Posted on 11/24/2007 10:15:19 AM PST by CT
Just when every poll has Hillary Rodham Clinton slipping, she has gotten a shot in the arm from a very unlikely source: President Bush.
In an interview on Tuesday featuring the first couple and Charles Gibson, the president said of Hillary: "No question, there is no question that Clinton understands pressure better than any of the candidates, you know, in the race because she lived in the White House and sees it first could see it first-hand."
By saying that she understands the klieg lights, Bush lent credence to Hillarys campaign assertion that she could hit the ground running if she were elected president.
Would somebody please explain to us what Bush is doing, touting Hillary just as the rest of America is finally catching on to her artificial, evasive and contrived campaigning style?
This is not the first time Bush has rescued the Clintons. After they left the White House, both the former president and the new senator had low ratings in the polls. Beset by scandal the White House gifts, the pardons-for-sale, the payments to Hillarys brothers for pardons, the Hasidic vote-for-pardon scandal, and Bills nolo contender plea to obstructing justice Bill and Hillary were sucking wind.
But, Bush swept in for the rescue, picking the former president off the ash heap of history and elevating him to parity with his father in a two-former-president effort to raise funds for the tsunami victims. By giving him a respected place alongside a former president of unquestioned integrity, Bush gave Clinton a tremendous way to climb out of disgrace and into the limelight.
Then, when the tsunami relief effort was winding down, he re-enlisted former President Clinton to work with his father again on helping the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Not only did Bush help the Clintons in positive ways, but he let his justice department drop the investigations of the pardons, the gifts, the payments to Hillarys brothers and the Hasidic vote scandal with no prosecution or plea dealings.
Then Bush let Clinton off the hook another time when the former presidents former National Security Adviser Sandy Berger was caught smuggling classified documents relating to 9/11 and the war on terror out of the National Archives in his pockets and socks. The Bush Justice Department accepted a plea deal with Berger which did not require him to say what documents he had taken and why he had swiped them. As a result, we never knew what aspect of the Clinton record on terrorism Berger was so anxious to cover up.
All of this kid glove treatment of the former first couple led to jokes about how George W. and Bill are the two children of President George H.W. Bush. Now the president is going easy on his putative sister-in-law, Hillary.
The fact is that Hillary has no idea what it is like to be president. Unlike Bill, she did not have to face the media daily and could keep them at arms
length as she toured the world, acting like a tourist, in carefully contrived photo opportunities. When she was really involved in public policy during the health reform debate her insistence on the secrecy of the proceedings led to a federal court order and judgment against her.
Is President Bush deliberately helping Hillary to win the nomination because he feels she would be the easiest one of the Democrats to beat? If he is, hes making a serious mistake. She is the only Democrat who can bring 10 million new single female voters out of the woodwork to sway the election.
Or, is it an ex-president thing? A kind of exclusive club of former chiefs who treat one another with kindness, civility and bend over backwards to show respect? Whether it is through political miscalculation or elitism that Bush caters to Hillary Clinton, he should stop it. Every day, she bashes him full time on the campaign trail. His kind words for her are so out of place, they are jarring.
President George W. Bush has done quite enough to aid the election of Hillary Clinton as the next president of the United States already, thank you. Without his generosity to Bill and his refusal to prosecute matters that could embarrass the Clintons, he bears a great deal of responsibility already for Hillarys rise to front-runner status in the Democratic primary.
I read the interview where W said it. Another chip on his pile of $hit around here.
Thanks for pointing that out to me, Miss Didi. I don’t read Dickie Morris’s claptrap.
I think it’s rather funny that some on this thread are castigating President Bush for having given her a so-called boost and are talking about dynasties and the-fix-is-in stuff. Reminds me a bit of the moonbats who think President Bush is going to stop the election and declare himself president-for-life.
So a word about Clinton having been in the WH before is going to help Hillary in a DEMOCRAT primary? I’m sure that all the liberals that have been undecided have now been pushed to the Clinton side. They’ve just been waiting to hear which candidate Bush thinks has the most experience!
Yeah, right.
The coming recession/depression is going to place her in Hooverville lore.
Problem is, does she share the view that under no circumstances Iran be allowed to get the bomb?
Because we may not have four years to wait and see.
Tough crowd today.
Read the article. Then comments. Particularly what I said (because I posted). When you do you'll see I don't offer any more of a 'theory' than to ask out loud why the Bush family seems to do this.
I did not see this as helpful in the primaries. Possibly the general. But more to the point, utter amazement that anyone from our side could say anything complimentary about the Clintons, especially if some A***holes will try and use it to spin to their advantage.
And by A***holes I am talking the Clinton spin machine, and obviously at some later date.
Hillary was starting to move to the center before her ship srprung a leak. And one way she could do that is by looking like she does battle with Code Pink and the other wack jobs. But now that she has the 'problem' she may have to stay left to lock up the BDS vote.
2 things. I didn’t read your original comment, so I was responding to Dick Morris and the other author, not to you personally. The other thing is that I don’t believe that saying Clinton is used to being in the spotlight or the pressure of the White House is a compliment. In fact, pointing her out as an insider is not considered a plus to anybody except maye career politicians.
All that aside here is my opinion. I want Hillary to win the primary. I believe she is more beatable than Obama or Edwards. She starts out with 47-49% of the population saying that they will absolutely never vote for her. I like our odds.
Now, I'm so disgusted with Bush & the Clintons and their mindset. The respect for the Office of the President has to be earned and Clinton's rehabilitation is a slap in the face of people who love this country. It occurs to me this is like royalty, if honor is not deserved.
I voted for Bush 4 times. I don't regret those votes even today, because the alternatives were too far left, but I can say, GWB has been extremely disappointing. I don't think I'm alone, I haven't sent a dime to the RNC. I've sent a small check for John Cornyn's reelection and I love my own representative in Congress, Lamar Smith.
Yeah like hillary voters are all of a sudden giving a sh-t about what President Bush has to say. This article should really be a scrapple face no?
LOL!
This peanut head is STILL causing problems! Are you saying this is Bush's strategy? Is he that stupid?
After Clinton (Hillary) Jeb will come to the rescue (sarc on).
Agree 100%.
He was being polite. Its very annoying.
I'm a President Bush fan...I was just making lemonade from lemons.
I don't get it either. He's been doing it since January 22nd, 2001.
Touting the "new tone" in Washington....refusing to purge Clinton appointees and hacks from government offices and departments...mainly, just being a panty-waist when it comes to Clinton.
Nope, just don't get it. Never will.
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