For the last eight years, Republicans and the Conservative Right, like those at the website Free Republic ( http://www.freerepublic.org ), have been sharpening their knives waiting for an impending Hillary Clinton candidacy. There hasn’t been a right wing pundit on TV or the print media who hasn’t warned of the impending doom and inevitability of a Hillary presidency. If you want one example, see this one http://www.townhall.com/columnists/TonyBlankley/2007/03/28/hillary_on_track_for_nomination . Democrats/Liberals/Progressives, take note, this Blankley article has become so funny as a result of recent events that it should not be missed. If you want another, more churlish example, see this thread on Free Republic in response to an article in the UK Telegraph http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1907608/posts
All the Republicans have wanted to do for the past eight years is fight against a Hillary Clinton Presidential run. Now it looks like they will never get the chance. I don’t think they can deal with the letdown.
I remember a few months before the first primaries and caucuses of the 2004 campaign, several conservative pundits were sure Hillary was going to jump into the race and challenge Kerry and Howard Dean for the nomination. Ordinarily I would be happy to provide links to examples, but in this case, just try googling specifics about Hillary Clinton and see how many hits you now have to wade through to get what you want. It’s nearly impossible to get to anything past 12 months ago or so. Just take my word for this one.
I’m particularly worried about the Freepers these days. The depression they are all feeling is palpable if you go on that site. I’m concerned that some of them may harm themselves. Their favorite whipping gal is about to become a distant memory on the Presidential scene, neither of their preferred GOP candidates, “I’d rather be reclining in my la-z-boy” Fred Thompson and “let me in the debates even though I am polling lower than shingles” Duncan Hunter are gaining any traction in the race, and Barack Obama got more votes in the Iowa Caucus than all Republican candidates combined. And, darn it; there just hasn’t been enough time for the Freepers to whip up their hatred against Obama. What is a Freeper to do?
I just turned to Fox news and what were Hannity and Colmes doing? They had Dick Morris on talking about Hillary Clinton and what she would need to do to win (and what is she likely to do). Conservatives are desperate to keep talking about her even though it has to be obvious to everyone by now that she is not even close to being the real story anymore. They are like addicted drug users and Hillary Clinton is their crack or heroin (or both). Democrats might want to use this to their advantage and keep Hillary in the race all the way to the convention even if Obama wins every state. Hillary could be for Obama like a matador’s red cape and Republicans would happily play the bull (pun intended). The bull has the intention of going for the matador but it can’t resist that darned red cape. By the way, after a brief interlude of other news, Hannity and Colmes returned to the topic of Hillary Clinton and asked the same questions of two new guests that they had asked of Dick Morris and they all finished by saying that “they would never count out the Clintons”.
The Republican obsession with the Clintons that spans 16 years going back to 1992 is something that has no parallel in the history of American politics. It is going to be very hard for them to stop and figure out what to do once she is no longer in the picture and make no mistake, when the thrashing that Hillary gets at the hands of Obama is complete, that will spell a permanent end to her Presidential ambitions. I have no doubt that they will rebound enough to attempt to thoroughly smear and swift boat Obama, but before they can do that, it will take time for them to shake the Clinton withdrawal and that time will help Obama.
