... on "Face the Nation" this morning. The subject was that it's a big problem for Democrats that there are no other candidates. And this was right after an interview with Martin O'Malley. Milbank's comment on O'Malley was:
[I]n that interview he was hardly challenging Hillary at all. And I think if he's going to sit there say I did good job as mayor of Baltimore, and I was a good governor, I mean he has as much chance of landing on the White House as if he's going in there in [a] gyrocopter. It's not going to happen unless he takes her on more forcefully.
And that characterization of O'Malley's interview is pretty apt. The moderator, Bob Schieffer, had tried to prompt him to take on Hillary, but look how flat that fell:
SCHIEFFER: What do you think of way she launched her campaign? All these Republicans are up there making speeches, kind of doing it the old-fashioned way. She gets in this little van and drives all the way out there. She's given no interviews, as far as I can tell. She hasn't had a news conference. Can you get the nomination that way? And how will you do it?
O'MALLEY: Well, look, I will let others talk -- second-guess her strategies and tactics. And she can certainly defend herself. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Secretary Clinton. I believe that the best way to campaign is one-on-one with people. You can't forge a new sort of consensus, you can't forge public opinion by following public opinion. And you have to engage with people in living room after living room, in luncheonettes and lunch counters. I think that is the best type of campaign is the one-on-one contact, where we actually talk about the better choices we need to make to get earnings to rise again...
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O'Malley told Bob Schieffer he would decide by May.
I had the idea that he wants to inherit her support in case for any reason she drops out, but to do that he may have to be in the race, sort of.
He's just a foil, used to create the illusion there is actually a Democratic primary going on this year. But it's not working. Maybe the Dems figure the GOP primary will get all the press coverage if HRH doesn't have an opponent. But with this Scooby Do nonsense, that may be the Dems' best bet.
O'Malley talks like Hillary has some dirt on him too.
O'Malley is running to be Hillary's VP. He isn't going to be a challenger. Someone will step up and take her head on- count on it.
File American elections under fiction, if you're doing a new Dewey decimal system, until the MSM grows up.
Look at this way: If a Democratic opponent goes after Hillary in all her scandal-ridden, incompetent glory, then the media will have to cover it. If the MSM actually has to investigate the charges against Hillary, they would probably find out that underneath all that smoke, there is some degree of fire. You know, just like all those right-wing nutjob media sources have been saying for years.
Once the media has to face just what damaged goods Hillary is, then they have to admit that 1) they didn't do their jobs for years & 2) they have just torpedoed seemingly the strongest Democratic candidate, and have just handed over the Senate, House, & the White House over to the Republicans. And the press will cook & eat their own children before they'll do either one.
Yeah he's running for VP, the Dems need to stop pretending they aren't all in for Hillary, the MSM is already there.
"And the press will cook & eat their own children before they'll do either one."
Yup. He is too afraid to take her on. We all know how vindictive she is and that would be it for him. Plus, he's not too strong a candidate anyway as his state went red the next election.
If Martin O'Malley attempted to land on the White House in a gyrocopter, instead of landing, he and the gyrocopter would float off into space, he is that much of a lightweight.
There may be no other Dems right now, but it was true in 2008 (and 2000) and is even more true in 2015-16 -- a large proportion of Dems are sick of the Clintons. They've had to cover for their crap so many times that eventually the self-respect of even Democrats kick in and they start to resent it. And Dem politicians are personally power hungry like any other politician and resent that they should simply have to step aside because her highness wants the crown.
Yancey Ward said: "O'Malley is running to be Hillary's VP. He isn't going to be a challenger.
Once a strong woman candidate is in play for the Democrat nomination only another woman can challenge her. A male challenger would mess up the narrative and push all the wrong identity group buttons.
I guess that leaves them with Liz Warren who would step forward only if Hillary stumbles badly. It is doubtful the Republicans can buy enough ads to overcome the progressive media tsunami in support of a Democrat woman candidate.
Two things: Rubio was very impressive in the transcript; these guys are all in for Hillary. What a sad bit of commentary - "we've got to cut her some slack in the first week. Jesus Christ, Hillary is supposed to be a pro and we have to cut her some slack!
The Republican nominating process is going to be ugly, but it is going to be a great debate for the country.
My gut keeps saying that it's not sure Hillary can make the race. Lack of competition and the length of the campaign may ( I hope, will) do her in. The R's rightly are going easy on her at this point. When the general campaign starts it is going to be truly ugly; all that Clinton baggage as Cruz says.
Meanwhile, there is another large percentage of Dem voters -- those under their early 30s -- who basically say "Hillary who?" and do not automatically buy into her coronation because it has been 15 years, which is more than half the lives of many of them, since the Clintons have been in power.
Even the Kennedy mystique could not last that long, with Teddy giving it a good go 17 years after the end of "Camelot," but unable to pull it off even against the incredibly bad Jimmy Carter. And Hillary ain't no Kennedy.
Only 569 more days of this.....
Hillary lacks the temperament for the campaign (or anything else). All anyone needs do is to poke at her over and over, get her annoyance level up until eventually the shrew comes out and she self-destructs (and if early enough, stomps off saying "F it, I don't need this.").
Lol. If you 'Publicans thought the press was supine during Obama's campaign, you ain't seen nothing yet.
The issue is this: Most of you 'Murikuns - and I don't care if you're red state, blue state, flyover or coastal - have no experience dealing effectively with an aggressive woman - let alone one who would lie to you about what time of day it is.
Unfortunately it's going to be up to the red-state press to deal head-on with HRC. And half the time it's not clear whether they admire her too much to do so or are too scared of her to do so. What's needed is calm, effective, critical questioning, and the Red Press is usually too busy running around like a chicken with its head cut off, screaming, to effectively take someone like Hillary to task. And as she grew up with Republicans like you, she knows it.
You have to learn from Obama and find a way to calmly, rationally and steadily eviscerate her. No other method will wok. None of this chicken-with-its-head-cut-off, the-sky-is-falling approach will work with her.
Unfortunately, that's all the right wing seems to know. They really are more hysterical than she is.
Don't tell me "You didn't tell me so" when she wins - and all because of this.
You guys are finally going to have to wise up.
The creepy clinton machine got to him. Threats - promises - money whatever mob-like situation you can dream up - it happened.
Has there ever been a primary with no incumbent with so little competition for a Presidential nomination?
You can't forge a new sort of consensus, you can't forge public opinion by following public opinion.
He's not going anywhere on a forge.
And you have to engage with people in living room after living room, in luncheonettes and lunch counters.
Hillary went to Chipotle... the ones he mentioned are for anniversary speeches, the ones you give after you win.
I think that is the best type of campaign is the one-on-one contact, where we actually talk about the better choices we need to make to get earnings to rise again...
And now I'm totally confused. I think he just endorsed Hillary.
And this is the guy Drudge has been pushing?
The Blue press ran after Hillary's scooby van like a pack of crazed teenagers chasing a teen idol.
Not a single tough question was asked. Not a single easy question was answered - other than something vapid involving a plan about a plan. The mainstream Blue media are pathetic.
I am surprised ABC news let this one sneak by: Plants.
Better get back on the blue plantation, ABC.
Correction: ABC wandered off in 2007.
And you have to engage with people in living room after living room...
Good luck knocking Althouse door.
A few weeks ago O'Malley was talking about how the presidency shouldn't be handed back and forth between two families. Everyone on both sides of the aisle agrees with that.
The Clintons got to him.
My Hillary tweet for the day.
The Blue media will never ask Hillary a tough question.
If they ever do, it will all be scripted.
This is all a result of what happened in 2008. No one wants to challenge her now because of what they did to her in 2008.
It is sick how lapdogged O'Malley is. But it supports the theory that the entire Dem Party apparatus of donors, advisors and candidates are in fear that if they show any disloyalty, the Clintons will freeze them out from any "access" (read: influence peddling) when they get back in the White House. The level of mindless sycophancy looks Stalinistic. Such a party has no business being in power, but the GOP is going to have to beat them--the Clintons will do everything possible to make the Republicans and their candidate unacceptable in the eyes of the voters that will decide this.
Hopefully a growing group of rebel Democrats--people who don't like the GOP but can't stomach what this slime family is doing to their party either--will coalesce around a candidate who doesn't fear these brutes and try to open this contest up. O'Malley isn't man enough to do it.
@Bobber Fleck said...
I guess that leaves them with Liz Warren who would step forward only if Hillary stumbles badly. It is doubtful the Republicans can buy enough ads to overcome the progressive media tsunami in support of a Democrat woman candidate.
Pocahontas is not going there. She didn't build that road.
"Teddy giving it a good go 17 years after the end of "Camelot," but unable to pull it off even against the incredibly bad Jimmy Carter."
Hillary will cross that bridge when she comes to it.
And yet the Republican Party will find a way to screw up this Gimme
First of all, what is Milbank even doing on a show like this. He is a partisan Democratic hack. Absolutely nothing to offer in the way of analysis.
Secondly, "ruh roH' is a mixed cultural reference, Astro from the Jetsons says "rut roh", not Scooby doo.
On the Republican side, Huckabee will play lapdog.
Just watch. As soon as the debates start, or shortly before, he will begin to say nice things of Jeb Bush or someone else the establishment approves of, and he will tear down the closest challenger.
"And the press will cook & eat their own children before they'll do either one."
Of course.
It's not clear any Dem has the guts to make their lackeys do any real journalism.
The prospect of power and Clinton walking-around money will keep most in line.
A few lefties will scream, a few honest Dems (Bill Galston etc.) will squirm, but that's it.
But a Dem with guts has a chance.
Still, putting all their chips on an old and problematic candidate is a risky bet.
I read the other day that any Democratic candidate starts with 183 electoral votes. The candidate could be stone drunk all the time, the other half of a stick-up gang, the producer of kiddie porn, it doesn't matter - the MSM will back 'em and cover for em and the Democratic base will fall in line. The GOP candidate, on the other hand, has to win every single swing state to get to 270. All the blah-blah-blah from the so-called press about HRC means nothing - at the end of the day, the reporters are all going to vote for her and do whatever they can to make sure everyone else does, too.
" a large proportion of Dems are sick of the Clintons. They've had to cover for their crap so many times that eventually the self-respect of even Democrats kick in and they start to resent it."
Their "self-respect" won't be reflected on their ballots.
@Cracker, right on!
I was listening to an interview of Charles Krauthammer, and he said that ISIS is attracting a lot of support because it's been winning, but if it starts losing, that support will vanish quickly.
Hillary! could be the same. Her campaign launch has been pathetic, she's lugging monstrous baggage, she has never been a good politician. So if ANYBODY (O'Malley, a write-in for Fauxchohauntas, Jim Webb, Waldo, and/or ANYBODY) picks up 30% of the vote in the Iowa caucuses and 31% in NH, the wolves will start circling.
Dana Milbank in particular was going off on the "Scooby Doo" jokes.
I hadn't given much thought at all as to whether a van had been featured at all in the cartoon "Scooby Doo." In any event the cartoon apparently was not the origin of the Clinton campaign's "Scooby" moniker. It comes from Sly and the Family Stone's song "Everyday People" which they somehow latched onto as a campaign song. A baby boomer anthem for a baby boomer candidate.
"...And so on, and so on, and scooby doobie doobie doobie..."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUUhDoCx8zc
"I have a tremendous amount of respect for Secretary Clinton."
Dealbreaker. Any one who has respect for such a corrupt, dishonest and incompetent politician has no business being a public servant. It only serves to show what meager moral fiber and lack of principles that person has. Republican congressman Shock was ousted over $40,000, while at the same time, Hillary2016! has been exposed for taking millions in kickbacks and payoffs while serving as US Secretary of State, yet she is not only not prosecuted, but treated to adulation and praise. She should be shamed into hiding, and her candidacy should be ridiculed. She is an embarrassment to this country.
"Dana Milbank in particular was going off on the "Scooby Doo" jokes."
Have any "Democrat operatives with bylines" reported that the Scooby Van is a recycle from a previous Hillary campaign?
I read Hillary campaign staff being quoted in a book that covered that campaign, there was even a screenshot of the page, but I can't locate it now.
"Their "self-respect" won't be reflected on their ballots."
Those Democrats won't be pulling the lever for a GOP nominee (though some moderates may, depending on the nominee) but many might stay home or vote third party. Or, if some primary opponent actually emerges (not a squish like O'Malley, who may as well wear a T-shirt that says "will burn no bridges, Clintons!") we could see a real primary.
Which actually might be better for Hillary--she'd definitely be rustier if she goes into the general election without having had to work for it. Many Democrats won't be able to help but see her "inevitability" as a bad thing for their party.
The more people see Hillary, the less they like her. That's why she is staying quiet and out of the public.
I think it's way to early for O'Malley to criticize Hilary, Christ, the first primary is ten months away! she has not yet gotten a single vote and, as in 2008, when people get to vote for an alternative Hilary will collapse.
is it wrong that every time I see Dana's name in print, I think mountebank?
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