Clift: Hillary the New Reagan

May 8th, 2006 1:58 PM

Eleanor Clift, Newsweek's resident genius, had another stroke of brilliance Sunday with a column on the many similarities between Hillary Clinton and Ronald Reagan. Aside from that very arguable point, I couldn't help but notice this gem that somehow worked its way through Newsweek's legions of fact-checkers:

The late great Jerry Garcia used to say the Grateful Dead were like black licorice. People who loved them loved them a lot. People who hated them really hated them. "Hillary Clinton is black licorice," says a Democratic strategist. "There's a huge upside, and there's a huge downside. And we don't know how it will balance out."

When was the last time we had such a dominant front runner this early who raises such anxiety about electability? The answer is Ronald Reagan. It took a leap of imagination to believe an aging grade-B movie actor with orange hair could win the presidency.

For comment on the substance of the piece (such as it is), head over to Captain's Quarters.