SubscribeHillary Proclaims Bill’s Impeachment Off-Limits
From, of all places, the Washington Post:
Clinton Fights to Keep Impeachment Taboo
After Spat, Campaigns Know to Expect Swift Reprisal for Any Hint of the Scandal
By Anne E. Kornblut
Sunday, February 25, 2007; Page A04Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has a new commandment for the 2008 presidential field: Thou shalt not mention anything related to the impeachment of her husband.
With a swift response to attacks from a former supporter last week, advisers to the New York Democrat offered a glimpse of their strategy for handling one of the most awkward chapters of her biography. They declared her husband’s impeachment in 1998 — or, more accurately, the embarrassing personal behavior that led to it — taboo, putting her rivals on notice and all but daring other Democrats to mention the ordeal again.
“In the end, voters will decide what’s off-limits, but I can’t imagine that the public will reward the politics of personal destruction,” senior Clinton adviser Howard Wolfson said Friday, when asked whether the impeachment is fair game for Clinton’s opponents. Earlier in the week, Wolfson dismissed references to President Bill Clinton’s conduct as “under the belt.” …
But the reality, of course, is that the impeachment was conducted very much in public…
Although she has spent the past seven years establishing her own identity as a public servant, Clinton has been embracing the more popular aspects of her husband’s presidency more widely as she mounts her own campaign, with frequent references to their time together in the White House and their joint legacy.
And as she has invoked the good Bill Clinton, she has risked invoking the bad, several Democratic strategists said.
“She’s using him in this campaign, so why can’t somebody else use him?” asked a veteran of Democratic presidential politics who is not currently aligned with a candidate but who, like numerous other Democrats, spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of angering the Clintons. “She’s just made him fair game. He’s part of her strategy, so why can’t he be part of one of her opponents’?” …
And Clinton advisers express confidence that any explicit attempt to revive the scandal would instantly backfire, particularly among Democratic primary voters who were outraged by the Republican investigation into her husband when it first occurred. (One Clinton official said donations to her campaign spiked when the Geffen interview was published.)
The former first lady’s popularity ratings have never been higher than when her husband’s affair with a young intern burst into the open and cast her in the role of victim. After a successful Senate bid, she became a colleague, and even an ally, with some of the Republicans who had sought to unseat her husband — seemingly putting the whole thing to rest…
It’s good to be the Queen. You can issue such pronouncements. It will be interesting to see if she is obeyed.
But of course the media will never bring the subject up. Nor will the Republicans. They are far too polite.
They would rather lose than mention such sordid facts.
Earlier in the week, Wolfson dismissed references to President Bill Clinton’s conduct as “under the belt.”
Well, wasn’t much of Mr. Clinton’s conduct "under the belt"?
The former first lady’s popularity ratings have never been higher than when her husband’s affair with a young intern burst into the open and cast her in the role of victim.
Apparently that is Ms. Clinton’s only qualification. She makes a good dupe victim.
But that doesn’t quite make her Presidential timber.
(If you will pardon the expression.)
33 Responses to “Hillary Proclaims Bill’s Impeachment Off-Limits”
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February 26th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
What an insane logic - make this topic (Which gave her, her highest popularity ratings) off limits.
Bet that is just reverse psychology, just to get someone (bet she is hoping it’s BO) to use it. Or to sniff out which Republican/outlet will use it.
February 26th, 2007 at 2:06 pm
I think this “warning” implies more than the impeachment and the underlying theme is that nobody better bring up anything from BJ’s administration. Aka, FALN Terrorist (as well as other) pardons, TravelGate, WhiteWater, Rose Law Firm records, Filegate etc etc.
She will not tolerate any dirt from back in the day. Not that scumbags like Chris Mathews, Bill Maher and Keith Olberman, etc would even dare bring up anything remotely close to making her look half bad.
February 26th, 2007 at 2:08 pm
I couldn’t agree more.
She doesn’t want people to use it because it makes her look weak. As a wronged woman, she received high ratings for it, but as someone who is supposed to be president it doesn’t help.
But since she’s out and swinging on this one, if anyone does bring it up, she can be a wronged woman fighting back.
February 26th, 2007 at 2:16 pm
Damnit esthier, I have warned you about those doubleposts before…..;)
The Red Queen will not make it to the primaries, IMHO, because she can not take criticism.
February 26th, 2007 at 2:58 pm
Hell they can’t even get the phrasing right, It is correctly called , ” Below the Belt”, not UNDER THE BELT. Maybe the lezzies call it under the belt….
February 26th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
SG! I loved the humor at the end. LMAO!
Soooo… is Bill going to be allowed to go out and campain separately from Shrill? Will he have female staffers or even a couple of Shrill’s interns to “assist” him? Will the MSM make public any (ahem) “stains” that may occur? Or does Shrill keep him on a short leash?
And what happens if a reporter does “go there” and brings up the impeachment, Travelgate, Monica, et al. Not that an MSMer would do anything to “stain” (theres that word again) Shrills potential throne…but a FOXer or S&Ler might.
February 26th, 2007 at 3:03 pm
1st, that was just a Freudian slip. They were talking about Clinton afterall.
And I’m just blaming the Internet for my double post. So really, that just goes back to Gore for creating it in the first place.
February 26th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
What? The evil Algore invented this thing? Does internet use cause global warming?
February 26th, 2007 at 3:31 pm
The article failed to mention that Hillary is also the wife of a rapist. And an impeached rapist, at that.
February 26th, 2007 at 4:18 pm
The article also failed to mention that Hillary is a man wearing a pink pantsuit. Can’t stand that harpy. I’m thinking if all of these democrats, speaking on anonymity, would all speak out together, how can the Clinton machine take them all on?
I’m wondering if Geffen hired some bodyguards.
February 26th, 2007 at 4:30 pm
He did more than that.
He used the Arkansas PD as his personal escort service, sold access to his office, sold presidential pardons, sold trips to the Lincoln bedroom, bought the silence of Whitewater cohorts, fired a loyal man so he could hire “his people,” as well as many other things I’ve mostly forgotten. Of course there are likely other things we’ll never hear about, like whatever it was that Sandy wanted to keep a secret.
And to think, if Hillary gets the presidency, Bill won’t even have a job to keep him occupied.
February 26th, 2007 at 4:37 pm
Clinton has only been in the race for how long now-is it two months and she or her spokespeople have already made 6 major mistakes that I am aware of. The first was to do and release “oppositional research “(politics of personal destruction to those of you who don’t know Clinton code) on O’Bamba (the story about his father). The second was to do a premature (IMO) trial balloon about her HINO (stolen from another site but I loved it) replacing her as senator when she becomes President (never we hope). The third was the overwrought reaction to the Geffen remarks and the 4th was in the same story which was the “you’ll pay big time if you desert us in this election (heaven help us with that one-turning all of America’s assets over to her so she can punish or reward her supporters is just plain stupid) The 5th one was when she was heard to say that they would take the huge profits of the oil companies away from them and use it for her own agenda. 6th (and the last one I can think of (I’m sure there are more that I’ve either overlooked or not been aware of) is this one of trying to tell us what we can talk about or ask about. What a tin eared candidate with an equally arrogant tin eared spokesperson and campaign staff. This is probably the way they talk to each other all the time and they are so arrogant they don’t have an ear for how it will play to the general public.
February 26th, 2007 at 4:50 pm
I not only like HINO (husband in name only) but I think we should start calling Bill her big B-HINO (Bill-husband in name only)
February 26th, 2007 at 5:07 pm
Hillary has this to deal with as well:
http://www.newmediajournal.us/.....242007.htm
The brief that was filed is here:
http://www.hillcap.org/final_b.....102007.pdf
February 26th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
RD,
You must have missed the memo that said she would be the next President or else.
I look forward to the “or else”.
February 26th, 2007 at 5:29 pm
Folks better watch out or they might become “fosterized”.
Tom
February 26th, 2007 at 5:43 pm
Now that her campaign has threatened reprisals to all former supporters who do not stick with her it would be interesting and instructive if the Barrett report would be released-why hasn’t it been?(Thanks for the sites, Learner-that was interesting and instructive also)
February 26th, 2007 at 6:54 pm
(((You must have missed the memo that said she would be the next President or else)))
We predicted this a year ago….now watch the carnage ensue as Shrillary will stop at nothing to win….even if it means shredding her own party….and literally everyone who gets in her way. EVERYONE!!
February 26th, 2007 at 7:25 pm
‘President Bill Clinton’s conduct as “under the belt”…’ Quite the turn of a phrase, huh? And then, we were introduced into a whole new world of sexual behavior.
By extension, it’s her impeachment as well. She planned the strategy to counterattack the investigation of obstruction of justice.
But, can she be asked about her and Bill selling nuclear secrets to China?
And still, I think Bubba’s impeachment is the least of her problems.
February 26th, 2007 at 7:33 pm
This is like a bad M Night Shamylan movie. “That which we do not speak of….” I guess Hillary is the Lady in the Hot Water. Guess we can”t relive the Halcyon days of Billygoo…… What a shame, since it actually makes them MORE popular with the “cool” Democratic base.
February 26th, 2007 at 7:35 pm
“I’m not running for President but I have a new National Energy Policy I would like to see implemented. If you want to write-in a vote for me, please feel free to do so. Here is my Twelve Point Plan…
*Drill the shit out of the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve (ANWR) and shoot any tree-hugger who approaches within 1,000 miles.
*Build 400 nuclear power plants across the country and shoot any protestor who approaches within 100 miles of those plants.
*Explain to every country in OPEC the benefits of not having their countries glow in the dark for the next 50,000 years.
*Send everyone in California to Venezuela and force them to work in the oil fields drilling for oil - at minimum wage.
*Send everyone in Massachusetts and New York to California and force them to sweep up the mess. Then tell them to stand on the Left side of the San Andreas Fault and jump up and down.
*Grow more corn, convert 50% to ethanol to burn in cars, convert remaining 50% to moonshine and sell to Russians while we steal their oil.
*Round up all Liberals, Leftists and Democrats and put them to work growing corn to produce more ethanol.
*Destroy all sources of water in the Middle East and sell water to Arabs for $100 per barrel - with frequent price increases.
*Tell Canada and Mexico to just shut the f*** up and pump more oil. Send US Army to monitor compliance.
*Pass a law making it a capitol offense to create or join an environmental group. Mandatory death penalty.
*Tell Exxon, BP, Chevron, General Motors, Ford and Chrysler they have five years to come up with an alternative to the automobile.
*Nuke France. Just because.”
From http://www.barking-moonbat.com
February 26th, 2007 at 7:50 pm
*Grow more corn, convert 50% to ethanol to burn in cars, convert remaining 50% to moonshine and sell to Russians while we steal their oil.
Sell to the Russians?
I do agree with nuking the French.
February 26th, 2007 at 9:16 pm
PR: You have my vote! I have dibs on SecDef!
February 26th, 2007 at 9:47 pm
Here’s another (left-handed) dagger in the back of Obama:
Imperial Obama
“African Americans will pay a special, historical price if a corporate-molded Black politician becomes the titular leader of an unreconstructed U.S. imperial state - and, make no mistake about it, Barack Obama is an imperialist. No one but a deep-fried imperialist could describe U.S. behavior in Iraq as ‘coddling’ the Iraqis, as Obama said to an establishment foreign policy gathering in Chicago, late last year. His Iraq War De-escalation Act, carefully calibrated to make him appear slightly less belligerent than Hillary Clinton, allows the U.S. to wage war until March 31, 2008, at the very least, and to maintain a military presence in the country thereafter. It is a sham measure, more helpful in buying time for Bush than in encouraging effective dissent.
At his core, Obama is not opposed to U.S. violations of other nations’ sovereignty; he simply opposes ‘dumb wars’ - as he told a reporter for the Chicago Reader - meaning, aggressions executed by less-than-bright American Commanders-in Chief. U.S.- designated ‘interests,’ not adherence to international law, are paramount - the fundamental tenet of imperialism.
Of the declared Democratic candidates, only Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich can pass anti-imperialism muster; thus the near-certainty of another imperialist in the White House in 2009. Which brings us to the special price that African Americans will pay if the face of U.S. imperialism, is Black.”
http://milfuegos.blogspot.com/search/label/Obama
February 26th, 2007 at 10:36 pm
Ya got my vote, Prof. If Sharps gets to be SECDEF, I want DNI. I got plans to clean the Clintonistas and commies out of the intel community…
February 26th, 2007 at 10:41 pm
WW — You’re there, dude!
February 26th, 2007 at 10:47 pm
“This is like a bad M Night Shamylan movie”
Now if we could get a Clinton in the car with a Kennedy, It would be a movie I would pay to see.
Call it the lackey in the lake, With the theme song take me to the river.
February 27th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
If Hilary wants to use the good points of her husbands presidential term, thats fine. But if you use the good, you have to expect the bad, You can’t take one without the other.
February 27th, 2007 at 8:02 pm
This reminds me of a joke I just heard!
Al Gore, and Bill and Hillary Clinton all died in a plane crash.
All three arrived at the pearly gates. God, Himself, siting on the throne, greeted them. First he spoke to Al Gore. “Al Gore, tell me what you believe.”
Gore replied, “I believe I really won the presidential election, but for some reason, you in divine wisdom wanted another person as president.”
God said, “Well, you are a wise man, Al Gore. You may sit at my left hand.” God went on to Bill, ” Mr. Bill Clinton, what do you believe?”
Clinton replied, “Well, I know I did wrong in my life, but I really tried to make up for it later on, and I’m sorry now.”
God said, “Well, you have repented, and you too are a wise man. You may also sit at my left hand.” Then he turns to Hillary. “Hillary Clinton, what do you believe?”
Hillary replied, “I believe you’re sitting in my chair.”
February 27th, 2007 at 8:28 pm
Why are we bothering with an election? THE QUEEN HAS SPOKEN, so let it be done!!!! Ow, I think I’m having an anurism…
February 27th, 2007 at 8:29 pm
How many democrats does it take to screw in a light bulb? Just one - but it really gets screwed.
February 27th, 2007 at 8:30 pm
Buuut, Buuut, I thought Obamayomama was the chosen one?
February 28th, 2007 at 3:43 pm
To 1sttofight
For lezzies, isn’t that “below the PELT?”