posted by Damozel | Previously The Hill gave us Karl Rove's ace strategy for beating the top Dems in the campaign. Now RNC Chairman Mike Duncan has a plan. The Hill says that he has provided "numbers, strategy to beat top Dems."
This should hearten the many prematurely defeated Republicans (Defeatocans?) who believe that the disastrous seven year reign of George W Bush, and the divisions among their own party, have made a Democratic upset an exercise in wishful thinking. "Pointing to internal poll numbers, the RNC chairman repeatedly insisted that no matter who Republicans nominate, the Democratic candidate can be defeated in November." (The Hill)
That's a bit pathetic, isn't it? All the "insisting" that Duncan seemed to consider necessary, I mean. Shows you just have far the Defeatocan mentality must have taken hold.
Shake it off, guys! Duncan, like Rove, has some hot new information for you about the path to defeating either Hillary or Obama. Do you want to know what it is? Do you?
(1) A significant number of voters don't trust Clinton; and
(2) Not quite as significant a number don't think Obama has enough experience. (The Hill) And Duncan has more:
“With Sen. Clinton, it comes down to trust,” Duncan said. “She’s a lifelong liberal politician with some political baggage.” (The Hill)
Well, that should get the troops mobilized.
On the other hand, voters seem to like Obama, while not necessarily thinking they know him or his record particularly well. So Duncan has another new idea for Republicans: focus on his inexperience and his voting record in the Illinois legislature and frame him as all style and no substance; and while you're at it, bring up the Rezko thing. (The Hill) Boy, I bet Hillary Clinton wishes she'd thought of that.
But apparently Duncan has more up his sleeve:
The chairman repeatedly mentioned that his communications and opposition research teams are building up strong cases against the candidacies of both Obama and Clinton....
Duncan said the RNC’s “first level” of attacks mirror those the Democratic candidates have made on one another.
“Are there more arguments to come? Yes,” he said.(The Hill)
In the meantime, Duncan "had trouble concealing his joy" over the nasty sniping back and forth between the Clinton and Obama campaigns. (The Hill) "Duncan said he knew all along the Democrats were more divided than was being written."(The Hill)
He's right to be joyful: it's making me hate them both, though of course not enough to make me vote Republican or fail to turn up to vote for whichever the two gets tapped.
But they should take note even so. All that mud they're flinging at one another is likely to stick.
“I’m watching with great interest what they’re doing on the other side,” he said. (The Hill) .
Right. If the Democrats lose this time, it will be because the candidates beat themselves. If so, I will never forgive them.
While I like a vigorous debate, I still say, despite the campaign's belief that it's a sound strategy, that they need to put a muzzle on Bill Clinton. It's just offensive to have him speaking for Hillary. Furthermore, a lot of Obama-supporting Democrats whose votes they will need for Clinton if she---SHE---wins the nominations are going to be seriously fed up with them if they carry on the way they're going. And the same applies to the Obama campaign.
Why give RNC chairman Duncan so much cause for joy? It will rob him of the fun of strategizing and mobilizing and so on.
But I do wonder, like the trenchant Mr. Teh Nutroots, why the Republicans aren't out there saying really nice things about Hillary...I mean, if she's the easier one to beat (?) Could at be that they have secret poll numbers showing that Obama would be easier to beat and an evil plan to encourage Dems to believe that Hillary is too "polarizing" (which I sort of think) to be electable? Hmmmm....hmmm.
Probably though, it's just that the professional Republicans couldn't bring themselves to say something nice about Hillary to save the planet.
Meanwhile, he's not saying much about the "field." "The GOP race remains cloudy, as several candidates have split the opening primaries and caucuses," notes The Hill. And in contrast to the Clinton/Obama feud, nobody cares (though the article didn't say that).
The article ends with these words. I find them rather ominous, given some of the tactics the Republicans have allegedly used in the past:
The chairman said the committee’s voter file and 72-hour program are both better than they have ever been, and the RNC will continue to enjoy a technological advantage over its Democratic counterpart. (The Hill) .
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