--- title: Republican Identity Crisis Eases the Path for Hillary Clinton description: But she will need a backbone canonical: https://time.com/4092349/gop-identity-crisis-eases-path-for-hillary-clinton/ author: Joe Klein article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-29T10:52:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:39:41.452Z article:section: Politics og:title: Republican Identity Crisis Eases the Path for Hillary Clinton og:description: But she will need a backbone og:url: https://time.com/4092349/gop-identity-crisis-eases-path-for-hillary-clinton/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Republican Identity Crisis Eases the Path for Hillary Clinton twitter:description: But she will need a backbone twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # A GOP Identity Crisis Eases the Path for Hillary Clinton > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=34b38c8c-8bf6-404d-9a92-5ee997ce68be&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Watch The CNBC GOP Debate in Less Than 4 Minutes [Watch (HLS stream): Watch The CNBC GOP Debate in Less Than 4 Minutes](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/8UytvMpk.m3u8) (3:46)  _Published 2015-10-29. Watch The CNBC GOP Debate in Less Than 4 Minutes_ by [Joe Klein](https://time.com/author/joe-klein/) ## Joe Klein Oct 29, 2015 10:52 AM UTC Watch The CNBC GOP Debate in Less Than 4 Minutes by [Joe Klein](https://time.com/author/joe-klein/) ## Joe Klein Oct 29, 2015 10:52 AM UTC In mid-October, the astrology of the 2016 presidential campaign began to change: Clinton rising; Republicans waning. The arcs intersected at the House Special Benghazi Committee hearings, where chairman Trey Gowdy seemed a visitor from an alternate universe, a place where the musings of Sidney Blumenthal–a lesser Clinton courtier unknown to most Americans–counted for more than the existential question: Why on earth did we attack Libya in the first place? Latter-day Republicans have a tendency to get lost finding conspiracies in their own entrails, but the Benghazi weirdness seemed truly incomprehensible–after watching for nine hours, I still have no idea what the interrogators were after. And Benghazi seemed a refraction of the increasingly bizarre Republican nomination race, in which Ben Carson seems to be levitating past Donald Trump. Indeed, I can’t remember a time when I’ve experienced the gnashing of so many prominent Republican teeth. “Who would you vote for,” a leading Republican asked me, “Trump or Bernie Sanders?” “Who would you vote for,” I asked in return, “Trump or Hillary?” As his campaign has progressed, Trump’s position on some key issues seems to be to the left of Clinton’s–on the Iraq War, especially–and in her general neighborhood on others: taxation of the rich, entitlements, universal health care. He is a nightmare of chainsaw-massacre proportions to Establishment conservatives. Their panic may be premature, though. This election reminds me of this exact moment in the 2004 Democratic nominating process when Howard Dean was a house afire and John Kerry seemed deader than Jeb Bush does now. “I’d love to see Dean get the nomination,” Karl Rove, who was running George W. Bush’s re-election campaign, told me in November 2003\. “But he won’t. Americans don’t elect angry Presidents.” It is a basic truth: Any candidacy based solely on adrenaline will inevitably crash. Trump should check with Dr. Carson about the chemistry, or just ask Howard Dean, who had a far more righteous cause for anger than Trump–the Iraq War–but no second act. All of which makes Jeb Bush’s behavior in the days before the Colorado debate seem myopic and self-destructive. Americans may not like angry candidates, but they are utterly allergic to whiners. If there are a “lot of really cool things” Bush can do instead of running for President, perhaps he should go do them. That would be a shame. Bush has emerged as the candidate for the opposite of those who are “low-information” voters–perhaps we could call them “too much information” voters. He has laid out some heavy-duty policy proposals, some with real merit, but none with the zing of a bumper sticker. He seems a thoughtful guy, but without fists or elbows. With Bush and Trump on the wane, Marco Rubio seems poised to be the flavor of the next month. Does the Republican identity crisis mean that Hillary Clinton is our next President? She certainly looks solid–especially when she’s in Benghazi mode. At one point in the hearings, her ability to put the Libya situation in context, comparing it with her near-simultaneous actions to tamp down an extremely dangerous situation in neighboring Tunisia, left any non-Hillary-hating observer thinking: This woman is cool in crisis, tough and prepared. There are no more important qualities in a President. But Clinton is not always in Benghazi mode. Her attempts to deliver hortatory political speeches, as at the Iowa Democratic Party meeting a couple of days after the hearing, still come across as harsh and unconvincing. (For those who believe this is a sexist observation, I would note that both Carly Fiorina and Elizabeth Warren really know how to give a fighting speech.) Another problem for Clinton is her failure to stand up to the Democrats’ base on any issue. Her husband gained credibility, and ultimately the presidency, by defying the left on welfare reform, trade and crime. The current Democratic base isn’t nearly as barbaric as the extreme right but remains trapped within the corroded industrial-age structures of government and manufacturing. Clinton’s recent defense of the Department of Veterans Affairs, a disaster in need of reform, is a sad demonstration of a standard liberal default position: that everything in government is just hunky-dory. All we need is more money. The ability to stand athwart your strongest supporters is a character issue, especially among the people who actually decide elections–the slowly evaporating middle. Clinton is on the rise because her debating and congressional-hearing personas are tough as titanium, but her political persona remains vaguely vinyl. Americans tend not to like polyester Presidents, either. ## Transcript [00:00] Live from the University of Colorado in Boulder, the [00:04] Republican Presidential Debate. [ APPLAUSE ] My great [00:08] concern is that we are on the verge, perhaps, of [00:11] picking someone who cannot do this job. What is your [00:14] biggest weakness and what are you doing to address [00:17] it? Well, John, I don't really have any weaknesses that I [00:19] can think of. [ LAUGH ] I trust people too much. Not [00:23] really seeing myself in that position until hundreds [00:27] of thousands of people began to tell me that I needed [00:29] to do it. Well gee, after the last debate I was told that I [00:33] didn't smile enough. [ LAUGH ] [ APPLAUSE ] But I'm [00:40] not worried about my finances, I'm worried about the [00:41] finances of everyday Americans. [ INAUDIBLE ] who [00:43] today are struggling in an economy that is producing [00:46] good paying jobs, while everything else costs more. [00:49] Whose fault is it that Medicare's broke and out of [00:51] money, that Social Security broke and out of money, [00:53] and I say look, it's not Republicans' fault, it's not [00:56] Democrats' fault, it's your grandparents' fault for [00:59] having too many damn kids. Tell me what's different [01:02] between the government and Bernie [ INAUDIBLE ] who [01:05] sits in prison today for doing less than what the [01:07] government has done to the people on social security [01:10] and medicare in this country. Let's tell people the [01:12] truth. For once let's do that and stop trying to give [01:16] them some kind of fantasy that's never going to come [01:17] true. When you signed up for this, this was a six year [01:20] term. And you should be showing up to work. I mean [01:22] literally, the Senate, what is it, like a French work [01:24] week? You get like three days where you have to show [01:27] up? I don't remember you ever complaining about John [01:29] McCain's vote record. The only reason why you're [01:31] doing it now is because we're running for the same [01:32] position, and someone has convinced you that [01:34] attacking me is gonna help you. Here's the bottom line. [01:37] [ APPLAUSE ] My campaign- Would you feel more [01:40] comfortable if your employees brought guns to work? [01:43] Yes, I might feel more comfortable. I would say that I [01:48] would, and I have a permit which is very unusual in [01:51] New York, a permit to carry. And I do carry on [01:55] occasion, sometimes a lot. But I like to be [01:58] unpredictable, so people don't know exactly what you [02:00] carry. [ LAUGH ] I love Donald Trump. [02:04] Is a good man I'm wearing a Trump tie tonight. Get [02:07] over that one. Okay? Wait a sec. Al. We're clearly not [02:11] having that beer you mentioned. [ LAUGH ] But I'll give [02:15] you thirty more seconds. But I'll buy you a tequila. [02:16] Okay, alright. Or even some famous Colorado [02:19] brownies. I'll give you thirty seconds to respond. Whoa. [02:24] If somebody put me on their homepage, they did it [02:26] without my permission. Does that not speak to your [02:28] vetting process or judgment in any way? It speaks to [02:31] the fact that I don't know that it's going on. We have 19 [02:35] trillion dollars in debt, we have people out of work, we [02:39] have ISIS and Al Qaeda attacking us, and we're talking [02:42] about fantasy football? Can we stop? [ APPLAUSE ] [02:46] I'm the only one on this stage that has a plan that [02:49] would create jobs, cut taxes, balance the budget, and [02:53] could get it done because I'm realistic. You just don't [02:56] make promises like this. Why don't we just give a [02:58] chicken in every pot? You find a Democrat that's for [03:00] cutting taxes, cutting spending $ 10? I'll give him a [03:03] warm kiss. I do not want to walk my five [03:08] grandkids through the charred remains of the once [03:11] great country called America and say here you go, [03:14] $ 20 trillion worth of debt, good luck making [03:17] something out of this mess. I want a government so [03:20] small I can barely see it. I want a government so small [03:23] that the individual has a chance to drive and prosper. I [03:27] may not be your dream candidate just yet but I can [03:30] assure you I am Hillary Clinton's worst nightmare and [03:33] in your heart of hearts you cannot wait to see a debate [03:36] between Hillary Clinton and Carly Fiorina. I will tell you [03:39] this. 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