The Clintons and History

By Matt Bai Primary Argument - Matt Bai - The Caucus - Politics - New York Times Blog

WASHINGTON — There’s an old joke people here in the capital like to tell about Charles E. Schumer, the New York senator, and over the years I’m sure it’s been used to describe other politicians, as well: The most dangerous place to stand in Washington is between Chuck Schumer and a bank of television cameras.

Well, that may be, but it seems to me that the most dangerous place to be in the rest of the country is between the Clintons and an elected office.

Just this weekend, after all the recent attacks against Barack Obama involving his kindergarten essay and cocaine, the “fairy tale” of his antiwar stance, we found out that the Nevada teacher’s union with ties to the Clintons is suing to keep workers on the Vegas Strip from being able to caucus in their workplaces, since most of those workers belong to unions that have endorsed Mr. Obama.

Meanwhile, Robert Johnson, the founder of Black Entertainment Television, made yet another elliptical reference to Mr. Obama having used cocaine. Mr. Johnson tried to walk it back yesterday by saying that he was only referring to Mr. Obama’s days as a community organizer when he said Mr. Obama “was doing something in the neighborhood — and I won’t say what he was doing, but he said it in the book… .” Sure, because community organizing is not the kind of thing you’d want to speak of in public, with children around. Better to let people find out on their own.

What’s most confounding about this latest turn into ugliness, though, is the Clintons’ remarkable capacity to cast themselves as the victims in every fight.

They just don't stop!

Apparently, the voice that Hillary found in New Hampshire was Karl Rove’s. Her “performance” during the last two days of the campaign and subsequent efforts to smear Obama and distort his record are right out of the right-wing Republican handbook. Her much vaunted “experience” has taught her nothing other than how and when to play dirty.
The events of the past week leave me convinced that, short of selling Chelsea into white slavery, the Clintons would stop at nothing to win this election. Formerly, I was merely supporting Obama; now I am actively opposing Sen. Clinton. I voted for her twice for Senator, the second time despite my anger over her Iraq vote, but I will never vote for her again for any public office.
If she is nominated, I’m voting for McCain. He may be a little crazy, but he’s honest.
— Posted by Karen

(He's a lot crazy, Karen.)

ML/NJ

My last excerpt. There are just too many.

If this is the way the Clintons secure the nomination, there will be Republican landslide in the general election. How can they kneecap the one politician that has actually inspired passion and hope across all manners of difference and not think that his supporters aren’t going to turn around and fury and either throw away their votes on a write-in candidate or, heaven forbid, vote for a Republican? HRC has officially lost my vote in the general election and I always knew I’d end up voting for the Democratic nominee, no matter who was nominated. No longer, not after this weekend’s developments. I am very, very sadly starting to understand the wide-spread contempt of the Clintons. Woe be to those who spit on hope with lies and all manner of deceipt. They will receive their reward. What an incredible shame.
— Posted by Robert

When I started picking comments out there were 155. This one is #239 out of 379. One more click of the refresh key gets it up to 422. There was one from a candidate for Freeperhood, and maybe another 20 that weren't obviously from a Dim. But I guess vitually all who participate at the NYTimes these days would be Dims.

ML/NJ

Okay. Here's one more. They're up to over 500 comments now.

I was a major Hillary Clinton supporter until this week, but I will never cast a ballot for Hillary Clinton now, ever, in any election.
The subtle and EXTREMELY HARMFUL race-baiting that the Clintons have been pushing with insinuations of Obama as a drug-dealer, a Muslim terrorist Manchurian candidate, shucking and jiving and so many of the other comments, are expressly designed to turn him into “the Black candidate” instead of “the national candidate who happens to be Black.” They push the buttons of anxious White people while baiting Obama to respond, and even when Obama demonstrates enough class to stay above the fray, the Clintons still accuse him of playing the race card.
That was bad enough, but now the Clintons are actively trying to disenfranchise Nevada voters. An old friend of mine works in the catering business in Nevada, and those people work like dogs there even on weekends to make Nevada into a place that people want to visit. This patently ridiculous lawsuit by the Clintons is a transparent attempt to put roadblocks in the way of the Nevada workers who want to exercise their right to vote, even as they have to work on a day that most of us are having a break. Those hard-working souls deserve all our support and respect, and we should be doing everything feasible to facilitate their right to vote, not put obstacles in their way. These rules were agreed upon early last year, yet it is only when Hillary Clinton loses the endorsement that her campaign brings this lawsuit? And she as well as Bill think we’re too stupid to see what they’re doing?
This is not why I supported Hillary originally, and this level of campaigning is so unbelievably vile, that it has already done permanent, corrosive damage to our nation.
I’ll no longer provide any support whatsoever to Hillary, and I will never vote for her.
If she is nominated by the Democrats, then all of my fellow Democrats have a wealth of options instead of voting for her– you can vote for a 3rd Party, you can write in another candidate for President (which I will likely do, Albert Gore, Jr. is my first choice for the write-in name), you can vote for a moderate Republican nominee, or you can even stay home. The choice is yours. But do not support Hillary, she has been far too damaging already and if she were forgiven for these tactics, they would be standard in any future Democratic campaigns and they would destroy our Party, not to mention our country. Some of my African-American friends are so angry, that they have taken to referring to the Clintons as “the KKKlintons,” and it is only going to get much worse as the Clintons’ race-baiting and other repugnant campaigning continues at it already has been doing.
To all my once-fellow Hillary Clinton supporters out there, I urge you to renounce your support for the Hillary campaign immediately, because the Hillary Clinton campaign is on a sinking ship that is headed straight to Hell, and if you stay on it, you will be dragged down with it. Refuse to support this campaign, never vote for the Clintons again, and take a close look at the wealthy businesses and donors who are contributing money to the Clinton campaign– and refuse to give them a single dime.
— Posted by Amanda S.

ML/NJ

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.