Hillary was fatally wrong to buy her own PR and ignore the Electoral College map - let alone refuse to mend fences with the African American voters she'd insulted with her primary insults to Barack Obama and the progressive voters livid at her DNC scheming against Bernie Sanders. Her 'I can't lose' messaging and sloppy campaign gave many voters, who might otherwise have held their nose to vote for her, an excuse to sit on their hands.
How do I know - I volunteered almost full time for six months to get her elected.
You tried, Lin. Thank you. She had it in the bag, against an entertainer with no government experience who smeared and bullied his way through the R field. Anti-American views, anti-human views. Should have been a cake walk were it not for Russians, bots, Facebook, and treachery. Oh, I forgot to add “deplorables.”
"She had it in the bag ...were it not for “deplorables.”"
Deplorables on all sides. Including the Bernie Bros, Steinherds, and Dirtbags.
Third party pipe dreams and Pied Pipers. Left wing extremists betting on if Trump makes things bad enough then 'come the revolution' no matter the irreparable harm to our most vulnerable neighbors and our fragile planet.
HRC did not have it in the bag. She & her people were over confident.
Trump had an advisor who told him which states he needed to visit in the last week of the campaign where the vote was very close. Clinton's staff missed both the closeness of the vote in those three states & why Trump visited them.
Len, I agree with you that overconfidence was a large factor. The were many factors beyond my short list, including what Jeri Chilcutt replied about Rupert orienting his media machine in idjt's favor. In the end, it is a wonder that Hillary did well in spite of everything by taking the popular vote. I admit to Feeling the Bern in the primary; but fearing I would be doing a 'Ralph Nader' by siphoning off a vote for Hillary in the General if I wrote in Bernie, I joined my wife by voting for HRC. We both realized that it would be disastrously close. Just too many factors -- from within and withoit.
Not for a nanosecond, he ditched Jeb like a hot potato, and switched his evil to matching evil. Why tfg was quoted as saying that Rupert treated him way better than Roger Ailes ever did…
I'm not Hillary's biggest fan and I voted for Bernie in the 2016 primary but even I understand why the DNC wouldn't favor a non Democratic candidate who spent the majority of his political career smearing Dems and making everything about classism to the exclusion of racism over a candidate that in her earlier years was crucified for trying to get affordable, quality healthcare legislation passed. That footnote should have been your first clue that it wasn't Democrats who were holding up progress, but the Republican cum defacto Libertarian party.
Agree. Unless Bernie won by at least 20 million votes he would have been blocked by leaders on both sides. Look what beloved Biden is dealing with! Another clue: the Republicans called Hillary every name in the book, except racist.
I'm pretty sure the competitions between Obama vs Clinton and Clinton vs Sanders are the most interesting and pivotal primaries in American history and will someday be fodder for alternative history fiction.
Richard, To get a closer look at the Libertarian Party check out what the Koch Bros. have done to this country and Charles is still at it. Have you read Dark Money? The Libertarian Party that I'm familiar with is not 'light' in the least.
Christopher Hitchens “I have always thought it quaint and rather touching that there is a movement (Libertarian) in the US that thinks Americans are not yet selfish enough.”
I have a spreadsheet containing links to articles, blogs and most every video on youtube about them. I am a walking talking anti #KochNetwork carnival barker 24/7.
No, I haven't yet read "Dark Money," but I shall. It's been highly recommended. Jane Mayer has another book for us to read: "Dark Side."
Here is a book I am currently reading that I recommend: "Viviremos: Venezuela vs. Hybrid War". "Viviremos" means "We will live!" It's a book of essays edited by Claudia De La Cruz, Manolo De Los Santos & Vijay Prashad. Interestingly, "Viay" means "Victory." Published in 2020 by International Publishers & Left Word Books. A complete listing of IP Books is available at intpubnyc.com; Email: service@intpubnyc.com; Phone: 212-366-9820.
Yeah, if only she had pandered to the 80,000 white supremacists in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, she would have won the Electoral College *and* the popular vote.
If only Clinton had built bridges instead of burning them. If only she hadn't taken the allegiance (frayed by Clinton neoliberalism and Clinton arrogance) of a wide swath of historically Democratic voters for granted - while ignoring Democratic and swing states to go to Texas.
Right-wing economists took America for a ride. That is where the blame belongs, and the GOP. The Silent Generation, ironically, especially fell hook, line and sinker for right wing talking points and raised their offspring - my peers - to believe the same garbage.
She lost for a lot of reasons, some of her own making and some not. The main ones: third-party candidates, James Comey (though rogue agents in NYC would have leaked), and never visiting Wisconsin. And who wouldn't have been overconfident against TFG and his blantant immorality?
Hillary's campaign was her biggest problem, however, her strong support of the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, which, Bill Clinton, signed into law, didn't help. The legislation has been justifiably criticized for sending a disproportionate numbers of African-Americans to prison. In addition, her "superpredators" line didn't win friends in the Black community. In full context, Hillary's '...superpredtors' did link children and superpredators, but nowhere in the speech did she directly label African-American youth this way.' (PolitiFact) Hillary was carrying more baggage than was justified, but she did not have the wherewithal to handle it
Many leaders of the Black Community at the time supported the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act. Republicans also enthusiastically voted for it. The only way to blame it all on Hillary is to take it out of context and with no understanding of the times in which that event occurred. Looking back, I'm sure we're all at fault for something. If only we knew then what we know now.
Tracy, the beliefs and hopes of Black Leaders concerning the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act in 1993-94 does not speak to its impact, given systemic racism, on Black people between 1995 and 2015. In addition, there was strong opposition in liberal circles to Bill Clinton's Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. Hillary supported two major pieces of legislation, which hurt a lot of people more than helping them. The point that I tried to make was that HRC was carrying Bill Clinton's baggage as well as her own -- not making a case against Hillary, just noting a few more issues that lessened her popularity with an important segment of Democratic voters.
I agree 100% that its consequences were devastating. After Reagan, the noose start tightening again around many freedoms we were taking for granted but mostly around the Black community. No doubt about it. Also agree that Hillary was carrying a lot of baggage. My main point is that she wasn't just carrying her baggage but all those belonging to a lot of men who were equally complicit. Again, I wasn't her biggest fan but stopping trump and the racists in the R party has been my agenda since I start voting after Reagan.
I feel somewhat guilty, but, but, quite often I feel like the idiots who didn't vote for Secretary Clinton, deserve what they got, and are getting. Of course, I refer to the voters on the democratic side. They seem to believe if the candidate is not perfect, either vote for the other side or don't vote.
I was a strong Sanders supporter in '16, and quite pissed when he didn't get the nomination. However, I voted for Clinton in the general, and I urged others to do so. It was obvious to me that Trump was a bad person, and that his presidency would be a disaster.
Yes, I think of that photo, too. Just being placed at the same table with Flynn, much less with Putin himself. But ex-KGB man Putin would have made the seating arrangements, wouldn't he?
Don't like Stein at all. I was invited to a house party hosted by Green Party voters after the 2018 midterms when Stacey Abrams lost. My friend didn't mention who was hosting it until we'd almost arrived, otherwise I would have said no thanks. I ended up meeting some of the nicest people and was kicking myself for being so judgmental, until the end of the night when the host started telling me about chem trails and Benghazi. I was so disappointed. Nice or not, they're seriously misguided and selfish for creating voter apathy in the minds of people who don't know any better, and I will never forgive them for that.
Not sure what Stein has to do with this house party (see my post directly above). But as a neighbor, I can tell you that after the '16 election, she kept an extremely low profile, and I suspect she was keeping her distance from the Green Party after that.
Stein, who is a neighbor of mine, is simply naive and a magical thinker. She didn't need money. Her husband is a transplant surgeon and transplant surgeons are very well paid. (He's also a really good, decent guy fwiw). And they don't drive fancy cars, or have fancy stuff.
Hillary and her elite advisors could have won in a breeze if they had gone to the hollers and hoods and listened to those people and convinced them to come out and vote for her. But no, she had to go to rich places like the Hamptons to raise money. In her book, she was foolish to blame Jill Stein and others for her loss.
The campaign had some blind spots. But it was a tough call with Humpty Dumpty running his presidential campaign like a cheap school yard bully/comedy show.
But doing so, ever so shrewdly. Perhaps we were all too slow to catch on to that last part?
DT tapped into the rage that was bubbling close to the surface. He spoke to it. His hate matched theirs. How could Hillary have counteracted that? She was a representative of the 'elite. We didn't suspect how much she was despised. I didn't think she was a good choice to begin with. Obama made a serious mistake. Perhaps, Biden could have beaten Trump in 2016. No sense going back. We had very serious problems before Trump and Facebook whipped them up.
I think you are right. When I first read your email, I thought you were talking about when Hubert Humphrey lost to Nixon. In that case, Vice President to Lindon Johnson Humphrey has stood by Lindon's side loyally. If he had pushed that he was really against the Vietnam war, he might actually have beaten "I am not a crook." Just imagine how different things might have turned out.
TC I know that you are well aware of all the crazy things that have been said about the Clintons. Then came Banghazi. Because of all the baggage that came with her, why did the Dem’s think she had a good shot at the ‘Office ‘ ? Honestly, I just felt like you couldn’t have chosen a more toxic person. Because of that idea, her being friends with TFG. I honestly thought he ran for the benefit of her. He was a Dem so he had to change parties. Likewise his kids. They forgot to change their party and couldn’t vote for him in the primaries .So is George Conway, Kellyanne’s husband really against TFG ? They have an Apt. in Trump Towers. How could a marriage hold up under all that ? Anyway I just felt like we were doomed right out the gate with Hillary. If the Dem’s are the “Deep State “ it appears the Kettle is calling the pot black.
MARCIA LET’S GET BENGHAZI STRAIGHT Diplomating can be a dangerous profession. As a Foreign Service Officer, I know. In the Congo our embassy was the former consulate general with huge plate glass windows and total exposure. The Regional Security Officer from Beirut said that we could hold the embassy against a large-crowd-attack for ‘30 seconds.’ When I was deposited alone from a C-130 or C-46 with a M-16 and/or .45 in rebel-infested Congolese provinces, I did not bring along snorkeling gear with my magazine clips.
Libya was a turbulent place with multiple groups fighting one another. Ambassador Stevens, fluent in Arabic, was extremely knowledgeable about the fluid situation. He chose to visit Benghazi, where we had a small consulate and a larger CIA facility near by. While Ambassador Stevens was there, a large crowd , some with sophisticated arms, assembled. Then an attack was triggered. Help was sought from the near-by CIA facility. The Navy was contacted, but nothing immediate could arrive to intervene in this fire fight. There were a few American deaths, including the ambassador, who had suffocated in the room when he had taken refuge.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had absolutely no operational involvement in the “Benghazi affair.’ The situation flashed up and the ambassador died. One could wildly hypothesize that the failure of Congress to provide more funds to re-enforce diplomatic facilities made a difference, but a priority of re-enforcing a small consulate in Benghazi wouldn’t make the ‘top 200’ list. We’ve had our embassy in Nairobi badly bombed, at least four ambassadors killed in the past forty years, and I expect further Foreign Service casualties. However, more people have been gunned down in Chicago in one night than we have lost Foreign Service Officers over the past 60 years.
Frederick SPOT ON! We have Heather to provide sharp daily focus with historical suspenders. The Republicans have been sharply focused—the Federalist Society on the judiciary since 1970, several scum bum outfits that provide voting suppression text bills to Republican attorney generals, etc. Meanwhile, the Democrats seem like a herd of squalling cats on whom the media feast. President Biden is on the cusp of two historic physical and social infrastructure laws. The media’s focus is diverted to the infighting of crafting a compromise bill. Remember “It’s the economy stupid” in 1992? Every thing that President Biden has being accomplishing AND THE REPUBLICANS HAVE BEEN AGAINST AND SABOTAGING can be posted on a single page. KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID! Clear message and staccato repetition.
Progressives simply refuse to address EVERYTHING as a matter of “Insuring Liberty and Justice for All, because our economy DOES NOT”. Capitalism works for a few, but health, safety and protection are the domain of government, our DEMOCRACY. Government must insure our liberties are not violated.
Good government = Good Democracy = Good Government.
I’m in discussion with leaders of two statewide referenda campaign here for 2022, 1) universal health care and 2) universal green electric grid provided by a publicly owned entity. NEITHER campaign can see they are a part of a Build Back Better plan. They both “demand” to go it alone, and therefore compete with dueling messages, campaigns, etc.
I’m as frustrated with Bernie and Liz Warren and Dems for being stupid about using dynamic language, as I am angry about the cons using incredible language to maintain stupidity. We’re stupid out of our ignorance, and their stupid out of their intentionality.
WHICH i more dangerous?! THANK GOD JOE BIDEN GETS IT: Build Back Better. Which, still, could use a moral imperative, such as I have provided with the progressive creed, stated in our Pledge of Allegiance
Thank you Keith for the succinct and forceful Benghazi explanation.
I am ever grateful for the Substack platform where I can find such exceptional commentary as LTAA and the accompanying commentary. I have found no newspaper or magazine with such relevant and knowledgeable information as this forum which makes the historical events of the day understandable and gives them a place in history.
It is however so frustrating to me that I cannot get friends to show enthusiasm. I occasionally forward one or at most two columns to friends in the hope of generating outrage, conversation or I’d even settle for interest. The real hope is that they too will become subscribers but so far only blanks. The friends I’ve approached have been Doctors and Lawyers and such. I think I’ll go back to cowboys. Willie would listen.
Thank you for this, Keith. I sincerely wish there was a way for you to put this comment out there for all to see. It is a succinct and clear explanation about what happened in Benghazi and what foreign service professionals may face in the course of their work.
Daria I posted much of this in NYT comments but, frankly, I don’t think that a great proportion of Americans give a damn about the sacrifices made by people who serve them and their country. As a rambunctious Political Officer in Chile, I was targeted by the Communist press, had over a dozen attempted house break ins, was given a gun to ‘deal with’ intruders, and, for four months, had a police guard protecting me and my family. I felt simply that this went with the territory.
PTSD is a major problem in our country. (I twice experienced PTSD—once as an aftermath of my dad, stepmother, and brother disappearing in the Bermuda Triangle and again as an aftermath of some horrific experiences in the Congo) It is serious.
After Vietnam, the impact of PTSD was generally brushed aside, after many volunteers and draftees were affected from their experiences. More attention is given to Iraq/Afghanistan PTSD, but the general public seems more concerned with football concussions. PTSD is a humongous problem for many of the hospital workers who have dealt with a never-ending crush of Covid-19/Delta patients. They are the latest casualties of front-line personnel serving our country. Who cares?????
Keith, I've given considerable thought to your response to my comment. First, I cannot imagine losing family members in a marine accident of that nature. The uncertainty and lack of closure must have been stunning. Then the Congo. No words. I am grateful for your strength and resilience.
You are right. There are millions of people who pay lip service to patriotism and claim to honor those who serve, whether in uniform or in civil service, yet when asked to show respect and concern for them, turn their backs and make excuses saying their freedom is being compromised, no new taxes, the price tag to support or pay these servants is too great. You sacrificed much. I'm grateful for your dedication and service to the country.
I have lost family members in service to our country. There are 4 generations of family members, including siblings, who spent their careers in federal civil service, each of them proud of the contribution they made to our country every day. Yet one of the things they heard day in and out was thatat they were "only" government employees... Yes, government employees who were only involved in troop movement, dental and cancer research, infrastructure, law enforcement, human genome research, and more. They were only government employees. You and they were and are the backbone of the United States.
Daria I applaud your relatives who paid the ultimate price in serving our country. I and many others do this because we feel obliged to do what is right in being an integral part of our country. The latest heroes are the hospital workers who have far exceeded what could be expected of them because they place humanity above themselves. Our country will survive and stand proud with such selfless heroes, who expect no special recognition.
Hillary was a skilled politician, a big thinker and a team player. She actively supported other woman who in turn supported her. But, no one could survive the sustained barrage of character assassination they subjected her to for decades.
They turned her into an ugly caricature and many fell for it.
Yes, “they” the ones hiding behind acronyms and “non profits” plotting their next move.
I had a neighbor say she couldn’t vote for Hillary because Bill got a blow job while in office and she stayed with him. In the next sentence she dismissed “grab em by the Pussy” and said he was wonderful. When even women dismiss those actions you know there’s something fundamentally wrong with them. I can’t even have a civil conversation with this woman anymore. You don’t blame women for men’s behavior!
Look at the blame thrown at a girl or woman after they have been raped or harassed! Remember? did they dress inappropriately - was that why it happened? Couldnt possibly be the boy/man to blame!
Your neighbor just wasn't going to admit the truth - she refused to vote for a "socialist" Democrat, but she was willing to vote for TFG, as flawed as he was, because he was a Rethuglican.
She honestly thought the way he treated women was acceptable. I argued with her for an hour. I asked how she’d feel if that were her daughters or granddaughters being treated that way and she thought her grandsons should do that to other women. I was appalled. She goes to church and Bible study all the time.
I keep thinking about George Conway. His behaviors have always raised my suspicions. I wanted to believe, but how exactly could a lawyer and Trump’s steadiest unwavering adviser coexist? That remains my question. ❤️🤍💙
John and Martha Mitchell? (For you young ‘ens, John Mitchell had been attorney general under Nixon and would take a bullet for his leader. Martha felt that Nixon was setting up her husband to take the fall for Watergate. She went ballistic and secret service men had to rip the phone out of the wall to stop her babbling. John went to jail for about two years.)
I believe the 'Deep State’ refers to civil service professionals who simply do their duty, which oftent is NOT to the linking of the seditionist conservatives. Correct me if I am wrong
Sedition and treason. I call Paul Gosar and Marjorie Greene and question if they were a past of a treasonous act.
Actually, I do not care about what conservatives call us, because it diverts my attention away from the vital issue of spreading our message (which we do not have)
Remember how everyone laughed when Hillary Clinton called out "this vast right wing conspiracy" during the Clinton impeachment? She was right.
She was right about everything.
Sheesh! Clinton cult of personality much?
Hillary was fatally wrong to buy her own PR and ignore the Electoral College map - let alone refuse to mend fences with the African American voters she'd insulted with her primary insults to Barack Obama and the progressive voters livid at her DNC scheming against Bernie Sanders. Her 'I can't lose' messaging and sloppy campaign gave many voters, who might otherwise have held their nose to vote for her, an excuse to sit on their hands.
How do I know - I volunteered almost full time for six months to get her elected.
You tried, Lin. Thank you. She had it in the bag, against an entertainer with no government experience who smeared and bullied his way through the R field. Anti-American views, anti-human views. Should have been a cake walk were it not for Russians, bots, Facebook, and treachery. Oh, I forgot to add “deplorables.”
Thank You. Myself and a cast of thousands tried.
"She had it in the bag ...were it not for “deplorables.”"
Deplorables on all sides. Including the Bernie Bros, Steinherds, and Dirtbags.
Third party pipe dreams and Pied Pipers. Left wing extremists betting on if Trump makes things bad enough then 'come the revolution' no matter the irreparable harm to our most vulnerable neighbors and our fragile planet.
We know the GOP.
'Know thyself', not so much - until 2020.
HRC did not have it in the bag. She & her people were over confident.
Trump had an advisor who told him which states he needed to visit in the last week of the campaign where the vote was very close. Clinton's staff missed both the closeness of the vote in those three states & why Trump visited them.
Len, I agree with you that overconfidence was a large factor. The were many factors beyond my short list, including what Jeri Chilcutt replied about Rupert orienting his media machine in idjt's favor. In the end, it is a wonder that Hillary did well in spite of everything by taking the popular vote. I admit to Feeling the Bern in the primary; but fearing I would be doing a 'Ralph Nader' by siphoning off a vote for Hillary in the General if I wrote in Bernie, I joined my wife by voting for HRC. We both realized that it would be disastrously close. Just too many factors -- from within and withoit.
You forgot that Rupert switched to tfg
Not for a nanosecond, he ditched Jeb like a hot potato, and switched his evil to matching evil. Why tfg was quoted as saying that Rupert treated him way better than Roger Ailes ever did…
Trump is a brilliant con man who will do anything to get his way.
Much more than an entertainer. Don't underestimate him. He could be President again in 2024.
I'm not Hillary's biggest fan and I voted for Bernie in the 2016 primary but even I understand why the DNC wouldn't favor a non Democratic candidate who spent the majority of his political career smearing Dems and making everything about classism to the exclusion of racism over a candidate that in her earlier years was crucified for trying to get affordable, quality healthcare legislation passed. That footnote should have been your first clue that it wasn't Democrats who were holding up progress, but the Republican cum defacto Libertarian party.
Agree. Unless Bernie won by at least 20 million votes he would have been blocked by leaders on both sides. Look what beloved Biden is dealing with! Another clue: the Republicans called Hillary every name in the book, except racist.
I'm pretty sure the competitions between Obama vs Clinton and Clinton vs Sanders are the most interesting and pivotal primaries in American history and will someday be fodder for alternative history fiction.
I've always know the Libertarian Party as "Republican Light." You ain't a gonna get them to vote for Democratic candidates.
Richard, To get a closer look at the Libertarian Party check out what the Koch Bros. have done to this country and Charles is still at it. Have you read Dark Money? The Libertarian Party that I'm familiar with is not 'light' in the least.
Christopher Hitchens “I have always thought it quaint and rather touching that there is a movement (Libertarian) in the US that thinks Americans are not yet selfish enough.”
I have a spreadsheet containing links to articles, blogs and most every video on youtube about them. I am a walking talking anti #KochNetwork carnival barker 24/7.
No, I haven't yet read "Dark Money," but I shall. It's been highly recommended. Jane Mayer has another book for us to read: "Dark Side."
Here is a book I am currently reading that I recommend: "Viviremos: Venezuela vs. Hybrid War". "Viviremos" means "We will live!" It's a book of essays edited by Claudia De La Cruz, Manolo De Los Santos & Vijay Prashad. Interestingly, "Viay" means "Victory." Published in 2020 by International Publishers & Left Word Books. A complete listing of IP Books is available at intpubnyc.com; Email: service@intpubnyc.com; Phone: 212-366-9820.
Brilliant....
Yeah, if only she had pandered to the 80,000 white supremacists in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, she would have won the Electoral College *and* the popular vote.
If only Clinton had built bridges instead of burning them. If only she hadn't taken the allegiance (frayed by Clinton neoliberalism and Clinton arrogance) of a wide swath of historically Democratic voters for granted - while ignoring Democratic and swing states to go to Texas.
Right-wing economists took America for a ride. That is where the blame belongs, and the GOP. The Silent Generation, ironically, especially fell hook, line and sinker for right wing talking points and raised their offspring - my peers - to believe the same garbage.
She lost for a lot of reasons, some of her own making and some not. The main ones: third-party candidates, James Comey (though rogue agents in NYC would have leaked), and never visiting Wisconsin. And who wouldn't have been overconfident against TFG and his blantant immorality?
Hillary's campaign was her biggest problem, however, her strong support of the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, which, Bill Clinton, signed into law, didn't help. The legislation has been justifiably criticized for sending a disproportionate numbers of African-Americans to prison. In addition, her "superpredators" line didn't win friends in the Black community. In full context, Hillary's '...superpredtors' did link children and superpredators, but nowhere in the speech did she directly label African-American youth this way.' (PolitiFact) Hillary was carrying more baggage than was justified, but she did not have the wherewithal to handle it
Many leaders of the Black Community at the time supported the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act. Republicans also enthusiastically voted for it. The only way to blame it all on Hillary is to take it out of context and with no understanding of the times in which that event occurred. Looking back, I'm sure we're all at fault for something. If only we knew then what we know now.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/analysis-black-leaders-supported-clinton-s-crime-bill-n552961
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2016/02/why-many-black-politicians-backed-the-1994-crime-bill-championed-by-the-clintons.html
Tracy, the beliefs and hopes of Black Leaders concerning the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act in 1993-94 does not speak to its impact, given systemic racism, on Black people between 1995 and 2015. In addition, there was strong opposition in liberal circles to Bill Clinton's Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. Hillary supported two major pieces of legislation, which hurt a lot of people more than helping them. The point that I tried to make was that HRC was carrying Bill Clinton's baggage as well as her own -- not making a case against Hillary, just noting a few more issues that lessened her popularity with an important segment of Democratic voters.
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/complex-history-controversial-1994-crime-bill
I agree 100% that its consequences were devastating. After Reagan, the noose start tightening again around many freedoms we were taking for granted but mostly around the Black community. No doubt about it. Also agree that Hillary was carrying a lot of baggage. My main point is that she wasn't just carrying her baggage but all those belonging to a lot of men who were equally complicit. Again, I wasn't her biggest fan but stopping trump and the racists in the R party has been my agenda since I start voting after Reagan.
I feel somewhat guilty, but, but, quite often I feel like the idiots who didn't vote for Secretary Clinton, deserve what they got, and are getting. Of course, I refer to the voters on the democratic side. They seem to believe if the candidate is not perfect, either vote for the other side or don't vote.
I was a strong Sanders supporter in '16, and quite pissed when he didn't get the nomination. However, I voted for Clinton in the general, and I urged others to do so. It was obvious to me that Trump was a bad person, and that his presidency would be a disaster.
Jill Stein didn't help, either. I wonder whose payroll she's on.
What the heck was Jill Stein’s agenda anyway? This photo is what I think of when I think of her. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/why-are-senate-russia-investigators-interested-jill-stein-n831261
Yes, I think of that photo, too. Just being placed at the same table with Flynn, much less with Putin himself. But ex-KGB man Putin would have made the seating arrangements, wouldn't he?
Don't like Stein at all. I was invited to a house party hosted by Green Party voters after the 2018 midterms when Stacey Abrams lost. My friend didn't mention who was hosting it until we'd almost arrived, otherwise I would have said no thanks. I ended up meeting some of the nicest people and was kicking myself for being so judgmental, until the end of the night when the host started telling me about chem trails and Benghazi. I was so disappointed. Nice or not, they're seriously misguided and selfish for creating voter apathy in the minds of people who don't know any better, and I will never forgive them for that.
Not sure what Stein has to do with this house party (see my post directly above). But as a neighbor, I can tell you that after the '16 election, she kept an extremely low profile, and I suspect she was keeping her distance from the Green Party after that.
Stein, who is a neighbor of mine, is simply naive and a magical thinker. She didn't need money. Her husband is a transplant surgeon and transplant surgeons are very well paid. (He's also a really good, decent guy fwiw). And they don't drive fancy cars, or have fancy stuff.
"Waiting for the unicorn."
Hillary and her elite advisors could have won in a breeze if they had gone to the hollers and hoods and listened to those people and convinced them to come out and vote for her. But no, she had to go to rich places like the Hamptons to raise money. In her book, she was foolish to blame Jill Stein and others for her loss.
The campaign had some blind spots. But it was a tough call with Humpty Dumpty running his presidential campaign like a cheap school yard bully/comedy show.
But doing so, ever so shrewdly. Perhaps we were all too slow to catch on to that last part?
DT tapped into the rage that was bubbling close to the surface. He spoke to it. His hate matched theirs. How could Hillary have counteracted that? She was a representative of the 'elite. We didn't suspect how much she was despised. I didn't think she was a good choice to begin with. Obama made a serious mistake. Perhaps, Biden could have beaten Trump in 2016. No sense going back. We had very serious problems before Trump and Facebook whipped them up.
I think you are right. When I first read your email, I thought you were talking about when Hubert Humphrey lost to Nixon. In that case, Vice President to Lindon Johnson Humphrey has stood by Lindon's side loyally. If he had pushed that he was really against the Vietnam war, he might actually have beaten "I am not a crook." Just imagine how different things might have turned out.
And she still is.
F’ing A right she was!
TC I know that you are well aware of all the crazy things that have been said about the Clintons. Then came Banghazi. Because of all the baggage that came with her, why did the Dem’s think she had a good shot at the ‘Office ‘ ? Honestly, I just felt like you couldn’t have chosen a more toxic person. Because of that idea, her being friends with TFG. I honestly thought he ran for the benefit of her. He was a Dem so he had to change parties. Likewise his kids. They forgot to change their party and couldn’t vote for him in the primaries .So is George Conway, Kellyanne’s husband really against TFG ? They have an Apt. in Trump Towers. How could a marriage hold up under all that ? Anyway I just felt like we were doomed right out the gate with Hillary. If the Dem’s are the “Deep State “ it appears the Kettle is calling the pot black.
MARCIA LET’S GET BENGHAZI STRAIGHT Diplomating can be a dangerous profession. As a Foreign Service Officer, I know. In the Congo our embassy was the former consulate general with huge plate glass windows and total exposure. The Regional Security Officer from Beirut said that we could hold the embassy against a large-crowd-attack for ‘30 seconds.’ When I was deposited alone from a C-130 or C-46 with a M-16 and/or .45 in rebel-infested Congolese provinces, I did not bring along snorkeling gear with my magazine clips.
Libya was a turbulent place with multiple groups fighting one another. Ambassador Stevens, fluent in Arabic, was extremely knowledgeable about the fluid situation. He chose to visit Benghazi, where we had a small consulate and a larger CIA facility near by. While Ambassador Stevens was there, a large crowd , some with sophisticated arms, assembled. Then an attack was triggered. Help was sought from the near-by CIA facility. The Navy was contacted, but nothing immediate could arrive to intervene in this fire fight. There were a few American deaths, including the ambassador, who had suffocated in the room when he had taken refuge.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had absolutely no operational involvement in the “Benghazi affair.’ The situation flashed up and the ambassador died. One could wildly hypothesize that the failure of Congress to provide more funds to re-enforce diplomatic facilities made a difference, but a priority of re-enforcing a small consulate in Benghazi wouldn’t make the ‘top 200’ list. We’ve had our embassy in Nairobi badly bombed, at least four ambassadors killed in the past forty years, and I expect further Foreign Service casualties. However, more people have been gunned down in Chicago in one night than we have lost Foreign Service Officers over the past 60 years.
Conservatives simply framed the 2016 about Hillary. We have NO frame, so even horrible message beats no message at all, and we have NO message
Frederick SPOT ON! We have Heather to provide sharp daily focus with historical suspenders. The Republicans have been sharply focused—the Federalist Society on the judiciary since 1970, several scum bum outfits that provide voting suppression text bills to Republican attorney generals, etc. Meanwhile, the Democrats seem like a herd of squalling cats on whom the media feast. President Biden is on the cusp of two historic physical and social infrastructure laws. The media’s focus is diverted to the infighting of crafting a compromise bill. Remember “It’s the economy stupid” in 1992? Every thing that President Biden has being accomplishing AND THE REPUBLICANS HAVE BEEN AGAINST AND SABOTAGING can be posted on a single page. KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID! Clear message and staccato repetition.
And back to ya Keith, Spot On.
Progressives simply refuse to address EVERYTHING as a matter of “Insuring Liberty and Justice for All, because our economy DOES NOT”. Capitalism works for a few, but health, safety and protection are the domain of government, our DEMOCRACY. Government must insure our liberties are not violated.
Good government = Good Democracy = Good Government.
I’m in discussion with leaders of two statewide referenda campaign here for 2022, 1) universal health care and 2) universal green electric grid provided by a publicly owned entity. NEITHER campaign can see they are a part of a Build Back Better plan. They both “demand” to go it alone, and therefore compete with dueling messages, campaigns, etc.
I’m as frustrated with Bernie and Liz Warren and Dems for being stupid about using dynamic language, as I am angry about the cons using incredible language to maintain stupidity. We’re stupid out of our ignorance, and their stupid out of their intentionality.
WHICH i more dangerous?! THANK GOD JOE BIDEN GETS IT: Build Back Better. Which, still, could use a moral imperative, such as I have provided with the progressive creed, stated in our Pledge of Allegiance
Stupidity is the same as evil if you look at the results. Margaret Atwood
Thank you Keith for the succinct and forceful Benghazi explanation.
I am ever grateful for the Substack platform where I can find such exceptional commentary as LTAA and the accompanying commentary. I have found no newspaper or magazine with such relevant and knowledgeable information as this forum which makes the historical events of the day understandable and gives them a place in history.
It is however so frustrating to me that I cannot get friends to show enthusiasm. I occasionally forward one or at most two columns to friends in the hope of generating outrage, conversation or I’d even settle for interest. The real hope is that they too will become subscribers but so far only blanks. The friends I’ve approached have been Doctors and Lawyers and such. I think I’ll go back to cowboys. Willie would listen.
Thank you for this, Keith. I sincerely wish there was a way for you to put this comment out there for all to see. It is a succinct and clear explanation about what happened in Benghazi and what foreign service professionals may face in the course of their work.
Daria I posted much of this in NYT comments but, frankly, I don’t think that a great proportion of Americans give a damn about the sacrifices made by people who serve them and their country. As a rambunctious Political Officer in Chile, I was targeted by the Communist press, had over a dozen attempted house break ins, was given a gun to ‘deal with’ intruders, and, for four months, had a police guard protecting me and my family. I felt simply that this went with the territory.
PTSD is a major problem in our country. (I twice experienced PTSD—once as an aftermath of my dad, stepmother, and brother disappearing in the Bermuda Triangle and again as an aftermath of some horrific experiences in the Congo) It is serious.
After Vietnam, the impact of PTSD was generally brushed aside, after many volunteers and draftees were affected from their experiences. More attention is given to Iraq/Afghanistan PTSD, but the general public seems more concerned with football concussions. PTSD is a humongous problem for many of the hospital workers who have dealt with a never-ending crush of Covid-19/Delta patients. They are the latest casualties of front-line personnel serving our country. Who cares?????
Keith, I've given considerable thought to your response to my comment. First, I cannot imagine losing family members in a marine accident of that nature. The uncertainty and lack of closure must have been stunning. Then the Congo. No words. I am grateful for your strength and resilience.
You are right. There are millions of people who pay lip service to patriotism and claim to honor those who serve, whether in uniform or in civil service, yet when asked to show respect and concern for them, turn their backs and make excuses saying their freedom is being compromised, no new taxes, the price tag to support or pay these servants is too great. You sacrificed much. I'm grateful for your dedication and service to the country.
I have lost family members in service to our country. There are 4 generations of family members, including siblings, who spent their careers in federal civil service, each of them proud of the contribution they made to our country every day. Yet one of the things they heard day in and out was thatat they were "only" government employees... Yes, government employees who were only involved in troop movement, dental and cancer research, infrastructure, law enforcement, human genome research, and more. They were only government employees. You and they were and are the backbone of the United States.
Daria I applaud your relatives who paid the ultimate price in serving our country. I and many others do this because we feel obliged to do what is right in being an integral part of our country. The latest heroes are the hospital workers who have far exceeded what could be expected of them because they place humanity above themselves. Our country will survive and stand proud with such selfless heroes, who expect no special recognition.
Excellent!
Thank you for this
Hillary was a skilled politician, a big thinker and a team player. She actively supported other woman who in turn supported her. But, no one could survive the sustained barrage of character assassination they subjected her to for decades.
They turned her into an ugly caricature and many fell for it.
Yes, “they” the ones hiding behind acronyms and “non profits” plotting their next move.
I agree. The damage began while Bill was in office. Clearly, the Rethugs saw, even then, that she could become a threat.
I had a neighbor say she couldn’t vote for Hillary because Bill got a blow job while in office and she stayed with him. In the next sentence she dismissed “grab em by the Pussy” and said he was wonderful. When even women dismiss those actions you know there’s something fundamentally wrong with them. I can’t even have a civil conversation with this woman anymore. You don’t blame women for men’s behavior!
Look at the blame thrown at a girl or woman after they have been raped or harassed! Remember? did they dress inappropriately - was that why it happened? Couldnt possibly be the boy/man to blame!
It started with Eve, tempting Adam in the Garden of Eden, and it has worked well for men - until NOW. The table is turning, and it's about time.
Your neighbor just wasn't going to admit the truth - she refused to vote for a "socialist" Democrat, but she was willing to vote for TFG, as flawed as he was, because he was a Rethuglican.
She honestly thought the way he treated women was acceptable. I argued with her for an hour. I asked how she’d feel if that were her daughters or granddaughters being treated that way and she thought her grandsons should do that to other women. I was appalled. She goes to church and Bible study all the time.
I keep thinking about George Conway. His behaviors have always raised my suspicions. I wanted to believe, but how exactly could a lawyer and Trump’s steadiest unwavering adviser coexist? That remains my question. ❤️🤍💙
Expedient synergy.
Conway is for real. I always wondered how she could live with HIM....I supposed that a grifter chameleon could live with anyone.
Go watch any of the Tracy-Hepburn comedies.
John and Martha Mitchell? (For you young ‘ens, John Mitchell had been attorney general under Nixon and would take a bullet for his leader. Martha felt that Nixon was setting up her husband to take the fall for Watergate. She went ballistic and secret service men had to rip the phone out of the wall to stop her babbling. John went to jail for about two years.)
Carville and what’s her name.
Mary Matalin. Yeah, that's an odd match, to be sure!
Like I’ve said before,,,, a thousand times,,,, I blame our Trump episode on the D. N. C. of which Clinton was a very strong part of !!!
I believe the 'Deep State’ refers to civil service professionals who simply do their duty, which oftent is NOT to the linking of the seditionist conservatives. Correct me if I am wrong
Frederick you have the first part right but…….you see they are ‘Evil ‘ and do ‘Things ‘ in secret .Wait….. isn’t that what they did ?
Marcia, I’m unsure who you refer to as “they” here.
The Trump base calls the Dems The”Deep State . ‘Evil ‘ doing things in ‘Secret ‘. What would you call what happen at the Capital ?
Sedition and treason. I call Paul Gosar and Marjorie Greene and question if they were a past of a treasonous act.
Actually, I do not care about what conservatives call us, because it diverts my attention away from the vital issue of spreading our message (which we do not have)
NAH