompson's quotes about Nixon strike me as a particularly apt way to sum up my sense of Hillary right now:
(Source: The Liberal Avenger)

"He was the real thing--a political monster straight out of Grendel and a very dangerous enemy. He could shake your hand and stab you in the back at the same time."

"As long as Nixon was politically alive--and he was, all the way to the end--we could always be sure of finding the enemy on the Low Road. There was no need to look anywhere else for the evil bastard. He had the fighting instincts of a badger trapped by hounds. The badger will roll over on its back and emit a smell of death, which confuses the dogs and lures them in for the traditional ripping and tearing action. But it is usually the badger who does the ripping and tearing. It is a beast that fights best on its back: rolling under the throat of the enemy and seizing it by the head with all four claws."

"...honest historians will remember him mainly as a rat who kept scrambling to get back on the ship."

I also did a quick Google to see if anything else had been written about the Hillary and Nixon comparison. Found this from Matt Taibbi. I'm not usually a fan of his writing. It seems to me that he deliberately over uses venomous, skeptical slants no matter what the subject. But there is no arguing that he is a knowledgeable and intelligent observer of American politics.

Why Does Hillary Believe She's Above the Rules?

This talk of it being a "great disservice to the voters of Florida and Michigan to adopt any process that would disenfranchise anyone" is nonsense when the disenfranchisees are also the disenfranchisers. That's not disenfranchisement - that's boneheaded, self-inflicted nullification. What happened is those two states thought they could change the rules without being held accountable. Now Hillary wants to abide by a process that would serve to her advantage, even though it clearly didn't adhere to agreed upon rules. Why am I not surprised by this?

Pathological Weasels and the Foolish Lemmings Who Love Them: Some Thoughts on the Hillary Clinton Campaign

Image Source: AP

Hillary Clinton's current campaign tactics completely and utterly lack integrity, honor and class. Both she and the hacks she has surrounded herself with will say anything if they think it will help them win. Most of what they say is twisted, distorted and negative.

* They are spewing desperate nonsense in a blatantly transparent appeal to the lowest common denominator motivations that could sway the most naive, vulnerable and ignorant factions of the electorate.


Howard Wolfson: Professional weasel and current slanderer-in-chief for Hillary Clinton.
Image Source: ViewImages.com

* They regularly overstate her experience, which is something Margaret Carlson calls them out on in the video below from MSNBC Countdown, confirming that she did in fact have "tea and cookies" on all her international trips as first lady.



* They opportunistically talk out of both sides of their mouth (i.e. they lie). They trump up stories that suit their needs, but certainly don't talk about the fact they were apparently the ones assuring Canada that her NAFTA comments should be taken with a grain of salt.

In short, Hillary Clinton's bald thirst for power means she is willing to say anything, regardless of its veracity or her true intent. Get a vote today, keep me alive, screw tomorrow and screw what is better for the nation at large.

These recent tactics have resulted in her building a coalition of the old, angry, under educated, possibly racist, short-sighted, self-serving and otherwise prejudiced factions among Democratic voters. Is that really the group we believe should lead the country into the future?
(For reference, The Guardian ran a story regarding how different demographic groups voted in the March 4th primaries, and MSNBC has a whole breakdown from Ohio's exit polls.)

Wake up, people. Think about the implications. Best case scenario if she wins the Democratic nomination is a McCain victory in the general election. Worst case scenario is four years of screaming, screehing and partisan finger pointing while the country stagnates economically and any sense of collective optimism is sucked out of most reasonable and intelligent people.

This feels like an important inflection point in our nation's trajectory and I feel we're about to shit the bed rather than make the right call. Please, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Indiana et al -- do the right thing.