Molly Ivins Calls Bullshit on Hillary Democrats

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Originally published: Friday, January 20, 2006

Note to Chris Bowers: It's not just lefty bloggers who are washing their hands of Hillary Clinton. It's not just the netroots who are fed up with Democratic Party insiders with a political tin ear. Don't take my word for it, when Molly Ivins says it so well.

I'd like to make it clear to the people who run the Democratic Party that I will not support Hillary Clinton for president.

Enough. Enough triangulation, calculation and equivocation. Enough clever straddling, enough not offending anyone This is not a Dick Morris election. Sen. Clinton is apparently incapable of taking a clear stand on the war in Iraq, and that alone is enough to disqualify her. Her failure to speak out on Terri Schiavo, not to mention that gross pandering on flag-burning, are just contemptible little dodges.

Liberal bloggers may be among the first to notice how far the Democratic Party establishment has drifted from its progressive roots, but "the people" -- who Mr. Bowers assures us are a breed apart from the energized "base" -- are on a decidedly different page than Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Rahm Emmanuel, and the rest of a beltway crowd that seems to have forgotten how to read polls.

What kind of courage does it take, for mercy's sake? The majority of the American people (55 percent) think the war in Iraq is a mistake and that we should get out. The majority (65 percent) of the American people want single-payer health care and are willing to pay more taxes to get it. The majority (86 percent) of the American people favor raising the minimum wage. The majority of the American people (60 percent) favor repealing Bush's tax cuts, or at least those that go only to the rich. The majority (66 percent) wants to reduce the deficit not by cutting domestic spending, but by reducing Pentagon spending or raising taxes.

The majority (77 percent) thinks we should do "whatever it takes" to protect the environment. The majority (87 percent) thinks big oil companies are gouging consumers and would support a windfall profits tax. That is the center, you fools. WHO ARE YOU AFRAID OF?

Their corporate donors, Ms. Ivins. That's who.

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