“I’m In”
January 20th, 2007 | by Jersey McJones |Well, Hillary is “in.”
I’m in. And I’m in to win.
Today I am announcing that I will form an exploratory committee to run for president.
And I want you to join me not just for the campaign but for a conversation about the future of our country — about the bold but practical changes we need to overcome six years of Bush administration failures.
I am going to take this conversation directly to the people of America, and I’m starting by inviting all of you to join me in a series of web chats over the next few days.The stakes will be high when America chooses a new president in 2008.
As a senator, I will spend two years doing everything in my power to limit the damage George W. Bush can do. But only a new president will be able to undo Bush’s mistakes and restore our hope and optimism.
Only a new president can renew the promise of America — the idea that if you work hard you can count on the health care, education, and retirement security that you need to raise your family. These are the basic values of America that are under attack from this administration every day.
And only a new president can regain America’s position as a respected leader in the world.
I believe that change is coming November 4, 2008. And I am forming my exploratory committee because I believe that together we can bring the leadership that this country needs. I’m going to start this campaign with a national conversation about how we can work to get our country back on track.
This is a big election with some very big questions. How do we bring the war in Iraq to the right end? How can we make sure every American has access to adequate health care? How will we ensure our children inherit a clean environment and energy independence? How can we reduce the deficits that threaten Social Security and Medicare?
No matter where you live, no matter what your political views, I want you to be a part of this important conversation right at the start. So to begin, I’m going to spend the next several days answering your questions in a series of live video web discussions. Starting Monday, January 22, at 7 p.m. EST for three nights in a row, I’ll sit down to answer your questions about how we can work together for a better future. And you can participate live at my website. Sign up to join the conversation here.
I grew up in a middle-class family in the middle of America, where I learned that we could overcome every obstacle we face if we work together and stay true to our values.
I have worked on issues critical to our country almost all my life. I’ve fought for children for more than 30 years. In Arkansas, I pushed for education reform. As First Lady, I helped to expand health care coverage to millions of children and to pass legislation that dramatically increased adoptions. I also traveled to China to affirm that women’s rights are human rights.
And in the Senate, I have worked across party lines to get billions more for children’s health care, to stop the president’s plan to privatize Social Security, and to make sure the victims and heroes of 9/11 and our men and women in uniform receive the fair treatment they deserve. In 2006, I led the successful fight to make Plan B contraception available to women without a prescription.
I have spent a lifetime opening opportunities for tens of millions who are working hard to raise a family: new immigrants, families living in poverty, people who have no health care or face an uncertain retirement.
The promise of America is that all of us will have access to opportunity, and I want to run a 2008 campaign that renews that promise, a campaign built on a lifetime record of results.
I have never been afraid to stand up for what I believe in or to face down the Republican machine. After nearly $70 million spent against my campaigns in New York and two landslide wins, I can say I know how Washington Republicans think, how they operate, and how to beat them.
I need you to be a part of this campaign, and I hope you’ll start by joining me in this national conversation.
As we campaign to win the White House, we will make history and remake our future. We can only break barriers if we dare to confront them, and if we have the determined and committed support of others.
This campaign is our moment, our chance to stand up for the principles and values that we cherish; to bring new ideas, energy, and leadership to a uniquely challenging time. It’s our chance to say “we can” and “we will.”
Let’s go to work. America’s future is calling us.
This is one of those rare occasions when I’m not sure what to say.
JMJ
31 Responses to ““I’m In””
By Steve O on Jan 20, 2007 | Reply
She’s such a bitch!!! Bill should have divorced her when he was with Monica!
By sandyb on Jan 20, 2007 | Reply
Yeah, she’s “in” allright. INSANE!
By Jimmy on Jan 20, 2007 | Reply
I will not vote for that carpetbagger.
By Jet Netwal on Jan 20, 2007 | Reply
Rousing speech, but I’m not on board.
By Ann on Jan 20, 2007 | Reply
Can’t bear the woman. Couldn’t think of a worse candidate for first female President (aside from that Coulter woman, obviously, eugh).
Can’t believe I actually found some common ground with Sandy - Hill must be bleedin’ insane if she thinks she stands a chance of actually winning…
By Paul Watson on Jan 20, 2007 | Reply
Ann agrees with Sandy? Ok, that does it. First SteveIL defends the minimum wage and now this? When do the Four Horsemen gallop across the sky?
By Jersey McJones on Jan 20, 2007 | Reply
I’m still at a loss for words.
JMJ
By Ann on Jan 20, 2007 | Reply
Clippity clop - sorry, Paul, I don’t know how to write the sound of two coconut shells tapping together :)
By Lazy Iguana on Jan 20, 2007 | Reply
Can’t we get someone whose last name is not shared with a former president to run?
By Craig R. Harmon on Jan 20, 2007 | Reply
So I’m getting the sense that you all don’t think Hillary is the woman for the job.
Could you say why? And I don’t mean, “Because she’s a bitch” or “Because she’s insane”. I mean like, “Because she’s not for ending the war in Iraq” or “Because she’s said, ‘Abortions should be available, safe and rare’” or what have you. I’d like to know, without snark, the reasons that you find HRC an unacceptable President.
By steve on Jan 20, 2007 | Reply
Ann:
At least Coulter is smarter than Clinton.
Nice touch with the horse sound effects. The mascot may have to change to an actual horse if she wins.
By Paul Watson on Jan 20, 2007 | Reply
steve,
I think Ann was trying to mimic the effects of the Four Horsemen, Monty Python and the Holy Grail style, rather than saying anything about Ms Coulter.
By steve on Jan 20, 2007 | Reply
Ms. Coulter? I thought she was talking about Clinton! LOL!!!
Can’t figure out what you guys see with Monty Python… Must get lost in translation when it gets to the West Coast.
By tammara on Jan 21, 2007 | Reply
steve- i am on the west coast (washington state) a lot. and monty python is well understood and received there. maybe the translation problem is at your house. and ann coulter is NOT smarter than hilary clinton.
craig- i will not ever vote for hilliary, because she is an extreme opportunist. and she has no spine. she is dishonest. she still has not come out against the war for real. i know she recently sponsored some pansy ass shit about limiting troop levels…. OH BIG WHOOPEE SHIT, but that is just plain crap. might as well sit on her thumb.
By Craig R. Harmon on Jan 21, 2007 | Reply
Steve,
Except for the “Lethal Joke” skit, Monty Python is entirely in English. No translation necessary.
How can anyone not collapse for the dead parot, the lumberjack song, the ministry of silly walks, “Nudge, Nudge, Say No More”, the historical reenactments of great battles performed by the ladies auxiliary…
Tammara,
Thanks for responding. A few follow-up questions:
Dishonest how?
No spine…example?
Opportunist…example?
I assume you’re talking about beyond the normal attributes of most politicians.
By Ann on Jan 21, 2007 | Reply
Of course I meant Monty Python! Steve, how can you not ‘get’ Monty Python? Have you never watched Life of Brian (properly, from beginning to end, I mean)? Total genius.
I’m with Tammara on the ’spineless’ thing. Pre war, I’d have loved to have seen Hillary as the first female US President - I’d have been delighted, in fact (I liked Mr C - even with his wandering cigar, and always felt “womanising”, and lying about it, were the most ridiculous reasons to hound anyone from office. I guess that’s all “they” had on him though…)
However, her conduct throughout this fiasco - i.e. largely, her apparent reluctance to speak out vigourously against it - either means she agrees with it, she is complicit in it, or worse, she didn’t have the balls to say anything about it. Whatever the reason, I now believe she is perhaps the wost possible candidate for the job (aside from Coulter, as I’ve said - who is the most brainless example of womanhood imaginable, Steve, nothing more than a bimbo using her feminine charms and sharp tongue to mask the fact to her gullible - largely male I’d wager - following).
By sandyb on Jan 21, 2007 | Reply
I agree with tammara. OMG! The Rapture is coming!!!…..LOL (soon Paul, soon…)
Hillary is dishonest for so many reasons it would take up all the bandwidth to explain. The libs should run Edwards.
By sandyb on Jan 21, 2007 | Reply
Hill’s theme song should be “The Bitch is Back!” I’m surprised she didn’t announce the day after the 2000 election.
If she wins is she going to return everything she stole/damaged when she left last time?
Will Bill be standing next to her? (Running for his 3rd term?) Away from her (committing adultry?)
She’s really p*ssed at Obama. What are the current odds that Obama could meet with an early demise? And they’ll call it suicide, a bad Cheney shot, or proof that one can never leave Islam.
She’s been planning this for 8 years now. How sad that she has nothing to offer. Maybe she could write another book: “How I made my horndog husband POTUS on my way to the Whitehouse”??
And she has apparently forgotten that “talking” to terrorists doesn’t work. They especially hate women.
http://www.moonbattery.com/archives/2005/03/hillary_rodham.html
http://www.top-greetings.com/cards/100/hillary.jpg
By windspike on Jan 21, 2007 | Reply
sandy, honey, you’ve been smokin’ the GOP crack pipe for too long. Remmeber, there was/is no such thing as a moon-bat before the reichwinger bloger set decided they needed a derogatory term to frame people who disagree with them. For some one who proclaims to be a female, you sure aren’t very supportive.
Do you really know Hillary so you can judge her? Are you casting stones before you examine your own house?
YOu know that the bloggers against hillary are creaming their shorts over this announcement, but really, it’s not news and she hasn’t won the nomination.
By Craig R. Harmon on Jan 21, 2007 | Reply
Both Tammara and Sandyb have called Hillery dishonest but I haven’t read any specific example of dishonesty on her part. Examples.
By Jersey McJones on Jan 21, 2007 | Reply
“So I’m getting the sense that you all don’t think Hillary is the woman for the job.
Could you say why? And I don’t mean, “Because she’s a bitch” or “Because she’s insane”. I mean like, “Because she’s not for ending the war in Iraq” or “Because she’s said, ‘Abortions should be available, safe and rare’” or what have you. I’d like to know, without snark, the reasons that you find HRC an unacceptable President.”
Craig, you and I know that Hillary is a competent woman and not very corrupt and probably would be a pretty good president. She’s not and has never been some whacky far-out liberal. She seem’s to have her heart in the right place. She seems very thoughful and moderate, and, if anything, a bit of a status quo typical baby boomer. The reason I, and many other people, don’t want her to run is because we strongly believe that she can’t win. On top of that, if she wins the primary she gives the GOP the opportunity to run almost any sleazy idiot puupet they please, while if a Richardson or a Clark is nominated, the GOP would be forced to run a stronger, better, more competent option. People on the right often say that the left’s hatred of Bush is “irrational,” and that couldn’t be farther from the truth - he genuinely stands for almost everything we detest. Ironically, the foaming hatred of Hillary IS completely irrational. She does NOT stand for almost everything the right detests. She’s a moderate. There’s a little to like about her and a little to hate. But to outright completely hate her is just stupid. I’m sorry, but it’s the same hatred we see for Oprah, or Ellen, or Rosie. It’s insecure men, and some women, who hate upwardly mobile, professional, educated women. And there are just too many of them in this insipid nation for her to win.
JMJ
By Craig R. Harmon on Jan 21, 2007 | Reply
Jersey,
I certainly don’t question her competence. I have no reason to think her corrupt. I have no idea whether she’d make a good President. My sense is that she’s nowhere near the politician that her husband is.
For you. You say she can’t win. Why is that, in your opinion.
I find Hillery to be a fascinating phenomenon. So many people have such strong antithetical feelings toward her. She’s brought people such as Sandyb and Tammara and others, people poles apart, into agreement on perhaps the only thing they’ll ever agree upon and I’m trying to sus out why. What is it about her that inspires such hate from people at opposite political poles?
By sandyb on Jan 21, 2007 | Reply
I AM female. I have met Billary in person. I was creeped out by both of them (kind of like meeting the anti-Christ(s). I will never support a woman for the White House. Menopause/hormones/HRT make women do/say strange things.
Jersey- if you believe any of that crap you wrote about Hillary you obviously have been hoodwinked by her bs. The rest of us are not fooled. We don’t hate her. We just want a GOOD opponent from you guys. C’mon, give us a GOOD run for our money!
Craig- Hillary is NOT to be trusted. She has a rap sheet a mile long. She gives most people the creeps when they meet her. She is a fake, a fraud. We don’t admire her. We don’t respect her. We don’t trust her. And we just don’t like her. I think you should run Edwards. He is good for the tv/media politics we have now.
By Craig R. Harmon on Jan 21, 2007 | Reply
Sandyb,
“Rap sheet”…like in a criminal record? Um, no.
Okay, she gives you the creeps. Very subjective. I’m asking for objective stuff and specifics.
For example, you say, “She’s a fake, a fraud”. Okay, be specific. A fake how. I take that to mean that you believe that she is one thing but presents herself as something else. Please give me an example.
I get it that you don’t respect her, but why?
By tammara on Jan 21, 2007 | Reply
craig,
i am very tired, have been working on packing my house up this weekend, and also working on my motor home, rewiring dash, and loading it, in preparation for leaving montana soon. so sorry for not getting back to you sooner, and hopefully, exhausted as i am i can make some sense.
i don’t like hillary because she will not take a position on things until she is quite sure which way the wind is blowing. she told gold star family members and military families speak out members that she was really against the war, but she was waiting for the right time to come out with that. oh ya…. waiting until we had done enough work to make that opinion popular you mean…
by dishonest, i mean that she says one thing and does another, and she does this more than the average politician. i did not approve of her carpet bagging her way into congress by moving to new york and challenging a district that she had never really lived in until she got the idea to go to congress. sort of like our problem here in montana with conrad burns. moved her from missoura and it took us 12 years to get rid of him.
now.. i am too tired to say anything more. i have more to say, but can’t make any sense with it.
By 4Truth on Jan 21, 2007 | Reply
sandyb, that coming out of your mouth is pure shit , like what you are made of..
By Craig R. Harmon on Jan 22, 2007 | Reply
Tammara,
Sounds like you’ve been busy and have earned your weariness. Sleep well. I thank you and everyone who has responded. I think Hillary is perhaps the most interesting political phenomenon to come along in a long time. On the Right, we have some (though by no means all) fairly convinced that she’s a shoe-in for the Democratic nomination in ‘08. One has written a book entitled “Can She Be Stopped?” On the Left we have, as here, people pillorying her. Yet she’s a fairly successful fund-raiser. She has a Husband who was a fairly popular President and very astute politician but she herself, while bright and strong, is viewed not nearly so well by anyone anywhere on the spectrum.
I hope you will try to compose the rest of your answer tomorrow or soon, Tammara. I welcome any response by any BIO! reader. Subjective feelings are almost unavoidable where Hillary is concerned but I’d appreciate as much specific, objective info as you are able to give in support of why you think that Hillary is wrong (or, if you think so, right) for the office of President(ress) of the United States.
Thanks again to you all. You’ve been very helpful.
By Jimmy on Jan 22, 2007 | Reply
I just don’t feel like Hillary belongs in New york. She’s a fucking opportunist and a carpet bagger. Or a “Yoosta B”. Used to be a liberal.
And I’m a bit wary of the whole Whitewater thing.
Would anybody be interested in buying a small south pacific island to share? We can farm coconuts and fish. And paint picture postcards for fat digusting tourists.
By Jersey McJones on Jan 22, 2007 | Reply
Well, that sums it up Craig. Bewteen people who blindly hate her, like Sandy, and people who feel she’s too much of an opportunist or a moderate, like Jimmy and Tammara, I feel very strongly that she just can’t win. I tend to fall closer to the Tammara camp, myself. To be honest, if a Bloomberg ran against her, I’d vote for Bloomberg. But the trouble with her running is as Sandy inferred - the GOP could run almost anybody against her and win, and that bodes very poorly for the future. If she pulls ahead in the primaries, (and I guarentee you that in states where you have non-partisan primary voting the cons WILL vote for Hillary specifically for this reason) there will be no impetus from the right to put in a stronger, more competent, better candidate, and the GOP will see a huge surge in voters as they would come out in angry droves just to vote against her.
This seems as close to a fact to me as any political theory out there.
JMJ
By sandyb on Jan 22, 2007 | Reply
SNL had a great skit about Chris Matthews and Hillary:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SH49pKxKWes&eurl=
By sandyb on Jan 22, 2007 | Reply
Boortz said it better than I can:
“Hillary Clinton is vicious. There is absolutely nothing that she won’t do to gain the political power she has been coveting for most of her life. She is a cold-blooded politician who will take no prisoners in her quest for the presidency.
Hillary Clinton heads the list of those who think that America is great because of its government.
Hillary Clinton believes that Americans get their rights from government. If you don’t know why this is a dangerous attitude, you probably attended government schools.
Speaking of government schools, with Hillary Rodham you can forget the idea of school choice. The teacher’s unions will continue to run the show.
Hillary holds our military is complete disdain. Remember, this is the woman who had U.S. Marines in their dress blue uniforms serving cheese and crackers to guests at White House functions. When her husband was president there were repeated stories that Hillary’s White House staff showed deliberate rudeness to military personnel. In one story you’ve probably forgotten a Hillary aid in the White House once told a uniformed military office that “We don’t talk to people in military uniforms in this office.”
Hillary tried to implement a health care plan that would have made it a crime for you to use your own dollars to hire your own doctor. Now think about that for a moment. How much else do you need to know? She actually wanted to make it a crime for you to arrange for your own medical care outside of her great Hillarycare system using your own dollars. Picture this. You’re sitting in a jail cell. Your cellmate is in there for bank robbery. He looks at you and says “So, what did you do?” You tell him “Oh … I tried to hire a doctor with my own money to take care of a medical problem.” That, my friends, is Hillary’s America.
Hillary Rodham is a disgrace to the institution of marriage. That relationship she has with Bill Clinton is no marriage at all. It is a political partnership entered into for the purpose of acquiring and maintaining political power. Nothing more.
Hillary has not only tolerated her “husband’s” many trysts with other women, she has been actively engaged in, and sometimes led, the effort to destroy any of these women who dared to step forward to complain.
She is fundamentally dishonest … almost pathologically dishonest. Perhaps the greatest example of her innate dishonesty would be the saga of the Rose Law Firm billing records. The congress served a subpoena on Hillary for those records. She said that she did not have them. For two years she denied that those records were in her possession, and in fact suggested that they may not exist at all. Then, two years after the subpoena was served, those very records were found in her private living quarters at the White House. Not only were they found, but they had her fingerprints and handwriting all over them. In other words .. she lied.
Hillary Clinton is anti-individual. When discussing her socialized medicine plan with a group of Republican congressmen in 1993 Hillary said “We have to stop thinking of the individual and start thinking about what is best for society.” No .. she’s wrong. We have to start thinking about what it would be like to have a president who put the common good above individual rights. Hillary Rodham is part and parcel of the war on individualism.
A bit more about Hillary Rodham and your health care:
Now that Hillary Clinton is officially in the race, she is choosing health care as her signature issue. What a great idea…it worked so well before. By the way, anybody notice how it was warm and sunny out her office window in her videotaped announcement that she was running? Seems like that little piece of tape was recorded in advance. Many people have noticed, by the way. There’s late word that the announcement was indeed taped in Washington last week. Maybe it’s a fake tree in the window behind her. Who knows. But back to health care.
So what is Hillary’s health care proposal going to be this time? Things didn’t work out so well 13 years ago when she proposed a government takeover of the medical industry. Says The Hildabeast: “I will be introducing legislation to make quality, affordable health care available to every child in America.” What does that mean? just covering children? It would seem so. Well, according to Hillary…anyone would be able to buy into her program. And just how much is all of this going to cost? Naturally, no mention of the price tag. But suffice it to say that if Hillary Clinton becomes president of the United States, your earnings will be confiscated to pay for other people’s health care. Just get used to the idea.
And don’t buy for a minute this routine that Hillary Clinton only jumped in because Barack Obama forced her to. She has been planning this move for decades…and everything unfolding right now is part of that plan. It all goes back to when she was running things and wearing the pants in her husband’s administration. Except now it’s her turn.”