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The First Fight

By Robert Stacy McCain on 12.4.08 @ 12:00PM

Quin Hillyer's excellent column urging Republican opposition to Hillary Clinton's nomination as Secretary of State offers interesting political possibilities.

First, tough questioning during Hillary's confirmation hearings would give Republicans a chance to play on familiar turf, emptying out the oppo-research files (see Amanda Carpenter's Dossier, for starters). The New York-based media loves any Hillary-related news and so, at a bare minimum, the GOP could get a week's worth of front-page headlines out of the hearings.

Second, a real fight over Hillary's nomination would give Republicans a chance to establish the "corruption" meme at the outset of the Obama administration. The Clinton connection -- including all of Bill's shadowy conflicts of interest -- ties Obama to the politics of the past (rather than Hope and Change) and a confirmation fight will help cement that connection in the public mind.

Hillary is less popular than Obama, and so opposition to Clinton's confirmation presents an opportunity for the GOP to score points indirectly against the Messiah. And there are enough Clinton-hating "progressives" among Obama's supporters that Republican senators could count on a certain amount of grassroots Democratic support in the confirmation fight.

Could Senate Republicans actually defeat the Clinton nomination? Probably not, but that doesn't mean it isn't worth trying. Remember that Clinton was more or less imposed on Obama as the price of "solidarity" during the fall campaign. If the confirmation hearings were to turn up anything really damaging against Hillary, Obama wouldn't really regret having to withdraw her nomination.

View all comments (9) | Leave a comment

Hank Archer| 12.4.08 @ 12:58PM

Here's a question -- How does the fact that the Secretary-designate has a pathologically promiscuous spouse impact security concerns?

J David| 12.4.08 @ 1:13PM

Are we not making the poorly backed-up assumption that the Gay Old Party actually has some fight in them? I would be very surprised to see the weenie party be able to fight their way out of a wet paper sack.

Robert Stacy McCain| 12.4.08 @ 1:14PM

Security -- what a quaint concept! I'm afraid, Hank, that such concerns don't much matter with Democratic voters, or else Bill Ayers' protege wouldn't be the president-elect.

CR| 12.4.08 @ 1:29PM

The GOP doesn't need to dig up dirt on Hillary Clinton. All they have to do is question her qualifications - or lack thereof.
I would like someone to ask her how traveling to 82 countries as First Lady, bringing peace to Northern Ireland (another fabrication) and dodging imaginary sniper fires in Bosnia, qualifies as experience for the SOS job.
And while we're at it, why not ask Obama directly how he can - with a striaght face- nominate this woman and talk about her foreign policy qualifications after debunking every one of her claims.

J David| 12.4.08 @ 1:43PM

Security is going to be handled by a GLOBAL body, when we very shortly hand our sovereignty to them, as is the proper spirit of a country that wants to be liked, and is now run by the Obamunist.

Sarge6| 12.4.08 @ 7:12PM

Wishful thinking. Hillary is now a member of the Senate Club. Her former GOP colleagues won't do her like John Tower's former Democratic colleagues did him.

kalback| 12.5.08 @ 2:59AM

That's a pretty petty strategy, frankly- and one I don't think the GOP can succeed at. These are serious times for the country. Humiliating the Secretary of State- America's face to the world- at best puts fun ahead of a serious dedication to American interests. The GOP in Washington has been successful at persuading American voters they behave like little children when given power . A partisan confirmation hearing for a candidate everyone more or less supports would only convince Americans that the GOP needs a little more timeout before they're trusted with power again. Most American approve of Clinton's nomination- we don't need to feed a meme of Republicans putting themselves ahead of the country and wasting time for partisan ends. Schiavo, anyone? Americans want our parties to try to play ball right now. The smart thing to do would be to pick up on mistakes, when Obama starts making them.

Come on, people. Government is Serious Stuff. Try to take it seriously.

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