Looking for My Candidate: Hillary Clinton

Let no one be confused on my opinion of Hillary Rodham Clinton: I think she's two-faced, shameless, power-hungry scum- just like George W. Bush, except without his incompetence, which must be part of the Bush family Y chromosome.

In the past few days, after people totally unassociated with Barack Obama's campaign pointed out that her saying that Martin Luther King, Jr. could not have accomplished anything without Lyndon Baines Johnson in the Oval Office was a slur on that notable's history, Clinton has accused Obama's campaign for bringing race into the contest. She's also attacked Obama for being inconsistent on the war, for being inconsistent on health care, for being inexperienced, corrupt, and lacking in substance. She's a very skilled politician, being able to play the victim while at the same time slinging mud faster than the gravel sorter at a sand quarry.

And what experience has she had? A Senate seat she won by being a Democrat in a safe Democratic state- and also by being the spouse of a popular but controversial President. She claims that being the spouse of a President and governor is experience equal to that of actually being President or governor- to which I reply: Did anyone ever propose Mamie Eisenhower or Betty Ford for elective office?

But worst of all is her actual Senate record, where she spent most of her time from 2001 to 2007 as, in essence, a safe vote for anything the White House had to propose. Her main legacy can be summed up with the image featured here.

And let's not forget her personality: her arrogance, her ability to change positions or lie without hesitation or qualm, her deep love of secrecy (as witness her ongoing efforts to keep all records from the Clinton White House out of the hands of researchers and investigators), and above all an obsession with self that even her most ardent supporters cannot ignore.

Nor, according to polls, am I the only one to hold such a negative view of the former First Lady. I've said since 2006 that the only way the Democrats could lose the 2008 elections would be if Hillary Clinton won the nomination. In fact, when polls came out showing 50% of all American voters would vote against Hillary and that Hillary loses to any and all Republican frontrunners, I told you about them. I personally believe Hillary would be as great a disaster for her party and for this nation as George W. Bush was- if not greater.

No, I don't intend to vote for Hillary... and Hillary's nomination would be the only thing that would get me to consider the Republican nominee, whichever noxious warmonger that would happen to be. Nonetheless, I'm going to put her through the numbers and see how she turns out...


Again, going by these standards:

WAR: Website claims to call for out-now, out-completely, but has waffled badly on the Iraq war. Supported it strongly until just before she began her Presidential run. In one debate, refused to guarantee a single soldier out before the end of her first term. Proposed a plan which would leave 60,000 troops on the ground permanently. Supports War on Terror. Supports Bush's get-tough rhetoric in Iran, voted to declare Iranian Republican Guard a terrorist organization. 0%.

SEPARATION OF POWERS: Approves of expanded Presidential power. Supports USA-PATRIOT. Fought to keep White House and personal records secret and out of the hands of investigators since 1994, possibly earlier in case of governor's records from Arkansas. Opposes Congressional supoenas, contempt of Congress, impeachment. Voted to end domestic spying. 25%.

HEALTHCARE: Universal health care plan based on universal mandates, forcing individuals to buy corporate insurance, forcing businesses to offer it, offering tax credits to offset (but not eliminate) cost. 0%.

TAXATION AND BUDGET: Tax cuts on middle class, massive tax hikes elsewhere. New targeted income tax credits to make system more complex and incomprehensible. Supports balanced budget, but shows no evidence of either stopping government borrowing or cutting spending anywhere. Indeed, proposes program after program which would require massive spending hikes. 0%.

CIVIL LIBERTIES: Voted for McCain-Feingold, other acts to censor political speech. Supports censorship of electronic media. Voted to restore habeas corpus. Voted to end torture, but also voted to block Guantanamo detainees from seeking judicial relief. Mixed record on military tribunals. 35%.

IMPEACHMENT: Leading opponent of impeachment in the Democratic Party, even more so than Nancy Pelosi. 0%.

IMMIGRATION: Path to citizenship. Vague statements about "stronger border enforcement." Favors immigration reform that would require immigrants "meet a high bar", i. e. more restrictive. 33%.

TRADE: Strongly protectionist. 0%.

ENERGY: Supports taxing oil corporation profits to pay for alternative energy research; otherwise supports conventional energy sources, forced conservation, new bureaucracies for enforcement of policy, tax credits to buy "green" homes. Proposes 55 MPG minimum fuel standard for gasoline-powered autos by 2030- impossible. 0%.

ENVIRONMENT: Supports "cap and trade" system, government-enforced conservation, individual mandates to buy more efficient and cleaner products... or else. 0%.

TORT REFORM: Former trial lawyer. 0%.

AVERAGE SCORE: 8.5%

VOTE KILLERS:

GUNS: Voted repeatedly to outlaw types of guns and ammunition, make private exchange of weapons illegal, require that weapons be locked when not in use, etc. Past advocate of handgun bans and federal firearm registry. Voted (one of only eleven Senators, thankfully) against a law that barred Federal officers from confiscating weapons without warrant or crime during emergencies such as Katrina. Recently claimed to support the Second Amendment. Sorry, NO, Mrs. Clinton, not buying.

IRAN: Voted to declare Iranian Republican Guard a terrorist group, thereby giving Bush an excuse to attack Iran whenever he wants.

RANKINGS TO DATE

Candidates in italics are not in consideration due to vote-killer positions.

Dennis Kucinich - 40.9%
John McCain - 33.6%
Ron Paul - 28.2%
Rudy Giuliani - 22.3%
Mike Huckabee - 16.9%
Mitt Romney - 14.8%
Duncan Hunter - 11.8%
Fred Thompson - 11.1%
Hillary Clinton - 8.5%

Next time: John Edwards, who, despite being a trial lawyer who made millions and drove North Carolina's OB-GYNs mostly out of business by brazen deceit, has to be better than Mrs. Clinton...