Do republicans really fear Clinton?

[angrychair]

I wanted to speak out this morning in frustration over the current "HRC has already won" meme, you'd think she was moving into the WH by the end of the week. I couldn't think of anything good and worthy of what I wanted to say. How to drive the point home successfully. I had nothing.

That is when the realization struck me like a ton of bricks: Clinton is the type of candidate we on the left fear the most.
The type that red-meat republicans would never elect on their own. The type establishment republicans could never get past their primary gauntlet.

She is liberal(ish) on social issues but far right on fiscal issues.
She talks about social issues and will take "action that can actually get done" to quote her phrase about justice reform,and healthcare and reproductive rights, enough that we at least feel better about things.
On the fiscal side, she will do little to nothing to overturn Citizens United, no one with 24 SuperPACs, including a special PAC to circumvent the rules against no coordination between campaigns and SuperPACs(while staying in the law. See The Colbert Show series on SuperPacs), has any actual interest in dissolving that money generation machine. Her senior advisors and financial and economics campaign staff are literally the 'who's who' of industry insiders.
Sorry to burst your bubble, you don't staff yourself deep and wide with financial industry millionaires and spend the last 10 years making millions of dollars from the financial industry youself, to all of a sudden, start putting the regulatory screws to them.
Since NAFTA, a Clinton hasn't met a trade deal they didn't like. TPP will not be different. It's the often quoted "reality" that we are a party to that deal. She will embrace it with open arms.

I don't even see the fossil fuel industry on their radar. Not a bad thing for them. Status quo is the defacto campaign motto.

In short, this is all part of the gambit to keep us screaming and fighting about social issues (which the majority of us actually agree on) while they continue to take in billions and we become poorer.

For all the imploring "to see the real world", their are a lot of heads in the sand.

[LexVegas]

1. Yes. They do. nt

[KansDem]

2. Nah, she's "Republican-Lite"

If Bernie doesn't get the nod, we'll have a choice between Republican and Republican-Lite. Both will be acceptable to the OnePercenters.

[Smarmie Doofus]

4. Which of the two is "republican lite"?

They're both all over the place.

[KansDem]

8. HRC = "Republican-Lite"

Republican (Trump, Cruz, Rubio, etc) = "Republican"

What the OnePercenters don't want is a true progressive fighting for the 99%. Bad for business.

[PonyUp]

10. I agree. Elect either one and the 1%, Wall Street and Military Industrial Complex will be happy.nt

[yourpaljoey]

3. they welcome her

They slobber at the thought of the hell Trump will bring Hill
on national TV. Will she drop out of the race, a national disgrace?

[Autumn]

5. No not at all. They will take her out in the GE should she win the nomination

and they won't even work up a sweat doing it. Their ammo and powder are dry and plentiful. They are just waiting to fire.

[TheCowsCameHome]

6. Nope.

They relish her being the opposition.

[krawhitham]

7. no, not at all. They want to face Hillary, only chance they have to win

[Hiraeth]

9. They don't fear her. They hate her from what I have heard and can't wait to vote against her.

[NWCorona]

11. According to Hillary, once she's in office

The Republicans love her and the emails actually prove this.

If elected the legislation they would produce scares the hell out of me.

[lapfog_1]

12. in my opinion, they don't fear her

They will spin up the base if she is elected. She is worth millions upon millions to them in fund raising.

Social conservatives and low information voters will hate her with a passion.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch (DC), they can deal with her on all types of issues - military, budget, welfare reform, war on the "safety net", health care "reform", wall street and the financial markets, energy (frack you 'merica).

That is... if there is even a small number of non-tea party repukes left to make deals with.

We will get social progress (abortion will be safe - probably - or at least no more restricted than it is today... Status quo on LGBT rights... equal pay... and maybe even a slight raise in minimum wage - at least in the states that recognize the federal minimum wage), etc.

But no Wall Street reform... no police state reversal (sorry BLM)... no removal of the school to prison pipeline for young intercity POC (must keep the prisons full!), nope... none of those "socialist agenda items".

So they don't fear her... she is one of the best fund raising tools they have, not to mention they can expect to win even more seats in the Senate and in the House in the mid terms.

And, like her husband before her, expect them to impeach her and/or more government shutdowns.

She isn't a reformer... she is at status quo candidate from the center. This is the basis for her "electability" argument.

The one very bright spot for Democrats and Progressives is that she won't nominate a Scalia like SCOTUS...

[malthaussen]

13. Depends on so many things.

What do you mean by "republican?" What do you mean by "fear?"

My opinion: the GOP establishment is just peachy with Mrs Clinton, and always have been. They'd have been happier if one of their own proposing could have won, but Mrs Clinton is by far the lesser of evils for them than anyone left in the field. Well, maybe Mr Rubio, who is more easily controlled. But still, what do you mean by "fear?" Afraid she'll win, or afraid what will happen if she wins? They have no fears on the latter score; they hope she will win if Mr Trump is the other candidate, which seems likely.

The GOP base? They don't fear Mrs Clinton, they hate her. She's a female. She's an aristocrat. She has some liberal social views. They will turn out in droves to oppose her, but those droves probably won't amount to much in the end.

All-in-all, IMO, the cleavage between the GOP establishment and the GOP base is quite simple: the establishment really don't care at all about social/culture wars, they care only about power and feeding at the public trough. They care about economics, and its handmaiden, foreign policy. Their only interest in domestic questions is throwing chum into the waters to distract the little fish, who for their part are only interested in social/culture wars subjects, and have little, if any, opinion on economic issues except they don't want taxes raised. As for foreign policy, the only foreign policy Joe Sixpack understands or cares about is bombing people into the stone age. U-S-A, U-S-A! Ironically, Mrs Clinton would be just as satisfactory on that issue as any of the Republicans.

-- Mal

[bigwillq]

14. No (nt)

[Orsino]

15. The Kool-Aid drinkers do.

The ones who prepare the Kool-Aid, however, know that they will profit whether or not she wins.

[99th_Monkey]

16. KnR - well said. nt