Hillary the Radical

Hugh Hewitt makes the case that Hillary Clinton is not a liberal or even a progressive, but in fact is a radical leftist:

First, Hillary refused to denounce the MoveOn.org assault on General Petraeus' patriotism, and then doubled down by telling the general and the country that she had to suspend disbelief during his testimony --meaning of course that he ought not to be believed, meaning of course that he was lying. Such an accusation, no matter how calmly delivered, is not mainstream, but radical.

Then she announced co-sponsorship of James Webb's measure requiring the president receive Congressional approval before any use of force against Iran, indicating that she would not use force against Iran without Congressional approval, thus signaling to the mullahs that she will arrive with a fresh round of appeasement measures as her policy. She and her colleagues would rather inflict a political defeat on President Bush than join with him to send a crucial signal to the Iranian terrorist regime that the West --not just the Bush Administration, but America, along with France and Germany-- will not allow the mullahs to possess nukes. Such a view of presidential power, especially vis-a-vis an expansionist terrorist state is not "liberal" but radical.

Hillary has unveiled her far-reaching reworking of American health care, blowing right past the efforts at the state level to devise new solutions in favor of a one size fits all top-to-bottom restructuring and expansion of government mandates. This is not a "progressive" approach to problem solving, but a radical shift in authority and size of the federal role in health care.

And now her $5,000 bonus for every baby born --HillaryCradleCare, a boondoggle reminiscent of George McGovern's $1,000 per person pay-off from 1972.

This is not a liberal's targeted tax cut, but a massive expansion of federal spending --a new entitlement that no one had even previously thought to suggest!

The problem with the Clintons is that you can never be sure that what they say or do is what they really believe. Everything with them is carefully poll-tested and focus-grouped to ensure that whatever they say will resonate with the most people.

Her political sixth sense must be a little bit off lately because her $5,000 new baby bond is getting widely panned. Her decision not to join the condemnation of MoveOn, and to join the condemnation of Rush Limbaugh, was clearly an effort to appease the far left but quite possibly turned off many of those who aren't on the extremes of the party.

No matter what is said during the campaign, we'll never really know what Clinton wants to do until she actually starts doing it, and that's a risk we shouldn't be willing to take.