re: #108 wheat-dogg

My mom, who was in her late 70s at the time, told me she liked Bill Clinton and really couldn’t understand why some people hated him so much. She said he seemed like a nice guy. She died before the Monica Lewinsky “scandal” and the unsuccessful impeachment proceedings, but I have a feeling she would not have changed her mind. Mom was not especially political, and like many other Americans, just judged politicians by a gut feeling. The way I see it, the GOP and the anti-Clinton brigade entirely misjudged the American voters’ reaction to the Lewinsky affair. They were unable to create the kind of visceral revulsion to things Clinton among the voters, because most voters (like my Mom) could see it was just partisan politics and not worth getting upset about.

The GOP also misjudged voters’ reaction to Nixon post-Watergate. My Dad, who was a lifelong Republican until then, soured on Nixon when it became clear Nixon was a crook. He did not like Carter, probably voted for Reagan and HW Bush, but I also suspect he voted for Clinton.

Fast forward to 2015-16. The GOP really misjudged voter response to Trump, and Trump’s tractability. His popularity obviously confounded all his primary opponents, and TBH, the Democrats, too. And I suspect the GOP now thinks Trump will remain popular long enough to keep their majority in Congress. Methinks otherwise. Most voters are getting tired of his horseshit.

And that really speaks to the other thing that pisses them off about Bill, that despite everything they’ve thrown at him he still retains his popularity even among independent voters. The Bushes enjoyed a similar level of popularity, Dubya more so after 9/11, but they made so many bad calls that it was hard to convince the public that criticism aimed at them was a partisan “plot.” And Donny? They found themselves a guy so crooked, that the public has no problem believing the worst about him or at least entertaining it. They seriously overestimated how far he’d be able to go with this “populism” schtick once he actually took office.