Living in Massachusetts, one thing that nearly never comes up is a person's thoughts on a GOP campaign of any sort, let alone a Presidential debate 15 months in front of the next election. As a conservative/Republican it made my heart flutter to hear this conversation in this liberal bastion. That one of the participants was a proponent of Chris Christie was disheartening, but still, the conversation occurred, and it's a bit of progress.
I mention this only because many of the Republican candidates for nomination have set as their target Hillary Clinton, and I have to ask this all important question: Why? Clinton makes John McCain and/or Mitt Romney look wholly electable. In fact, the only *Republicans* who might have a problem with Clinton if she were to be the Democrats' nominee would be Jeb Bush or Chris Christie. Any other Republican running for the nomination would mop the floor up with Clinton, because she has absolutely nothing to stand on, outside of the fact that her husband was once President.
Unless of course we're counting the multitude of scandals that are waiting to bring her down.
While many of the Republican candidates have done a better than expected job of getting their message out, stating how they would compare to Clinton in a theoretical showdown. First off, any polling data that is 15 months out is beyond irrelevant, especially when you consider that data is being collected during the summer time, when 98% of the populace is paying exactly 0 attention and their choices are based solely on whoever's name happened to pop up on the news that day.
If the GOP is collectively going to go after a candidate vying for the Democrat's nod, then they should focus on Bernie Sanders (a candidate who is actually resonating with voters at the moment), or Joe Biden. Sure, it'd be fair to note that Biden is essentially the Chester A. Arthur of the 21st century, but it's also important to note that Arthur served as President of the United States of America for over 3 1/2 years. Yes, it took a would-be assassin's bullet and the bungling of his doctors to kill Presdient James Garfield, but strange things happen in politics. Even an Al Gore run at the Presidency would be a bigger threat to Republicans recapturing the White House in 2016 than Hillary Clinton.
The biggest reason is Clinton's own belief that she is too big to fail, despite the fact that she proved in 2008 she could, and did fail spectacularly, as Obama beat her down for the D's nomination. She has a John McCain sense of entitlement, based on the belief that each of them has spent so much of their lives in *public* 'service' that they deserve pretty much whatever they want. They're both morons, and fools to boot, which is further reason for Republicans to spend their energy away from Clinton.
Perhaps last evening's revelation that the FBI may be criminally investigating Clinton will be enough to forestall any time being wasted in tonight's "debate" on the Clinton candidacy. If she continues to be the bar that Republicans aim at, they will fall short in their attempt to gain access to the White House.
