NEW YORK—Breaking her silence on New York’s failed bid to host the 2012 Olympics, Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) today blamed a “vast Euro conspiracy” for awarding the prize to London.
“Obviously the committee was stacked with extremist judges,” Clinton said when stopped by reporters on her way to the Senate cafeteria. “What we have here is a vicious partisan attack. The [International Olympic] Committee is practicing the politics of municipal destruction.”
Clinton bemoaned the fact that she was not brought in sooner to help New York’s lobbying effort. She hinted that she was kept out of negotiations because she was a woman. But the real villain, in her view, is former Olympic gold-medal champion and the leader of London’s Olympic bid team, Lord Sebastian Coe. She noted with concern that Lord Coe was once a Tory member of Parliament and private secretary to former Tory leader William Hague.
When asked what she was implying, she replied, “Isn’t it obvious? You put it together. But we’re not dealing with an objective party here.”
The Senator went so far as to question Lord Coe’s twelve world records as a 1500 metre runner. “All I’m saying is that you’ve got to question the motives, check the source. Was he setting world records back then in order to build himself up and attack us in the future? He’s spent his whole life absorbed in competition. It’s not healthy. I think he’s obsessed.”
Lord Coe was also involved in a tabloid scandal last year, in which a businessman accused him of stealing his wife. Clinton refused to comment on Coe’s infidelity, but her staff members later helpfully provided Internet links to the story.
“My point is that New York deserved this."
Friends of the senator went further: “Hillary herself deserved this,” said a close female friend, who asked not to be named. “She went to Wellesley. And look what she’s had to endure since.”
Clinton's spokeswoman affirmed that the IOC’s decision was an especially bitter blow to Senator Clinton personally. “You have to understand why she’s taking this so hard. The 2012 games would have coincided with her bid for re-election as President.”