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Twice-failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has been keeping a close eye on the 2020 Democrat presidential race. Thus far, Clinton has not endorsed any candidate, and at an event in Portland on Saturday, the former first lady let some of her feelings on the subject be known.
Clinton, along with her daughter Chelsea, was in Portland promoting the pair’s newly released The Book of Gutsy Women. When moderator Cheryl Strayed brought up the subject of 2020, Mrs. Clinton offered up some fresh meat to the friendly crowd.
“All that matters is that we win,” Clinton said. “I hate to be so, you know, simplistic about it. We have to nominate the best…(cough) the best…”
“You!” an audience member shouted, at which Mrs. Clinton laughed and smiled.
“Oh, my. Well, thank you,” Clinton said giddily. “I just feel so strongly that, look, I just want to say a little bit more about this, because what’s going on now with the impeachment inquiry is not a choice it was an obligation under the Constitution.”
As she was flaunting her own involvement in building a case for impeachment against Richard Nixon back in the early 1970s, Clinton spoke about Constitutional protections against a president “who would try to curry favor with foreign powers.”
Mighty strong words for a woman who was instrumental in brokering a deal in which Russia is allowed to own up to 20 percent of American uranium production capacity. A cynical person might say that, with that deal, she was currying favor with a foreign power.
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Clinton also contended that should impeachment move forward, it might garner enough support from House Republicans, “if they vote against [Trump],” to spark a GOP rebellion in the Senate and remove President Trump from office.
“I say all of that because it’s hard to know who’s going to be the best candidate to beat this president, assuming this president is still running,” Clinton said. “I mean, this is a really complicated political environment.”
While saying that there are many good Democrats running for the 2020 nomination, Clinton continued to lay out the case for someone such as herself to possibly move into the fight. “But at the end of the day, there are a lot of forecasters who are saying, ‘look, if the economy stays in good shape and he’s not impeached, or he’s impeached but not convicted, it’s going to be very, very hard [to defeat Trump] because of all the advantages he will have on … suppression and everything else.”
Hillary may just be vainly basking in the knowledge that somebody asked for her opinion on something. Or, she might be making herself available for some sort of “draft Hillary” movement — whether it’s real, imagined, or manufactured. Should Hillary enter the race late, it would be the equivalent of a star athlete skipping training camp with a contract holdout, only to show up when the season begins.
It’s not just the Portland event that portends a possible Clinton run either. Last week, on David Plouffe’s Campaign HQ podcast, Clinton mused that the current Democrat field might contain a “Russian asset” who might attempt a third-party run siphoning votes from the Democrat nominee. Although Clinton declined to name the candidate, it was clear that she meant Representative Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), who is aligned with Democrats on every issue except for U.S. intervention in Syria, and “regime change wars” in general.
Gabbard responded directly in a series of tweets in which she challenged Clinton to run directly. “Great! Thank you, Hillary Clinton. You, the queen of warmongers, embodiment of corruption, and personification of the rot that has sickened the Democratic Party for so long, have finally come out from behind the curtain. From the day I announced my candidacy, there has been a concerted campaign to destroy my reputation. We wondered who was behind it and why. Now we know — it was always you, through your proxies and powerful allies in the corporate media and war machine, afraid of the threat I pose. It’s now clear that this primary is between you and me. Don’t hide behind your proxies. Join the race directly.”
Considering Gabbard’s place in current polls — around one percent according to Real Clear Politics — she isn’t likely to get the Democrat nomination. But a high-profile war with Hillary Clinton could possibly reinvigorate her campaign.
Ultimately, Clinton advised Democrats to “see who emerges” from the primary and insisted, “we have to vet them … because, believe me, they make up stuff about you.”
But no one has to “make up stuff” about Hillary Clinton. There is more than enough factual information available to prove exaclty who she is. As Gabbard correctly pointed out, she is the “embodiment of corruption, and personification of the rot that has sickened the Democratic Party.”
Photo: AP Images
