Hillary’s and Bill’s lies could backfire
January 25th, 2008 at 06:47am Pat Cunningham
 
Hillary and Bill Clinton have been peddling falsehoods about Barack Obama with respect to something he said about Ronald Reagan (see HERE) and the “present” votes he cast on occasion in the Illinois State Senate (see HERE).
I think these attacks are potentially, if not inevitably, damaging to the Clintons on several counts. For starters, they discredit Hillary’s claims to integrity. She knows that this stuff is nonsense, and lots of other people know she knows. The effect is a tarnishing of her reputation among progressives.
But it’s Bill Clinton who poses the bigger problem. As a popular, colorful, former two-term president, he gets massive media attention whenever he says anything controversial. Such is the case with his bashing of Obama. But the hubbub does him and his wife no good.
Americans tend to hold ex-presidents in reverence and don’t expect them to resort to nasty campaign tactics, even on behalf of a spouse. Bill’s departure from such expectations only diminishes his stature.
It also diminishes Hillary’s candidacy. It raises the question of whether Bill would be running the show in a new Clinton administration – and the question of  whether he’s calling the shots in his wife’s campaign.  His eagerness to  splash around in the muck and mire of this year’s politics creates the impression that he’s just itching to get back in power. The more he speaks out, the more that impression is reinforced. For everybody’s sake, especially Hillary’s, he should cool it.
No wonder the media spin on this matter has not been favorable to the Clintons, as noted HERE.
POST SCRIPT: The Washington Post has MOREÂ on all of this.
POST SCRIPT SCRIPT: But alas, The New York Times has ENDORSED Hillary.
Entry Filed under: Bill Clinton, Illinois State Senate, Ronald Reagan, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama
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