RateItAll: The Opinion Network

Hope a Great win >> Good luck Democrat

a Republican in Democrats clothes

I like her more than Obama and I remember things were very good when her husband was president. The only major thing that happened was the Bosnia war. That whole Monica Lewinsky shit was overrated.

RUN FOR YOUR LIFES

Well if you read my comments on Obama then it will be obvious what I think about Hellary, I mean Hillary. She scares me.

I just don't understand how anyone can support Hillary Clinton. All of her mannerisms suggest that she doesn't mean anything that she says, that she's just trying to win a competition. I say she can't be trusted. And everyone keeps talking about experience. What experience? She was married to a president, which I suppose means something, but come on. So she's been a senator. Plenty of other candidates have that kind of experience as well. I was extremely happy when Bill finally left office, now we might be faced with another member of the Clinton family as president.

I would have a hard time voting for her with one exception--if someone had a gun to my head.

The thought of having Hillary at the helm of the ship of state is rather frightening, but not nearly as scary as contemplating the disasters we'd face if we get another extreme right-wing wacko (McCain) instead.

BTW, Hillary's health care plan is designed to be a boon to the insurance industry. There's nothing 'socialist' about it.

http://tinyurl.com/yv5x2m

There is nothing particularly impressive on her resume. She tried to pass a mind-numbingly complex federal bureaucracy designed to control health care, originally the plan went down in flames. Nearly every week she proposes massive entitlement programs that will cost the American tax payer billions of $$$. If only Bill didn't retrieve the mail, Hillary would have received her invitation to join the Milton Friedman fan club...all the spending and other wild ideas about government domination could have been avoided.

Hillary knows what she's doing. She does have a better understanding of the problems that Americans face, without the empty rhetoric of Obama. I sat home yesterday and listened to the debates, and without the cheers, Obama really is nothing more than a media creation bolstered by rabid fans. Putting him to running a country would be scary.

Like a Timex -- takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'. Love her -- and I'm a Republican.

Is a Democrat to the core (yeah, I know she was a Rep long, long ago) I truly believe she is best suited to serve this country. She probably deserves one less star for the baggage she brings with Bill. ...but he's also a great attribute. She's one tough lady.

Although no one will ever know who I vote for, there is nothing wrong with the idea of a woman President, or African American. I don't care about the gender or color of the President as long as they can run the country right.

whoo hoo!

I think she is the most experienced of the Democrat candidates but i dont really trust her. The little breakdown she had the day before the New Hampshire Primary was definitly staged

Yes Genghis ~ I agree! ( Although I am a Republican!). But, Hillary does talk out of both sides of her mouth ~ and her crying jag was sooo out of character!!! THat protrayed herself, at least to me, as very fake!

UPDATE: Today is the day after the New Hampshire primary in 2008, January 9, 2008. What I said before Iowa finally came true in New Hampshire. I think that Iowa was just a temporary blip on the ordinary political horizon. The people over forty, the union types and the old Demo regulars showed up and voted for Hillary. The Obama youth movement stayed home, as is usualy the case for such types.

ORIGINAL COMMENT: Today is the date of the Iowa Caucuses, January 3, 2008. I still think that Hillary Clinton is going to win in Iowa and sweep to the nomination. The reason? I think that Obama's support is based on the same sandy beach that Howard Dean had--the youth and the trendy types. The key to Iowa is the unions. Who are the labor unions supporting? The unions swept Iowa for John Kerry in 2004, and I think the union types will do the same for Hillary.

I agree with edt4's statement that, unfortunately, America (i.e., the bare majority required to elect a President) probably isn't ready to elect either a woman or a person of color. I'd love to be proven wrong, but the one thing the Democrats can't risk is losing to a Republican because of the gender or race of their candidate.

I think either Hillary or Obama would be a capable President, but I don't give the nod to Hillary because of any experience factor. Abe Lincoln didn't have much political experience, and he did just fine. Executive management experience, such as gubernatorial, isn't a prerequisite -- that's what Chiefs of Staff and Cabinets are for. What's most important to me is intellectual ability, including analytical ability and judgment; emotional stability; good morals; compassion; backbone; and a demonstrated capacity to work with the other party and the rest of the world for the good of us all. The desire and ability to work with the opposition party is a weakness for Hillary and a strength for Obama. Hillary is politics as usual, Obama isn't. Obama is more likeable--though I've never understood why Hillary is so detested by many right-wingers. I think her heart is in the right place, and always has been, but a lifetime in partisan politics, albeit as a state and national first lady, may have given her a cynical edge and a distaste for giving Republicans even the barest of inches, plus she has a lot of baggage. I've been tired of politics as usual for a very long time, and I eagerly embrace any opportunity to get rid of any part of it. I don't think Hillary affords that opportunity.

Given my pessimism that either of them is electable, even though qualified, I'd rather see John Edwards get the nomination, since I view him as more electable (and almost as qualified). No matter which of the three wins the nomination, any of them would be better than any of the Republican contenders (or Bush). Huckabee is likeable and quick-minded with a sense of humor, but his overt religiosity and enthusiasm for the unworkable and unfair idea of replacing all national taxes with a sales tax make him unacceptable to me. Romney is all slick surface, Giuliani is untrustworthy, McCain is too old and too stubborn. So it's gotta be a Dem who is electable.

Hillary is no doubt a very intelligent woman with some Washington experience. But I'm not too sure that 4 more years of the Clinton's is what the country needs right now. In many respects, many of the problems this country is currently facing are occurring because of her husband's lack of action during his time in office; issues ranging from tax policy to Social Security, and terrorism sat on his desk waiting to be addressed. Clinton always focused on smaller, government-efficiency issues--which is fine, but you can't forget the big picture either. The Clinton's have always been risk-averse when it comes to big projects, and when they have tried to take on big challenges, like when Hillary tried to reform health care, she refused to compromise to make it happen. The times demand boldness and innovation. Getting things done requires compromise too, and that is something that the Clintons didnt do much of during their time in the White House.

Besides that, do we really want to go back to an era of scandal and polarizing politics? I think some people have forgotten the Clinton era, or have only chosen to remember select portions of that time. The economy was good, but it is not likely to be so this time. No matter who comes out, we are likely heading towards an inflationary economy. The President really has very little control over the economy. They share some authority with Congress over fiscal issues, but monetary policy is largely dictated by the Federal Reserve. Their policy of keeping interest rates artificially low while the value of the dollar continues to weaken cannot be sustained long term and will likely lead to inflationary pressures which will slow the economy. Tax cuts and other fiscal measures may slow the bleeding, but our economic problems are much more fundamental. In short, don't expect a return to the 1990's under a 3rd Clinton administration.

Yet, for all the negatives on Hillary, I actually think she's better than Edwards or Obama, both whom lack the experience needed to take on the challenges we'll be facing in the next couple of years. She's a stronger candidate when it comes to foreign policy and understanding the bureaucracy.

Why are people so afraid of this woman?