Does politics as blood sport extend to political vengeance?

[That Guy 888]

Last edited Wed Feb 24, 2016, 04:27 AM - Edit history (1)

This was originally posted in response to a deleted post questioning the very idea that the Clintons engage in political revenge:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/h-a-goodman/beware-of-the-angry-white-people-supporting-hillary_b_9250538.html

Well, score one for the "politician actually delivers on a promise" column, because here's how Clyburn recounts that conversation, which took place at around 2 A.M.

"If you bastards want a fight, you damn well will get one," Clinton thundered.

As Clyburn tells it, the former president phoned to pin blame on the congressman, vent his frustration and seek an explanation on how his wife got whipped so badly ...

"I had kept that promise. I asked him to tell me why he felt otherwise. He exploded, used the word 'bastard' again, and accused me of causing her defeat and injecting race into the contest," Clyburn writes.

http://www.refinery29.com/2016/02/102352/nina-turner-bernie-sanders-supporter

When you decided to support Sen. Sanders, did you catch any heat?
"Oh, my god yes. I’ve had white Hillary supporters saying to me that I betrayed the Clintons and saying I’m not going to have a future in politics. I mean, they marked me for life, and I’m sitting back thinking: The Clintons never helped me to do a thing in my life, and all of a sudden they control my destiny? That was very condescending to me.

"I had a white woman here in Ohio who supported my Secretary of State run in 2014. I’ll never forget this. I was at a Planned Parenthood lecture a couple of months ago and she came up to me and said how disappointed she was in me. Very condescending. And I let her know that I really didn't care about her disappointment and I’m not on the plantation. That’s exactly what I told her.
"Then she said, 'After all we’ve done for you.' Now, see. That was it for me. I interpreted that as, 'After all we’ve done for you, Black girl, you owe us.' They would never say that to anyone else, but the fact you feel you can say that to a Black woman? I thought she was supporting me because I was the best candidate to be Secretary of State, because I was trying to protect access to the ballot box for all people — not because you own me or I owe you."

http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/01/29/the-clinton-files-revenge-play-at-epa/

Even as Schaffer was getting his record swiped clean, Clinton’s political appointees at the EPA were moving to crack down on one of the agency’s top whistleblowers, Hugh Kaufman, the lead investigator in EPA’s ombudsman’s office. Kaufman has been a fly-in-the-ointment at EPA for more than 20 years, exposing corruption in industry and government. In his position at the ombudsman’s office, Kaufman has opened field hearings where citizens have been able to grill EPA administrators about clean up plans.

While I consider the Daily Mail about as reliable as the NY Post:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2623495/MSNBC-host-warns-Clinton-revenge-machine-Dont-cross-door-floor-opens-up.html

'Don't cross them, otherwise a door in the floor opens up': MSNBC host warns about the Clinton revenge machine

Hillary and Bill Clinton are known in Washington for being vindictive against people on their 'enemies list'
The list came about after Barack Obama defeated her for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination
TV host Alex Wagner said 'we are led to believe that there is this kind of Clinton Industrial Complex where names are kept, sins are recorded'
A 2014 book reported that Hillary staffers would joke about the political demise of people who had crossed her and sided with Obama

By David Martosko, U.S. Political Editor

Published: 11:35 EST, 8 May 2014 | Updated: 13:41 EST, 8 May 2014


MSNBC host Alex Wagner said Thursday morning that Democratic politicians are treading lightly around Hillary Clinton out of fear that failure to enthusiastically endorse her could bring dire consequences.

‘The fear mongering around the Clintons like, “Don't cross them, otherwise a door in the floor opens up,' she said.

Clinton, along with her husband the former president, reportedly build an 'enemies list' after she failed to win the Democrats' presidential nomination in 2008, keeping tabs on all the people they believed had betrayed her by siding with Barack Obama.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2014/02/12/confidants-diary-clinton-wanted-to-keep-records-for-revenge/

1 year ago
First on CNN–Confidant’s diary: Clinton wanted to keep records for ‘revenge'
Posted by
CNN 's Dan Merica, CNN Political Research Director Robert Yoon

Fayetteville, Arkansas (CNN) - Shortly before Hillary Clinton’s effort to pass health care reform died in the summer of 1994, the first lady asked a close friend and confidant for advice on “how best to preserve her general memories of the administration and of health care in particular.”

When asked why, according to the friend’s June 20, 1994, diary entry, Clinton said, “Revenge.”


That exchange is among thousands of pages of notes, letters, and diary entries penned by Diane Blair, a political science professor and longtime Clinton friend whose papers were donated to the University of Arkansas after her death in 2000.

Blair worked on Bill Clinton’s two presidential campaigns and advised the president and first lady throughout their eight years in the White House. In particular, she was very close with Hillary Clinton, who called Blair her “closest friend” in her 2003 memoir “Living History.”

Blair’s notes from 1994 and 1995 shed light on Clinton as first lady, especially her persistent interest in recording her and her closest advisers’ accounts of their time at the White House in order to both tell her own story as well as document what she saw as the truth.

To be fair, maybe Hillary was joking, like her highly entertaining "we came, we saw, he died" knee-slapper.

While bringing other politicians "to heel" is impressive, who do we want our politicians answering to? Their conscience? Their political party? A leader who will strike down upon them with great vengeance and furious anger if they disobey?

I think our elected officials should answer to their constituents, while guided by their conscience. Political parties should serve as a guide to both voters and officials about core values and policies. Loyalty to leadership should be earned through actions and ideas, not intimidation.

[CBGLuthier]

1. She is running on the "fool some of the people all the time" concept.

No evidence matters to them. They are in it for the duration.

[jfern]

2. I guess Clyburn didn't want a 2am call this time

[Live and Learn]

3. I really don't get what he is thinking unless they actually have something on him. nt

[That Guy 888]

5. Pure speculation on my part: Wall Street funded primary challenger.

I think it is going to be great for democracy if Sanders people-funded social-media-backed campaign beats or even challenges the 90's style take-no-prisoners, deep-pocket-bundlers, corporate-media-focused campaign.

[Live and Learn]

6. That just makes me very sad to think about. People that were once so brave being sold out.

Of course, that would only make them human, I guess but even the speculation saddens me.

[cali]

4. That she had an enemies list that actually rated according to how big they

thought the betrayal was, during and after the primary, is fact

[haikugal]

7. Well there you have it. Now we know that our suspicions are true.

K&R for this informative post!

[tblue37]

8. From NPR--in reference to Kim Jong Un's execution of his uncle in 2013:

SNIP

Kim may have been "angry that his uncle disrespected him," Frank said on Morning Edition. According to North Korea's official news agency, Jang clapped "half-heartedly" when Kim was elected vice chairman of the country's central military commission.

SNIP

This news reminded our colleague Scott Neuman of a chilling passage from Alexander Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago, which described why you did not want to be the first person to stop clapping at one of Josef Stalin's rallies (emphasis added).

SNIP

That is what immediately came to mind when I read this in the OP:

MSNBC host Alex Wagner said Thursday morning that Democratic politicians are treading lightly around Hillary Clinton out of fear that failure to enthusiastically endorse her could bring dire consequences (emphasis added).

[PADemD]

9. Highly entertaining? More like appalling.

To be fair, maybe Hillary was joking, like her highly entertaining "we came, we saw, he died" knee-slapper.

[That Guy 888]

10. I agree with you

My apologies re-reading the post I see it wasn't clear, the post has been edited, and was a poor decision on my part to not make that clear the first time. Among my friends and family a knee-slapper is a joke that is in no way as funny as the person telling it thinks it is.

I can't think of another US or so-called civilized leader laughing about someone's on camera death.