trump in nh, yapping as usual with no notes etc: 'well, the thing last night in iowa turned out great. you know, i was taking a chance. i didn't know how it would come out. when you're the front-runner, you need to not rock the boat, steady as she goes, do the debate, get through and don't make any mistakes. so that could have been a big mistake. but you've got to take chances. i think we did great, but even if it hurts us, i think it was the right thing.' that is really pretty remarkable, and very far outside anything i have seen in mainstream american politics in my lifetime. the straightforwardness but also the actually bold leadership style. 'people always ask me why i talk about polls all the time. why? because we're doing so great. when you've got 3% you don't want to talk about polls.' then actually reciting zogby for state after state.
so hillary's pitch now is: i can really get things done. i know how washington works. do you want the idealist or someone who can practically do something? oh my god! hillary is the most pinhead partisan in the world; there'll be nothing coming out of the white house except how to deep-six, insult, and alienate republicans and make them look bad. not only was clinton admin 1 an era of hyper-partisanship; it was an era of meaningless partisanship. really the consistent strategy was to take over republican issues, while all the time hurling insults at them; you short-circuit them by going for the defense-of-marriage act, then demonize them in the media all day as reactionaries who are out of touch with the aspirations of the american people. on the other hand, the republicans were crazed, and that impeachment was about nothing that had to do with anything; just bile and shit. they were like accusing each other of murder and crap while they did mass incarceration and welfare 'reform.'
like i say, if hillary is elected, she starts running for re-election the moment abc declares her victorious. the white house staff will be the campaign staff. everything will be through that lens: we'll go invade syria or do immigration reform if and only if that will help her in 2020. she'll spend the whole four years raising money from wall street and somehow not accomplishing any financial reform, etc. if you vote for that, hold yourself responsible, ok? it's obvious.
oh there's definitely liable to be a partisan problem if bernie is pres. but it might be a substantive rather than an empty partisanship.
