According to ABC News, former President Clinton defended McCain's actions to delay the debate, stating McCain suspended his campaign in "good faith." Right.
This is on top of Clinton's appearance on The View, where he discussed how Senator Clinton would handle the crisis, praised McCain, and could not be bothered to mention Obama but asked candidates to vote the "other" way.
Again, it took a comedian to notice the actions of a "statesman." On Letterman, Chris Rock fought for a Democrat. Maybe you should try that Bill.
BTW, McCain praised Clinton at Clinton's Global Initiative this morning. No quid pro quo here.
5 comments:
I don't get it. Is Clinton suddenly going to become a Republican? He seems to have lost his mind.
I would argue that Bill believes his legacy rests with Hillary reaching the White House, especially since Obama ran against Bill's record in office (partisanship, ethics).
If Obama wins, he prevents Senator Clinton from pursuing the White House as Democratic loyalty will be a factor in 2012 as you cannot cut your party in a primary (challenger against incumbent) and expect to win the general election, which rules out 2012. If Obama were to win reelection, age will play a decisive role for Senator Clinton in 2016. Besides, the party will look for new leaders.
It is certainly fair to say that Bill's ego is larger than the White House or public virtue (e.g. Monica). By praising McCain and not mentioning Obama, Bill can create an opening for Hillary and himself.
I am not arguing Hillary is complicit in this at all. This is just Bill prioritizing his desires over the country.
But, I digress. Everyone here knows my position on the Clintons, especially Bill, my least favorite Clinton.
To be honest, I almost welcome the honesty.
After months of "terrorist fist jabs," ads where Obama is called out for saying mean, uppity things about a helpless white woman, likely while making eye contact, and his record generally lied about, and so forth, all while mewling that it is so bad that Obama himself keeps dragging down the discourse, I almost welcome Bill being petty and taking personal.
We all know he wanted Hillary in (duh)-- and that he misses his old bed and might have left a stach behind the radiator-- and I prefer him being passive aggresive but blunt in it. Rather that than knowing that he's just one more back-slapping, "Heck-of-a-job-Obam-y!", McCain-esque party monkey.
You know, its just nice to remember what a maverick really looks like.
Strong disagreement with much of what is being said here. Bill aint no Republican, not even close. And he aint supporting McCain's candidacy. His support for Obama's candidacy is evident to anyone bothering to listen to his appeals.
I just wish that if we were going to have a litmus test for Dem politicians, it would be based on progressive ideals and policies and not, is so and so doing enough to show that he supports so and so, & c. But then if there were a Progressivist Litmus Test going on, Obama and both Clintons would have bowed out long ago, wouldn;t they?
But anyway. Bill aint no hard progressive, but he damned sure aint no Republican and he aint backstabbing Obama by offering the typical trite platitudes about McSame. For example. Saw Bill on The Daily Show and he laid out his case pretty well. Which is that demonizing McCain is not the way to win the election. Making the case to the people is the way to win it. Which is exactly Obama's attitude, btw.
We on this Blog, of course, belong to a different mentality than mainstream politicians. We do not shy away from harping on McCain and GOP mendacity. But there is very little diff between the case Clinton is making and the case Obama is making at this point. And as Party statesmen, their way is probably more effective than ours, in courting Independents and disaffected Repubs.
Clinton argues it is Dems' job to convince those voters who DO NOT LOVE OBAMA, that OBAMA LOVES THEM. That is true when you peel it all away.
Clinton also argued strongly on The Daily Show that Americans would be better off in every sense, if they voted Obama/Biden.
He also pointed out that Hill has done more to support Barack Obama than any Primary Runner-Up in Modern History. Which is indisputably true. And finally, he will be out there stumping for Obama these last few weeks.
Harrogate bets you that if you asked Barack Obama in a moment of cool reflection, what more could you have asked of the Clintons than what they have done, he wouldn't have much to offer. Would he be happy with every single freaking thing? No, but so what?
Finally. If John McCain wins it will not be the Clintons' fault, however so much certain quarters of the discourse will try to spin it that way. The fault will be spread out pretty fucking evenly across the country, within the Democratic Party, in the Media, in the souls of the voters and in what we like to pretend is important. And finally, of course, some of it must fall to Obama himself.
Damn. A lot of comment, there. Hopefully someone bothered to read it, but I don't blame them if they didn't.
tl;dr
Actually, I think we are agreeing, Harry; up to a point, at least.
I can see the desire for party unity, especially from the really camera-friendly, well-liked fathers of the party.
However, that could so easily turn into McCain's 2000 "I support George W. Bush, I support George W. Bush, I support George W. Bush" monkey dance.
It is so easy to put party-yhemed blinders on and never see that our "party unity" looks just like "dishonest partisan assholes."
If Clinton's message is "Obama is the right-- the only-- choice for this nation...BECAUSE he represents American democratic values and not because I've sworn personal servitude to him," then I say, "Yippee! Go get 'em, Bubba!"
The left steps on its own feet with complex messages (Seriously? "Enough"? That's two syllables and three of the letters are silent and one pronounced letter is missing. Pardonnez moi, Frenchbread Obama!) but I would be perfectly happy if we can get through November without any of the Clintons tossing salad to prove their commitment to electing the new Grand Moff.
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