Gail Collins, NYT: Happy Birthday, Hillary Clinton (HILLARY GROUP)
Monday is Hillary Clinton’s birthday. Don’t bother sending a gift. This week has given her all the presents she needs.
What a time she’s been having — the debate, Joe Biden’s non-candidacy announcement and then the total meltdown of the Benghazi Committee. It’s not often these days that a special House investigatory committee makes Democrats sing, but there you are. In a speech on the House floor, Representative Steve Israel claimed Thursday’s marathon inquisition had been like an “I Love Lucy” episode — “same plot, same characters, same script and nothing new.” This seems totally unfair to Lucy. Remember the one with the candy conveyor belt? Vitameatavegamin? How many of you think that 63 years from now, anyone will be saying: “Remember the question about Sidney Blumenthal’s email?”...
Things have been going so well, it’s impossible not to think a disaster is looming. Pop quiz – Hillary Clinton’s next headache will be:
• Revelation that she kept a secret flock of State Department carrier pigeons.
• Revelation that Justin Bieber is an old family friend with whom she corresponds regularly.
• Revelation that major donors to the Clinton Foundation have included El Chapo and Lance Armstrong.
• Revelation that during long family car trips, Clinton’s dog Seamus was kept in the trunk.
• Oh, I don’t know — something about Bill....
Now, the major candidates on both sides are in their 60s — except for Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, who are 44, and Bernie Sanders, who is 74. Donald Trump is older than Hillary Clinton, although of course when we talk about the possibility of a Trump presidency, age is about the 4,353rd topic of concern.
It’s not that age no longer matters, but that we’ve come to realize it hits different people in different ways. Some lose energy and focus, while others seem to get smarter and stronger....
Clinton wowed the country with her endurance during this week’s Benghazi hearing. If we remember the House Select Committee on Benghazi at all, it will be as the folks who gave Hillary a chance to demonstrate her staying power. Even accounting for breaks, 11 hours of questioning must be close to some kind of record....
“Yoga always helps,” Clinton said as she departed....
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/24/opinion/happy-birthday-hillary-clinton.html via NYTimes
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Thanks House witch hunters! 
