Posted on 04/13/2005 6:48:15 AM PDT by areafiftyone
When Bill Clinton starts talking politics, it usually pays to listen. But the only point he made with an outburst Monday was to prove that somebody ought to put a sock in the former First Mouth. In a cheap shot that set a new low for ex-Presidents, Clinton said a gay Republican strategist who recently married his male partner "may be blinded by self-loathing." Clinton's target was Arthur Finkelstein, a GOP operative who helped elect candidates from George Pataki to Jesse Helms. Last week it was reported the reclusive Finkelstein had quietly married his partner several months ago in Massachusetts, which permits same-sex marriage. The nuptial news came as Finkelstein is organizing an effort to defeat Sen. Hillary Clinton next year. Bill Clinton no doubt thought he was being clever by linking Finkelstein's private life to his political career and using the combo to bash the poor fellow over the head - all to Hillary's benefit. The bashing does remind Finkelstein and the rest of us of Rule No. 1 in ClintonWorld: Only Bill Clinton may humiliate his wife. You don't need a shrink's license to believe his fake chivalry is all about his own skirt-chasing guilt. In fact, the last thing Hillary Clinton needs is to look like she needs him to defend her. If she can't defend herself, she doesn't belong in the Senate and has no business running for President. In other words, buzz off, Bubba. But Bubba can't buzz off. It's always about him. What he says, what he wants, who he wants. Yet this one is a head-scratcher, because there is no obvious upside. Even in the cold calculus of politics, the Finkelstein smear smells like a clumsy mistake. First, Clinton must know that one of the most destructive stereotypes about minorities is that they are all expected to behave and believe one way. Black Republicans get this all the time - the charge they are "not authentic" blacks because most blacks are Democrats and believe in big government. That expectation played out in ugly fashion when Harry Belafonte, an entertainer, called Colin Powell - war hero, secretary of state - an "Uncle Tom" who did "his master's bidding." Belafonte's only standing to make such a charge was that he, like most black politicians, was against the Iraq war. Thus, "real" blacks should have been against the war. Clinton apparently now proposes a similar litmus test for gays - they must support only candidates who support gay marriage. But even that conflicts with Clinton's own shiftiness on gay marriage. As Newsweek reported, Clinton advised John Kerry last year to support the same-sex bans on the ballots in 11 states. Clinton thought Kerry could win those states by supporting the bans. Even Kerry, no stranger to flip-flopping, was shocked at the advice. "I'm not ever going to do that," he told his staff. So what is Bubba up to? Besides snuggling up to the Bushes whenever he gets a chance, campaigning for a Nobel Prize and hoping to be secretary general of the UN? Maybe nothing more. Maybe he's losing his touch. Sometimes smart people do stupid things. Or as Finkelstein friend Michael McKeon deftly put it: "It's really beneath a former President to comment on someone's personal life like that. After everything he has been through in his own life, you'd think he'd know better." Yes, you'd think.
Thank you!
It seems even so many conservatives are enamored of Hillary that they cannot see this woman isn't the threat she's been made out to be. At least not on her own. She's a fighter, I'll give her that much. Isn't enough. She isn't likeable, she is a poor speaker, she's dependant on her husband's name to get anywhere, and while she may be as smart as the average person on the street, the real brains are the ones that have surrounded the Clinton's.
Now it could be said the last is a complaint registered against Bush. The problem is that in Hill's case it happens to be true. She has drive, ambition and instincts for survival. She attached herself to the movers and shakers of the Liberal movement from youth to middle age. She's no more, no less, a parasite.
Cut off the Clinton name. Cut off Clinton's top advisors. And she has nothing. If ever there was proof of this it is in their need to monitor her every speech and every movement. Bush speaks off the cuff and proves quick witted. She speaks off the cuff and we get memorable moments like "We have a right to debate and to disagree with any administration!!"
I will admit that I believe Bill Clinton to be intelligent. Not the smartest man in the world, but I do believe he's far more intelligent than she. Clnton's main fault is that he is driven to excess. Vanity.
Anyway, I'm not surprised the Libs are ticked off at Clinton. he spent the last week making a fool of himself across the world. This in comparison to Bush who quietly illustrated grace and strength. Bill hurts Hillary's chances. And yet, it would hurt Hill to not have Bill. She's be nothing without the name. It's an interesting dilimma for them.
Pray for W and Our Troops
I agree. They are actually two parts of one person. They would be nothing without the other. But Bill is very brilliant in some ways and has a seductive charm. Hillary is mean but much more tenacious and ambitious. If he had her talents at plain old gutter fighting and tenacity and ruthlessness, he would have been a great president I do believe. But he is impulsive, self centered, vain and has poor judgement, needs to be admired constantly and can't keep focus. She kept him in control when she was around. But she has far less to go with than he does.
I don't think Bubba's motives need all that analyzing - he's just a mean f*cker.
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