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Prof. Ken Bode Takes Issue with the "Clinton Style of Politics"
DePauw University ^ | 3/9/2007 | Ken Bode

Posted on 03/09/2007 3:28:04 PM PST by bruinbirdman

Hillary Rodham Clinton's recent comment in Iowa -- "When you're attacked, you have to deck your opponent" -- is examined in Ken Bode's weekly Indianapolis Star column. Bode, Eugene S. Pulliam Distinguished Visiting Professor of Journalism at DePauw University, describes the statement as, "Straightforward, clear, knife-fight simple. It typifies the Clinton style of politics."

The professor -- a former network news political analyst for NBC and CNN -- writes of how Hillary and Bill Clinton have a history of countering attacks with return barrages that pack an even bigger punch. For the 2008 campaign, Bode writes, "the Hillary regime has imposed a strict order: You're either with us or against us. Opponents -- and would-be supporters of opponents -- are expected to understand that they're running against Team Clinton and there will be no mercy."

"Team" is the key here, as the candidate will have the clout of her husband, the former president, as she travels the nation. "No political spouse in America owes a candidate more than Bill owes Hillary. She stood by as the wounded wife during the Monica/impeachment period, when leaving might have cost him the presidency. That he intends to be at her side whenever needed was demonstrated last weekend in Selma, Ala.," when Hillary Clinton delivered a speech at a church about a block away from another sanctuary where her rival, Barack Obama, delivered an address of his own.

"This is the time when Americans are supposed to look carefully at the troop of would-be presidents," Bode concludes. "An important part of the job is to assess their temperament, insofar as that is possible. There is a bookshelf of biographies on the Clintons, and from them the impression is indelible that Hillary is a woman who divides the world into friends and enemies, much more so than her husband. As a father of daughters, I want to be alive when we elect our first woman president. But her current rhetoric conjures ghosts of Hillary past, and I must admit, considering her temperament, I have reservations."

Read the complete essay by clicking here.


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: clinton; deadcats; hillary; hillaryclinton

1 posted on 03/09/2007 3:28:06 PM PST by bruinbirdman
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To: bruinbirdman
As a father of daughters, I want to be alive when we elect our first woman president.

As a father of daughters, I don't care one way or another. I just want a good conservative president.

This idea of rooting for a woman or black or whatever to fill the office is juvenile.

2 posted on 03/09/2007 3:31:07 PM PST by Jeff Chandler (] Tagline Under Construction [)
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To: bruinbirdman

If she does become president. Another woman wont stand a chance at the presidency for decades.


3 posted on 03/09/2007 3:49:36 PM PST by phs3 (If you call a terrorist a freedom fighter, I call you the enemy.)
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To: bruinbirdman
Sobbing in anger, Hillary demanded ...

Hillary sobbing??? That could effect her ashtray aim.

4 posted on 03/09/2007 3:56:37 PM PST by DUMBGRUNT (islam is a mutant meme)
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To: bruinbirdman
What Bode ought to be pointing out in this essay is that if Hillary had left Bill back when all the cheating and mess in the White House was going on (as if it isn't continuing) -- as some feminists argued she should have -- she would be up the creek right now without a paddle. Imagine Hillary going it alone on the campaign trail. What a complete loser she would be. But the old "two for the price of one" schtick might work one more time on the stupid old American public... Fool me once: shame on you. Fool me twice: shame on me!
5 posted on 03/09/2007 4:43:15 PM PST by ReleaseTheHounds ("Salvation is not free")
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To: DUMBGRUNT
Hillary sobbing??

Hillary - the other SOB in Team Clinton.

6 posted on 03/09/2007 4:50:56 PM PST by CT
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