“The Lady doth protest too much, methinks.”
— William Shakespeare
It pains me to agree with that ranter Richard Cohen of the Washington Post. But, every once in a while, like that insufferable Neocon, Jonah Goldberg, he gets it right. On Feb. 25, 2008, Cohen ripped Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), a veritable new you-know-what. At the moment, she running very badly for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. Her negative, attack-dog campaign tactics are also dragging the party down with her. Cohen, sensing exactly how vulnerable she is, took his knife out and sharpened it to a razor’s edge. In his hatchet job, entitled “Hillary’s Diminishing Returns,” he drove the knife, deeply, into Clinton, puncturing, again and again, her hyper inflated political ego. Cohen’s Coup de Hillary is this stinger: “The harder she works, the worst she does.”
Here’s more of Cohen’s cutting take on Hillary’s persona: “So it could be that Clinton would lose the Democratic nomination even if she were a gifted politician. But she has no such gift. Her smile is strained. She is contained. She seems unknowable, and there is that melancholy Billie Holiday air about her–all of those songs about a suffering women…It might seem surprising that Clinton has turned out to be other than a brilliant campaigner. But consider her record..No matter, she was first and foremost the wife of [Bubba] Bill..In many ways,” Cohen droned on, “Clinton is a remarkable woman, but she is not…a remarkable politician.”
The Cleveland-based Democratic Party presidential debate, on Feb. 26, 2008, between Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), reinforced Cohen’s harsh judgment of Hillary. After 90 minutes of exchanging their respective views on a host of issues, she came off as being desperate, an abrasive scold, and totally out of any new ideas. It looks like she may be out of money, too, even though she made a $5 million loan to her campaign. And, who is in charge of dressing her? Sen. Barbara Ann Mikulski (D-MD)? Some of Clinton’s gaudy outfits belong on “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” or in a sequel to John Waters’ 1972 film classic, “Pink Flamingos.” Clinton also came across as looking bloated, like her fatty cheeks were ready to explode. And, she was just so testy.
The only thing that kept Clinton’s Cleveland gig from being a total disaster was the silly antics of that runt, Tim Russert. He served as one of the inquisitors. Irritating in the extreme, Russert came off as more combative than Clinton. Here’s a guy who, as the moderator on NBC’s Sunday morning’s “Meet the Press” program, never once, in the last seven-plus years, while interviewing President George W. Bush, Jr., V. P. Dick Cheney, Condi Rice, et al, challenged any of them about the “935” lies of the Bush-Cheney Gang, that took the country into the Iraq War. [1] Not once!
Getting back to Sen. Clinton. She has repeatedly attempted to position herself in the debates as “a leader.” She poses as someone, who can take the country in a “new direction.” The voters in the primaries, so far, aren’t buying that hokum. I believe that will be the case, too, in the must-win states for her of Texas and Ohio, on March 4, 2008.
Sen. Clinton literally has hit Sen. Obama with the “kitchen sink,” but she didn’t chose to take that kind of tough line with the Bush-Cheney Gang. Like her mouthy crony, Sen. Mikulski, she’s been complicit in many of the wrongdoings of the White House’s boy-ohs. [2] Clinton voted for the illegal and immoral Iraq War, voted to continually fund it, voted for the insane “Surge,” and voted for the draconian USA Patriot Act. She has also, mostly, let slide the widespread spying on U.S. citizens by the Bush-Cheney Gang, the evils of the Abu Ghraib scandal and waterboarding. [3] When that repulsive “Turncoat Joe” Lieberman (IND-CT) said that he approved of waterboarding, Sen. Clinton, (and windbag Mikulski, too), remained silent. [4]
(Wouldn’t it have be great, if the Hollywood ultra mogul, Steven Speilberg, in addition to recently bringing the world’s attention to the ongoing tragedy in Dafur, had also condemned the hawkish Sen. Lieberman for supporting waterboarding as the official policy of the U.S. government. Moralizers, like Speilberg, need to be made aware of what is happening right now, in this country, and, particularly, in Neocon-infested Washington, D.C.) [5]
Enter Nicholas von Hoffman, another wordsmith. He has been wondering what “troubles” might “Bubba Bill” make for Hillary. [6] Well, we already know about some of the “troubles” this character has caused on the campaign trail for her. Who hasn’t he insulted? Hoffman raises some of the concerns voters in the Democratic primaries have had about voting for Hillary and possibly getting a pain-in-the a.. Bill in the package–a two-for-one deal!
Hoffman adds: The campaign he [Bubba Bill] and his wife are waging is like no other. On some days it’s unclear who the candidate might be. It could be Hillary being the precedent-shattering woman, or it could be Bill running for a third term. If elected, they have not spelled out who is going to be how much of a president…In his glory days, Bill Clinton was famous for saying ‘I feel your pain.’ In his retirement, he’s famous for being one.” [5]
This shocker also came from Hoffman: “Accurate figures are not available, but from information derived from Hillary’s Senate disclosure forms, this couple who left the White House in debt, thanks to Bill’s legal bills, is worth UPWARDS OF $54 MILLION.”
The shady, wheeler-dealer characters that “Bubba Bill” has been hanging out with and his work “as a shill” for them, has made the Clintons mega-millions, Hoffman writes. He said Bubba Bill’s “Modus Operandi is as a fixer.” Published reports have indicated that he has also made millions off his speechmaking. [7] I’ve wondered: Did Marc Rich, who was pardoned by Clinton on his last day in office, have anything to do with the Clintons’ new found wealth? [8] Maybe, all of the above, is why Hillary has been so reluctant to release, to the media, her tax returns. Could be?
Finally, if the must-win states of Texas and Ohio do go for Sen. Obama, on March 4th, Hillary/Bill will have a major decision to make. Up to now, they have showed just how out of touch with reality they are. Will that pattern persist? Stay tuned!
Notes:
[1]. http://www.publicintegrity.org/WarCard/Default.
aspx?src=project_home&context=overview&id=945
[2]. http://baltimore.indymedia.org/newswire/
display/16542/index.php
[3]. Kudos to Mother Jones’ “Torture Hits Home” issue of March/April, 2008. It is excellent and it should be read by every member of the U.S. Congress.
[4]. http://baltimore.indymedia.org/newswire/
display/16880/index.php
[5]. “Pardon the Ex-President,” Nicholas von Hoffman, TAC, 02/25/08.
[6]. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/
story.php?storyId=18958569
[7]. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content
/article/2007/02/22/AR2007022202189.html
[8]. http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007
/02/28/pardons_reemerge_as_issue_in_clinton_run/
