Good or Bad for the Jews

"Good or Bad for the Jews"

Many years ago, and for many years, I would travel to Morocco to visit uncles, cousins, and my paternal grandmother. Some lived in Tangiers;...

Friday, June 3, 2016

Based on Her Record, Not Qualified to be President

The presumptive, or should I write the presumptuous Democratic party nominee for President, my old boss Hillary Clinton, delivered a foreign policy speech earlier today, June 2, in San Diego. Read it, of course, and decide what you think.

In my view, it is Hillary Clinton's best delivered speech so far (yes, a low bar) and--the parts about foreign policy--would make a fine mainstream address within the parameters of conventional American foreign policy of the past 50 years; well, it would except for one little, itsy-bitsy, easily-overlooked fact, to wit, the person who delivered it.

Hillary Clinton proudly states,  
"I have sat in the Situation Room and advised the President on some of the toughest choices he faced. 
So I’m not new to this work. And I’m proud to run on my record . . ."
And that, my friends, is the IED that blows apart anything else she might have to say. That is the hulking Harambe in the enclosure; the C-4 brick next to the gas tank; the lit match in a gas-filled room. Yes, she has a record! She's running on it! She might as well, I guess, since she can't run from it. In other words, it doesn't matter what else is in her speech, since she has a record we can examine.

And what a record it is!

Way, way back on March 19, 2012, I wrote a little piece, which stated,
The problem with Hillary Clinton's tenure [as SecState], however, is more fundamental than the lack of a doctrine. Secretary Clinton has no knowledge of or interest in foreign affairs. She is bored by the substance; has no appreciation for core US interests, or how to defend them; does not understand the correlation between military power and diplomacy; and fritters time ineffectually on marginal issues, e.g., women in Africa. She has a close entourage of mostly "high powered" women, e.g., Cheryl Mills, who come from her political campaigns, draw top government salaries, have no foreign affairs knowledge, and worry only about the Secretary's image. She has entrusted some key programs to this entourage, and they have made a hash. Cheryl Mills, for example, received overall control of the Haiti relief effort. That assistance effort has stagnated, amuck in a bureaucratic mire where nobody knows the policy, the priorities, or even how much money has been raised and spent and on what. No link exists between our generous contributions to Haiti and even minimal political gain for the US. Haiti's leaders cavort with Castro and Chavez, and regularly oppose us at the UN and the OAS. You're in trouble when even Haiti's leaders know they can defy you openly, and you will still pour in the cash. 
I have seen the Secretary in meetings with staff and foreign dignitaries. She reads her notes, spews out her talking points, and then gets that 1,000 yard stare. She is not at all interested in the goings on. She looks to her staff to extricate her, and tries to leave as quickly as possible. No decisiveness, no standing up for America, just a fatuous empty pantsuit blandness.
That pretty well sums up her tenure in office, except, of course, for that pesky email thing (here and here, for example.) Her record is one of almost unbroken calamity from when she was laundering bribes for her Governor husband in Arkansas, to her time as FLOTUS and her "control of the bimbo eruptions" mandate, her time as an inconsequential Senator, and as a horrific and corrupt Secretary of State.

Not that he needs it, but my advice to Trump would be to ignore what Clinton says and just keep referring to her record.

28 comments:

  1. Like in football when preparing to make a tackle, don't watch the head and shoulder fakes, watch the hips ... unappealing as that is!

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  2. Trump's success so far is built upon setting the agenda and making the running on those issues. He must continue that way; and it will a paradigm shifting error if he allows HRC to deflect him onto other matters. Ignoring what Clinton says is part of the strategy, or should be.

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    1. Trump does seem to 'respond' when his opponents say things, but his response largely doesn't seem to deal with anything they said... I guess he kind of 'characterizes' what was said, to make sure that whatever he's saying is about 'him'. As long as that works, why give an opponent the free bonus of referencing what they said at all? Seems apropos...
      This concept that candidates need to be judged on how their policy & record aligns with the voter's opinions is just garbage. Hillary's going to 'run on her record' and on telling people what her pollsters think they want to hear.. these are going to be her biggest weaknesses.

      - reader #1482

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  3. Trump Press conference:
    Reporter: You've called us losers to our faces........
    Trump: https://youtu.be/O8RhZDGLEXM
    It goes for Hillary too....

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  4. It's not just Hillary's record of achieving nothing as SoS. It's not even that "pesky email thing." It's the chutzpah of citing her experience in the Situation Room, which she & Obama didn't even bother to use the night Benghazi went down, leaving our personnel there to fight for their lives alone. Hillary and Obama didn't send them any help, even though a rescue team was spun up and waiting for orders at Aviano Air Base.

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    1. The Africom commander was relieved before he could launch a mission to Benghazi. That night, as I have read.
      http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/robbins-report/2012/oct/28/general-losing-his-job-over-benghazi/

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  5. "For many it remains a mystery just why Washington decided that Qaddafi personally must be destroyed, murdered, not just sent into exile like Mubarak. Clinton, when informed of Qaddafi’s brutal murder by US-financed Al Qaeda “democratic opposition” terrorists, told CBS news, in a sick, joking paraphrase of Julius Caesar, “We came, we saw, he died,” words spoken by her with a hearty ..."

    http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/clinton-on-qaddafi-we-came-we-saw-he-died/

    http://journal-neo.org/2016/03/17/hillary-emails-gold-dinars-and-arab-springs/

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  6. Probably my greatest concern about electing Trump, is that it leaves the 'historic first female president bonus' for Fauxcahontas.
    - reader #1482

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    1. Fauxcahontas, 1482?

      Join the belittling club, fun ain't it?

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    2. entirely based upon her claim of native american heritage.
      it's referencing something that is part of the problem, whereas 'pantsuit' references gender. Sorry, just my opinion... i recommend poking fun, but poking fun at the problem.

      - reader #1482

      - reader #1482

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    3. I believe we were discussing halfrican, not pantsuit.

      nevertheless.....welcome to the club.

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    4. halfrican implies that some problems with Obama are related to him being 'half something' and/or 'african'. that is not remotely the case.
      problems with warren indeed do stem from her disingenuousness regarding her heritage and her willingness to lie for perceived gain.

      Maybe it's not a valid distinction? My guess is that it's valid, but that's because I react pretty negatively to poking fun in ways that aren't related to a person's relevant weakness.

      - reader #1482

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  7. I too hope Hilliary runs on her record, perhaps she will retell the story of her wonderful "service" to the USA, exiting from her plane in Serbia while snipers fired. That one never gets old, and speaks volumes about her trustworthiness.
    I see today that Madeleine Albright has been raised from her crypt to declare "Emails never killed anybody" which leads me to wonder aloud why secure communication is required in government at all.
    All-in-all, with the Cheryl Mills lie-a-minute testimony, and remembering the great intellect of Jen Psaki and Victoria Nuland one gets the impression that State is a creche for females on training wheels, their abilities seeming to be far below the level of a McDonalds floor sweeper.
    Then again, when the halfrican has to be the smartest guy in the room one can see how these harridans get hired.

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    1. Some of us use the term "Sheltered Workshop."

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    2. Hmmmm, thank you for the agreement, I guess. I see what you are trying to convey, but sorry......not funny.

      I have the greatest respect for mentally challenged people who don their work clothes, steel toe boots and hard hat and work to the best of their abilities everyday. I would never compare them to the perfumed, dimbulbs that State tolerates.

      That is not a putdown, I just don't think the words were well chosen, have been known to do the same thing myself.

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    3. E-mails never killed anyone. In my high school ESOL social studies classes I teach, I have some rather unhappy kids from both Iraq and Afghanistan. I wonder if their families weren't "outed" by the "brave" defiance of national security rules by people like Snowden, hacking by Assange's cronies, or the carelessness of Shrillary Shroooooo as people who worked for us, and subsequently had to be extracted lest someone wreak vengeance on them?

      No, Maddy Notbright, e-mails probably do kill, and have killed. Also, your MSM friends' culture of encouraging the people who let Moscow, Beijing, ISIS, and whoever know everything that Washington has been trying to keep secret has probably endangered every Afghan who ever tried to help us.

      Cascadian, State is full of people who try to impress each other with how brilliant they are, and who often end up showing themselves downright silly. I'll also note that you're probably right that State has a number of women on training wheels who aren't worth the powder to prettify their noses. But there are also good, highly intelligent people in the outfit--including many who are astute enough to realize that the prejudices instilled by an education at a prestigious American university may require shedding in the real world.

      Shrillary Shrooooo would look good in an orange jumpsuit.

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  8. I thought a bit about what position Hillary is qualified to hold. It dawned on me, that with her unique skill set and expertise she would be a great president of FIFA.

    Years of graft and pay to play experience. Check!
    Money laundering. Check!
    Knowing how to solicit and accept bribes. Check!

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    1. "president of FIFA." A sport that one year didn't have a car pass once in competition all season. Perfect!
      James the Lesser

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    2. Think soccer, though i'd rather not.

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    3. Think soccer, though i'd rather not.

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  9. "That assistance effort has stagnated, amuck in a bureaucratic mire where nobody knows the policy, the priorities, or even how much money has been raised and spent and on what. "

    That is a feature, not a bug. Hillary's brother has run the slush fund and money laundering operation so well that nobody knows where the money went. The Haiti telephone company disappeared into the maw of Clinton cronies. It goes on and on.

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  10. I'm stumped. What is she qualified to be?

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    1. As many have noted, Dip, she'd look good in either orange or zebra stripes.

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  11. At last a military man willing to tell the truth-Hilliary should be jailed......http://www.breitbart.com/2016-presidential-race/2016/06/04/exclusive-general-jerry-boykin-on-hillary-exposing-intelligence-sources-lives-have-been-endangered-punishable-by-jail-time/

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    1. that's indeed a biggie... seemed likely to happen... to people really want a President presiding over a criminal investigation into their former time at state? Regardless of where people stand on her likely guilt or innocence, this investigation is from a friendly whitehouse... it's not going away.

      - reader #1482

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  12. Not impossible, but not a fait accompli either.

    - reade #1482

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  13. "Her record is one of almost unbroken calamity from when she was laundering bribes for her Governor husband in Arkansas, to her time as FLOTUS and her "control of the bimbo eruptions" mandate, her time as an inconsequential Senator, and as a horrific and corrupt Secretary of State."

    Be fair. She was laundering bribes for her husband before he became governor. She was already an accomplished bagman when he was a mere attorney general.

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