Pirate's Cove

There are two pieces of interest at the NY Times. The first is an opinion piece by Emma Roller, which is about Hillary’s conservative cred

Can Hillary Clinton, Goldwater Girl, Win Over Republicans?

….

Now she’s the one running for president. The Goldwater Girl chapter is in the past, though it is something the veteran Democratic politician talks about as formative to her political identity. “My political beliefs are rooted in the conservatism that I was raised with,” she said in a 1996interview.

What can Hillary Clinton’s past as a Goldwater Girl tell us about her effort to win over Republicans in the general election?

The Clinton campaign seems to be subtly tapping into her conservative past in the hopes of appealing to anti-Trump Republicans in the general election. In recent weeks, her campaign has started courting Jeb Bush’s donors, and has sent out a flurry of news releases playing up the “risk” posed by a Donald J. Trump presidency and quoting Republicans who have voiced concerns about their presumptive nominee.

Of course, this is all minor wooing. She isn’t changing her positions, and she’s not blowing off her party’s base. She isn’t expecting Republicans unhappy with Trump to campaign for her, show their support of her, or even vote for her. She’s surely expecting them to just not vote for Trump. She’ll highlight that Trump is beyond the political beliefs of Conservatives and Republicans. As so many Trump followers note, refusing to vote for Trump helps Hillary.

Then we have this, from the front page of the NY Times in the news section

Donald Trump Borrows From Bernie Sanders’s Playbook to Woo Democrats

Donald J. Trump recently coined a dismissive nickname for Senator Bernie Sanders: “Crazy Bernie.”

But that has not stopped Mr. Trump from borrowing lessons from Mr. Sanders — the Vermont senator whom he also frequently praises from the stump — on how to run against Hillary Clinton, his likely opponent in the general election.

On a range of issues, Mr. Trump seems to be taking a page from the Sanders playbook, expressing a willingness to increase the minimum wage, suggesting that the wealthy may pay higher taxes than under his original proposal, attacking Mrs. Clinton from the left on national security and Wall Street, and making clear that his opposition to free trade will be a centerpiece of his general election campaign.

During the general election time, candidates do want to woo: the want to appeal to independents, interest groups, and even pick off some who traditionally vote for the other party, all while making sure they keep their own folks on the reservation.

Here’s one difference, though: Hillary isn’t going to change her positions. They will be Democrat positions. Trump is actually moving to the left of Hillary on many issues, and taking straight up Democrat party positions on others. He’s not attempting to woo Conservatives and Republicans. And he’s set a tone with his supporters to brand any GOP voter who refuses to vote Trump as cuckservatives, Demoncrats, and traitors. Those are just three of the words I’ve been branded with for refusing to throw my support behind Trump. And the more this all happens, the closer I become to #NeverTrump. I would prefer it to be #NeverHillary. But, I can only abandon principles for pragmatism so far.