The Monster: A Loyal Clinton Soldier Turns in His Badge

She has no idea.

She has no idea how many times I defended her. How many right-leaning friends and relatives I battled with. How many times I played down her shady business deals and penchant for scandals -- whether it was Whitewater, Travelgate, Vince Foster, Cattle Futures, Web Hubbell, or Norman Hsu. She has no idea how frequently I dismissed her husband's serial adultery as an unfortunate trait of an otherwise brilliant man. For sixteen years, I was a proud soldier in the legion of "Clinton apologists" -- who believed that peace and prosperity were more important than regrettable personality traits.

And then she ran for president.

After seven years of George W. Bush, America is hungry for change. Big change. And let's face it -- Hillary Clinton, the party standard-bearer and former White House denizen -- isn't it. But even after voters coalesced around Barack Obama, handing him eleven straight primaries (twelve, if you count Vermont), she refused to accept the possibility -though math, money and momentum were clearly against her -- that the Bush/Clinton Family Band might not be #1 on America's Billboard chart anymore.

So, rather than step aside and become the hero of her party, she made a strategy decision to go negative in advance of Ohio and Texas. Not just negative -- personal. She cynically chided Mr. Obama's message of hope. She played the victim card. The gender card. The Muslim card. She cried "shame on you, Barack Obama" for his campaign tactics, while (if we're to believe Matt Drudge) simultaneously floating a picture of him in Somali garb to stir up questions of his patriotism.

She accused Mr. Obama of his own shady business deals (the irony of which nearly ripped a hole in the fabric of space/time). She accused him of being two-faced on NAFTA, when it was her campaign that had winked at the Canadians. She demanded that he "reject" the endorsement of Louis Farrakhan, but remained silent when Rush Limbaugh stirred up votes for her in Texas. And she crafted the now-infamous "3am" attack ad -- which used scare tactics to highlight Senator Obama's perceived lack of experience in foreign affairs. Straight out of the ol' Atwater/Rove playbook. Of course, all of this paled in comparison to her husband's patronizing, racially insensitive comments earlier in the primary season.

Was this the same Hillary Clinton whose husband ran on the idea that hope was more powerful than fear? The wife of a president who had less foreign policy experience than Barack Obama when he was elected? And exactly which crisis is she referring to when she claims to have more experience? And while we're at it, where the hell are those tax returns?

It's clear that Hillary's back in this thing, at least for the time being. But at what cost? Short of some cataclysmic event, there's no way either she or Mr. Obama can reach 2,025 delegates in the remaining contests. That means she's accepted the inevitability of a brokered convention. A convention she'll almost certainly enter with fewer delegates than her opponent. That raises some important questions:

Will she subvert the will of the voters? Will she turn Denver into a series of shady back-room deals and arm twisting? Will she dispatch her husband to pressure superdelegates into switching allegiances at the last minute? Are we in for, as one pundit put it, a good ol' fashioned "knife fight?"

And if she does manage to secure the nomination, what about the scores of disenfranchised Obama supporters (many of them young people with little loyalty to the Democratic Party)? How will she bring them back into the tent? Hillary seems confident that this can be remedied by offering Mr. Obama a spot on her ticket. Really? And what would his motivation be for accepting? Playing third-fiddle to Bill?

However, if Mr. Obama goes on to secure the nomination, she'll have handed his rival a treasure trove of sound bites. All John McCain has to do between August and November is play clips of Hillary questioning Obama's experience and belittling his platitudes. In a way, she'll have become Mr. McCain's second running mate.

She's proven that she cares more about "Hillary" than "unity." More about defeating Obama than defeating the Republicans. She's become a political suicide-bomber, happy to blow herself to bits -- as long as she takes everyone else with her.

On Friday, one of Barack Obama's foreign policy advisors, Samantha Power, resigned after calling Senator Clinton "a monster" during an off-the-record exchange. It was an unfortunate slip, but one that echoed the sentiments of many Clinton apologists like me -- who've watched Hillary's descent into pettiness and fear-mongering with the heartbreak of a child who grows up to realize that his beloved mother has been a terrible person all along.

Are the conservatives right about the Clintons? Will they do and say anything to get elected?

I don't know.

All I know is...I'm through apologizing.

Comments

[mountainwhere]

Glad to see you and your apologies go. I'm so tired of blind Obamabots. Much of Hillary's responses are in response to ads and comments from Obama's camp. Obama threw down the gauntlet (maybe it was too elegantly spoken for any of you to hear what he was actually saying), when he didn't win California and has been attacking her negatively ever since (and actually even before). It just doesn't get played up in the press and scrutinized like every move Hillary makes. Did you see Obama's ads in Ohio and Texas, which came out weeks before her ads? Did you read about the memo that was leaked by Canada that confirms Obama's camp WAS softening Obama's stance on NAFTA regardless of what he said in the campaign? Do you think Obama's advisors made that up and they weren't having those discussions behind closed doors? Obama just didn't realize his closest advisors would leak their discussions. Have you heard the sexist comments Obama's campaign has made throughout the campaign that never make the front page of the news? Racist bad, sexist acceptable. Did you know Hillary personally helped individuals get access to care and resources when they approached her after the 9/11 attacks because the help they were supposed to receive never came? She did the same thing in New Orleans. She didn't just make a speech demanding for help like Obama. She actually helped individuals who asked her to help them. Tell me she doesn't have a conscience when she goes beyond what most politicians do: exploit people for attention (John Edwards and the Natalie case) and say I'm sorry for your pain (photo op) but go back to their beautiful life. Glad you have taken your support elsewhere. There are plenty enough people doing their homework and seeing through the b.s.

[JohnCochtosten]

I have heard many of these arguments from Clinton supporters before. And I ask you this: Could you please provide examples? I can't think of any sexist comments or negative campaigning from the Obama campaign (other than the monster comment).

Perhaps Clinton supporters feel this way because she is so good at manipulating the electorate into feeling guilty for her. She cried and people voted for her, as if that's the requirement for a good leader. Last time I heard, Bush admitted crying all the time. Obviously he doesn't shed nearly enough tears because last I checked we're knee-deep in a whole hell of a mess!

[ruscle]

I think Clinton supports FEEL like they've heard Obama say sexist things or done dirty, negative campaignin­g... because they desperately want to feel that Clintons overt gutter campaign tactics are on-the-level or justified. It is a common trick of the mind that people use to protect themselves from having to actually consider if they are making the right choice in supporting a candidate.­.. or a war, for that matter.

[melann830]

Thank you and thank you. Not to mention that the Canadian prime minister has absolved her of this leak to their press. Also, brokering deals with Anibal Acevedo-Vila to rob Puerto Ricans of their civil rights and controlling through caucusing as opposed to a primary, which the head of the democratic party, Roberto Prats had to overturn in a vote on late Thursday. Governor Acevedo-Vila is under investigation for misconduct, has been accused of voter fraud by ex-gov. Pedro Rosello and has badly managed the Puerto Rican economy. Many including Carlos Romero Barcelo have cited his corrupt manipulations at the expense of democracy and the citizens of PR. For Obama's camp to think that they could actually pull this anti-civil rights act off demonstrates that he has a bunch of thugs working for him. Harvard educated thugs at that. Harvard should be ashamed right now.

[GGinCA]

Citation, please

[Waitaminute]

"Harvard educated thug" Now thats a good one.

[GGinCA]

Do you work for her campaign? Those are all her talking points. I don't buy them.

[Beowoof]

Obamabots is name calling! Just like the kid in school who can't think of any retort other than fuckwad, dipshit, dickless, or that other one.

[abot]

mountainwhere please cite specific accomplishments of HRC

[Budoc]

I've always given the Clintons the benefit of the doubt until now.. I realize that she does not care about the Democratic Party. When she makes the statement that only she and McCain have met the threshold for the Presidency, I finally realize that she was willing to destroy the party for her own ambition. More disappointing is the fact that none of the Democratic Party Elders have come forward to denounce this statement. The Democratic party is at the brink of losing me and a host of other young people.

[LongBeachHawkeye]

Hang in there with us, Budoc. Together, we will survive these attacks from the Hillary Attack Monster Machine. Obama will move forward, win the Democratic nomination, and the general election in November. The time for change is now. I am so proud to see the youth vote becoming energized and active.

Excellent article, Mr. Grahame-Smith. My sentiments, exactly! Hillary is playing a zero-sum game with only her own ambitions in mind. Shame on her for trying to destroy the party.

[Diva2U]

THANK YOU! I share your sentiments exactly. Such a betrayal to see who she really is after all the years of supporting and defending her. I hope she self-destructs politically and the Clintons came be retired from the political stage once and for all. I am so ungodly tired of them.

[joelkeenan]

I've dreamt of meeting Bill Clinton. A hero to me.

But I am so done with her. Disgraceful.

[the964kid]

This piece speaks to lots of us who supported Bill in the 90s and defended the Clintons during their many many scandals. We didn't care about their destructive tactics when it was against the republicans, but now we're seeing their true selfishness and arrogance. We were blinded before because it seemed reasonable against the likes of Ken Starr and Newt Gingrich - but against a nice, hopeful and visionary guy like Obama?? It is obvious the Clintons only care about themselves­... I can not wait til their days of old school dirty politics are behind us...

[pkafin]

"I can not wait til their days of old school dirty politics are behind us..."

You will be waiting a long time. The Clintons didn't invent hardball politics. They are hardly the most blatant players of the sport today.

Sooner or later the Clintons will go away and politics will be neither nastier because of their current participation nor nicer in their absence.

Politics is about power as much as anything else. If, in the end, Obama wins the Presidency, it won't be without a hefty dose of things that not everybody is proud of.

As Hunter S. Thompson said regarding presidential politics in October: "The last train out of the station is never filled with nice guys."

[candlewax]

I think the difference is that Obama wants power for the good of the people, which is what good governance is, a democracy that works puts the people's needs first and invites them into the process. The Clintons seem to want power for themselves and for their friends; the "people" are just an afterthought, a tool needed to win elections and then get thrown to the dust bin.

[accountability]

Thanks, great post.

this has been the best "anti Hillary" post I have read by far.
The rest are screeching with so much self righteousness and malice that it becomes difficult to take them seriously.

Because I know that a lot of what has been said and continues to be leveled at the Clinton's was started and continued by the neo-cons I just can't believe all of it.

Hillary Clinton made powerful enemies when as a young lawyer she was asked to find anything that would give precedence for Impeaching Nixon. She unearthed the information that would have allowed the Impeachment to go forward if Nixon hadn't resigned. Her research is what caused him to leave the Presidency and to piss off Cheney, Kristl, Rummy, Rove and all the rest of that crew who were attached to the Nixon White House in one form or another. They had an agenda of expanding presidential powers that had to be put on hold. They eventually formed PNAC, and they have ruined many a career, and many a life in trying to get what they want or to get even for some offense, either real or imagined.

So, because of this I believe in the "vast right wing conspiracy" (PNAC) and I believe that they have been trying to ruin her for decades. She is just too stubborn to lay down and die.

Maybe that is why I take all these stories with a grain of salt, or why I cut some slack and can't buy into all of them.

BTW, there are so many far right wing sites out in cyberspace, 10 years old or more who were making these charges that the left repeats today. It is the same rhetoric, the same emotional intensity, the same hatefulness.

That doesn't mean any one is wrong, but I can't put that much stock in what the immoral minority said and did to get back the majority in Congress. And I really can't go there where the neo-con slime machine is concerned.

I wonder if Hillary has Stockholm syndrome.

That freaks me out!

[BP]

How about a Obama/Clinton ticket?

Nah, it'd still stink because there's a Clinton there. But at least it's not as pathetic as the #2 offering the #1 VP.

Before the Clintons started this Clinton/Obama talk, I had been willing to give them the benefit of doubt. Now they've proved me wrong. Now I understand why they've nurtured so much resentment across the entire spectrum.

[Yasmine]

The CLINTON machine should have realized that every time they hit /insulted OBAMA , they also hit / insulted his supporters. That is why there is so much VISCERAL REACTION from Obama's suporters.
STILL I would humbly suggest that since OBAMA would like to be a UNITER, his supporters should also be careful not to react in hateful and indecent manner.
LET AMERICA MOVE TOWARD LOVE NOT HATRED.

[Henry2008]

Ditto

[ergoth]

the lady should play fair. it's not nice to beat up on barry. he's a nice guy. and people like him.

[nazirmo]

What everone forgets is that this is a fight between two candidates and there is no benchmark on civility. At some point candidates have to get aggressive and that does not mean that one is mean.
If Hillary hadn't come up with the 3 A.M ad do you think she would have won ?
It is a fight to the finish.

[lungfish]

Cheaters and liars are cheaters and liars. If she cheats and lies to get into office, she will cheat and lie when she is POTUS.

Obama should not associate with her in any way. She will get the hell swiftboated out of her by the GOP.

Also her fcommentary which is so unacceptable when she strays from playing the high road thoroughtly alienates Obama supporters and if she gets the nomination, many Obama supporters will not vote for her... her negative attacks as Seth GS outlines them are not the least bit indicative of Presidential material..­.

[vsign]

March 10, 2008 - Obama said no to #2 (CNN)

That is too bad. It really is. He is quite talented and could have prospered in a less risky position like VP. This is just how many regular Democrats think so please, no offence intended.

This insistence by Obama that he will not accept the VP actually will hurt him. It lets us all know as Democrats that we will need to test him further to find out if he is ready to be President. We need to test him before he gets the nomination. If his negatives go down by 10-15-20 points before Denver, the Independent delegates need to know this. Also Caucus delegates are different than Primary delegates. The MSM needs to separate all three categories of delegates into separate counts. I also want to see the category of Popular votes. Give us better information MSM.

[k6007]

Look, if Dems want the same old crap thats been going on in DC for decades, then they should vote for Hill or even McCain, Make no mistake about it, thats exactly what you're going to get.

But, If you're ready to try and overtake the helm of a ship steered dangerously close to disaster, to do YOUR FRIGGIN JOB!!!! GOVERN YOUR OWN DAMN DESTINY!!!

Vote for the candidate that asking you to come to The Hill 'WITH' him.

Obama 08

[G24]

That's exactly why she is doing the unprecedented and offering the front runner second place. She wants people like you to buy it and start putting pressure on him to concede, despite the fact that he's winning, and / or make him look bad for not being interested. Obama could make the exact same offer. Hillary wouldn't accept (even though she is actually in second place) and you know it. This is much political strategy on her part.... not the least bit sincere.

[eXcommunicate]

He should offer her Secretary of State or UN Ambassador. lol... See what kind of reaction that garners.

[hiriumi]

That is too bad? How can he accept the No. 2 position when he is No. 1?

[ESerafina42]

Exactly. He is GOD.

[Shozen]

He has won more delegates! Why in the F**k should he take second fiddle?

[gnoice]

Make that 3rd Fiddle if you count Uncle Bill.

[melann830]

Because she has won the democratic primaries which are more reflective of the will of the democrats in this country. Take what he tried to pull in PR for example, he and the governor tried to deprive the Puerto Ricans of their voice. As someone who is partly of this ancestry, I find this appalling and reprehensible. Quite frankly, he should be asked to step down for this alone.

[dawlishgal]

Piffle. Obama is way more "tested" than Bill Clinton was when he ran for president. Clinton jumped the line over people that (by whatever bogus standards they have cooked up to make her look adequate) the Clintons' should have labeled him then as unqualified when he ran. Nobody slimed them for lack of qualifications ,at least not enough to rise to the top of the list of gripes people had about him (of course there was plenty of other stuff to object to). They have different standards for themselves than they have for others. In other words, they are hypocrites.

Hillary is quite talented and might have amounted to something if she hadn't epoxied herself to the coattails of a man. How does THAT sound to you? (No offense intended). Obama has been tested and retested during the running of this campaign, especially by people who didn't bother to test Bill Clinton, but here they are whining about "testing."

Obama is dignified and trustworthy. Hillary Clinton is neither. (No offense there either).
That is test enough for me.

[melann830]

When you insult someone like Sen. Clinton, who has done good things in my home state at least have the balls to stand by your attack and not cower like you have. This is the essential difference between New Yorkers and the rest of the country. Now I will attack. Obama is a shady,deceitful, sexist who has all of you hoodwinked into believing his lies of ommission and inspiration. Perspiration is what will be flowing from him when Fox and McCain are done with him and Hillary wields her final blow to his ego. She has never ridden Bill's coattails or Obama's but Obama sure does like to steal her ideas and paraphrase what she says for the benefit of conniving you all. Example, Hillary said, she would not enter negotiations with Cuba unless they demonstrated in good faith that they were willing to release political prisoners and put forth measures to ensure freedom for the Cubans. After Obama hears this he says, some preliminary groundwork would have to be done. This is after he claims that he would meet with these dictators. Now really who is stealing from who? She has almost consistently been required to respond first and Obama is given the benefit of riding on her coattails. She forged her own path and was the first to challenge the status quo with the health care issue, which Obama himself has acknowledged. So,no offense Obama is a myth and your comments were an affirmation of you being vulnerable, gullible and naive. Did you also read A New Earth like the good girl Oprah told you to be and take her course? You poor lost soul.

[FreeThinkn1]

Thanks Seth for putting into words what I have felt. I too have been an apologist for the Clintons for years and twice voted for Bill. Up until she threw Obama under the bus (McCain has passed her test to be president but Obama has not), I could have voted for her. When I vote in November 2008, I will write in Obama if he does not win the nomination. I will not vote for McCain and I will not vote for Hillary Clinton. I'm tired of bending my moral values to suite her need to do anything for a win. No. For me, the end does not justify the means.

[Leftielder]

As someone who voted for Bill, steadfastedly defended him,voted for Hillary twice, the Clintons now make me ashamed that I ever supported them!

[FreeThinkn1]

Leftielder,

I feel your pain...

[Centaur]

This should be a "must read' for all clintonians. Seth, I'm sure you're not the only one who's thinking this way.

[pfcampbell]

I agree. These are my sentiments exactly. In fact I'll go one step further and suggest that at this point, Hillary is probably a better running mate to McCain than Obama. And with her sense of entitlement to the whitehouse I can imagine her reaching out to him if she were to lose the nomination. As Seth said, she will already be campaigning for him indirectly. And by the way, the McCain camp could use someone as scurrilous and unprincipled as Howard Wolfson. I must be completely naieve, I always thought people like Wolfson were specific to the Republican Party. Remember how all the media people would ignore the sleazy and borderline treasonous acts of Karl Rove while complimenting him on his "campaign genious?" Now I keep hearing how brilliant this current negativity is from the Hillary campaign. Clearly the people at the top of this Clinton campaign are not that different from the Rove people.

[ruscle]

Thankfully, McCain WON'T pick Hillary as a running mate. By the time she gets done with her campaign, she'll be poison. But if he did... WHOA! That would really throw the parties into a tizzy. Both parties. The Clinton haters (who aren't fond of McCain) would vote for Obama. NOW (National Organization for Women) would vote for McCain, even if he appointed anti-choice judges... just to see a woman in the Executive branch. IT WOULD BE A MESS. Thank god they all hate each other.

[ndolomar]

while i will go to my grave professing the bill clinton was at the helm during one of the best administrations in the modern era, i'm willing to do it because i take into account the relative nature of his administration. clinton was fortunate enough to oversee the birth and boon of the dotcom era. oddly enough, those of you who get past partisan talking points are aware that al gore sat on the committee that oversaw the development and expansion of the internet (to address his "inventing" controversy). so, had clinton not had a prescient veep in gore, he likely would have gone down in history as good president -- but not a great one. so, when we debate how much the country could use "going back" to the '90s, we must understand that we currently don't have a technological or innovative shift on par with the internet, and the only issue in the running for giving a foundation similar to what the internet was for bill clinton is environmen­tal/"green­" jobs. but with economically strangulatory war and housing crises, the next (hopefully democratic) president won't have nearly as easy a ride as bill clinton did. so, while i support hillary clinton in her bid to run the country and wish her the best of luck, i make it a point to distance the administration of bill clinton from his wife's proposed one, because these are different times and, frankly, she's not bill.