The Billary Road to Republican Victory

julia · 02-09-2008, 12:18 PM

Don't know if this was already posted but Frank Rich makes some excellent points in this piece on which Clinton issues could be cannon fodder for the Reps.

Quote:

The Billary Road to Republican Victory
By FRANK RICH January 27, 2008
IN the wake of George W. Bush, even a miracle might not be enough for the Republicans to hold on to the White House in 2008. But what about two miracles? The new year’s twin resurrections of Bill Clinton and John McCain, should they not evaporate, at last give the G.O.P. a highly plausible route to victory.

Amazingly, neither party seems to fully recognize the contours of the road map. In the Democrats’ case, the full-throttle emergence of Billary, the joint Clinton candidacy, is measured mainly within the narrow confines of the short-term horse race: Do Bill Clinton’s red-faced eruptions and fact-challenged rants enhance or diminish his wife as a woman and a candidate?

Absent from this debate is any sober recognition that a Hillary Clinton nomination, if it happens, will send the Democrats into the general election with a new and huge peril that may well dwarf the current wars over race, gender and who said what about Ronald Reagan.

What has gone unspoken is this: Up until this moment, Hillary has successfully deflected rough questions about Bill by saying, “I’m running on my own” or, as she snapped at Barack Obama in the last debate, “Well, I’m here; he’s not.” This sleight of hand became officially inoperative once her husband became a co-candidate, even to the point of taking over entirely when she vacated South Carolina last week. With “two for the price of one” back as the unabashed modus operandi, both Clintons are in play.

For the Republicans, that means not just a double dose of the one steroid, Clinton hatred, that might yet restore their party’s unity but also two fat targets. Mrs. Clinton repeatedly talks of how she’s been “vetted” and that “there are no surprises” left to be mined by her opponents. On the “Today” show Friday, she joked that the Republican attacks “are just so old.” So far. Now that Mr. Clinton is ubiquitous, not only is his past back on the table but his post-presidency must be vetted as well. To get a taste of what surprises may be in store, you need merely revisit the Bill Clinton questions that Hillary Clinton has avoided to date.

Asked by Tim Russert at a September debate whether the Clinton presidential library and foundation would disclose the identities of its donors during the campaign, Mrs. Clinton said it wasn’t up to her. “What’s your recommendation?” Mr. Russert countered. Mrs. Clinton replied: “Well, I don’t talk about my private conversations with my husband, but I’m sure he’d be happy to consider that.”

Not so happy, as it turns out. The names still have not been made public.

Just before the holidays, investigative reporters at both The Washington Post and The New York Times tried to find out why, with no help from the Clintons. The Post uncovered a plethora of foreign contributors, led by Saudi Arabia. The Times found an overlap between library benefactors and Hillary Clinton campaign donors, some of whom might have an agenda with a new Clinton administration. (Much as one early library supporter, Marc Rich’s ex-wife, Denise, had an agenda with the last one.) “The vast scale of these secret fund-raising operations presents enormous opportunities for abuse,” said Representative Henry Waxman, the California Democrat whose legislation to force disclosure passed overwhelmingly in the House but remains stalled in the Senate.

The Post and Times reporters couldn’t unlock all the secrets. The unanswered questions could keep them and their competitors busy until Nov. 4. Mr. Clinton’s increased centrality to the campaign will also give The Wall Street Journal a greater news peg to continue its reportorial forays into the unraveling financial partnership between Mr. Clinton and the swashbuckling billionaire Ron Burkle.

At “Little Rock’s Fort Knox,” as the Clinton library has been nicknamed by frustrated researchers, it’s not merely the heavy-hitting contributors who are under wraps. Even by the glacial processing standards of the National Archives, the Clintons’ White House papers have emerged slowly, in part because Bill Clinton exercised his right to insist that all communications between him and his wife be “considered for withholding” until 2012.

When Mrs. Clinton was asked by Mr. Russert at an October debate if she would lift that restriction, she again escaped by passing the buck to her husband: “Well, that’s not my decision to make.” Well, if her candidacy is to be as completely vetted as she guarantees, the time for the other half of Billary to make that decision is here.

The credibility of a major Clinton campaign plank, health care, depends on it. In that same debate, Mrs. Clinton told Mr. Russert that “all of the records, as far as I know, about what we did with health care” are “already available.” As Michael Isikoff of Newsweek reported weeks later, this is a bit off; he found that 3,022,030 health care documents were still held hostage. Whatever the pace of the processing, the gatekeeper charged with approving each document’s release is the longtime Clinton loyalist Bruce Lindsey.
...

(j-bolding mine)

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/op...gewanted=print

julia · 02-09-2008, 12:40 PM

The New York Times page has tons of active links.

julia · 02-12-2008, 12:22 PM

This is it, Theta, Eric, and others.

Anyone concerned about govt tranparency should be alarmed about Billary donors.

Jonesy · 02-12-2008, 12:39 PM

Republicans these days are so pathetic, anyone could beat them. All they do is use propaganda dating back to WW1. Their strategies are as old and feeble as they are.

julia · 02-12-2008, 12:46 PM

The Clintons have valid questions to answer to Americans re: library and campaign donations.

HarperLee · 02-12-2008, 12:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by julia

The Clintons have valid questions to answer to Americans re: library and campaign donations.

And don't think for a nanosecond that the Republicans won't ask those questions AFTER she has the nomination.

julia · 02-12-2008, 12:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarperLee

And don't think for a nanosecond that the Republicans won't ask those questions AFTER she has the nomination.

The Clintons need to answer these questions to very concerned Dems, too!!

HarperLee · 02-12-2008, 01:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by julia

The Clintons need to answer these questions to very concerned Dems, too!!

I honestly don't think Hillary feels that she is accountable to anyone.

BillCosby · 02-12-2008, 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarperLee

I honestly don't think Hillary feels that she is accountable to anyone.

Yep............... Not just including the ppl... But especially to the ppl........

I believe that Obama will be much more susceptible to the will of the ppl then her......

Although neither are ideal I believe he will hear, listen & be subject to the will of the ppl........

02-09-2008, 12:40 PM	#2 (permalink)
julia Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 3,247 Blog Entries: 7 Thanks: 204 Thanked 204 Times in 122 Posts	The New York Times page has tons of active links. __________________ The candidate does not speak for the campaign.
	Top

02-12-2008, 12:22 PM	#3 (permalink)
julia Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 3,247 Blog Entries: 7 Thanks: 204 Thanked 204 Times in 122 Posts	This is it, Theta, Eric, and others. Anyone concerned about govt tranparency should be alarmed about Billary donors. __________________ The candidate does not speak for the campaign. Last edited by julia; 02-12-2008 at 12:27 PM. Reason: clarity
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02-12-2008, 12:39 PM	#4 (permalink)
Jonesy Truth Lion Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 2,554 Thanks: 10 Thanked 32 Times in 23 Posts	Republicans these days are so pathetic, anyone could beat them. All they do is use propaganda dating back to WW1. Their strategies are as old and feeble as they are.
	Top

02-12-2008, 12:46 PM	#5 (permalink)
julia Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 3,247 Blog Entries: 7 Thanks: 204 Thanked 204 Times in 122 Posts	The Clintons have valid questions to answer to Americans re: library and campaign donations. __________________ The candidate does not speak for the campaign.
	Top

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