Democrats Sinking in the Clinton Quicksand

NewsDay ^ | 06/13/03 | John Richard Starkey

[bedolido]

It may be churlish for a New York Democrat to say this, but I believe Hillary Clinton's book is the best thing to happen to George W. Bush since postwar Iraq began to implode.

Several days before the book became a conversation piece - just as the media was exposing, however belatedly, the administration's bogus rationale for the war - I was listening to a public radio call-in show. The subject was why people who disagree with the president's policies still support him. One woman expressed a widely held view this way: "I'm a traditional-values person, so, though I don't like a lot of what Bush does, I go with it."

Polls indicate that the president's popularity is based both on his status as a wartime commander and on his straight-arrow persona. The public's respect for Bush's military macho can be expected to erode as evidence that he misled us into war and its chaotic aftermath mounts. But his common-decency appeal can only grow with reminders - amplified in worldwide headlines and distributed inside a million hardcovers - of his predecessor's frequent extramarital dalliances.

Hillary Clinton surely did not time her book's publication to steal the spotlight from the nine Democratic presidential candidates, but that's the result. At a moment when Bush appears to be an increasingly vulnerable target, the opposition candidates' rhetorical bulls'-eyes are muffled by the din over "Living History."

Just last week, coincidental with leaks about the book's contents, eight of the nine Democratic hopefuls spoke rousingly at a three-day progressive "Take Back America" conference in Washington. The media coverage they and their liberal ideas received was virtually nonexistent.

Hillary Clinton's ability to dominate the attention of the celebrity-conscious public has worrisome long- and short-term implications for the Democratic Party. It is no secret that, on matters of policy, she has been a disappointment to large numbers of her New York constituents. One serious misstep was on Oct. 10, when she backed giving war powers to Bush after saying, "I take the president at his word that he will try hard to pass a UN resolution and will seek to avoid war, if at all possible." Americans now know that the president did not try at all to avoid the war.

Clinton has proven she can go a long way on celebrity, and the wave of approving sentimentality that has greeted her book suggests she can go much further. She benefits from her husband's mystique - despairing Democrats don't see a promising name on the horizon other than one that worked in the past - and from the fact that she's the Clinton without carnal baggage. She clearly has the potential to influence the party's direction during a critical period.

[cardinal4]

Saddam's regime is gone and that's good enough for me.

Amen.

[PMCarey]

Saddam's regime is gone and that's good enough for me.

Well, they haven't found Saddam yet either. Which makes one wonder whether he ever existed in the first place.

[MrsEmmaPeel]

Americans now know that the president did not try at all to avoid the war.

Say what?????

[Cicero]

You know there must be something in those Clinton files. The dummycrats all stood up for Swill and backed him during his "trying hours". Now they are all being used as Hillary's bidet.

Of course. 900 FBI files were just the tip of the iceberg. The clintons undoubtedly left the Whitehouse with confidential files on everyone who was ever investigated by the FBI and the CIA, and that means everyone of importance. And these files will only go out of date when the subjects named in them are dead, which means that they will continue to be useful for several more decades.

This idiot reporter comments, "Hillary Clinton surely did not time her book's publication to steal the spotlight from the nine Democratic presidential candidates, but that's the result."

To the contrary, whether or not Hillary runs in 2004, she will not allow any other Democrat to win the presidency, to leave the door open for herself when she chooses to run. Rush Limbaugh pointed this out some time ago.

[SerpentDove]

[DrNo]

As opposed to Clinton's bent-arrow persona.

!

;^)

[SerpentDove]

[TontoKowalski]

Thank you, Mrs. Peel, for bringing that up. What a load of hogwash that line is. Did nothing to avoid the war, my ass.

[MrsEmmaPeel]

Personally, I believe the hag won't wait for 2008. She's going to have the nomination thrust upon her in 2004. Afterall, she got away with 900+ FBI files, NY Senate Seat, I reckon she's vain enough to think she can pull off getting the Presidency. It won't work, but that won't stop her trying.

[gathersnomoss]

Who would have thought back in 1998 that this run for eternal power by the Clinton's would be occuring today. The democrats are screwed for the foreseeable future unless these two meet some unfortunate fate.

Sweet justice, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

[Lazamataz]

Hillary Clinton surely did not time her book's publication to steal the spotlight from the nine Democratic presidential candidates, but that's the result.

Bullsh*t. That's exactly what she did and how she planned it. Count on her to make other, similar "mistakes" that will "accidently hurt fellow Democrats" in the 2004 Presidential race. She wants Bush to win, so she will have a clean shot in 2008.

The only wild card will be the Veep position. If Bush goes with Cheney again in 2004, look for a 2008 win by Hillary, since there will be no strong Veep-to-President candidate in Cheney. IF HOWEVER, Bush very diplomatically retires Cheney, and pulls in a qualified woman or minority Veep, Clinton will have a much harder go at it in 2008.

[Richard Kimball]

It will keep alive the Monica Lewinsky story that Hillary's book revived, and with it the comparison of the moral tone of the two White Houses. And Bill Clinton's book will pick up where Hillary's left off in eclipsing the Democratic presidential aspirants as they - and the party - try in vain to get out from under the Clinton shadow.

The stain isn't coming off that dress. People have a limited attention span, and once a specific persona is linked with someone, it stays. JFK is remembered for his head being blown off, Ted Kennedy for "the drive", LBJ for screwing up Nam, and Billy for being a lech. The problem for the Clintons is that whenever they're on stage, the first thought in everyone's mind is "lech and lech enabler."

[SerpentDove]

While halfheartedly watching the Baba Wawa interview, I thought,

Who does she think she's fooling? She thinks she's answering her critics point-by-point, but all she's doing is reminding America of the crap we had to put up while the Evil Ones were in office.

Whitewater, Vince Foster, Monica, Travelgate, etc. etc.

I feel certain (and polls bear it out) that America is once again revulsed by Her Heinous.

May that pig die a lonely, agonizing death.