I don't relish writing these repeated columns deploring Senator Clinton - you'll recall that we were one of the blogs that, up until recently, didn't have a problemwith her (check our archives, you won't find a lot of Hillary (or Bill) bashing). But Senator Clinton's increasingly nasty campaign tactics and anti-Democratic messaging is getting out of control.
Today we learn via Editor & Publisher that Senator Clinton is trying to demonize Hollywood money by attacking gay billionaire David Geffen.
Good luck with that.
Geffen was quoted in a Maureen Dowd column today saying:
"Everybody in politics lies, but they [the Clintons] do it with such ease, it’s troubling,” Geffen said.The response from Hillary's team was fast and vicious:
Clinton campaign spokesman Howard Wolfson just released the following statement: "While Senator Obama was denouncing slash and burn politics yesterday, his campaign's finance chair was viciously and personally attacking Senator Clinton and her husband.Ah yes, personal attacks. You mean like using Bush talking points to accuse the other Democratic candidates of not thinking we "face a real threat from terrorism" - in other words, calling them traitors? Is that the kind of personal insult and nasty tone you're talking about? Or how about leaking a false racist story about a presidential candidate being raised in a madrassah? Oh, that's right, Hillary's campaign says they had nothing to do with that one.
"If Senator Obama is indeed sincere about his repeated claims to change the tone of our politics, he should immediately denounce these remarks, remove Mr. Geffen from his campaign and return his money.
"While Democrats should engage in a vigorous debate on the issues, there is no place in our party or our politics for the kind of personal insults made by Senator Obama's principal fundraiser."
While it's laudable that Mrs. Clinton is intent on proving that she's no push-over and won't take attacks sitting down, it's increasingly disturbing that the targets of Mrs. Clinton's rebuttals are fellow Democrats, and the barbs Mrs. Clinton is throwing at them are Republican talking points used to demonize Democrats as basically un-American traitors.
It started with Hillary's unique experience on 9/11 - the day she witnessed the world falling apart while the rest of us went to Disneyland. Then yesterday we heard about how Hillary thinks terrorism is a bad thing, while her fellow Democrats think it's no big deal. And today we get an earful about those nasty rich Hollywood Jews - oh, sorry, I mean fags.
Could Karl Rove have written a better script?
It's becoming increasingly clear that Hillary isn't running as a new Democrat, she's running as as a non-Democrat. Her strategy seems to be attacking everything and everyone associated with the Democratic party, and especially its base - and using Republican talking points, at that - in order to somehow position Hillary as a modern-day Diogenes, independent, above-the-fray, alone in the wilderness, forever on the look-out for honest politics.
In other words, Hillary is Joe Lieberman.
Funny I should mention that. Who are two of Hillary's top advisers? Pollster Mark Penn and media consultant Mandy Grunwald, both of whom worked on Joe Lieberman's 2004 presidential run. And we all know Joe "Surge" Lieberman, the man who just can't get enough of George Bush and the ever-successful war in Iraq. The guy who simply can't say a kind word about Democrats.
Yesterday, Mrs. Clinton was quoted as telling an outright lie. She said that some of the other Democratic candidates don't think America faces a threat from terrorism:
In response to an audience member’s question about the war — one of eight she fielded — Clinton said America faces a dire threat from terrorism.Today, Mrs. Clinton is called a liar and her campaign goes ballistic, trying to destroy one of the biggest Democratic donors in Hollywood (anybody else get a whiff of Bill Donohue from this one?). Two days ago, she told the entire left-wing of the party to go take a hike. And just yesterday, she told all of America that George Bush was right, some of our Democratic leaders actually don't think terrorism is a problem. Who will be Hillary's next Democratic target? The blogs?
“To underscore a point, some people may be running who tell you we don’t face a real threat from terrorism,” she said. “I’m not one of them. We have serious enemies who want to do us serious harm.”
To paraphrase Martin Niemoller: Some day, Mrs. Clinton, you may find that there will be no one left to vote for you.
