I have a problem with the predicate of Jonathan Chait’s most recent New York magazine article, “Hillary Clinton Is a Flawed But Normal Politician. Why Can’t America See That?” By what definition of “normal” is Hillary Clinton a normal politician?
My definition of normal would be that it includes more than two-thirds of politicians, i.e. is plus or minus one standard deviation. Is it normal for politicians to run for president and, indeed, to be praised as highly as Sec. Clinton has in doing so?
Is it normal for a politician to be in the national spotlight for more than 25 years? Is it normal for politicians to earn $153 million for giving speeches? All politicians lie, indeed, all human beings lie. Is it normal for a politician to lie so flagrantly and routinely that a leading nationally-syndicated columnist characterized her as a “congenital liar” 20 years ago?
Is it normal for people with no previous electoral record to be elected to the U. S. Senate on their first outing? Is it normal for politicians to commit crimes, be discovered, and pay no penalty?
I think that the overwhelming preponderance of the evidence is that Hillary Clinton is an extraordinary politician and, as a matter of simple fact, is abnormal. If the American people don’t consider her to be a “normal politician”, perhaps it’s because they have a better handle on the facts than Mr. Chait does.
However, there’s a greater issue. Even if being a congenital liar, committing crimes, and raising ungodly sums of money doing things that feel corrupt whether they’re prosecutable or not is normal for a politician, are they acceptable? Is it good enough?
Whether Hillary Clinton is elected to the presidency or not, I think we need to start demanding a higher standard of conduct than that from our politicians.
If the American people don’t consider her to be a “normal politicianâ€, perhaps it’s because they have a better handle on the facts than Mr. Chait does.
I think Chait knows, and is okay with, Hillary being all the bad things you say she is, and furthermore thinks everyone else that is normal does so, too. The chattering class is as insulated from reality as the political class, to the extent that there’s a difference between the two.
And if you think “we” should demand better, good luck. The politicians have voted to replace the old “we” with a newer, more tractable “we”. And they’ve basically already won that battle. So it’ll only get worse.
After last Friday’s news dump by the FBI, I’m wondering why the term spoliation hasn’t come up. Isn’t that a textbook example, destroying evidence after an order to preserve? Which is supposed to lead to a presumption of guilt? Given that the FBI knew this had occurred, how can one reconcile this with Comey’s statement about lack of intent (as tenuous as that even was since the relevant statute didn’t require intent.)
If you think the system is rigged and it will never be “unrigged” by the people who have rigged it and are benefiting from it, this is just business as usual, Hillary Clinton is nothing special. She is a product of the system.
I would suggest that all Trump supporters vote for her. She will collapse the system faster than anything Trump could ever do. In four years, she will create even more Trump type voters.
@Icepick
More cracks:
2 Minutes into Press Conference, Passionate Man Interrupts Mayor Lovely Warren
The progressives do not have a clue about what is waiting for them. Progressivism is “dead man walking”. When the rats start “jumping ship”, watch out. A progressive puts nobody’s interests before their own, hence Hillary Clinton.
That’s a pretty big bet, Tasty.
The very definition of “normal” keeps changing with the time, the culture and the acceptable politics being sold to the public. Under the po!itical correct metrics of today, with racist epithets being as commonly use as the breakfast cereal Cheerios, with “coolness” being sought after more than honesty/ethics, maybe HRC is perfectly “normal.”
@Drew
The right never saw Trump coming either, but anybody who paid attention could tell something had not been right for years, on either side. There are times when I am not sure if somebody is not commenting under your name or if our host has been kidnapped.
I tend to notice small but fundamental changes. Over time, people change their positions, but some of those changes have profound implications. I have been there, but it does not mean throwing everything out.
Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Al Gore, etc. are progressives. They think they are smarter than everybody else, and they want to impose their vision of how things should be upon everybody else. They do not want that vision imposed upon them. They exempt themselves from the rules and regulations they create to solve the problems they declare will end the world as we know it.
Bill Clinton is allowed to sexually abuse women. Harry Reid’s comment about Barack Obama speaking “with no Negro dialect” (he speaks so well) proves Reid is an out-and-out racist. Al Gore’s concern about AGW is not going to interfere with his comfort. Hillary Clinton will assist the most illiberal individuals from the most repressive countries, and she will sell every minority “down the river” if it will put a nickle in her pocket.
The only support she has are progressives and the few people who have not seen the light, but the few remaining are beginning to see the progressives for what they are. When they realize that they are losing control, you can expect it to get a lot worse. They will not go out without a fight, and if need be, they will burn the place down.
More and more of the #NeverTrump people are beginning to realize that if Hillary Clinton is as bad as they think she is, Trump may not be as bad as the pro-Hillary side is making him out to be. If Trump were everything they claim he were, you would expect a few people to be coming forward. Everybody knows the names of the women Bill Clinton claims he never sexually abused. Bill Cosby, Ed Sandusky, and Roger Ailes have people coming out the woodwork.
Trump has provided an alternative but not necessarily a Republican alternative. If Hillary Clinton wins, she has to produce at least some of what he promised, but there is no way she will be able to satisfy her big money donors, who want the status quo, and her minority voters, who want major changes.
There is the possibility that China could implode financially with Europe following, and the US could benefit economically. Whoever is the president would be credited as a genius for getting the economy moving, but that is about the only real unknown.
If the laws of physics will not allow electricity to be produced cheaper from wind than coal, progressives will regulate coal until it does. This can work for a while, but reality always wins in the end. With people, it is no different. They can fool some of the people …
Amen.