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To Hillary (& her husband) Politics (& power) is all There is

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Yesterday, while reading Hugh Hewitt‘s blog, I came across an excerpt of his recent interview with Christopher Hitchens where that iconoclastic writer predicted that Ms. Hillary would win the White House this year. He thought she’d win because:

there’s something horrible and undefeatable about people who have no life except the worship of power.. . . people who don’t want the meeting to end, the people who just are unstoppable, who only have one focus, no humanity, no character, nothing but the worship of money and power. They win in the end.

His comment of her love for power reminded me of an idea for a post I had about a month ago–that for Ms. Hillary, even more so than for her husband, everything is about politics.

I mean, she may claim to be a Yankees’ fan, but does anybody believe that claim was anything more than a political ploy to make ? Can you even imagine her watching and enjoying a baseball game? When listening to a description of Julius Cæsar in the book-on-CD version of Anthony Everett’s Augustus: The Life of Rome’s First Emperor, I thought of her. At gladiatorial contests, that self-important Roman would feign interest in the events, while reading and signing documents.

Ms. Hillary would seem as out of place in a baseball stadium as Richard Nixon on the a beach wearing black wing-tip shoes.

Just look at her biography. The only time she ever worked in the non-profit sector was for The Children’s Defense Fund. That group doesn’t provide services for kids, but lobbies (ostensibly) on their behalf. That is, she saw the best way to help kids was not to work with kids themselves, but to work for an organization which pushed for political change on their behalf.

It seems her whole life has been consumed with politics; she doesn’t seem to have any other interests outside it.

Just like Richard Nixon (to whom she has often been compared), when she tries to show she has interests outside of politics, she seems as out of place as a man wearing dress shoes on the beach.

All great and good presidents have had some great passion or interest outside politics which enabled them to connect with Americans on issues which transcended politics. For Teddy Roosevelt, it was likely his love for the great outdoors. For Eisenhower, it was his record of service in World War II. For Ronald Reagan, it was, in large part, his love for the kind of movies Hollywood used to make.

But, Ms. Hillary couldn’t even appreciate that man’s leadership, reducing his record in one recent debate to “bad ideas.” And she certainly can’t emulate the unifying themes of his rhetoric.

Without interests outside politics, Ms. Hillary has become obsessed with her quest for political power. And in that obsession, she has lost the ability to use that power wisely. How can she unite the nation when she has such a harsh view of her ideological adversaries — and when she has no passions which allow her to transcend her partisan affiliation and show her more human side?

Comments

  2. "but to work for an organization which pushed for political change on their behalf":  Interesting. So what’s the difference between this and the people who, say, lobbied in the halls of congress for the civil rights act?Teddy Roosevelt’s love of the great outdoors helped begin the modern conservation movement and set aside land to be preserved as presidentEisenhower’s leadership in a time of world war is unquestionable commitment to his country.Ronald Reagan’s love of movies and the way they used to be????  I love movies too, but my interest in fictional, fantasy entertainment really shouldn’t translate into a way of leading the country.  Didn’t this guy make a movie with a chimp as the star?
    Which one of these things is not like the other….
    Perhaps Mrs. Clinton would be more palpable if she dropped in and out of politics, much like folks like Rumsfeld and Cheney.  When you’re out of politics, make huge fortunes in companies that depend on government contracts and then drop back so you can strengthen those contacts, make their rich friends richer, etc, etc.

  3. Because if you read the post, Kevin, the importance is that she has never, if her professional life, done anything which is not political in nature.

    Maybe I’m wrong about Ms. Hillary, but you have yet to show it by presenting evidence of her passion for things not political in nature. And have yet to show you even understand what I’m writing about.

  4. and set aside land to be preserved as presidentEisenhower’s leadership

    Well I sure didn’t know land was set aside to preserve Eisenhower’s leadership. Now I did know that Thomas D’alesandro (Pelosi’s dad) and Spiro Agnew set aside waterfront property for themselves through legislation, but that’s another story.

    About as off-kilter as your screed was.

    make their rich friends richer, etc, etc.

    Yeah. The Clintons make themselves richer and then make sure they tell everybody how rich they are in their speeches.

    Speaking of which, there’s a Cattle Baron’s ball (fundraiser) coming up. Perhaps she’d be comfortable there?

  5. Furthermore, Kevin, I’m hoping that somewhere in your past you’ve learned about tax shelters. For example, George Soros’s business is physically in NYC. However, his business is based in the Turks & Caicos. Why? So he doesn’t have to pay Uncle Sugar. That way he keeps more money of his own so he can pay for fraudulent Lancet studies. You know, sorta like how the Kennedy’s have money sheltered in Tahiti.

    If you force people to pay <i>more</i> taxes, they’re just going to find more ways of keeping it. If you let people have the money they earned, they’re more likely to spend it thereby increasing treasury revenues like we’ve seen over the past few years.

    Another thing to contemplate: Remember how liberals went ape because Exxon made $35B in profit? What they didn’t tell anybody, for some reason, is that state and federal make about 6-7 times what the oil companies make in taxes. Therefore, if Exxon made $35B, state and federal made at least $210B. That’s for one oil company in one year. The oil company’s profit from one dollar spent on gas is about .10¢. Meanwhile the taxes are .60-.70¢.

    What’s more, the governments don’t have to explore, drill, transport, refine, deliver gasoline. All they have to do is hold out their hand. They didn’t do a damn thing for their earnings and they’re raking in more cash than "evil Big Oil".

    Consider also that the oil companies pay profit sharing and bonuses to their employees. Think Washington does that? Add to that the fact that part of most state pension plans for employees like teachers, fire, police etc. are invested in oil and energy companies. How many pension plans do you suppose are invested in Washington?

    Thanks for playing. Try again when you’ve got something better than the tired, worn out lying points that folks with the IQ of a PE teacher and higher know is bullshit.

  6. >When you’re out of politics, make huge fortunes in companies that depend on government contracts and then drop back so you can strengthen those contacts, make their rich friends richer, etc, etc.

    I love this drivel bullshit.

    Has anyone ever thought this through for 5 minutes.

    Pretend you are Cheney.   You’re running a company… you have an oppurtunity to get back into political office.   Once you do, you have to quit your job.  Now.. are you going to stop doing your job.. assume office and then devote your efforts to enriching the company you dont work for.. for what benefit? Who would act in such a selfless way?

    I think people like Keven actually believe this nonsense is because perhaps people like Kevin WOULD actually behave that way.  I don’t know Keven personally, so I cant say if his whole life is devoted to Politics like Hillary is.. but perhaps for people so consummed by politics like Hillary they would indeed abuse thier office in order to benefit their former affiliations.

    So I wonder is this another example of Leftist Projection.

    Is that right Kevin?  Is it so easy for you to spout your nonsense about Cheney because if you were in his position you would have done the same thing? you would have used your office in order to benefit your politics in a way that exceeds the mandate of your position?  Is that why it’s so easy for fools like you to come up with these silly conspiracy theories?

  7. Kevin’s comments here and under the "Questions for Ms. Hillary" post are so illogical and silly that in a world of children and grown-ups, he is clearly one of the children.  And like a child, he is incapable of rationally discussing the issues without resorting to the accusations he’s seen on bumper stickers and the chants he’s heard at protest rallies.  In his pedestrian world, Cheney = Satan, Profits = Evil, Middle Class Taxpayers = The Rich, and Government Spending = Compassion.  I don’t know why Hillary bothers with speeches because flashcards would work just as well with these mouth-breathing sheep.      FYI, one fact that people like Kevin have absolutely no use for is that Cheney and his wife, from 2000 to 2006, earned $53.8 million.  Of that amount, they gave $15.6 million to charity.  That’s almost 30% of their personal income which is a staggering amount.  Facts like these, however, never factor into Kevin’s "analysis."  They have to keep it simple to have any hope of "participating" in the "debate": Cheney + Successful + Republican = Evil; Hillary + Government Spending = Warm + Fuzzy.  If their thought process were more complex than this, they would be unable to articulate any accurate, nuanced point that might result anyway.  So it’s easier for people like Kevin to blurt out words like "Haliburton!" and "War for Oil!" as if they have Tourette’s until someone finally puts a pacifier in their mouths so the grown-ups can talk.

  8. I feel compelled to come to Kevin’s defense. Kevin lives in a world dominated by other people’s money. The most efficient way of joining the monied people’s club is by grabbing it. The most efficient way under this system of being monied is to hold the position of money grabber. As you rise through the grabbing ranks, your share of the take increases. You also get to decide who gets paid and how much of the take goes toward administration and how much goes toward the "mission." These are honorable and age old traditions among grabbers of other people’s money.

    Think of the UN bureaucrat who must fly to some awful place to provide his input. For the sake of efficiency and protecting the man from the environment, he must be housed, fed, transported and protected in a manner that allows him to concentrate on assessing the situation and making some conditional determinations that he might recommend be further studied.

    Little people just do not understand the rigors of being a noted money grabber. Poor Hillary is spending megamillions of other people’s money to secure a $400,000 a year job. If that isn’t altruism in the raw, then what is?

  9. It’s like Obama’s wife making 300,000 a year from University of Chicago Hospital.

    When Obama complains about out of control medical spending, all he need to do is look at his America-hating wife

  11. Speaking of sugar (and people involved with charity)…..try reading up on the Fanjul brothers of Florida…one a Democrat, the other a Republican, but both with the same ends..  Cheney gave to charity?  BFD.  He’s still a nasty guy who most of America will be happy to see go away next January.
    And as for the idea that the government makes more in taxes than oil companies make in profit – please, let me see a link to documentation that backs up that claim.
    5:  Give me a break:  tax shelters and finding ways to remove money from the US economy is nothing new, nor is it limited based on political party affiliation.  But let’s face it folks – the naked greed we’ve been exposed to for the last 7+ years has put a big spotlight on greed and being that it’s been rich republicans in power for most of that time, then that’s where the light shines most brightly.

  12. Kevin, Kevin, Kevin. I love this line in particular: " the naked greed we’ve been exposed to for the last 7+ years….."   Excuse me, but what naked greed are you talking about? I would be interested in just the top five offenders and what they did.

  13. Heliotrope, I can’t believe Kevin’s razor-sharp analysis wasn’t conclusive enough for you.  He was very clear: War For Oil; War Profiteering; Haliburton; Bush Lied, Kids Died; Money, Money, Money; Evil, Greedy Republicans; Cheney is Nasty.  How could you have missed his point when the light shines most brightly?  Honestly, how many more bumper stickers will it take for you to wake up and connect the dots!?

  14. And as for the idea that the government makes more in taxes than oil companies make in profit – please, let me see a link to documentation that backs up that claim.

    As a pathetic, mewling liberal would say when cornered, "look it up yourself". You have access to Google and since you’re here, I’m guessing you have the aptitude to use it.

    I’m not in the habit of providing for those who are capable of providing for themselves.

  15. Man, I’m almost ashamed to post here seeing what someone has been doing with my name in my absence.

    It’s pretty easy to estimate refinery profits as 1 gallon of gas + 2 gallons of benzene/3 gallons crude. The taxes are a bit trickier as some of them get hidden but I’d bet 5X is a good guess.

    I like the bit about Cheney being a nasty man. I wonder how the other Kevin decided that. From what I can tell, he’s a fairly decent gentleman with an working moral compass, which will immediately make him replusive to most liberal.

    I hate signing this way but Lord knows I don’t want to be associated with the previous comments

  18. Kev,Some of my best fiends were Liberal Artrs majors.It’s asking too much of you to be able to have empathy AND intelligence.Keep up the mediocre work.

  19. TGC, the fact that Kevin would even need to demand documentation to confirm the "obscure secret" that about 20% of the cost of every gallon of gas goes directly to the government only proves how obtuse he is (and clearly intends to remain).  It’s just easier for the precious little hamster wheel spinning in his head to think of "big oil" as some evil, cackling spectre out of JRR Tolkein, whose razor-sharp, blood-stained claws assault him at the gas pump. He pays for the gas and the mean oil company takes all of his money.  To Kevin, that’s the oil business, top to bottom.  And that’s all he has to know to conclude that there is evil afoot–solely because the merchant from whom he purchased a valuable product is exceptionally good at his job. In fact, he doesn’t even need to be a customer of an opportunistic profiteer or gouger to know that there is corruption and fraud taking place–the only requirement is that someone, somewhere in the private sector (healthcare, oil, construction,…) is making a profit.  And the only solution is for government to punish the rabble-rousers by taking away whatever amount they think is fair (in their sole discretion, of course).  Terrifying and outrageous as that sounds to people like us who believe in freedom, the foregoing arrangement sounds perfectly reasonable to someone like Kevin. It gives him absolutely no pause whatsoever.  Only liberal brainwashing this thorough and irreversible could result in the words "record profits" being stated like an obscenity……….

      If Kevin had a job I would ask him, "Kevin, would it make sense to you if 40-50% of your fellow employees HATED YOU simply because you were great at your job and were an excellent employee?  What if all of them went to management and DEMANDED that you be demoted with a reduction in pay because you are BETTER at your job than anyone else?  What if management agreed that your pay should be reduced and that you should be made ‘an example’ to other irritating hard-workers in the company?  Would you continue to work as hard?  Would you stay at that company?  Would you change careers altogether?  Would the demotion and pay cut make sense to you?  How would these circumstances fit within your personal notions of equity and fairness?"………       Liberals are children.  All that matters is what they want right now, and what meanie is keeping it from them.  If they don’t get it, they cry and stamp their feet, scream "I hate you!", tell all their friends that you’re horrible and that they want you to die,…It only differs, in that, THIS childhood is perpetual and never ends with the reward of maturity, independence and mutual respect.  No, it’s just tantrums, 24/7, year after year.

  23. I think Kevin makes way too much money and he should hand over about 20% to me. There ought to be legislation requiring that Kevin give me a portion of his paycheck.

    Oh and his computer too. I’m willing to bet he has a nicer computer than I do. It’s just not fair. Why should he have a better computer and more money?

  24. I agree.  20% and his computer are totally reasonable and they should be handed over immediately.  And if Kevin has the temerity to disagree, we can shine the light most brightly on his naked greed.

  25. Sean A in #13: Gulp! It really is easy to see the list, now that your have pointed it out. I was looking for something less substantial like selling air miles, picking up aluminum cans, eating dog food, winning the lottery, typing envelopes at home in your spare time. I am sure Kevin’s experience as an entrepreneur reaches this level, it not below.

  26. Since Kevin is so in touch with rich people I’ve a question. In 7 short years the Clintons are now worth more than 35 million dollars. How the heck did that happen?  And why haven’t they given most or all of that away to starving Americans, or those who are fearful of not having health care?

  27. This constant bitching by the leftists about the "rich" is impossible. An experiment…what if say the Bahamas advertised a 10% flat income tax to any new residents. What if 20% of our richest citizens moved to the sunny Bahamas and wished all the rest of us "fair well". Kevin and his merry band of leftists would have their safety nets torn to shreds.