Nice New Yorker hatchet job on Kerry, Dean, and Hillary by some folks in Missouri.
Edited to correct title error noted by poster below:
http://www.newyorkmetro.com/news/politics/17073/The Trouble With Hillary
The right believes she’s a liberal under her newly centrist skin; the left doesn’t know who she is. And everyone wonders if she can win.
By Craig Horowitz
Beneath Hillary Clinton’s bland midwestern exterior is a figure of vast mystery. Is she a leftist? A New Democrat? A ruthless Lady Macbeth who believes only in her own power? Her self-discipline, a political asset in many ways, carries a cost. There can be something inhuman about her, something hard to love, even for those who share most of her stated political beliefs.
“I meet people all the time who say, ‘I just don’t like Hillary,’ ” says Susan Estrich, longtime Democratic strategist and author of The Case for Hillary Clinton. “But I’ve learned not to fight with them. I smile and say, ‘Well, you go vote for a pro-life, pro-war, pro-gun, anti-environment conservative. Enjoy yourself.’ In the end, people have to make a choice, and a lot of people who’ll say they don’t like her will end up voting for her.” <snip>
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And the ABCNOTE reports this on a New Yorker story Jeff Goldberg put together from interviews with Missouri Senate candidate Claire McCaskill, former Oklahoma Senate candidate Brad Carson, and the Nora Walcott, the outgoing executive director of the Greene County Democrats (the Missouri county that includes Kansas City):
(this story is not yet up on the New Yorker web site)
Nora Walcott, the outgoing executive director of the Greene County Democrats, told Goldberg, "You've got to tell the people in Washington not to nominate Hillary. It would do so much damage to the Missouri Democratic Party."
Sen. Clinton is not the only '08er mentioned in the story. McCaskill says that Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), whose wife pushed organic farming while in Missouri in 2004, will not be coming to Missouri to campaign for her.
Former Gov. Mark Warner (D-VA), by contrast, is seen as a welcome visitor (although Goldberg Notes that the folks in Missouri may not be aware that Warner raised taxes while serving as governor of Virginia).
As for Democratic Party leaders, DNC Chairman Howard Dean is described as seeming "almost chemically incapable of communicating effectively beyond his base," and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is mocked for making a "game attempt at ferocity" by telling Goldberg to: "Think lioness.<snip>