Hillary Clinton
Related: About this forumSlate: Hillary Clinton Won Sunday Night’s Debate
illary Clintons superb debate performance on Sunday raised an unsettling question: If she can be this consistently good on a debate stage, why cant she replicate that impressiveness on the campaign trail or in interviews? Clinton was once again in superior form Sunday night in South Carolina, besting Sen. Bernie Sanders and Martin OMalley in the last Democratic debate before the Iowa caucus.
Clintons debating performance is formidable because it combines her intelligence with a sincerity and level of conviction that often seem absent in other forums. When she opened the debate speaking of Martin Luther King Jr.s role fighting for increased wages, she used his career as a subtle metaphor for what she is pitching: principled leadership with a strong practical bent. That mixture, along with her strength in close-quarter combat and an ability to wrap herself in President Obamas recordsomething that played well to the Charleston crowd in the auditoriumwas what won her this debate.
Clinton had several strong moments Sunday night. Ninety people a day die from gun violence in this country, she noted, before going on to attack Sanders record on the Second Amendment, methodically reciting a series of his Congressional votes. For some reason Sanders still struggles when pressed on his gun rights votes; he called Clinton disingenuous and said that guns should not be a political issue. Sanders has run an impressive race and is challenging Clinton in both Iowa and New Hampshire, but Clintons ability to bring him to earth and seem like just another politicianhis weird, Trump-like quoting of polls tonight didnt helpis remarkable. (The moderators helped her tonight by making it appear as if Sanders had changed or updated a number of his positions.)
The same dynamic occurred when the subject turned to health care. Clintons attack on Sanders support for a single-payer system is, er, disingenuous (as Jim Newell pointed out in Slate last week). But the way she attacked Sanders on the issue tonight was effective: She essentially claimed that Sanderss plan would cause a huge amount of disruption in Obamacare, and thus reopen the battle that has barely ended over the presidents signature program. Sanders needs to figure out a way to answer this criticism, but he certainly didnt do so tonight.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2016/01/hillary_clinton_bests_bernie_sanders_in_democratic_debate_in_charleston.html
Gothmog
(144,919 posts)Dawson Leery
(19,348 posts)Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)Kath1
(4,309 posts)She kicked ass and did it with style and a smile. And she will easily defeat any Rethug they throw out there in the GE.
SunSeeker
(51,512 posts)oasis
(49,326 posts)Tarheel_Dem
(31,222 posts)Cha
(296,846 posts)thank you, Rose!
kjones
(1,053 posts)workinclasszero
(28,270 posts)Certainly doesn't fit the propaganda in general discussion primaries or the front page now, does it?
Go Hillary!
shenmue
(38,506 posts)CSStrowbridge
(267 posts)It's scary stuff when one side completely ignores the polls that go against them and trumpets the outliers.
There was a recent poll that had Hillary Clinton up by 21 points in Iowa.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/docs/2016/Iowa_Gravis_Jan_2016.pdf
I don't remember seeing it on the front page, because Hillary Clinton supporters know it is an outlier and therefore very likely wrong.
Hillary Clinton is dominating the endorsement race. Yet I only see stories here when Bernie Sanders gets an endorsement, or when people were attacking Planned Parenthood for endorsing Hillary Clinton.
I'm worried Bernie Sanders' supporters will be completely blindsided by a Hillary Clinton win and will think she stole the nominations through some underhanded means. If this happens, they might not vote for her in the general election.
murielm99
(30,717 posts)Sanders supporters were never Democrats in the first place, and have no intention of voting for the Democratic nominee, no matter who it is.
If this were not so, we would not be seeing so many RW talking points parroted here.
There are higher ups in the repubbie party calling for people to support Bernie. They know he would be easy to beat in the general.
MADem
(135,425 posts)ismnotwasm
(41,965 posts)Very impressive performance
Cha
(296,846 posts)Rose!
OKNancy
(41,832 posts)Hillary Clintons superb debate performance on Sunday raised an unsettling question: If she can be this consistently good on a debate stage, why cant she replicate that impressiveness on the campaign trail or in interviews?
She does do well on the trail and in interviews. That's some sort of meme that is out there. She is a bad campaigner.
That is just cockeyed.
Rose Siding
(32,623 posts)First, yes, totally agree about framing sentence, especially when the rest is so thoughtful.
But re: being great in interviews, this one from a few nights ago really captured my heart. The questions were good -just about her and her process. But it really made me think about all the extra effort it takes, as a woman, for her to communicate with the public. She has to share her passion about things without waving her arms or raising her voice. She has to be strong but calm, forceful but in modulated tones.
Seeing the debate tonight, and the guys getting shouty, looking angry, gesticulating wildly, I was really aware of the challenge for her and how successful she is at what she does. You could almost see the effort in the couple of times she cut loose. It's like double duty.
At least no hoop skirts were involved. lol I guess
Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)mcar
(42,278 posts)Polished, knowledgeable, presidential.