Clinton vs. Clinton

Michael Balter 5/05/2008 09:01:00 AM

I can't say it any better this morning than my blogger pal Marc Cooper did in his latest post, so I'm just going to reproduce his comments here. By the way, the latest New York Times/CBS poll finds that an overwhelming number of voters think that candidates calling for a gas tax holiday this summer are acting to help themselves politically rather than to help ordinary Americans. Perhaps a lot of people are finally wising up.


Marc sez:

I write to you from a Bay Area airport after spending some time at a New Media conference at Yahoo and then a few days visiting with my daughter. Before hitting the road tonight, I unfortunately caught the live broadcast of Hillary Clinton's speech to the Indiana Jeff-Jackson Dinner.

Omigod.

We are quickly approaching the nadir of the campaign. That special moment every four years when one or more Democratic candidate ratchets up the populist Little Guy rhetoric and evokes images of Frederic March's brilliant, blustering performance of Matthew Harrison Brady in Inherit The Wind.

Listening to the $109 Million Baby rail and fulminate against oil companies and push her McCain-inspired and totally bogus gas tax suspension was particularly revolting. We're mired in a war in Iraq, we're edging toward war with Iran, we've got 50 million without health insurance, a record deficit, a faltering economy, and Hillary's promising relief on the scale of 30 cents a day. It would be more transparent if she simply promised to send a crisp Benjamin to anyone craven enought to vote for her.

Does it get any phonier than this?

Answer: Yes!

As she cranked through her speech, Clinton essentially urged Indiana workers to vote for her by voting against all of her policies.

Hillary Clinton is running against herself.

She stigmatized China for its trade role with the U.S. but it was Senator Clinton who supported MostFavored Nation (PNTR) trade status for China.

She vowed to oppose free trade policies but, let's not kid ourselves, she was a full-on supporter of NAFTA (which was the first issue on which Bill Clinton triangulated his own party in Congress).

She said she would end, once and for all, the No Child Left Behind program -- which she supported.

She denounced the war in Iraq and promised to bring home the same troops she voted to authorize sending there in the first place.

She denounced a web of Washington special interests which is the same network that finances her.

She ridiculed Wall Street hedge fund managers who make "$50 million" a year when her husband has just bagged $25 million from the Yucaipa investment firm in which he was a partner with Ron Burkle (and while Baby Chelsea builds a career precisely as a Wall Street investment manager).

And while Hillary was onstage, promising to "roll up her sleeves" and fight single-mindedly for the Little Man, Slick Willie was planning a ten-stop tour on Monday in western, rural North Carolina -- a direct appeal for, um, the White Man's vote.

What unbelievable, disgusting burlesque. I felt my IQ dropping by the moment as I watched her performance.

Marc Cooper Mon, 05 May 2008 07:00:57 +0000

Source: http://marccooper.com/clinton-v-clinton/


Michael Balter

Posted by Michael Balter

I have been a working journalist for more than 40 years, beginning in Los Angeles as an investigative reporter and then in Paris as a travel, food, and science writer. For more than 20 years I have covered anthropology and archaeology writer for Science, Audubon, Scientific American, SAPIENS, and other publications. I have also covered sexual misconduct for The Verge, Scientific American, and others; I write about mental health, especially schizophrenia; and I engage in occasional media criticism. I returned to the USA in October 2017 after 30 years in Paris, and now live in the New York City area, where I currently teach journalism at City College of New York (I previously taught journalism at Boston University and New York University.) For more about me and what I do, copies of my articles, information about my book, and other goodies, please visit MY WEB SITE

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2 Comments

Anne Gilbert said…
I have never been entirely happy with Hillary Clinton. She has always seemed too close and chummy with certain groups like the Democratic Leadership Council, who want to "edge" the Democrats closer to some mythical "center", and have thus just become "Republicans lite". She just has no idea how the "little man or woman" thinks, though she courts them, of course. And I don't find this particularly commendable. I would like to see a woman in the White House some day, but I'm not one of those women who want a woman in the White House at any price whatever. BTW, what ever happened to campaigning on real issues?
Anne G
May 5, 2008 at 6:37 PM
Woody said…
It was interesting to revisit this after eight more years and another failed Clinton run for the presidency. I bet critics of hers at that time suddenly found a new liking to her once she and the DNC had dispatched Bernie Sanders. However, with all that time to plan, she still didn't adjust and, perhaps, her staff was afraid to tell her what she was doing wrong, given her rage and that she even threw a lamp at husband then President.
April 28, 2017 at 1:15 PM
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