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Carl Bernstein: Hillary Will Continue Bush's Legacy of Secrecy
The following piece is part of an ongoing series of OffTheBus reports by citizen policy experts critiquing different aspects of Campaign 08.
"Hillary's fear of humiliation, her fear of secrets being revealed, absolutely permeates her life," Carl Bernstein told a packed auditorium at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, CA., earlier this week.
Bernstein is the Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter on Watergate, and author of a new book on Hillary, A Woman in Charge. His appearance in Yorba Linda was a historic moment of sorts, as he himself noted: if he had said in 1999, when he started doing research on Hillary, "that I would be invited to speak at the Nixon Library, and that I'd be talking about Hillary as possibly the next president of the United States, I'd be accused of smoking something - and inhaling."
The event marked the transformation of the Nixon Library from a private institution run by Nixon loyalists to a public one run by the National Archives, under the direction of historian Tim Naftali. Bernstein spoke to a full house - 300 people - including many students from nearby colleges getting extra credit for showing up.
Hillary's life with Bill, Bernstein said, was one of "remarkable sacrifices and embarrassments," because "she undertook the job of containing and covering up the effects of his sexual compulsions."
At lunch before his talk, Bernstein emphasized Hillary's continuing obsession with secrecy. He told me he did not think Hillary would repeal Bush's Executive Order on Classification, the most restrictive ever, which has outraged advocates of freedom of information in Congress and the media. Bush's order gives the president or any former president the right to withhold the former president's papers from the public. At the time it was issued - shortly after 9-11 - it seemed intended to conceal from the public information about the presidency of Bush senior, many of whose staffers held high positions in the White House of Bush junior.
But the Bush executive order on classification would have a special appeal for Hillary as president, Bernstein said. "Do you think she wants to open the papers of Bill's presidency, which include all the material on her role?" Asked about the legislation introduced by Congressman Henry Waxman to repeal Bush's classification order, Bernstein was skeptical it would pass in the next congress: "Do you thing Democrats in Congress would demand repeal in the face of Hillary's opposition?"
"Nixon's history is settled," Bernstein told the audience at the Nixon Library. "What is not yet settled is the history of the Clintons--their use and abuse of power." That's important because, if Hillary wins, "we're talking about a restoration."
Her obsession with humiliation and secrecy can be traced back to her "hellish childhood," Bernstein said, in a family where her father "verbally humiliated and abused her mother." The question asked by people at the time, according to Bernstein, was "why did her mother stay with this man?" He couldn't help noting that the same question would be asked about her.
While Hillary's concern with secrecy remains a constant today, Bernstein said, she has changed in other ways since her days as First Lady. In the White House she had "a take-no-prisoner combativeness, an anger that was consuming." It had disastrous effects: the 1994 victory of New Gingrich and the Republicans, which transferred control of the House away from the Democrats for the first time since the New Deal, he said, "was a result of the failures of Hillary Clinton."
But in the Senate "she became self-confident in a way she had never been since she met Bill." Her old combativeness "is gone." As for the senators who voted to convict her husband in his impeachment trial, Bernstein said, "she joined their prayer group."
Finally, does Carl Bernstein think Hillary going to win the presidency? He replied, "The night the Supreme Court voted to make Bush president, I said on TV I thought he would be a compassionate conservative, reach out to Democrats, and govern from the center. So don't turn to me for predictions about politics."
Read more OffTheBus coverage here.
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The Man Who Builds Hillaryworld
By ALEXANDER COCKBURN
The pollster and immensely influential tactical adviser at Hillary Clinton's elbow is Mark Penn. Penn's polling played a crucial role in Bill Clinton's recovery from the nadir of 1994, when he joined Team Clinton as part of the rescue party summoned by Hillary Clinton and headed by Dick Morris. Penn has been joined at the hip politically to Mrs Clinton ever since, as a prime adviser of her successful senate bid and now in her drive to capture the Democratic presidential nomination.
Penn also the CEO of Burson-Marsteller, (part of the British-based WPP Group), a pr firm that in the course of its career has been retained to winch some sensationally grimy clients out of the mud, such Union Carbide after Bhopal, the Argentine military junta and Royal Dutch Shell after some very poor publicity in Nigeria.
The trick is to offer an America shaped to match the sort of "non-divisive" political rhetoric favored by the Democratic Leadership Council, an outfit paid for by corporations and designed to purge the Democratic Party of any partiality to the cause of labor or the interests of the poor. The Clintons have always been the DLC's marquee attraction, and its outlook is Penn's. In the tapestry of Microtrends the spotlight is not on an awful health system with over 40 million uninsured, but on DIYDs, Do-It-Yourself Doctors. Penn tells us "it's the biggest trend in American health care", spearheaded by women and the young and promoted by Penn and Burson-Marsteller, working diligently for the pharmaceutical companies whose products, freed from the trifling restraints of a doctor's prescription, will be at the disposal of the DIYDs in the chain stores. Thus do microtrends find their due place in the great scheme of things.
bayviking
DIYD - COOL!
Hillary gives me a headache.
I'm gonna need lots of Vicodin if she's elected.
If Hillary gets less than 6-7% more than Edwards in the primaries, wouldn't Al Gore have the perfect reason to "set in"? --We cannnot lose this election due to the swift-boating of Hillary. --Let's mention it to Al . . .
Gore was already swift-boated in 2000 by both the repubs on the right and Nader on the left.
Hillary's not going to let them swift-boat her. She and Bill have always stood up for themselves very well, and she'll be well able to do it again. After all, from what I'm reading on HuffPo is that she's just like the repubs and they actually want her to be pres, so why would they swift-boat her at all if that's the case.
I think Hillary has an incredible chance to win, but the BIgMoney doesn't care much who their publican will be.
As long as it is a neo-lib or neo-con.
Only Paul and Kucinich are not.
They are the only ones I am considering in the primaries, as for the general, if one of them is not on it [sigh...] then I am going 3rd party and never registering repub or dem again.
No, go to the court house and register Independent, one of the few tools left to the average American. Lou Dobbs is absolutely right on this, if you want them to start working for you again you've got to get their attention !
It's fortunate that cable viewers have someone like Lou Dobbs on which to triangulate ideas; the greater part of the "media" are merely lemming voices of 'group-thinking' and 'political correctness.' They've become a sort of ideological clergy for those with weak RELIGOUS moorings and wavering ethics.
Possibly as good as Dobbs suggestion is to keep one's registration--unless it's Republican--and continue to inform that CONGRESSMAN that you intend to vote for ANYONE other than him, i.e., thus retaining primary voting rights....?
Has a 3rd party emerged? Where is it? What are its advocacies?
What many of these posters have stated is, in large measure, TRUE: Both parties respond mostly to the needs/desires of those at the top percentiles in income and wealth. This is an
OLIGARCHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So let's all make sure to support Larry Craig along with Hillary. Since a candidates personal life has no bearing on anything. Let's let any pervert or phony bitch run our country.
The difference is Craig pled guilty. With Hillary, it is with an admitted bad judge of character anxious about the first female in a male-dominated position of leadership.
To quote Bernstein himself, "I thought he would be a compassionate conservative, reach out to Democrats, and govern from the center. So don't turn to me for predictions about politics."
Bernstein is stating the obvious but it is very important that democratic voters know full well before voting that a vote for Clinton is a vote to continue down the same path that Bush has laid out.
NEWS FLASH : All Presidents have secrecy. Its what they're holding secret is the problem!!
Hillary was born under the birth sign of the scorpion; Scorpios, by their very nature, can be very secretive with a strong and dark desire for, power.
OhPlease2007 - Tell me you're joking about my dark desire for power resulting from being born "under the birth sign of the scorpion".
Amen sister.
Sigh. More squabbling over this lipstick-covered pig. The neocon repugs are salivating, not because they could beat her (unlikely), but becase she's one of them. The military industrial complex has thrown its $$$upport behind her. Wall Street has endorsed her.Karl Rove even said she'd be a good nominee.
Just look at their voting records and read the transcripts of their speeches. We'll see: If there's a mismatch there is a problem. If their voting records scream warmonger they're stealth neocons. The only candidate(s) we can trust are the ones who consistently walk their talk.
Al Gore will probably be a last minute, and VERY disruptive, candidate for the presidency, even though right now it appears as though he doesn't want it. We'll embrace this knight in shining armor and elect him, forgetting his loyalties and his agenda (the CFR and globalization) until it's too late.
Folks, Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul are the only two people you can trust. Everyone else, even the nice ones, are on-board with the Master Plan: NAFTA, NAU, SSP, and an authoriatative world government, run by them of course.
No truer words have ever been spoken.
Thanks!
:)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8174691865292891844&q=ron+paul+brushfires&total=8&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=5
Ron Paul is just another closet Neo-Con who wants to shut down the so-called welfare state and fund nothing but endless war. He's said as much in several interviews to right wing audiences. Are you going to fall for another Right-Wing Authoritarian from Texas ? Believe me, I live in Texas and we warned the country in 2000; but who would have thought that the Supreme Court would have elected the president ?
Dennis Kucinich is our only hope to regain control of our government. However, he'll be out right after the primaries. Considering the mountain of money dumped on all the wrong candidates, international bankers and corporations have decided to just buy this election. An array of Judas Goats running for office who can lead the sheep right into the slaughter house. Dennis will be a write-in in the 08 election, the only way we will get to vote for him !
Your correct that everybody else has sold out, what can we expect from a group of lawyers; 1 out of every 3 members of Congress hold law degrees. I thought the Congress was suppose to reflect a typical American City ? Does every third house on your street have a lawyer living in it ? Tom Jefferson warned us about letting the lawyers take control of our government but did we listen ?
Given that The Establishment despises Paul and the Republicans have marginalized him for years, it seems quite a leap to think he may be a closet Neo-Con.
If you listen to him or read his opinions on the welfare state, he seems to be of the mind that when government gets too big it fosters corruption and the monies collected to help needy citizens end up in someone else's pocket. Looking at his long voting record, he is anti-imperialist, supports civil liberties, and truly supports small government, therefore, a bona fide conservative in the traditional sense.
Now, as a progressive or liberal, you may have a very different view on the role of government than a 'paleo' conservative, but to accuse Paul of being a Neo-Con really misses the mark.
Incidently, on a CNN interview a caller asked Paul if he would want Kucinich as a running mate. Paul said it was too premature to discuss that type of option, but he was good friends with K, they shared many of the same principles and concerns, and they frequently worked together in Congress. IMHO, while unlikely, a pairing like that into a third party would at least break the stanglehold the current dysfunctional two-party (but same coin) system has on U.S. politics.
The divide and conquer nonsense has gotten pretty stale.
"Folks, Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul are the only two people you can trust."
You've got that right. I prefer Kucinich. Hillary would just be more of the same. We need radical changes NOW.
Peace!
I'm a republican and I'm for Ron Paul.
Bush also made a comment about Hillary being a
good President. "Good job Brownie".....
I sometimes wonder if Hillary won't be on the
receiving end of someone throwing dirt, sometime
in the next 12 months? You know, build her up
knock her down.
I think Carl is correct. That is why Billary will NEVER get my vote. I will write in a candidate before voting for her.
Time to call out call out Bernstein again, to whip up the Hillary bashers. A little secret is that its this backlash that has made Hillary look good to voters. She has shown herself to be so very tough and resilient. The next president is going to need lots of these qualities. Ron P and Dennis K are not gonna get on the ticket and it isn't going to be a Hillary conspiracy that keeps them off. Your real choices are going to be probably Hillary and Rudy. Maybe you like Rudy better? Figure it all out.
You're probably right, Janelynne, it will be Hillary and Rudy. We can only hope the evangelical voters get their own. I will vote for JE or DK in the primaries, and will only vote for HC in the general, holding my nose. A side benefit to an HC admin would be future female POTUS candidates will not be as controversial (hopefully).
There still could be a shakeup on either side but I don't see it right now. Whoever achieves the office, it will be our jobs to keep their feet in the fire, especially if we own the House & Senate. Remember the older Supremes will be dropping in the the next few years Rudy will be no friend if elected.
The fact that Hillary Clinton is now in a
"prayer group" with the very people who tried
to impeach her husband tells us everything we
need to know about this woman. It tells us
power is the most important thing to her.
And that her marriage is all about getting her
power, which she could have NEVER achieved
without Bill Clinton. She would have been
just another lawyer and nothing more.
I feel sorry for President Clinton, he
deserves a lot better...
The "reasoning" against Hillary being the Democratic candidate leaps from point to point just like the "reasoning" for the Iraq war.
Let's see:
- She's just a Bill surrogate
- She's a hawk
- She's easy to beat
- She's shrill
- She's inexperienced
... and now, She's Bush Jr. Incarnate.
Time to reconvene the Monkey Institute and see what THEY have to say.
WAKE THE HELL UP PEOPLE...and don't forget the "bad parts" of the Clinton Administration...remember the FBI FILES?? in the OVAL OFFICE??..how the Clintons tried to use confidential information to DESTROY CRITICS?? DOES THIS SOUND FAMILIAR?? Remember MAFIA TYPES in the LINCOLN BEDROOM??? TAKE OFF THE DAMN ROSE COLORED GLASSES...
Remember the properity? World peace? Budget surpluses? FEWER Americans in poverty? etc, etc, etc
Lower crime rates. Islamic terrorists actually caught, tried, convicted, and sent to prison with no need for torture or illegal warrantless wiretapping.
World peace? I guess that depends on what allows some people to sleep at night. What about the overly strict sanctions against Iraq depriving many of basic food and medicine and resulting in the deaths of more than 500,000 Iraqi children. When Clinton's Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, was asked on 60 Minutes if the deaths of those children was an acceptable outcome she said "Yes, we think it was worth it". Apparently, her personal censorship program had malfunctioned.
The prosperity was more owing to dollar hegemony, cheap oil, and the dotcom bubble than policies enacted by Clinton - he was just setting the stage for the Economic Tapeworm. Too bad the budget surpluses were used to cut corporate taxes and taxes for the uber-rich instead of making sure government trust funds with 'lock-boxes' were established to provide a strong safety net that would survive for several decades. Instead, we are headed for a $10 trillion national deficit, hyperinflation, and, doubtless, a shock therapy prescription that will include massive cutbacks in social benefits.
The trend of privatization of government functions got its big push under Clinton too. Even Blackwater got its start under the Clinton administration.
As historian Carolyn Baker puts it, neocons are the iron fist and neoliberals are the iron fist with the velvet glove. The good-cop, bad-cop routine is another apt analogy.
Bill Clinton was the one who instituted extraordinary renditions too according to Roger Ebert.
Yeah, and he and Hillary secretly tortured Vince Foster to death too. Gene Siskel told me so it must be true.
The impeach Bill Clinton movement continues. I would like to hear what you think about the Bush administration. Has any of the more recent news in the last seven years been a problem for you? The last seven years have happened: What are your thoughts of the undermining of the Constitution, the loss of privacy, habius corpus, enriching the top 1% of Americans,the lying about the $800 billion or is it trillion dollar war, letting Osama get stronger, turning a blind eye to our children who are exposed to lead paint in Chinese products, the outsourcing of technological jobs, the falling dollar, to give you the short list. Mafia types in the Lincoln bedroom? Are you kidding or are you a Republican? Same difference.
Thank you, Karl. Go home to Texas. The FBI files were nothing. No one ever showed that they were kept 'on orders' from anyone, and they were certainly never used. They were old documents, left over from the Bush I administration. As for the rest, go fly up Larry King's busby.
"Hillary has a snowball's chance in hell to win."
Really. Well, most people no longer believe hell exists. Or if it does, nobody's in it.
In any event Hillary is a cinch to win the Democratic nomination and I don't think she'll have too much trouble defeating a man who was sleeping with his third wife before being divorced from his second.
Re: Hell, I think we may already be in it, but I digress. Getting the nomination is one thing. Every candidate believes they are the next great mandate. See here: George McGovern. The MSM will be the bane of any Billary ticket and the dems know it. Every time Bill looks at a skirt it will be in every rag in the world and the snickers will be directed at Hillary. Not fair but accurate. As bright as she is she is now burdened with baggage no other candidate has ever had. Vote Ron Paul.
Lucky you! I live in the present and we've got plenty of Hell right here. Apparently you're not affected by the Hell that NAFTA created for many of the middle class. Or the Hell people without health care are living with. Or the Hell of having someone you love fighting in Iraq. Or so many of the other Hells that Hillary supports because winning money and support is more important than doing the right thing. A vote for Hillary is a vote for more Hell on Earth.
We need a change. Kucinich is the one who has the vision and conviction to see that we get it.
Wake up America! We CAN make this a better world. Hillary is not your gal if that's what you want. Bernstein's right.
Peace!
Unfortunately, I agree. I also believe she will keep us in Iraq for another 4 to 8 years. Might be a lot of write-in candidate ballots in '08. Listening, Mr. Colbert?
Ron Paul would end the war now.
So would Dennis Kucinich, but with a difference; Ron Paul will end the New Deal faster than Bush could conceive. Social Security, Medicare, and a caring nation--out the window, baby. He'll bring all the unborn into the world without a care on how to care for them when they start eating Chinese lead paint or start choking on the atmosphere. Typical compassionate con shithead dressed as a libertarian.
He won't get elected. Aside from that, I can't think of a single thing he says that's worthy of support. He's an old crank who would bring the government to a dead halt.
I really wish this Clinton inevitability would go away. The time has come to end the era of american political dynasties. Bush, Clinton, Bush. Clinton. Who's next--Bush's nephew? We need freshness--we need someone new and someone with powerful ideas and the passionate fortitude to see them through. And, most imortantly, that candidate SHOULD not be beholden to any corporate entity or wealthy lobby groups, but to YOU and ME. Just like our forefathers envisioned, gifting us with western Democracy.
then refuse to vote for neo-libs as a democrat and tell your friends till yer blue!
That is the only way the inevitablity thing is going away!
The big money has pre-vetted all candidates but Paul and Kucinich...
at least we have 2 honest candidates to choose from in the primaries! WHen is the last time that happened!
who next? Jeb Bush.
Waiting in the wings first shirt. Or perhaps skulking in the shadows would be a more apt description?
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