HC and Mark Shields on the Newshour - 8 July 2016

HC was on the Newshour last night so that an adoring Judy Woodruff could give her a chance to pontificate.   HC looked really bad.  She looked as though a combination of exhaustion and over-medication had turned her into one of the walking dead.  The dead pan recitation of left wing talking points in a monotone was not inspiring.  In her responses to Woodruff's softballs, she served up responses obviously intended to soothe and re-assure all the elements of the present Democratic Party base; Blacks, unmarried educated women, Latinos, sexually heterodox people, Borgists, other fellow neocons of the National Review variety now defected to the Democratic base.   Even Judy looked disappointed.  And then the dynamic duo of Brooks and Shields appeared ...  They danced around for a while until the subject of Clinton's immediate previous interview came up.  And then ...  And then ... Mark Shields the ultimate liberal Democratic Party loyalist said that he was amazed by Clinton's response to Woodruff's question concerning whether or not Comey's testimony and TV statements had been damaging.  Her response had been that she had done nothing wrong and that Comey had exonerated her.  Shield's amazement was appropriate.  Comey did not exonerate her.  He said he did not have enough evidence to successfully prosecute her.  pl 

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/hillary-clinton-calls-for-police-reform-national-use-of-force-standards/

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/shields-and-brooks-on-dallas-police-murders-trumps-republican-problem/

 

 

Comments

[BabelFish]

Bernie may have taken more out of her than anyone suspected. IMO, she believed she had created the perfect cakewalk season for the nomination. I have to believe she and her cohorts of DWS wannabies are still trying to figure out which truck Bernie was driving as it ran over her during the primaries.

Can she finally be getting the message that a lot of voters in the Democratic cohort truly detest her? Are the Dems finally realizing that getting her in the White House without winning the senate will be yet another Pyrrhic victory? Her hell will not go away anytime soon.

[Fred]

"Hilary Clinton calls for ... national use of force standards" So a federalized "common core" standard for policing. The democratic party will throw in allot of money with the controls to follow just like they have with schools and colleges. What's not to like? On the matter of integrity both Brooks and Shields were rather shocked that Hilary is 4 points ahead in the national polls. That's the margin of error. I don't see this boding well for the democrats in November.

[Croesus]

strictly intuitive based on the look on HRC's face in the opening shot-- is something not quite right with HRC's new grandchild?

My impression was she was not thinking about/worrying about politics in those first few seconds, she was worrying about something personal and sad.

[ToivoS]

Left and right wing tags are a crude way of characterizing political positions but to call HC leftwing just doesn't make any sense. Her positions are so center right to make Richard Nixon look like a liberal. Her foreign policy is neocon. Her positions on trade and finance are corporatist. Her general economic positions are neo-liberal which consists of many elements designed to subvert left wing and labor influence. Her position personal liberty puts her squarely in the surveillance state camp -- both left and right are opposed to that. Maybe the identity politics came out of the left but in her hands it is an abomination but that is about it.

[ex-PFC Chuck]

When a Democrat has lost Mark Shields . . . .

[Hank Foresman]

I watched it also and was not really surprised that Mark Shields called it like he saw it. Why he might be the ultimate liberal democrat, he also knows BS when he see it. What Clinton said to Woodruff was pure BS.

[The Twisted Genius]

Looks like Bernie is still having an influence on the race. HRC is now endorsing a public option to lower Medicare eligibility to 55 and increased funding for free clinics. Jill Stein also offered the Green Party nomination to Sanders. He hasn't responded. That would make for an interesting three way race and a probable Trump presidency if the election is thrown to House.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/clinton-public-option_us_5781064fe4b01edea78e1cf1

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/08/jill-stein-bernie-sanders-green-party

[mistah charley, ph.d.]

Col Lang

Like ToivoS, I consider HC a centrist. Look at what she did to the "free college" idea put forth by Bernie. Bernie proposed extending public education from the secondary to the tertiary level. Instead, what Hillary has agreed to support is a highly bureaucratic means-tested plan that will require screening for eligibility - definitely a move rightward from what Bernie proposed.

It seems to be the consensus that HC is the candidate of the status quo - which includes impunity for the powerful, of course. If you want something different, vote for Trump. As a long-time non-fan of HC, I am a little bit tempted, but not enough to do so. As Fareed Zakaria said in 2003 in favor of the invasion of Iraq, "The place is so dysfunctional... any stirring of the pot is good. America's involvement in the region is for the good." My own view is different - there is a lot of room on the downside - for us now, just as for Iraq then. Indeed, to quote Canadian folksinger Bruce Cockburn: "The trouble with normal is it always gets worse."

[Trey N]

Well, there's quite a lot of nasty data in this brief bio of one of the most despicable, utterly vile beings to have ever polluted the earth with its presence:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-07-08/how-george-soros-singlehandedly-created-european-refugee-crisis-and-why

Its original surname of "Schwartz" perfectly describes every aspect of its nasty personality.

Maybe this creature's connections with Hitlery explain the way she's looking these days: having a vampire without a soul continually draining the life force from your walking carcass will do that to you....

[Jack]

All

I submit to the Committee this excellent essay by Ben Hunt. While Ben is another investment professional who I greatly respect, this essay is for a general audience and it's about Narrative. And how some of the most popular narratives of the recent past are reaching or passing their sell date. In this context we should consider Brexit, the Chilcot report, Comey's reinforcement of a rigged system and our November election.

http://www.salientpartners.com/epsilon-theory/when-narratives-go-bad/

"We’ve seen this before. History is littered with failed Narratives, once-powerful arrays of Common Knowledge that somehow lose their ability to compel human behavior and eventually become mere myth. That’s where Narratives go to die. They become fables, stories that we chuckle at, stories that we shake our heads at and ask “did people really believe in all that?”

[Harry]

She is a poor candidate. However Trump is a poor candidate as well, and she had the media and a large percentage of the Republican party rooting for her.

It will be close.

[NotTimothyGeithner]

Bernie was a long shot for three reasons: his age, the shortness of his campaign (he was trying to recruit an opponent to Hillary), and a lack of a national profile (political watchers know who he is, but he isn't going to headline even the Boston Globe).

In 92, who did Bill face? 41 with his myriad of problems, and Jerry Brown who ran on abolishing the Department of Education and a Flat Tax in the Democratic primary. Bill promptly oversaw the Destruction of the 60 year old Democratic control of Congress an much of the state and local parties. Gingrich proceeded to operate a clown show featuring some loathsome individuals including a child molester. Bill won with less than 50% of the vote.

In 2000, Hillary won NY, a state where she bullied her way to the nomination, by 10 points against a crank who couldn't get state party support after Giuliani dropped out. Gore won by 25 points.

In 2008, she lost to a charismatic empty suit from Chicago who had been pimped by the msm for four years.

The Clintons have been lucky in their enemies and avoided questions because of the tech boom of the 90's and relative world peace with the U.S. as the hyper power. Now their folksy shtick doesn't quite fly even with the corporate media being in the tank for Clintons.

[raven]

You get more like Tyler every day and I bet you are proud of that.

[Chris Chuba]

her responses to Woodruff's softballs, she served up responses obviously intended to soothe and re-assure all the elements of the present Democratic Party base
You just nailed why I cannot stand to hear politicians, R's or D's, in these types of interviews. The well prepared statements are just so phony. Trump may make me cringe by what he says but at least he doesn't torment me with Saccharin.

HRC might actually pay a price if she continues to claim that she was exonerated. She even tried to re-phrase some of Comey's other statements about classification and the degree of her carelessness. While Comey did not recommend an indictment, he was clearly engaged in a public shaming. I think that the lack of contrition will be a deal breaker for some independents. This is a self-inflicted wound. Pride comes before a fall, perhaps I might actually get to see this play out here.

[Babak Makkinejad]

Sometime around 2002 or 2003, in the Guardian, there was a comment by someone who stated that advanced industrialized countries cannot be great military powers, great economic powers, and to, at the same time, protect their populations against the vagaries of globalization.

I think the course of the events over the last 10, 14 years has vindicated the views of that author.

[Bill Herschel]

You raise the possibility that she is medicated. Probably with anti-depressants and some kind of uppers perhaps combined with a Valium like drug.

If she is, that is exceptionally bad news. Exceptionally bad. That means that whatever constitutes her "judgement" is chemicals. In passing, the "We came, we saw, he died [giggle]," is so manic that we can add something for bi-polar thinking. To the extent she is taking psychotropic drugs, she is profoundly damaged goods. She owes it to the American people to disclose what drugs she takes. Shields calling her out is particularly bad in this context.

Donald Trump neither smokes nor drinks, nor has he ever, I believe. I am pretty sure he has never drunk alcohol.

[jerseycityjoan]

The elites are still committed to rampaging automation and globalization without taking into consideration the destruction they cause. They will pay a price for putting themselves first to the detriment of everyone else.

Everything will hit the fan -- and sooner than later, I think, we've been living on borrowed time for years now.

[VietnamVet]

Jack,

Thanks. This is an excellent link. I agree that America’s status quo narrative is breaking down. It is not just central banks pushing strings, the negative interest rates or Austerity. Inequality is skyrocketing. The game is rigged. The USA is in a schizophrenic war with Islamists who are at the same time one of the proxy forces in the West’s Cold War 2.0 with Russia.

Those who see the world one way may not change their views. But, reality is creeping in. The Huffington Post smear campaigns won’t work if you are not a Cosmopolitan living in the most perfect of all possible worlds. The next month we shall see if the Democrat elite will parachute in Joe Biden to try to save their party from losing everything to the Republicans. Hillary Clinton is damaged goods with up to 60% unfavorable ratings. She looks old and sick and reeks of entitlement together with aristocratic isolation and contempt for the little people. This is impossible combination for a politician if America is still a democracy.

[ex-PFC Chuck]

A book published several years ago by a highly regarded psychiatrist in which he asserted that some of history's most capable leaders in times of crisis have been bipolar. Among the examples he cites are Lincoln, Churchill, Sherman, and Ghandi. He offers worthwhile insights on several others as well. The title is "A First Rate Madness," which is a riff on Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes famous remark about Franklin Roosevelt: "A second class intellect but a first rate temperament." The book is definitely worth the time to read.
https://www.amazon.com/First-Rate-Madness-Uncovering-Between-Leadership/dp/0143121332/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1468106794&sr=1-1&keywords=a+first+rate+madness+uncovering+the+links+between+leadership+and+mental+illness

[kao_hsien_chih]

There is much to ponder at that link, especially since I am a(n) (epistemic) game theorist who has been dealing with elections and the extent to which the "common knowledge" defines the political landscape on which elections are contested (i.e. what defines "liberal" and "conservative") is central to what I do, of much professional interest as well. (I notice that Ben Hunt has similar background as I do from his bio!)

The electoral "common knowledge" has been dealt a very severe blow in 2016 by the candidates appearing in both Democratic and Republican camps that defy the usual political dimensions. But I would hardly think the common knowledge narrative is dead. I might not think John Oliver is funny, but if I know that "very important people" think John Oliver is funny and do the homework to learn what about him that they find funny, I can always pretend that I think Oliver is funny and pretend to laugh at what I guess to be his punchlines, if I know what is good for me. The common knowledge narrative can sustain itself for a long time, long after the emperor has stripped himself stark naked. The whole of the political machinery, on both sides of the politics are dedicated to the proposition that John Oliver is funny (i.e. preserving the current definition of what "liberal-conservative" dimension means and contesting politics within this realm. The narrative will have failed only when everyone is free to admit that the emperor is wearing no clothes and we are not there yet, as the story is being kept from becoming a fable through all sorts of artificial means.

[turcopolier]

raven

Who are you addressing? pl

[different clue]

Fred,

It could bode just fine for the few Democrats who are genuinely Berniecrats. The SanderVoter movement might even organize itself to launch many kamikaze primary campaigns against many Clintonite-Obamacrat office reseekers. And that would bode just fine for the hope of a Real Democrat Party arising from the ashes ( oh Please! oh Please!) of the Clintonite Obamacrat Party.

[steveg]

David Brooks wavy hands have extremely
small fingers. Any relevance??Reminds me
of a carney enticing you to a deal you can't
pass by. Two for one. Pay separate shipping!!

[Jack]

VV & KHC

The dissonance is growing. Those who have seen their jobs shipped overseas don't buy the rhetoric that Slick Willie used to sell NAFTA and MFN for China. Those that bought into the Exceptional Nation rhetoric of Albright and Dubya and the duopoly and experience the consequence of endless war are beginning to have doubts. Those that bought into the Paulson Bernanke thesis of saving managements, bond holders and shareholders of financial institutions to "save" the system are seeing the aftermath. More of the hair of the dog that bit you. Total credit market debt accelerated forward but median real household income hasn't budged. The rich got richer but the wage earner has got screwed. Average working class folks are beginning to see the income inequality. We are dealing with mass psychological changes. The status quo is held together by confidence. Most don't want to contemplate drastic change from the existing order. As economist Rudy Dornbusch observed "things take longer to happen than you think they will and then they happen faster than you thought they could". When confidence evaporates it does quickly but it takes a long time. Our issues have been building for decades. Its global now. Capital flight by the elites in China show confidence is waning in a pain-free resolution to their gargantuan credit build up. Despite trillions in goverment spending on bridges to nowhere and other boondoggles and with the BoJ now effectively the JGB market pinning rates to negative yields the Japanese economy remains moribund. In fact with NIRP, Japanese savings rates are rising as people's confidence in the future is going south. As Iraq, Libya and Syria have descended into anarchy and chaos people are becoming skeptical of prescriptions for military intervention.

IMO, Brexit was the church bell tolling. The first sign that people are willing to risk the unknown. That the status quo can't scaremonger obedience. We'll have to see if momentum builds from there. Will enough of the screwed classes across partisan labels show up in November and pull the lever to defeat the Borg Queen? Will voters in France elect Le Pen? Will investors decide that return of capital is more important than return on capital? Will the credibility of the neo-keynesian and neo-monetarist elites and their nostrums of free money be lost? IMO, the trends will be evident in the next decade.

[Tyler]

I'm seeing the Democrats entering a purity spiral regarding HRC. Any reasonable questioning of her is screamed down with smug condensation or accusations of being a crypto-fascist Trump supporter.

There will be no dark horse riding in to save the day. Hillary is not a healthy woman - she is on Coumadin, which is a pretty potent (but old) blood thinner. If this is all related to her stroke a few years ago, I imagine she's also on a calcium channel blocker, and a beta blocker as well due to her obesity.

Yeah, there's a reason she's from the shoulders up in her pictures. Full body shots are, como se dice, unflattering to say the least.

(she big)