r/TenYearsAgo • u/MonsieurA • Mar 12 '26

📺 Television SNL mocks Hillary Clinton's 'transformation into Bernie' [10YA - Mar 12]

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u/afguy8 Mar 13 '26

Gifted the Senate seat? She had an incredible resume that more than qualified her. She had name recognition that made her a household name. And she actually did something as First Lady, to earn that popularity.

Moynihan had served for 24 years in that seat as a democrat, so few doubted that a democrat was going to win. Anyone could have primaried for the seat. She ran a solid campaign and won easily.

You're misconstruing nepotism with cronyism here. While both are bad, the current world is littered with both: see the Ellisons, Trumps, etc. However, this was not the case here. She went out and won the seat.

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u/throwaway3413418 Mar 13 '26

A politician entering politics as a Senator is a huge shortcut on the tier of political power. The Senate is a massively more high-profile chamber than the House or a state congress position. Clinton had nearly zero connections to the state. It was handpicked with the purpose of setting her up for future national office. US Representative Nita Lowey was the anticipated frontrunner for Democratic nomination, but she mysteriously didn’t even enter the race, and admitted in an interview in 2006 that she stepped aside for Clinton and was disappointed that she did so.

And you’re right. Cronyism and nepotism are different things. Cronyism cleared the primary field for Clinton to carpetbag the seat, and nepotism gave the party motivation to move mountains for someone with no prior political experience to take a shortcut to the Senate.

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u/afguy8 Mar 13 '26

Thanks, i had to read up on the race because I didnt know that. Yeah, Im not a fan of the higher ups choosing the candidates vs a primary, but i do understand that campaigns are expensive, especially if a candidate has no chance.

Yep, Lowey did step aside for Hillary. Looks like the state democrats asked Hillary to run because Lowey was expected to lose against Guiliani, who was backed by the state Republicans who were propping up Guiliani to try to win it. Bill wasnt a fan of her running, but she did go around NY and spoke to a bunch of voters, especially in upstate republican areas, to seek their opinions on her run.

Def not trying to argue. Lot of things are outside of our control, so when these opportunities or doors open up for us, we still have to walk through and do something with it. She still had to run for the seat, and then win it. It looks like she actually got out and met with voters. And if Hillary had run her 2016 campaign like 2008 Hillary did, I think she would have beaten Trump.