Will GOP Efforts to Compare Hillary Clinton to Nixon Backfire?

The GOP and right wing noise machines are always on the attack against Hillary Clinton and now, in addition to seemingly never ending conspiracy theories, the attacks seek to compare Hillary to Richard Nixon.  There is certainly no lack of irony in the GOP now comparing Hillary to one its own who won two terms at the polls only to ultimately resign.  But then again, since the party lacks any real positive agenda attractive to most sane Americans (e.g., those outside  the lunatic Christian Right and new Gilded Age robber baron who endorse the GOP's reverse Robin Hood campaign), the GOP must attack anyone who might have a different vision for governing.  A column in the Washington Post looks at the GOP effort to turn Hillary into a modern day Richard Nixon.  Here are excerpts:

The comparison to Clinton [to Nixon] can certainly be overplayed. By all accounts, she lacks Nixon’s personal awkwardness and strangeness. But a portion of the characterization “Nixonian” is a compliment: hardworking, untiring, relentless. While another portion — wary, secretive, ruthless — can lead down some dark alleys.

Right now, Clinton is generally benefiting, not suffering, from this reputation. The next president, from either party, will need to provide a contrast of strength and purpose to President Obama’s foreign policy of disengagement that has resulted in disaster and led to inadequate, ad hoc responses. Despite her association with the failed “Russian reset,” Clinton is generally positioned to Obama’s interventionist right on foreign policy (especially on Syria). She is a Democrat who would be seen as a tougher, more responsible alternative to her former employer.

And this reputation is also helping Clinton within her party. Her pre-campaign has been rusty — her awkward book tour, her claim that she left office “flat broke,” her exorbitant speaking fees, her foundation’s acceptance of donations by foreign governments. Democratic concerns about her skills are real, but criticisms are rare and mild. Some of this reflects Clinton’s position as a prohibitive front-runner, but some is also the intimidating effect of her style of politics. No Democrat wants to be on the wrong list.

Clinton is not unbeatable, but the effort to label her as Nixonian will not beat her. Republicans face a difficult electoral map; their party is still viewed more negatively than the alternative; they have alienated large numbers of working-class and minority voters; and all of their prospective presidential candidates are losing to Clinton by double digits.

If the next election is viewed by Republicans as a referendum on Hillary Clinton’s scandals — and this distracts from the task of reconstituting the Republican message and appeal — then Clinton may take the Nixonian path to the Oval Office.

The GOP continues to alienate gays, woman, younger voters, Hispanics, and other religious and racial minorities.  Yet rather than admit that pandering to a shrinking demographic of aging far right religious extremists and vulture capitalists, the GOP prefers to find a conspiracy under every bush and ignore America's changing demographics.