Not good for Hillary--now she's lost Conason ("Hillary . . . has crossed a line")

[Shakespeare]

He's been a pretty staunch supporter (of BOTH Clintons).

"Having watched many nasty political campaigns, however, including some far worse than this one, I tend to discount the constant hysteria over "dirty tactics" that is now background noise in almost every election. But Hillary Clinton's campaign crossed a symbolic boundary this week when its operatives sent around clips from the notoriously Clinton-hating extreme-right press to denigrate Barack Obama and his advisors. It was slightly eerie to watch those items arrive in the mailbox along with photos of Sen. Clinton at an editorial meeting of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review -- where she was seated next to that newspaper's owner, a certain Richard Mellon Scaife.

Although the reported encounter between Scaife and Clinton was mildly startling, it represented normal political behavior and nothing remarkable. Actually, they have even met before at least once, when the right-wing billionaire attended a White House dinner for donors to the Executive Mansion's beautification fund on Jan. 21, 1998 -- the same day that the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke on the front pages. (Clinton describes their encounter on the receiving line that night rather acidly in her autobiography, "Living History.")

*snip*

As for the American Spectator, once the secret headquarters of the Arkansas Project and still edited by the imaginative R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr., there is no shortage of educational material in that publication either. Without even entering the archives, where stories can be found recounting Bill Clinton's collusion in the cocaine-importing industry with the CIA, it is possible to learn about the "vast record of Hillary's joint misdeeds with her spouse," beginning with their highly profitable Whitewater investment. That column, which appeared last October, said both Clintons are "so corrupt it is frightening"; said that Hillary is "unfit for elective office," let alone the presidency; and concluded passionately: "If Obama and Company are too frightened to say those things, and to make them stick, then they are cowards, pure and simple.
"

Of course "Obama and company" have said much that is unkind and untrue about the Clintons before and since, but it is all too easy to imagine the outrage of the Clinton spokespersons if the Illinois senator had started mailing around old clips from the American Spectator. This incident offers Hillary Clinton an opportunity to consider how she wants this campaign to end. If she beats the odds and wins, this kind of behavior will taint her victory. And if she loses, as seems more likely now, is this how she wants her historic campaign to be remembered?

http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2008/03/28/clinton_scaife/

[K Gardner]

1. K&R

[stellanoir]

2. Conason always cracked me up as one of the only Americans who invariably

clearly enunciated and pronounced the "t" in Clinton.

Yeah if she's lost him. She's lost all pretty much.

[DevonRex]

3. K&R

[papau]

4. now she's lost Conason" - No - not based on linked article in any case - just admonished

[BlueIdaho]

5. That's it honey

keep hope alive...

[Window]

10. LOL!

[Shakespeare]

7. That's a bit more than admonished.

He's pretty galled at her tactics this week.

[Adelante]

6. Whoa

Major surprising.

[blm]

8. I figured Conason's integrity would kick in bigtime. No one can say he didn't TRY his damndest

to give the Clintons the benefit of the doubt all these years.

I wonder if (and hope) he'll read Robert Parry's work with a fresh eye.

[JI7]

23. i was waiting to see what he would say about all this

i knew he couldn't go on defending this.

[otohara]

9. Losing Conason is Hardly

a big deal to The Clinton's. They don't care what he thinks or for that matter what 52% of the democratic party thinks.

Hillary & Bill don't seem to care who or how many they are losing lately.

[Mezzo]

12. She's hardly losing Conason.

Please read that thing again, if you didn't understand it.

fucking wow.

[Shakespeare]

18. I know it must be hard for you to accept.

My condolences.

[otohara]

20. You're Big On Name Calling

dang, every time I see one of your posts, you're calling someone a name or being rude.

You reread that "thing" (aka column) again!

[Mezzo]

11. ...(read for comprehension) IT REPRESENTED NORMAL POLITICAL BEHAVIOR. nt

[madfloridian]

14. No, he is really upset with her. He was a staunch defender of the Clintons

when Bill was being impeached for lying about a blow job in the oval office.

He said:

"This incident offers Hillary Clinton an opportunity to consider how she wants this campaign to end. If she beats the odds and wins, this kind of behavior will taint her victory. And if she loses, as seems more likely now, is this how she wants her historic campaign to be remembered?"

[Shakespeare]

17. What part of "Hillary crossed a line" is unclear to you? n/t

[Umbram]

21. You obviously only comprehended part of a sentence out of context. (nt)

[DrFunkenstein]

22. Having Meetings With Scumbags, Not Distributing Their Slime to The Press

How's that for comprehension?

[Hamlette]

13. he not only supported her, he wrote the book on supporting both Clintons

with Gene Lyons who I have not been able to read lately. Maybe Gene will come around too.

[Cha]

15. Yeah, I wonder what joe conason

thinks about her potentially deadly version of the Bosnia trip?

And, :wtf: has the Obama campaign said unkind or untrue about hilary? She screws herself over.

Obama has been a gentleman and ..oh, Samantha Powers did say she was a "monster" and would stoop to anything but those were facts.

I can't even believe joe conason got fooled by hilary.

[myrna minx]

16. If she lost one of the co-authors of the Hunting of the President, then, wow, I'm

stunned. He knows full well what Scaife was all about, I can only imagine how he felt when he saw those photos. Wow.

[Mimosa]

19. Clinton, Scaife...HRC likes the smell of money

An amazing report. Conason stuck like glue to the Clintons, no matter what they said or did. He finally found his self respect, I guess.