More thoughts on Hillary
Matthew Yglesias has some further thoughts on Hillary:
I suspect this hits the nail on the head. When have you heard her complain about the "Patriot" Act or, for that matter, most of the other power grabs this president has tried. The answer for me is rarely to never. She's stood on the sidelines on these issues.
Why?
I suspect it's because she really wants to wield these powers herself.
This is one of the things I've feared all along. Bush has established a precedent that his successors, Republican or Democratic, will want to pursue. People who seek the job of President want power, and, if there is precedent to support their having power, they're not going to give it up willingly.
It's one more reason I'm skeptical of a Hillary candidacy. Yes, if she becomes our candidate, I'll support her -- just as I supported John Kerry despite my distaste for him. But, if I've got a better choice, I think I'll take it.
From where I sit, the issue here isn't that Clinton ... isn't willing to "admit" that supporting the war resolution was a mistake. The issue is that she doesn't think it was a mistake and she doesn't want to pretend otherwise. Clinton's executive power theory of why she votes the right way ("She believes in executive authority and Congressional deference, her advisers say, and is careful about suggesting that Congress can overrule a commander in chief") seems very plausible to me. When liberals are trying to get conservatives to worry about executive power one line a lot of us use is you realize Hillary Clinton may be president some day, right? But from Clinton's point of view, she may be president some day. What's more, as someone who was First Lady for much longer than she'd been a Senator at the time of the vote, it's natural that she would have a great deal of appreciation for the president's-eye-view take on the matter.
I suspect this hits the nail on the head. When have you heard her complain about the "Patriot" Act or, for that matter, most of the other power grabs this president has tried. The answer for me is rarely to never. She's stood on the sidelines on these issues.
Why?
I suspect it's because she really wants to wield these powers herself.
This is one of the things I've feared all along. Bush has established a precedent that his successors, Republican or Democratic, will want to pursue. People who seek the job of President want power, and, if there is precedent to support their having power, they're not going to give it up willingly.
It's one more reason I'm skeptical of a Hillary candidacy. Yes, if she becomes our candidate, I'll support her -- just as I supported John Kerry despite my distaste for him. But, if I've got a better choice, I think I'll take it.
posted by walldon | 1:30 PM
3 Comments:
95% rating from ADA.
Criticized Patriot Act as Kerry did in 2004, and opposed re-authorization with these words:
"While we all recognize the importance of equipping our law enforcement with the tools they need to effectively combat terrorism, we also must ensure that those tools are administered in a manner that does not unnecessarily restrict the freedom and liberty that are the hallmark of American life. Like all Americans, I am troubled by recent reports that the President signed an order in 2002 that authorized the National Security Agency to conduct domestic spying on U.S. citizens and foreign nationals in the United States, despite legal prohibitions against such activity. Likewise, I am disturbed by recent reports that the Department of Defense is maintaining a database in order to monitor the activity of peaceful anti-war groups. The balance between the urgent goal of combating terrorism and the safeguarding of our most fundamental constitutional freedoms is not always an easy one to draw. However, they are not incompatible and unbridled and unchecked executive power is not the answer."
We Democrats deserve John McCain or Rudy Giuliani. Kos is doing us a gigantic disservice right now with his absurd litmus test. Remember, he's still a snot-nosed kid just like those Wall Street analysts the press loves to quote, His king-making record? We're looking at Lieberman in the Senate, aren't we?
McCain 15%. But Kos doesn't care. She must kiss his feet and say, "I'm truly sorry, deeply sorry, I made a terrible, terrible mistake. I must have been brainwashed, just like George Romney. He was big enough to admit it, and his candidacy never suffered, so I should be, too."
I'll eat half of my hat on this one. I'm guessing Kissweb got this quote from the Congressional Record. So be it. She said it. But, I think I read the news pretty widely, and as far as I can tell this has not been a prominent part of her public message. Maybe I have selective hearing or something, but I just haven't heard it. In fact, for all his faults, Huckleberry Lindsay Graham has been far more eloquent on the subject of Constitutional protections of Civil Liberties than Hillary. Of course, Huckleberry went right ahead and voted for the Military Commissions Act, which I believe Hillary voted against. So, maybe actions speak louder than words.
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