Carl Bernstein: The Shame of Hillary Clinton (Not Really Vetted by the Right)

[flpoljunkie]

The Question of Hillary Clinton's Guilt-By-Association Tactics

Posted May 2, 2008

Whatever name it is called, Hillary Clinton, perhaps better than any contemporary political figure of our time, knows the insidious nature of this kind of guilt by association, for she (like Bill Clinton) has been a victim of it herself over a political lifetime.

Precisely because she knows the destructive power of such assertions and how unfair they can be, she has sought for a quarter-century to hide and minimize her own activities, associations, student fascination, and personal history with the radical Left. Those associations -- logical, explicable, and (her acolytes have always maintained) even character-building in the context of the times -- are far more extensive than any radical past that has come to be known about Barack Obama.

Which raises the question: Is the Clinton campaign's emphasis on the Ayers-Obama connection significantly different or less spurious than the familiar (McCarthyite?) smears against Hillary, particularly those promulgated and disseminated by the forces she labeled "the vast right-wing conspiracy" in the 1990s?

Like Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton has (at least so far as this reporter and biographer has been able to determine) consistently rejected the ideological rigidity of the radical Left and -- especially -- the notion of revolutionary violence as a means of political change in contemporary America, despite claims to the contrary by the VRWC. Like Obama -- and John McCain for that matter -- she has valued her friendships with individuals who figured in the Left-wing and anti-war movements of the 60s and Vietnam era. And like Obama and McCain, she has never wavered from her belief and faith in establishment politics, within the two-party system.

But her past associations -- and her evasions about them -- may tell us much about the formation of Hillary Clinton, both as a product of her youthful time -- the sixties and seventies, when radical student movements and the anti-war movement were a hugely potent force on campus and in American politics generally -- and as a presidential candidate. The facts are fairly simple:

more...http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carl-bernstein/the-shame-of-hillary-clin_b_99912.html

[DerekJ]

1. K & R

[K Gardner]

2. K&R

[speedoo]

3. hmmm. This looks interesting.

VERY interesting.

[enough]

4. This story really illustrates the strange bind we are in now.

The point is that Hillary has some very strong "leftist" associations in her past, which have not yet come out into the media and which could be made into a lot of media hay if someone should decide to do that. The question is how she can engage in guilt-by-association for Obama when she herself has so much potential vulnerability on this issue.

Yet the fact is, I admire and understand her participation in these causes in the past. But now as an Obama supporter I find myself thinking, "Well, why doesn't Obama bring this stuff out against Hillary?" When I hear myself thinking that, I think I may have actually gone crazy.

[speedoo]

5. Let me try to answer...

"Yet the fact is, I admire and understand her participation in these causes in the past. But now as an Obama supporter I find myself thinking, "Well, why doesn't Obama bring this stuff out against Hillary?" When I hear myself thinking that, I think I may have actually gone crazy."

No, you have not gone crazy. It's a fairly natural reaction to this very informative piece.

My answer is, I don't believe Obama needs to go there... he will be the nomineee without resorting to that.

The question that comes to mind for me is "What on earth happened to Hillary?"

How did she become such a despicable monster?

[truedelphi]

16. You Ask: How did she become such a despicable monster?

I know that question. Isn't it weird??

Who would have ever imagined it??

Maybe her pain in realizing that Bill really didn't love her (At least not in the way any spouse wants from their spouse) led her to put all her emotional eggs into her securing the Presidency as a way to make up for it. Only becoming President will justify her life, and put things to right.

[TahitiNut]

6. Like many things, Hillary seems to think the "vetting" of Bill extends to her.

Despite the superficial tabloid attacks aimed at her during the Clinton/Gore administration, the role of "First Lady" is quite possibly the most culturally and ceremonially sacrosanct in American politics - second only to that of the minor children of a President. Their "job" has traditionally been as advocates for social issues that are so devoid of opposition that they attract the aura of "champion of the oppressed." Just WHO, for example, can oppose LITERACY?? That's the portfolio adopted by Laura Bush - the spouse of quite possibly the LEAST literate pResident in American history! The single important issue taken on by Hillary (health care) was bungled so badly by her that it can be argued she bears the primary responsibility for delaying this nation's adoption of a just and fair health care system for two or more decades. That's not just an 'oops!' ... it's a failure of catastrophic proportions.

Hillary seems to be a legend only in her own delusional 'mind' ... a proven liar.

[Adelante]

7. This is what is unforgivable to me

With the McCarthyite tactics she's embraced in this campaign, she has betrayed her generation, which includes me. I won't forget this ever.

Bernstein is wrong in one minor way. He says this has been going on for weeks, but it's been months. Ever since the kitchen sink strategy was announced in February and ABC published that her campaign was passing this Ayers crap to the press.

[Cha]

15. Yeah, when did Bernstein decide

to start paying attention?

[provis99]

8. I guess Bernstein is dead to the Clinton supporters now

[judasdisney]

12. Bernstein's bio of Hillary is the most flattering book on her out there

[Maribelle]

9. Your title makes it look like Carl Berstien said 'The shame of ....'

Yet I could not find it in your link anywhere.

ha ha ha

It is only found in the way huffington named the link.

Why am I not suprised by this fraud from a hate-Hillary site?

[tigervalentine]

10. didn't read all the way to the bottom, huh? n/t

[democracy1st]

11. K & R

[cliffordu]

13. Kicked again!!

[invictus]

14. K & R