In an example of Animal House brought to life, Joe Trippi, Howard Dean's former 2004 campaign who during the past few years (until now) seemed reasonably sane, went to the op-ed section of the Los Angeles Times to declare in essence that "All is well" with Hillary Clinton's march to the Democratic Party's coronation — er, nomination.
In Trippi's fantasyland (i.e., Trippiland), the fact that Mrs. Clinton is ahead of Bernie Sanders by 15 points nationally proves his point. Never mind that Sanders is ahead in New Hampshire and Iowa, the only two states which are paying close attention right now. The only thing he'll concede is that things might change if Vice President Joe Biden enters the race.
In typical leftist form, Trippi sets up a straw-man argument that the pundit class believes that Hillary's campaign is collapsing. If they really believe that, they're doing a pretty good job of keeping it to themselves. Google News searches aren't returning many such results. Meanwhile, there are quite a few stories about how Donald Trump's presidential campaign will eventually collapse — y'know, because it just has to. There are also plenty of stories mentioning the collapse of a stage backdrop during a speech by GOP contender Carly Fiorina.
But since he's firmly entrenched in Trippiland, the Democratic strategist and media consultant doesn't let the relative dearth of evidence prevent him from making his ridiculous arguments (bolds are mine):
No, pundits, Hillary Clinton isn't collapsing
Has the political punditry class lost its collective mind?
In a year in which every other supposed front-runner and establishment candidate has collapsed to single digits or has already withdrawn from the race — yes, I am talking about you, Jeb Bush, and you, Scott Walker — Hillary Rodham Clinton continues to lead the Democratic field with more than 40% of the vote. Can Bernie Sanders, who is 15 points behind her in recent polling, represent a real threat to her nomination? No. Hell no. Not a chance. But pundits keep asking the question without pointing out the obvious answer.
And given the fact that no vice president who has sought his party's nomination has ever been denied it, you would think Clinton's 20-point lead over Joe Biden would be seen as a remarkable sign of strength. Instead, when pundits mention Clinton's lead over the vice president, they always follow up with the fact that Biden has yet to enter officially — and rarely caution that he may never enter it and that even if he does, he'll start 20 points behind.
When has anyone been so strong that he or she led a sitting vice president by 20 points? Does the punditry really think it's because he hasn't announced yet?
Uh, yes, Joe Trippi. Hillary is 20 points ahead of a ghost, and we're supposed to be impressed. Only in Trippiland.
Continuing:
... If the GOP wasn't convinced that she could block their path to the White House in November 2016, they wouldn't be trying so hard to stop her right now. If they thought her knees would buckle and she was really going to collapse — if they thought she would be a breeze to defeat — they would hold their fire until she was the Democratic nominee.
Actually, Joe, it's reasonable to believe that if Hillary is the nominee, no matter how much she has been proven to be a dishonest grifter to any objective observer, the press will try to drown out all opposition by playing the "you have to vote for her as the first woman president" card — a strategy which has a good chance of working (see: 2008 with first "black" president). So seeing her defeated for her party's nomination would probably be good news for the eventual GOP nominee.
More:
Sanders may hold the lead in Iowa and New Hampshire, but those states have never decided who the Democratic nominee will be; they merely winnow the field.
Trippi totally blows the history here. New Hampshire absolutely decided who would be the Democratic nominee in 1992, Joe. Even though Bill Clinton didn't win that primary, his showing there after the Clintons' 60 Minutes "Stand by Your Man" interview was impressive enough that the campaign declared Bill "the comeback kid" — and the press you supposedly despise bought it. Bill Clinton sailed to the party nomination from that point on.
Additionally, Hillary Clinton's poor showing in Iowa in early 2008 was clearly a harbinger of serious trouble for her elsewhere. In April of this year, NBC looked back on the Hawkeye State caucuses and declared them "her Waterloo."
That's more than enough delusion for one night. Not that I expect it, but you think that the LA Times would spare itself at least some embarrassment by applying a BS detector to something as thoroughly delusional as Trippi's tripe.
Really, the establishment press is mostly protecting Hillary Clinton from the very collapse Trippi claims is happening. If we had a fair and balanced press, Mrs. Clinton would be in far more trouble — and deservedly so.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
