HILLARY, R.I.P.



We are witnessing history: the end of the Clinton Brand as the dominant, ruling class of the Democratic Party.

She will lose Texas next week - and probably Ohio, as well. That will be the end of her campaign - even if she doesn’t yet want to admit it.

Every day now another famous Super Delegate switches from Hillary to Obama. Drip...drip...drip. You can feel it slipping away.


Why has Hillary - the ‘inevitable’ frontrunner a year ago - collapsed and been trounced 11 primaries in a row - by almost a whopping 60-40% margin in each?

The following reasons:


• Her vote on Iraq has bedeviled her on the Left since 2002. She has never been able to escape it.

• That vote - and her entire demeanor - has reinforced an underlying weakness of her’s and her husband: you can’t trust them.

• Her ambiguous, murky, cloudy language on every issue has made people think she is trying to be on both sides of every issue.

• Her candidate skills are poor. Yes, she works hard. But it takes more than that. Her constantly-changing persona - one day nice, another day angry, another day sarcastic - does not work against an upbeat, smiling, genuinely nice guy.

• Her husband has become a huge negative - not just through his semi-racial statements, but his mere presence and what it would mean in the White House.

• The biggest reason Hillary is losing to Barack Obama is the crying desire for change. That translates to getting rid of both the Bushes and the Clintons as our two so-called ‘Royal Families’ of American politics - and all that means, including Iraq, a souring economy, bad trade deals, the sub-prime mortgage mess, rising health care costs and loss of jobs.

• Obama is simply a better candidate than Hillary. The more voters see him, the more they like him.

• And Obama is the Mirror Opposite candidate - from both the Clintons and the Bushes. He is diametrically opposite to these Establishment figures. This is why he has caught on - and is the most opposite of all the candidates.


Conclusion: Hillary is all done for the 2008 race. And the Clintons - both of them - are a greatly diminished brand in American politics. (They will do all they can to sabotage Obama from here on out - in hopes he loses and she can come back and try again in 2012 in a “I told you so” campaign.)

Obama is an entirely different entity for conservatives to run against. He does not inspire the enmity that Hillary does. That, plus McCain’s lukewarm support on the Right, makes the Fall race unpredictable.

More on that next time.

MCCAIN’S HISTORY OF ABUSING THE PUBLIC TRUST


John McCain can deny the latest allegations all he wants. He can try to push-back by blaming everything on the New York Times. And he can state, as he did Thursday morning, that in his 50 years of “public service,” he has “never violated the public trust.”

Oh, really?

How about back in 1974 when then Commander John McCain - fresh off his 5 ½ years as a POW in North Vietnam - was given his first command in Jacksonville, Florida?

McCain, according to Robert Timberg in his book, The Nightingale's Song, was transferred to Jacksonville as the executive officer of Replacement Air Group 174. A few months later, he assumed command of the RAG, which trained pilots and crews for carrier deployments. The assignment was controversial, some calling it favoritism, a sop to the famous son of a famous father and grandfather, since he had not first commanded a squadron, the usual career path."

While Executive Officer and later as Squadron Commander, the married McCain used his authority to arrange frequent flights that allowed him to carouse with subordinates and "engage in extra-marital affairs."

This was a violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice rules against adultery and fraternization with subordinates. But, as with all his other past behaviors, McCain was never penalized; instead he always got away with his transgressions.

Timberg wrote, "Off duty, usually on routine cross-country flights to Yuma and El Centro, John started carousing and running around with women. To make matters worse, some of the women with whom he was linked by rumor were subordinates . . . At the time the rumors were so widespread that, true or not, they became part of McCain's persona, impossible not to take note of."

In early 1977, Admiral Jim Holloway, Chief of Naval Operations had to deal with the embarrassment caused by McCain’s behavior. So the Admiral transferred McCain from his command position "to Washington as the number-two man in the Navy's Senate liaison office. McCain was promptly given total control of the office. It wasn't long before the "fun loving and irreverent" McCain had turned the liaison office into a "late-afternoon gathering spot where senators and staffers, usually from the Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, would drop in for a drink and the chance to unwind."


ETHICS COMPLAINT OVER ATTACKING A GRIEVING WOMAN

In 1984, as a Member of the House of Representatives, John McCain gave a speech in Congressman Duncan Hunter’s San Diego district.

At the end of the speech a woman approached Representative McCain and introduced herself as the wife of a Marine pilot shot down and still missing in Southeast Asia. She asked Congressman McCain if he could help her find information on her husband’s case.

Eyeing the attractive woman, the married McCain replied, “Why don’t you ride with us and have dinner?”

Congressman Hunter and an aide sat in the front seat of the car; McCain and this woman in the back as they drove to Hunter’s house. Not long into the short ride, McCain ran his hand up the woman’s skirt. Stunned, she pushed him away and resisted his advances. He continued trying to grab her, even after she moved as far away from him as possible.

As this time, McCain’s wife, Cindy, was pregnant.

Disgusted over his behavior she left as soon as they arrived at Duncan Hunter’s place. She promptly told the two Vietnam veterans who had originally encouraged her to try to see McCain about her missing husband’s case that night.

Years later a Senate Ethics Committee complaint was filed over this incident. In that complaint, the woman was quoted as saying that Congressman McCain used “unreasonable force in a hostile manner.” But the Senate Committee, then chaired by Mitch McConnell, claimed not to have jurisdiction over a matter that took place when McCain was in the House.

DR. JACK WHEELER’S CLAIMS:

Dr. Jack Wheeler, who The Wall Street Journal called "the originator of the Reagan Doctrine," recently posted several columns about McCain. In one of them - weeks before the New York Times ran the explosive revelations about Vicki Iseman and McCain - Dr. Wheeler wrote, “McCain has been having affairs with three women, one of whom I know the name of.”

In his latest piece, he wrote of how the Democrats will attack McCain systematically in the fall, bleeding him drip by drip: “Then the identities of the women lobbyists with whom he has been cheating on his blonde rich wife will be known by early October.”

CONCLUSION:

Senator McCain used his wife today to finesse the issue of his alleged philandering. He used her to deny that anything bad is going on. “He wouldn’t disappoint me or our children.” Those words came from her - not from his mouth. He is being extra careful about denying his affairs.

His press conference in Toledo was similar to Gary Hart’s back in 1987 when he dared the media to find any examples of his philandering. Not much later came the now-infamous picture of Hart and Donna Rice on the Monkey Business.

McCain has similarly thrown down the gauntlet and denied ever violating the “public trust.”

Well, we’ll see now if the heretofore friendly-to-McCain media will try to prove him a liar.

MUTE BUTTON TEST



Because we live in a TV-Video Age, it can be instructive to look at our presidential candidates through the lens of the TV camera. The next time you watch a debate or a press conference on an interview show, try hitting the mute button and just looking at the candidates for a few minutes.

You will soon begin to notice things:


• McCain’s anger is so apparent that it is actually accentuated with the Mute Button Test;

• He looks tight, wrought up and about to explode - even though he apparently has the GOP nomination in the bag;

• This was readily apparent during Mitt Romney’s endorsement of McCain; it looked like McCain had lost and was endorsing Romney, who smiled and was calm;

• We have to wonder: is McCain worried/angry about some heretofore not-yet-public revelation that will devastate his campaign? He sure looks angry over something;

• Obama, by contrast, looks un-worried, smiling, happy; he conveys a youthful optimism that is - to many - refreshing after seven years of Bush’s constant negativity and incompetence and misleading statements;

• Obama does not seem - in the Mute Button Test - to have any attitude or hidden force propelling him;

• Hillary and Bill, however, are each total plane wrecks;

• Bill Clinton looks disheveled, frantic, bothered, exhausted, and also angry;

• It looks like he has no patience for average people daring to question him or his wife; of course, as President he never had an average person ask him a hostile question. The few times he did - once at a State Fair, he had those questioners arrested by the Secret Service on bizarre charges of threatening the President;

• Hillary looks like a robot - like a Stepford Wife. A ‘painted on’ face; bug eyes; she is a total fraud and it comes through with the sound turned off;

• Her latest stand-up stance - with the microphone in one hand and her other arm stretched out like a minister giving a blessing - is yet another phony stance from a woman with no core;

• Back in the early days of the Reagan Administration, Mike Deaver figured out that what a person looks like on TV is more important than what that candidate says. TV is a window into someone’s soul. So Deaver had President Reagan walk out of the White House while Marine One’s rotors were churning, thus making it impossible for the President to hear Sam Donaldson yelling out his daily hostile question. Mr. Reagan just smiled and waved and walked to the chopper. The result? The visual worked; the nation fell in love with Ronald Reagan - and grew to detest the badgering media.

• Conclusion: using this test, Obama is the Happy Warrior and Hillary and McCain are tired, old, phony, been-around-too-long insiders.

• But, as a caution, there are other tests to come and other ways to judge candidates.

• Soon this space will address Obama’s scofflaw past and what it tells us about him.

CAMPAIGN QUICK HITS



Here are some quick thoughts and questions about the presidential and congressional races as of today:


• Once again - as we were on the Monday before the New Hampshire Primary - the Death Watch is out for Hillary’s campaign. And, this time, even Obama’s campaign is getting cocky, proclaiming, “She can’t catch us!”

• Be careful: the Clintons are desperate to win this race. There is no telling what they will do;

• It is indeed wonderful to smell the stench of death around Hillary’s campaign. The infighting, the leaks, the firings, the resignations, the money troubles, the media speculation - all of this is wonderful to see!

• Obama has gotten a total free ride from the media. No vetting; no probing; no asking. “Where’s the beef?”

• This present upward surge for him will not last. He has yet to have his inevitable ‘down’ days. They are coming. The only question is: do these ‘down’ and ‘tough’ days come after he has already sewn up the Democratic nomination?

• You can bet that Bill Clinton is going to do something else to get this thing for Hillary and himself. The 800 super-delegates are his target. God knows what he’ll do to get them over to Team Clinton.

• I am not yet ready to gloat over my prediction of a year ago: Hillary won’t make it because an anti-war party is going to nominate an anti-war candidate (Obama) - not the most pro-war candidate (Hillary). No gloating over the demise of the Clintons until and unless she has withdrawn from the race. A long way from now. But that day may be coming. Hopefully.

• McCain? He hasn’t been vetted either. Have we heard a word about the Keating Five lately? Has the media re-examined that cesspool of lies by McCain? I specifically remember where he lied about ever accepting money from Charles Keating - and later was forced to admit that he had and had also take Keating-paid trips to the Bahamas. And he got away with it!!! Because the media loves him!!!

• The GOP is in a state of total confusion: half the party detests and distrusts McCain. A goodly percentage - maybe 10%-15% will sit it out in November.

• Believe me: despite what some tell us - many conservatives hate McCain much more than they hate the Democrats, even Hillary. These conservatives detest McCain - not on any particular issue. It is his personality, his cockiness, arrogance, condescension, anger and temper that turn people off - especially those who have been on the receiving end of his explosive, out-of-control temper and meanness.

• Still do not rule out this scenario: McCain is not the GOP nominee when the Republicans leave St. Paul in September.

• Just a feeling: revelations and events may conspire to show the Real McCain - and the GOP may realize that they cannot march into battle this fall with a damaged, divisive figure at the head of the Republican Party.

• No matter what happens on the Presidential level, we are going to get creamed in the House and Senate. We are going to lose a ton of seats. That is why so many senior GOP Congressmen are choosing to retire.

• GW Bush has presided over and caused the destruction of the Republican Party. He seven years have been a total political disaster. And we are only just beginning to pay the price for Bush’s political malpractice.

• He will be a huge issue in the fall. In fact, it has already begun: Obama says now, “If you want a third term of George Bush, then vote for John McCain.” A very, very effective line.

• Congressional Republicans looked awful yesterday at the Roger Clemens hearings. Pathetic. Embarrassing. Chris Shays and Dan Burton were disgraceful.

• Happy Valentine’s Day!!!

HEAR JOHN LEBOUTILLIER ON INTERNET RADIO!!!

Tuesday night - February 12th - just as the returns from the Potomac Primary come in - you can hear John LeBoutillier on the Jeff Whitaker Show on Internet Radio at 11 PM Eastern Time for the whole hour. All you have to do is go to: www.blogtalkradio.com and go to The Jeff Whitaker Show.

Jeff is a long-time talk radio host and has a great show!!!

11 PM Tuesday night!!!

GOP DOES IT AGAIN



Here is how the Republican Party recently picks presidential nominees. The nominee must be:


• The namesake son of a famous man;

• A spoiled child of privilege;

• Someone no one ever said, “No,” to;

• Someone who always got away with terrible behavior because of his last name;

• Someone who always got what he wanted because no one wanted to anger Famous Dad;

• Then he became someone to whom favors were given because people wanted to curry favor with famous Dad;

• Then he became someone who - as an adult - always got away with bad behavior(s) because of his last name;

• Because of all the above, this man became unbelievably arrogant and condescending;

• He saw - and now sees - himself as better than anyone else;

• Once in politics, he took his arrogance to new levels and adopted a “it is my way or the highway” attitude;

• Anyone who ever disagrees with this man is cut out and blasted;

• This man brooks no disagreement whatsoever;

• He treats people like dirt - with arrogance and condescension;

• On policy, he went against the GOP Base and wants to give amnesty to illegals;

• On policy, he has never wanted a Border Fence;

• On policy, he wants to attack and invade countries who haven’t attacked the US;

• On policy, he has been part of a foreign policy that has ruined America’s reputation around the world;

• He lies all the time - about everything. He happily lied about Iraq - the reasons for going in and the so-called ‘progress’ there;

• He apparently can’t see the Big Picture: our invasion of Iraq has actually made (Shia’a) Iran stronger and destabilized the Middle East;

• His policy has made America a hated - not a respected - nation around the world;

• Yet he dares to invoke Ronald Reagan’s name? How dare he!

• On policy, he wants more trade deals that ship American jobs overseas;

• On policy, he loves doing deals with Ted Kennedy;

• As a political candidate he is inarticulate; he can barely string three cohesive sentences together; he cannot even read a speech off the TelePrompter; he is a boring candidate;

• Despite his arrogance, this man is not smart - but he thinks he is;



OK. OK. We could go on and on and on!

Who is this GOP Presidential candidate?

Well, in fact, it is two GOP Presidential candidates. The last two GOP Presidential candidates:

George W. Bush and John McCain.

The similarities are startling.

And upsetting.

Because the damage Bush has done to the nation, the military and to the Republican Party will take decades to recover from.

And now the Republicans - barring a miracle between now and the September GOP Convention in Minneapolis - have picked yet another candidate with the exact same qualities!!!

Bush has crippled the Republican Party. We have lost the House, the Senate and many state legislatures around the country.

McCain may finish it off.


Until the Republicans wake up and realize the mistakes they are repeatedly making, they are going to suffer loss after loss after loss.

Maybe a miracle will occur and in the next seven months people will wake up and stop McCain somehow and replace him with a good, new candidate.

If not, GW Bush and John McCain can together take the Republican Party over the cliff.

GOP RACE POST-SUPER TUESDAY


Despite what the pundits, talking heads and self-annoited ‘experts’ - and there is no such thing as a political ‘expert’ - say about the Republican race, it is more muddled and more up in the air than at any time since Iowa.

Why?

Because 60% of the Republican Party is against John McCain.

And the more a dour Tim Russert or an arrogant Chris Mathews blowhards that, “The Republican race is, for all intents and purposes, over.” Or this one: “It is very hard to see how John McCain can be stopped” - the more they say these things, the more agitated conservatives get.

That translates to this: “We lefty pundits who dominate the TV airwaves want McCain so we will just proclaim him the inevitable nominee.”

But conservative GOP voters are rebelling against McCain; yes, he gets moderate Republicans and independents who come into the GOP primaries. But the base - conservatives - are voting against McCain.

So I ask you this question: how can the Republican Party - with a huge base of conservatives - nominate a candidate who hates them and who they despise?

This is the crux of the dilemma that is ripping the GOP apart now. Ann Coulter’s Hannity & Colmes diatribe was more than amusing. It raised this question: who do conservatives hate more: John McCain or Hillary Clinton?

The question - more than any answer - is instructive: the fact that we are even talking about this shows how divided we Republicans are - and how unaccepting of John McCain we will be.

We feel like he is being jammed down our throat by the Left - and by the same inside-the-beltway GOP Establishment that has been - frankly - wrong on just about everything from amnesty to Dubai Ports World.

The two candidates opposing McCain are both having difficulty cobbling together enough support on their own to defeat McCain; they are splitting the conservative vote and enabling a moderate-to-liberal win.

And Huckabee is clearly in the tank for McCain. Yesterday’s rigged convention in West Virginia was designed to deny Mitt Romney a “Romney Wins West Virginia” headline running all day long on cable TV. While within the rules, it was a petty, ugly example of the Real McCain at work.

As the so-called GOP front-runner he should be above that kind of thing. But it tells us he is still more afraid of Romney than he is of Huckabee.

Therefore, conservatives are increasingly going to rally to Romney from here on out.

And what Romney now needs to do is simple: pick an upcoming state - a crucial one - and make it a mano-a-mano race - him vs. McCain - and win it!

It is time Romney beats Mccain one-on-one because if he cannot, then McCain will win the nomination by default.

But if Romney draws the line in the sand and beats McCain, then we have a new race on our hands. The conservatives will rally to Romney and McCain could still be stopped.

So, Mitt, get going - and fast.

Your assignment, should you decide to accept it, is to take on not just McCain but the entire DC Establishment.

Let it all out, Mitt. Get angry; show some passion. Embrace the Talk Radio hosts as they do represent the GOP base.

Take on McCain and squash him - and soon - maybe in Ohio or somewhere else.

But find a state - make the economy the issue - and crush him and do us all a favor.