Letters to the Editor
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OK, I'm an old grouch...
The problem I have is not choosing between Clinton or Giuliani. The problem is, that is the choice we may be given. The country deserves significantly better than either of these two, let alone a forced choice between them.
All that said, I will vote for Clinton if that is my only alternative. And I will not be happy about it.
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Wrongheaded
A Democrat winning an election in New York State is no magic trick. And, having spent my first 25 years in upstate New York, I can say that the author's description of it as a "Republican hinterland" is grossly overstated. The area is socially conservative in many ways, but old school Democratic New Deal sympathies run deep among the retired union folk of the dying rustbelt cities that dot the Erie Canal.
Listen, I have every confidence that in an HRC vs. Giuliani presidential race, she would win New York State again. Which is the least a Democrat should be able to do. No, for me the most telling sentence in this article is:
"At least 40 percent of Republican campaign funds would come from out-of-state Hillary haters in the 2000 Senate race, helping Giuliani outraise Clinton by 50 percent."
This is the key to HRC's unelectability in a general election. Right or wrong, this huge chunk of the electorate really do hate Hillary that much. And these denizens of the REAL Republican hinterlands are a far cry from the entirely reasonable people of Rochester, Syracuse, Albany, Buffalo, and Utica.
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Rudy
Part of the issue the GOP has to contend with is that the media in New York is relentlessly against Republicans. Any New Yorkers who hate Rudy do so because the media beat him up relentlessly over 8 years.
Why should Rick Lazio approaching Hillary in a debate be determinative? Only because the media made it into such a big story.
I do agree that picking on a song is not an important issue, but neither should it be something which is used to disqualify a candidate. The media makes fun of Rudy for being superficial, but has that same quality itself.
I like Rudy's toughness, but I think to be nominated and elected he needs to demonstrate that he can be a statesman and not petty or obnoxious. He is clearly smart, and has the best jabs of Hillary in the GOP field.
Washington DC needs to be cleaned up and reformed, and Rudy is the best man to do it. The world is a dangerous place, and needs someone of his toughness to deal with it. I'm sure the enemies of America fear Rudy the most among all the candidates in either party.
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Rudy would bomb Iran the week after taking office
Hillary will wait a few months.
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Correction
Hey Rob,
Good article, but the late and sainted Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan's nickname wasn't Dan. It was Pat.
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Toughness?
I wouldn't say Rudy is 'tough', he's just kind of bitchy. And a control freak. A two-faced one.
Being mean and angry isn't the same as being tough.
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alan loyd
I agree with you one hundred percent. If Hillary is the only choice I'll vote for her, but I won't like it. And do Republicans hate Hillary just because she is married to Bill? I don't get it. She really is a dino...Democrat in name only. She's in bed with every big business who will support her, and we all know where that leads. If Hillary is elected we can expect more Naftas and more to help big corporations run America. Isn't that what Republicans want?
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Rudy will defeat himself
The poor man just can't stop being obnoxious. Every time he belittles Hillary, He adds 1000= more angry female votes to her tally. Women have a gut reaction to being ridculed in this way, even if their seeing it happen to another woman, especially a smart one who deserves respect.
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Only Choice? Only Alternative? Must choose one or the other?
Excuse me, you do not HAVE to vote for either of the two major-party candidates...
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They all "hated Hillary" in 2000
The Hillary-haters are alive and well on the Salon letters sections, at least, and that's the key Republican message for this election. But, as Mr. Polner points out, people get tired of it.
I'm thinking that women may get really tired of it, if this is what we have to look forward to for the next full year.
The Republican candidate for President will be running a "We all Hate Hillary" campaign, with secondary issues of cutting taxes, invading more countries, torturing more, and everybody's on their own as far as their privacy, medical expenses and mortgages go.
If this proves a winner for them, then this is a worse nation than I could ever imagine.
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Giuliani would be a bigger disaster for the USA than W.
I can't believe anybody, especially Salon Readers, would want Rudy "I shoot innocent New Yorkers" Giuliani, over Hillary.
You can go ahead and support Obama or whoever you want in the primaries, but when the election comes, if you losers don't support Hillary, do the country a favor and be a grown up.
Oh, and thanks again Ralph.
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The ghost of Dorismond....
Excellent article. Guiliani's ridiculous. He's just as bad, if not worse, than all those profiteers who benefited from 9/11 with the FDNY and NYPD hats and t-shirts.
I've been an Obama supporter from the beginnning, but I have to say, Hillary Clinton is one impressive gal. She is relentless, and this article shows me why. She's learned that she is different from the other guys, and she's learned how to use that to her benefit.
America has been wondering for a long time what the affect on politics would be if a woman were to run for president. Some Americans' worst fears have come true: they've realized that women really do do things differently. Hillary, instead of fighting like a man, (what a lot of people were expecting her to do), is fighting like a woman. If she's got such a different brand of politics, imagine what she'll do once she gets into the White House.
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Anyone from the GOP here?
I am amazed at the reflexive anti-GOP sentiments in here. Do any of you know Republicans?
Republicans hate Hillary because she has lied about an uncountable number of things, is corrupt, will do anything for money and power, is a Marxist, is bitter, etc. Billary have already had their chance and worn out their welcome. What did they do about global warming, the cost of energy, social security, health care in their 8 years in the White House? What legislation has Hillary offered in the Senate to fix anything of significance? A lot of what Bill takes credit for, like welfare reform, was entirely a GOP idea that Bill wanted to veto, but decided to support!
The GOP has an agenda much larger than simply being against Hillary. The top candidates have plans for health care, energy, social security, education, etc. and all of the soft issues that supposedly the Democrats are better on. Actually, the reason why these issues are problems is that the Democrats, who controlled the Congress for most of the past century, created the relevant legislation. It is the Dems who were against nuclear power plants, who created the mess that is social security, whose war on poverty created more poverty, whose trial lawyers have increased the cost of health care, whose teachers unions have made the US have the worst primary education in the modern world.