The Clintons

Posted at 12:19am on Apr. 12, 2008 It Is To Laugh

By Pejman Yousefzadeh

No wonder the Clintons are losing. And it appears that lots of people are piling on. Quelle surprise. Throughout this campaign, the Clintons have handed their critics a sword. No reason for those critics not to twist it:

Hillary Clinton used her trademark laugh Thursday to deflect a question about the $800,000 her husband earned in 2005 giving speeches for a Bogota-based group that supports the Colombia free trade agreement — the same trade deal she currently opposes.

Asked by CNN if those earnings represented a conflict of interest given that she has dipped into her family's pocketbook to pay campaign bills, Clinton threw up her hands and laughed loudly for several seconds.

"How many angels dance on the head of the pin?," she responded, continuing to giggle. "I have really, uh, nothing to … I mean, how do you answer that?"

How indeed? Other than to note that the Clintons have gotten rich off of the Colombia-U.S. trade deal while Hillary Clinton works to ensure that the deal does not pass and American businesses won't be able to have access to Colombian markets?

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Posted at 5:31pm on Apr. 4, 2008 Does It Depend On What "Charity" Means?

By Dan McLaughlin

That WSJ report notes that the Clintons gave about 10%, $10.26 million, to charity in that period. Which is quite commendable, regardless of motivation. But this being the Clintons, I can't help but wonder: do we know how many of those charities are run by Bill Clinton?

Posted at 11:57pm on Feb. 2, 2008 Department Of Overstatement

By Pejman Yousefzadeh

Oh my God:

The Clinton campaign convened a conference call with health policy experts to denounce Obama's new mailer, which attacks Clinton's plan for "forcing" Americans to sign up for insurance, and which features a couple at a kitchen table that recalls, for some, the famous insurance-industry-financed "Harry and Louise" ads against the original Clinton plan.

"I am personally outraged at the picture used in this mailing," said Len Nichols of the New America Foundation, a leading supporter of mandatory insurance, who called it a "Harry and Louise evocation."

"It is as outrageous as having Nazis march through Skokie, Ill.," Nichols said. "I just find it disgusting that this kind of imagery is being used to attack the only way to get to universal coverage."

[UPDATE: At the end of the call, Clinton aide Howard Wolfson disavowed the Nazi reference, saying the campaign didn't think it was appropriate, though he acknowledged the passions the issue stirs.]

Yeah, I can imagine why Wolfson would want to back away. But I shudder to think what the Clinton folks say when the cameras and the microphones are off.

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Posted at 1:01am on Jan. 28, 2008 Where Democrats Go From South Carolina

By Pejman Yousefzadeh

The Obama campaign has gotten itself a big-time endorsement from Senator Edward Kennedy, an endorsement that constitutes a huge blow to the Clinton campaign, especially given the fact that the Clintons positioned themselves as the inheritors of the Kennedy legacy back in the 1990s. I guess that pictures don't possess the sentimental value that they once had.

But let us remember that Super Duper Tuesday will be a tough fight, to say the least. And just as I expected Hillary Clinton to rise from the dead after Obama's big win in Iowa, so do I expect her to rise from the dead on Super Duper Tuesday. That doesn't mean that Obama also will not do well. But it will likely mean that Hillary Clinton will keep herself in the game as a viable and formidable contender for the Democratic Presidential nomination.

At the end of the day, I still expect her to be the nominee. It is just clear that the path to the nomination will be a trying and a bloody one. And who is to say how motivated independents and Obama Democrats will be to come out and vote for her in the fall, especially given the shenanigans in which the Clintons have been involved as they seek desperately to stop Barack Obama?

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Posted at 9:48am on Jan. 25, 2008 I Guess The Clinton Campaign Can Run The Negative Ads Now

By Pejman Yousefzadeh

This candidate clearly praised Ronald Reagan. He gets what's coming to him:

It was a remarkable moment: A young, free-thinking presidential hopeful named Bill Clinton sat down with reporters and editors at The Post in October 1991 and started saying things most Democrats wouldn't allow to pass their lips.

Ronald Reagan, Clinton said, deserved credit for winning the Cold War. He praised Reagan's "rhetoric in defense of freedom" and his role in "advancing the idea that communism could be rolled back."

"The idea that we were going to stand firm and reaffirm our containment strategy, and the fact that we forced them to spend even more when they were already producing a Cadillac defense system and a dinosaur economy, I think it hastened their undoing," Clinton declared.

Clinton was careful to add that the Reagan military program included "a lot of wasted money and unnecessary expenditure," but the signal had been sent: Clinton was willing to move beyond "the brain-dead politics in both parties," as he so often put it.

His apostasy was widely noticed. The Memphis Commercial Appeal praised Clinton a few days later for daring to "set himself apart from the pack of contenders for the Democratic nomination by saying something nice about Ronald Reagan." Clinton's "readiness to defy his party's prevailing Reaganphobia . . .," the paper wrote, "is one reason he's a candidate to watch."

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Posted at 8:27am on Jan. 23, 2008 Look! Mud!

By Pejman Yousefzadeh

I think it is impossible to deny anymore that the race for the Democratic Presidential nomination has gotten vicious:

Ex-President Bill Clinton, stumping in South Carolina Tuesday in his wife's stead while she campaigned in the West, suggested Democrats wringing their hands over the rancor should lighten up.

"I know you think it's crazy, but I kind of like to see Barack and Hillary fight," he said lightheartedly. "They're flesh-and- blood people and they have their differences - let 'em at it."

Obama told the Christian Broadcasting Network that Bill Clinton is "making stuff up" about his Iraq record.

Justifying his retaliation, Obama told a Palmetto State crowd: "I think its very clear that Sen. Clinton and President Clinton have been spending the last month attacking me in ways that are not accurate. At some point, it was important for us to address them."

Obama backer Tom Daschle, the former Democratic Senate boss, whacked the ex-President yesterday for his "overt distortions," which he branded unpresidential and warned could "destroy the party."

Read on . . .

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Posted at 1:59am on Jan. 21, 2008 Wearing Out Their Welcome

By Pejman Yousefzadeh

People have just about had it with the Clintons, assuming of course, that Andrew Sullivan can be believed, and chances are that he can on this issue; there are plenty of other reports discussing the disillusionment people feel with the Clintons and their win-at-all-costs attitude. The question is whether this will translate into Democrats and independents staying home in the fall if Clinton is elected. I am sure that Democrats will generally patch their wounds, but if Obama decides that he doesn't want to make peace with the Clintons after having been the target of some incredibly unfair and disingenuous attacks, some Democrats may decide that the Clintons are not worth turning out for. As for the independents, I could easily see them doing what Sullivan anticipates--turning out for McCain and selecting him as the best hope for positive change in any race against the Clintons.

Meanwhile, Obama has decided to hit back against Bill Clinton. It's a good move and no one can blame him for being fed up. It is one thing for the former President to campaign for his wife; everyone knew that he would. But as many have pointed out, George Herbert Walker Bush did nothing to trash the Republican candidates who ran against his son for the nomination in 2000. The elder Bush did the right thing as a titular leader of the Republican Party. Too bad that Clinton has forgotten his responsibilities as a titular leader of the Democrats.

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Posted at 12:57am on Jan. 17, 2008 Memo To Barack Obama

By Pejman Yousefzadeh

Not a bad statement, but oh, how the Clintons are going to beat you up for this:


(Via the Politico.)

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Posted at 7:40pm on Jan. 11, 2008 Another Potential Obama Endorsement?

By Pejman Yousefzadeh

This one might come from House Majority Whip James Clyburn, who just happens to be from the upcoming primary state of South Carolina. Rep. Clyburn is angry at some of the comments that have come out of the Clinton campaign, comments that appear to have racial undertones. I don't think anyone meant anything by those comments and I am not going to ascribe evil motives but it is obvious that this campaign is getting very intense and with that intensity comes a propensity to make ill-considered comments.

Bill Clinton has famously good relations with the African-American community. I imagine that he is going to work to use those relations to try to soothe any hurt feelings. He had better. If he doesn't, Clyburn--who promised to remain on the fence--could come out for Obama and could cause lots of African-Americans torn between their fondness for the Clintons and for Obama as the first major African-American candidate for the Presidency to put aside their doubts and worries and to follow Clyburn's example.

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Posted at 3:32am on Nov. 10, 2007 As If On Cue

By Pejman Yousefzadeh

Remember this?

If so, great. If not, or if this is your first time reading it, take a moment to acclimate yourself.

Done? Okay. Now read this:

Former President Bill Clinton said Thursday that he should receive more blame than his wife for the failed attempt to revamp the nation's health care system more than a decade ago.

"You know how much she cares about this," Mr. Clinton told an audience in Glenwood, Iowa, according to an account on MSNBC. "She has taken the rap for some of the problems we had with health care the last time that were far more my fault than hers."

Thirteen years after the health care debacle and finally we learn the truth: The candidate on the ballot for the Presidency was not responsible for the debacle and the former President who no longer needs to run for anything, was.

Some might think this is just too convenient. I like to think the best of people, so I'll just say that Bill Clinton took his time to remind us that chivalry is not dead.

But even if it isn't, this "Hillary-Wasn't-Responsible" meme ought to go precisely nowhere. I am going to take advantage of a disagreement Dan McLaughlin had with this post so that you can see what a former Clinton adviser thought about how blame should be apportioned on the health care debacle.

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Posted at 3:19am on Nov. 8, 2007 Beginning Of The Fall?

By Pejman Yousefzadeh

There may well be panic afoot in the Clinton campaign at this news:

Senator Hillary Clinton's lead in the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire Primary has fallen to its lowest level of the season.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone poll of the state's Likely Primary Voters shows Clinton leading Senator Barack Obama by ten percentage points, 34% to 24%. Former Senator John Edwards attracts 15% of the vote while New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson earns 8%. No other candidate tops the 3% level of support. (see crosstabs)

At 34%, Clinton's current level of support is the lowest measured in any Rasmussen Reports poll this year. Four previous polls in New Hampshire found her consistently in the 37% to 40% range.

This is the first poll of the race conducted since Senator Hillary Clinton's debate gaffe concerning drivers licenses for illegal immigrants. In the last poll before that debate, Clinton held a sixteen-point advantage over Obama. A month earlier, Clinton was ahead by twenty-three percentage points.

The current poll also shows that Clinton's favorability ratings have dropped. Among New Hampshire's Likely Voters, 72% now offer a positive assessment of the frontrunner. That's down from 81% prior to the debate. Obama is viewed favorably by 82%, Edwards by 76%.

Perhaps this is why the counterattacks are getting a little desperate:

Bill Clinton's suggestion that his wife faced a Republican-style "Swift boat" attack during and after the last Democratic debate drew a rebuke yesterday from Senator Barack Obama, who said, "I was pretty stunned by that statement."

The comments by the former president, at a postal workers' convention in Nevada on Monday, came as he discussed efforts by the moderators and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's Democratic rivals at the debate on Oct. 30 to get Mrs. Clinton to give a quick and clear answer on the issue of driver's licenses for illegal immigrants.

By invoking the so-called "Swift boat" advertisements of the 2004 presidential campaign, Mr. Clinton was calling to mind one of the most divisive episodes of that campaign, when the Democratic nominee, Senator John Kerry, saw his Vietnam War record questioned by a group called the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

"We listened to people make snide comments about whether Vice President Gore was too stiff," Mr. Clinton said, "and when they made dishonest claims about the things that he said that he'd done in his life. When that scandalous Swift boat ad was run against Senator Kerry."

"Why am I saying this?" he continued. "Because I had the feeling that at the end of that last debate we were about to get into cutesy land again."

Mr. Obama, in an interview yesterday with The Associated Press, said the former president was reaching in linking criticism of Mrs. Clinton to the Swift boat advertisements.

"How you would then draw an analogy to distorting somebody's military record is a reach," Mr. Obama said.

To say the least. The Clinton campaign's glass jaw is looking especially fragile these days. No wonder the other Democratic candidates can't resist punching it.

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