Dick Morris: 'Clintons Want Bush Re-elected'

NewsMax.com ^ | 5/30/03 | Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff

[kattracks]

The decision by Bill and Hillary Clinton to keep a high profile going into next year's presidential campaign amounts to a "conscious effort" by the former first couple to make sure that no Democrat wins the White House in 2004.

That's the stunning assessment from political strategist Dick Morris, who said Thursday that the Clintons actually want to see Bush re-elected so he can retire just when Mrs. Clinton is ready to run for the White House herself in 2008.

"There is a conscious effort going on by the Clintons to distract attention from the current field of candidates," Morris told nationally syndicated radio host Sean Hannity. "They do not want a Democrat to win in '04."

"They want Bush to be re-elected," the former Clinton adviser explained. "And that way they want Hillary to be able to run for an open seat."

"If Bush lost and a Democrat were elected, then obviously [Hillary] would have to support him in '08," he noted.

"She couldn't run until 2012. She'd be 65 years old and would have been out of office for 12 years. It's kind of hard at that point to keep the bloom on the rose and be able to run."

Morris said that Bill Clinton wants to maintain his role as spokesman for the Democratic Party so he can "trivialize and minimize the Democratic candidates" and thereby keep the Oval Office open for Hillary.

Another indication that the former first couple would like to see their own party defeated in the next presidential election, said Morris, is the fact that "[Clinton's] big fund-raising guns have not signed up with any of these other guys."

Democratic strategist Susan Estrich offered partial support for Morris' theory last week, complaining that the Clintons were actually hurting other Democratic presidential candidates with their high-profile antics.

"The Clintons suck up every bit of the available air," the one-time Dukakis campaign manager observed. "Nothing is left for anyone else. They are big, too big. That's the problem."

"The 2004 candidates need a chance to get some attention," she added. "Could somebody please tell [the Clintons] to shut up?"

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Bush Administration
Sen. Hillary Clinton

[Mister Baredog]

Bill Clinton wants to maintain his role as spokesman for the Democratic Party so he can "trivialize and minimize the Democratic candidates"

That's not too tough to do but you gotta wonder why the DEMS hang on the low life.

I'm just glad he's not smart enough to figure out HE (and his Hildebeast)are why the Republicans are controlling the House, Senate, and the White House. Go BILL!!

[katze]

Yes they do, and I'm still wondering how either of them could pass a background check, much less an in-depth security clearance for president or senator. In fact, I read somewhere, some time ago, that some top secret info was kept from Clinton while he was in the WH.

[Quix]

A) her hideous heinous Shrillery Antoinette de Fosterizer de Sad

has NEVER been a rose

And if there's ever been a bloom in her vicinity,

the smell had to have been like that of a certain tropical plant that blooms once an eon.

I think it's something like a cross between rotten meat and the pile of dung Dillbo is.

No, I'm not one of the undynamic duo's fans. Does it show?

[Quix]

Wellllll, if a glance can freeze water now, a look by then will turn LIFE to cold stone!

[Political Junkie Too]

Okay, how's this for a scenario?

How about a Cheney/Bush ticket in 2004? If Cheney wins, that leaves Bush eligible to run in 2008, assuming Cheney survives at least through 2006. In fact, Cheney can "retire" in 2006, and Bush can assume the presidency and hopefully max out the two-term or 10 years part of the Constitution by finishing Cheney's term and then getting another term in 2008.

-PJ

[Quix]

Yeah, I think she and the puppet masters behind her really want her in in 2004.

[Valpal1]

Can't help but wonder if there are some senatorial Dems who now wish they had voted for impeachment and put a real stake throught the vampires heart.

So glad they are stuck with these two zombies dragging them down into the swampwater.

[discostu]

Dick finally read my stuff from two years ago. That's why goal #1 for who ever runs against Hillary in 06 (she's got to run, two years as a civilian will kill her career) must be to make her promise to serve a full term. We'll want the ammo.

[RightWhale]

She couldn't run until 2012. She'd be 65 years old

Can somebody check this? I thought she was already 65.

[savedbygrace]

Wow, I feel a spell coming on. For once, I agree with Disk Morris and think he's spot on.

Someone fetch me the smelling salts.

[aristeides]

If the war on terror is still going on in 2008, I think Rudy Giuliani would be a more compelling candidate: 9/11 image; appeals to Catholics; good chance of taking New York, better chance of taking NJ, PA.

[TUX]

Its the FBI files on everyone on earth, plus the ability to buy votes, in adddition to names of Dim contributors, and the chains to jerk them with.

Alltogather makes this disgusting duo the most dangerous animals in political life.

[aristeides]

Too big a chance Cheney could lose at the top of the ticket. His health would be an issue. And it would look too much like a gimmick to the voters.

[aristeides]

There's safety in numbers. Stalin was gotten rid of when all his lieutenants ganged up on him.

[Delta 21]

Jeb & Giuliani ?

Giuliani & Jeb ?

....hmmmmmmmm, thats a tough one!

[Slyfox]

[Alberta's Child]

That's why goal #1 for who ever runs against Hillary in 06 (she's got to run, two years as a civilian will kill her career) must be to make her promise to serve a full term. We'll want the ammo.

This isn't even an issue. Bill Clinton ran for governor of Arkansas in 1990 and promised to serve his full term, but that campaign promise became irrelevant the day after the election.

The bigger issue is that Hillary must be defeated in 2006. She'll have a hard time winning a nation-wide election in 2008 if she couldn't even win in one of the most liberal states in the U.S. two years earlier. There is some speculation that she wouldn't even run again for the Senate in 2006, opting instead to run for governor of New York. A governor generally makes a far more formidable presidential candidate than a Senator, anyway.

[Alberta's Child]

Forget it -- it smacks so much of manipulation that even I wouldn't go for it.

[Stultis]

Dick Morris is a odious little bastard who cynically assumes everyone else is as mean-spirited and mercenary as he is.

This makes him an astute observer of the Clintons.

[LiteKeeper]

Grain-of-salt bump