Just how desperate is Hillary Clinton’s campaign to change the focus of articles about her faltering campaign? For weeks now, the No. 1 topic has been the scandal about the private email server she used while she was secretary of state. How could they get the press to talk about something else?
Well, here’s an idea. How about comparing her potential Republican opponents to terrorists? Yeah, that’s the ticket. No doubt that’s why we heard the following from her, during a campaign appearance in Ohio last week:
Now, extreme views about women, we expect that from some of the terrorist groups; we expect that from people who don’t want to live in the modern world, but it’s a little hard to take from Republicans who want to be the president of the United States.
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Hey, Hillary, it isn’t the Republicans who treat women and even young girls as sex slaves; who force them into becoming suicide bombers; who want to deny them the right to vote, the right to drive and even the right to get an education. No, it’s the people you refuse to call Islamic terrorists.
But no matter. Hillary’s absurd escalation of the “war on women” rhetoric worked, at least for a while. And just to make sure the focus stayed on her vicious name calling, she later expanded the attack by comparing Republicans to Nazis.
In other words, Hillary’s campaign strategy now is to switch the focus from the stupid things she did as secretary of state to the stupid things she says as a candidate.
Joe Trippi, a top Democratic strategist, says the plan is simple. “The more the discussion is about the difference between her and the Republican field on women’s health or immigration,” he acknowledged, “that’s far better turf for her to be fighting on than another news cycle on the emails or the server.”
Such a strategy won’t hurt Hillary much with her base. They’re all in favor of such Republican bashing, no matter how exaggerated it is.
No, what’s hurting Hillary a lot more is the simple fact that most potential voters simply don’t believe her. And who can blame them?
The latest poll results in Iowa confirm that Hillary’s desperate efforts aren’t working. A Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics survey, taken just a few days ago, says that support for Hillary Clinton has plummeted 20 percent in the state, to just 37 percent. Meanwhile, the percentage of voters who prefer Bernie Sanders, the Vermont socialist who has emerged as her top opponent, has soared to 30 percent. The Clinton campaign must be dumbfounded that Sanders is now within 7 percent of their candidate.
And here’s something that is probably even more worrisome for them: The top choice of 14 percent of Iowa’s potential voters is now Vice President Joe Biden. And he isn’t even a declared candidate … yet.
Yes, the Clinton campaign is in deep, deep trouble. It will take a lot more than name calling to put it on track again.
Hillary has corralled a ton of money and a bunch of top political talent. Unfortunately for her, it won’t be enough. Because when push comes to shove, she’s just not very likable or believable.
And that’s probably why, once again, she won’t be able to grab the brass ring.
Until next time, keep some powder dry.
Chip Wood was the first news editor of The Review of the News and also wrote for American Opinion, our two predecessor publications. He is now the geopolitical editor of Personal Liberty Digest. This article first appeared on PersonalLiberty.com and has been reprinted with permission.
