The Remarkable Entrance of the ‘HillPublicans’
Published in Elsevier
(Netherlands) on 25 March 2008
by Rik Kuethe (link to original)
The Remarkable Entrance of the “HillPublicans"
It is as if Marcel van Dam would, in the Volkskrant, ask to by all means vote for Geert Wilders in the next elections.
America has recently known the phenomenon of the so-called HillPublicans. These are Republicans who vote for Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries--this is permitted in a number of states.
Reagan
In the combination of words, HillPublicans, one can discover an analogy to the Reagan Democrats. The latter were traditionally Democrat-voting, white factory workers who in the 1980s had enough of the leftist doings in their party, and who felt attracted to the person of Ronald Reagan and to the values he represented.
However, with the HillPublicans it is not a matter of any sympathy for Hillary Clinton. To them it is strictly a tactical vote. Well-known right-wing radio talk show hosts such as Rush Limbaugh, who has strongly propagated the HillPublicans idea, assume that the longer the fight in the Democratic camp continues between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, the more vicious it will become.
Discord
The spectacle of a protracted division among Democrats will cause the voters this fall to fall into the arms of the Republican candidate, John McCain, on the rebound—so goes the rationale.
The senator from Arizona was already, and without much bloodshed in his party, nominated in February.
The commentator Ann Coulter, the blond goddess of vengeance of the American right, was so outraged that the choice fell on moderate McCain, that she declared that, on November 4, with two fingers pressed against her nose, she would vote for Hillary Clinton. Nonetheless, we can not really call Ann Coulter a HillPublican. Her vote for the senator from New York stems from considerations of an ideological nature.
Because, in terms of delegates, Obama still has a large advantage over Clinton, anyone who wants to keep the fight between them going for as long as possible, has to help Bill’s spouse wherever possible.
Visit to a brothel
According to the British Sunday Observer, Rush Limbaugh told his listeners recently that he wanted to see as much disruption as possible in the Democratic Party. However, it must have been somewhat hard to swallow for Limbaugh to call upon his listeners to vote for Hillary—comparable to the Pope urging for more visits to brothels. Perhaps even worse?
For Limbaugh has, since 1990, been suggesting that Hillary Clinton is a political skunk, a professional liar, a woman with the aura of two white bathroom tiles and an outright disaster for the country. Variations of this theme are being hurled again weekly into the ether by Limbaugh, ever since Hillary became a candidate.
Negative feelings
During the primaries in Mississippi, according to an analysis, one quarter of Clinton voters were Republicans. Obama won there largely because of the great number of blacks. But his victory could have been even more convincing without the Republican votes. One estimate puts the number of HillPublicans in Mississippi at 40,000.
A lawyer quoted by the Houston Chronicle had yet another consideration. He has for the first time in his life participated in a Democratic primary and voted for Hillary. All this in the belief that, this fall, his Republican Party associates can only be sufficiently called into action by the negative feelings that Hillary rouses in them.
It is as if Marcel van Dam would, in the Volkskrant, ask to by all means vote for Geert Wilders in the next elections.
America has recently known the phenomenon of the so-called HillPublicans. These are Republicans who vote for Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries--this is permitted in a number of states.
Reagan
In the combination of words, HillPublicans, one can discover an analogy to the Reagan Democrats. The latter were traditionally Democrat-voting, white factory workers who in the 1980s had enough of the leftist doings in their party, and who felt attracted to the person of Ronald Reagan and to the values he represented.
However, with the HillPublicans it is not a matter of any sympathy for Hillary Clinton. To them it is strictly a tactical vote. Well-known right-wing radio talk show hosts such as Rush Limbaugh, who has strongly propagated the HillPublicans idea, assume that the longer the fight in the Democratic camp continues between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, the more vicious it will become.
Discord
The spectacle of a protracted division among Democrats will cause the voters this fall to fall into the arms of the Republican candidate, John McCain, on the rebound—so goes the rationale.
The senator from Arizona was already, and without much bloodshed in his party, nominated in February.
The commentator Ann Coulter, the blond goddess of vengeance of the American right, was so outraged that the choice fell on moderate McCain, that she declared that, on November 4, with two fingers pressed against her nose, she would vote for Hillary Clinton. Nonetheless, we can not really call Ann Coulter a HillPublican. Her vote for the senator from New York stems from considerations of an ideological nature.
Because, in terms of delegates, Obama still has a large advantage over Clinton, anyone who wants to keep the fight between them going for as long as possible, has to help Bill’s spouse wherever possible.
Visit to a brothel
According to the British Sunday Observer, Rush Limbaugh told his listeners recently that he wanted to see as much disruption as possible in the Democratic Party. However, it must have been somewhat hard to swallow for Limbaugh to call upon his listeners to vote for Hillary—comparable to the Pope urging for more visits to brothels. Perhaps even worse?
For Limbaugh has, since 1990, been suggesting that Hillary Clinton is a political skunk, a professional liar, a woman with the aura of two white bathroom tiles and an outright disaster for the country. Variations of this theme are being hurled again weekly into the ether by Limbaugh, ever since Hillary became a candidate.
Negative feelings
During the primaries in Mississippi, according to an analysis, one quarter of Clinton voters were Republicans. Obama won there largely because of the great number of blacks. But his victory could have been even more convincing without the Republican votes. One estimate puts the number of HillPublicans in Mississippi at 40,000.
A lawyer quoted by the Houston Chronicle had yet another consideration. He has for the first time in his life participated in a Democratic primary and voted for Hillary. All this in the belief that, this fall, his Republican Party associates can only be sufficiently called into action by the negative feelings that Hillary rouses in them.