"Undermining my electoral viability since 2001."

Outlandish Josh

Published on Thu, 2006-12-07 18:50

Why I Don't Think Hillary Will Do Well

Mike beat me to it, but for anyone who thinks Hillary is an unstoppable juggernaut, just wait.

This is dumb on the merits and politically. She's talking junk on the studies and statistics: there's just positively no correlation between gaming and antisocial behavior. In fact macro trends on youth crime (falling) in relation to gaming (rising) suggest the opposite, so this is a classic solution in search of a problem. It's a purely cultural issue.

Clinton either really believes this is a pressing problem (unlikely), or else thinks she scores political points here with parents who worry about this stuff and don't quite understand the world their kids live in (likely). I think this is poor calculus given the increasing importance of younger and more technologically savvy voters, and the fact that most individuals who care enough about this to cast a vote one way or another on it are Republicans.

Also, just listen to her talk. Not. Gonna. Happen.

Responses

Thu, 2006-12-07 22:10 — Sam Tresler

Let me just post this IM conversation Frank and I had while watching this.

[21:04] Wyrewolfe: oh god. watching Hillary Clinton on Josh's blog.... this is ridiculous.
[21:05] NIGEL77777: that's funny I was just about to watch it
[21:06] NIGEL77777: god, how fucking vanilla can you get
[21:07] Wyrewolfe: Frank! Its a serious issue facing our country. Get your head out of Iraq and pay attention to what REALY matters!
[21:07] NIGEL77777: yeah, anyhow, she pretty heavily advocated for 18 year olds to spray people with machine guns
[21:07] NIGEL77777: I think hillary clinton is bad for our kids
[21:08] NIGEL77777: she's helped kill over 2100 young men and women and wounded 20,000 others
[21:08] NIGEL77777: what the fuck have video games done?
[21:09] NIGEL77777: I mean, if the legal voting age were 43 then she's fucking clean up in 08
[21:09] NIGEL77777: or if you had to have children to vote
[21:09] Wyrewolfe: Lead Poisoning? Did that stupid bitch just compare video games to lead poisoning?
[21:09] NIGEL77777: yes, yes she did
[21:10] NIGEL77777: I'd like to see what the AMA has to say about video games
[21:10] Wyrewolfe: This just in... ... ... Parenting is healthy for your children.
[21:11] Wyrewolfe: It helps if you actually Watch what they do, but if you can't be bothered, have some legislation.
[21:11] Wyrewolfe: Its almost as good.

Fri, 2006-12-08 19:18 — Dan

this section of the IM conversation is spot on.

[21:08] NIGEL77777: she’s helped kill over 2100 young men and women and wounded 20,000 others

And that only refers to Americans. And the number is closer to 3000.

What about the 500K people over in Iraq that have been killed? And that doesn't count people injured.

She's not only pissing off the average video gamer who's 30, but she's not paying attention to markets either. her base is arguably made up of a large number of women. It just so happens that women are the majority of casual gamers, and are the fastest growing segment (not just out of male vs. female) for video gaming overall.

Check out the Wii. That system has just as many carnage games on it.

Sat, 2006-12-09 22:37 — zazie

Tipper Gore redux. She is so toast.

Fri, 2006-12-15 02:31 — Dan Weinand

But, I am worried about her winning the Democratic nomination. The old Beltway Democratic Strategists that have fallen out of favor see Hillary as a way to re-claim the power they once had. Don't forget the President gets to name the chair of their national party.

I'm definitely not a fan, and this is one of many examples. However, I think it would be a mistake to underestimate her. It's going to take a very strong candidate to beat her in getting the nomination.

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