The Reincarnation of Hillary Clinton and John McCain

It appears that 2019 will begin exactly as 2018 ended. No, I don’t mean the continuation of Trump Derangement Syndrome (TSD) by the Democrats and their allies in the mainstream media. Or the continued assault on our Southern Border by Central American refugees who find themselves pawns financed by wealthy internationalist hell bent on reducing the United States to the moral equivalent of the European Union in the aftermath of the Middle Eastern immigration onslaught.

No, what I mean is the metaphysical reincarnation of two of the biggest political low lives in the past two decades – Democrat life-time presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, and Republican life-time presidential candidate John McCain. (I use the two terms – “metaphysical” and “reincarnation” – advisedly and with some literary license although they most aptly describe the current situation.)

Former Senator, former Secretary of State and continuous Democrat presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton was the most programmed, least authentic person to ever run for the presidency. So scripted was she that even her turns and hand gestures were rehearsed. (The only time we ever saw the real Hillary Clinton is when she collapsed as she was about to enter her limousine in the early days of the 2016 primary race and when she snarled at one of her Arkansas State Police bodyguards to “f— off.”) Ms. Clinton is often noted for her changes in dialect when in the presence of disparate groups – there is the use of words like “gobsmacked” when conversing with her fellow Ivy League elites, or the practiced drawl when she moves south of the Mason-Dixon Line or her rhythmic patois when she is with African Americans. Even her laugh is rehearsed but poorly applied – there is the roaring cackle when responding to someone else’s humor and the smirk when she believes she has said something clever – when asked whether she wiped her illicit server, she smirked “Like with a cloth or something…” Ms. Clinton was every inch a phony who thought she could gain comity by trying to appear as something she wasn’t, isn’t and never will be – a real person.

And just when we thought we were well rid of Ms. Clinton after two embarrassing losses in her bids to become president – one in 2008 to a political nobody from Chicago (President Barack Obama) and one in 2016 to a ridiculed political neophyte from New York (President Donald Trump) – she has been reincarnated in the form of Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) the first announced candidate for the Democrat nomination in 2020. Ms. Warren has replaced Ms. Clinton as the least authentic and most phony politician in Washington. But first a reminder of who Ms. Warren really is.

She is a white woman who has spent virtually her entire adult life in the cloistered halls of academia and moving on from there to the cloistered halls of the United States Senate. What’s important about that? Well, in both instances you are sheltered from any criticism or debate regarding your views. In fact, in her latter role as a United States Senator she has been surrounded by sycophants who constantly tell you how smart you are, how bold you are, how right you are and how much the world needs your shop worn ideas. (At Harvard, Ms. Warren’s academic employer, no student dare challenge a professor.) And she is wealthy –she and her husband jointly earn nearly $1 Million per year. What she isn’t is a person of color or a member of the Middle Class – both currently targeted voting blocks for the liberal/progressive elites of which she is, in fact, a member.

But facts have never bothered liberal/progressives in their quest for power. And so Ms. Warren decided to become a Native American without a shred of proof. Why bother? Nobody has challenged her in her previous occupations. And even if they do you can accuse them of being a racist. But we all now know that she isn’t a Native American based on her own DNA results – not more Native American than me, or you or virtually every European who immigrated to America in the past 150 years. She is a phony.

Having failed the “person of color” gambit, Ms. Warren turned to the “appearance” of being Middle Class. And for liberal/progressive elites what is more Middle Class than a beer. So Ms. Warren, during a recent podcast, interrupted the conversation to announce that she was thirsty and she needed a white wine – oops, I mean a beer. The moment was so awkward, so scripted, so phony that you had to look twice to see if that wasn’t Hillary Clinton trying to pose as something she wasn’t. I’m surprised that she didn’t lay a gun and bible on her table in the background. Look, Ms. Warren is definitely not a beer drinker. In all probability she, like Ms. Clinton, is a white wine drinker – most likely Chardonnay. It would have surprised no one if Ms. Warren had said, “I’m thirsty. I think I need ah . . . ah, one of those beer thingies.” That would have been real. That would have been authentic. But Ms. Warren is a phony.

Even that wasn’t enough however. In stopping inappropriately in the middle of a conversation to proclaim she needed a drink, Ms. Warren “blew the dog whistle” on a racial stereotype – the drunken Indian. Having proclaimed herself to be a Native American and then being unable to finish a sentence without a drink, Ms. Warren reminded us of one of the most vicious racial pejoratives. She ought to be ashamed. She ought to apologize to the Native American community. Native American activists have condemned Native Americans who try to act like whites as “apple Indians” – red on the outside and white on the inside. So what should you proclaim those who are white but pretend to be Native American? Why not, “Elizabeth Warrens”?

But it isn’t just liberal/progressives who have this “reincarnation problem.”

Senator John McCain (R-AZ) died in late 2018. He was a bona fide war hero. Not because of some daring feat as a warrior but rather because of his conduct as a prisoner of war. He withstood years of torture in a North Vietnamese prisoner camp – the famed “Hanoi Hilton” – including refusing early release to stay with his brothers-in-arms. It is of little consequence whether his refusal was based on his loyalty to his fellow prisoners or fear of recriminations from his father – then a serving Admiral in the Navy. The outcome was the same and the torture and abuse was just as vicious. No one should doubt Mr. McCain’s bravery as a prisoner of war.

But in the aftermath of the end of the Viet Nam War and his release, Mr. McCain proved himself to be a feckless friend and a media whore. He learned early in his political career that the liberal/progressive media was always looking for a naysayer to any Republican initiative and particularly any Republican on the rise. He became that dependable naysayer – stabbing his fellow Republicans in the back, teaming with Democrats to thwart Republican initiatives and always criticizing Republican presidents and Republican presidential candidates. (Don’t forget, Mr. McCain rose from what would be his deathbed to cast the deciding negative vote to repeal Obamacare – an issue upon which he campaigned for repeal repeatedly. And then closed that out by turning to a fellow senator and sneered, “Now let’s see Trump make America great again.”

And just when we thought we were well rid of Mr. McCain, himself a two-time presidential loser – first to President George W. Bush and then to Mr. Obama – we find him reincarnated in the form of Gov. Mitt Romney, himself likewise a two-time presidential loser – once to Mr. McCain and once to Mr. Obama. Mr. Romney has just been elected to the United States Senate and days before taking office – and for no apparent reason – he chose to author an op-ed piece critical of Mr. Trump in the Washington Post – one of Mr. McCain’s favorite venues for stabbing others in the back. Mr. Romney followed that with interviews on CNN and MSNBC – two other favorites of Mr. McCain – in which he doubled down on his criticism. And what was his criticism? Well, not with what Mr. Trump has accomplished but rather with the style in which he accomplished it. Apparently Mr. Trump is a bit of a –sniff, sniff – ruffian, a Vulgar. Mr. Trump isn’t a nice person to his opponents. Regardless this was Mr. Romney’s McCain moment and doubtless it is not his last.

The newsreaders and talking heads at CNN, MSNBC, NBC, the Washington Post and the New York Times are having a field day and Mr. Romney can be assured of front-page coverage if he continues in this fashion. And, in turn, he will be afforded the disapproval and hostility previously reserved for Mr. McCain. Good luck with that Mr. Romney.

Ms. Clinton didn’t win the presidency despite two tries and neither will Ms. Warren. Mr. McCain didn’t win the presidency despite two tries and neither will Mr. Romney. Maybe there are lessons to be learned here.