Idaho Mountain Express: Are destructive Clintons plotting a McCain win?

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Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Are destructive Clintons plotting a McCain win?

By PAT MURPHY

Perhaps it's not so baffling that the House of Clinton is eager to demonize Barack Obama as too inexperienced to be president, and that it slyly stokes suspicions about his patriotism and allegiance to the United States, belittles his uplifting speeches as hot air and continues the ugly, destructive fight for the Democratic nomination against steepening odds.

Indisputably, the Clinton machine is providing grist for Republican John McCain to use against Obama if he's the Democratic presidential nominee—certified charges from no less than Democrats Hillary and Bill that Obama's too inexperienced, lacking sufficient patriotism, a man of ready talk but no solutions.

Could this be the final Clinton strategy as her chances appear bleaker every day—helping McCain win the White House so Hilary could run for president in 2012? (McCain would be too old for a second term.)

This notion would be considered unthinkable, almost the delusions of a psychotic. Would any Democrat dare purposely sabotage another Democrat to pave the way for a Republican president?

The Clintons, mind you, are not ordinary or rational Democrats. The Clintons are megalomaniacal in their hunger for power. What has long been suspected has been confirmed by a few Clinton staffers bitter about Obama's rise in popularity—they believe Hillary is "entitled" to be president. The nation owes her. The nation cannot survive without her.

Two facts support the notion of a self-destructive last stand by Hillary and Bill.

First, their tactics haven't increased her lead over Obama or won any superdelegate support. She's lost 60 superdelegates in the past month, according to Politico.com.

Second, Obama was leading McCain in double digits—and now McCain is leading and approved by 67 percent of Americans, since the Clintons unleashed their wreck-and-ruin tactics.

Experts in these matters calculate Hillary Clinton has a 10 percent or less chance of the nomination. That percentage is bound to shrivel as the self-destruction continues. Her claim of visiting Bosnia under sniper fire as proof of her "experience" has been exposed as fiction. Her believability is bound to suffer, increasing doubts about her character to be commander-in-chief.

Whatever else the Clinton legacy, their most outstanding feature is a proclivity for shaming themselves and their nation.

Bill did it with his cheap peccadillo with Monica Lewinsky in an anteroom just outside the Oval Office and his lies thereafter.

Now Hillary, overcome by peevishness, would destroy her party's chances for the presidency by sabotaging her Democratic rival to aid the fortunes of a Republican. She seems indifferent to the personal cost of being banished to the political graveyard.

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Carla – san diego

03/26/08 - 18:46

Avishai...I am an "older" woman" and I resent your comments. This is not about Obama, this is about the tactics a fellow democrat uses against another. It was Bill that was president, not Hillary. Does she deserve a job promotion just because she paid her dues? I've paid my dues too, but I don't believe I am entitled to anything. Character does count. She once had my vote, but I am a democrat first, she does not own our party. Our (my) party has been "triangulated" into something I no longer recognize. Hate has a way of destroying us all.

j.l. – ketchum, id

03/26/08 - 09:15

so no one can say a damn thing against obama???? if they do they are sabotaging the dems chances??? i have news for you mr. murphy , this is american politics. i for one have a problem with a guy who goes to a racist church and listens to hatred for whites and america for 20 years every sunday and gives them 20,000 dollars. this guy was a friend , mentor, and pastor to obama for 20 years!!!!but all you can do is talk about how clinton is evil for practicing american politics.

Rain

03/26/08 - 01:47

Scary theory...but definitely plausible.

Rick Britcher

03/25/08 - 23:15

This was just in the New York Times: "Some top Democrats are increasingly worried that the Clintons' divide-and-conquer strategy is nihilistic: Hillary or no democrat.

(Or, as one Democrat described it to ABC's Jake Tapper: Hillary is going for the Tonya Harding option: if she can't get the gold, kneecap her rival.)"

So I guess these Democrats are puds too? Doubtful.

Moe – California

03/25/08 - 22:59

So much for honest discussion....George. I feel sad for you.

Maurice - Silicon Valley – Santa Clara, California

03/25/08 - 22:53

I am truly saddened by where the Clintons have taken this process. I was a HUGE Clinton supporter and fan. You could not ever convince me that they didn't have the interests of our country ahead of their own. How sad it has to come to this. Petty, Dirty, Gutter politics that have no place in the posibility of REAL CHANGE and PROGRESS in our country.

The Clintons have really dirtied their legacy by being in the bowels of toilet politics. They have lost me vote and just about everyone I know that supportted the Clintons over the years. There is no grace or humility in their blood.

Here is what I see. Why worry about his pastor...he can no more control the pastor's mouth than Hillary can control Bill's escapades over the years. I would have parted ways with my significant other if vows were broken the FIRST time. It makes me wonder if she stuck with him to have the veins of power run through her veins. Why worry about his small dealins with Resko when she herself has an Asian fundraiser sitting in prison. Why complain about his lack of experience when her own experience is in questions (exagerations). Why pump up her votes when his initial judgement call was on the mark.

I don't like what the Clinton surrogates are doing also. Bill Richardson is a GOOD MAN and A MAN OF HONOR & INTEGRETY. Carcille did such a huge disservice to a true American Patriot.

I cannot wait to see President Obama lead us into open goverment for the people, by the people. A truthfull and goverment that takes care of it's own before others.

Avishai Micaiah – Eugene, OR

03/25/08 - 22:48

Clinton left office with a 65% approval rating, the highest end-of-presidency rating of any President who came into office after World War II, and presided over the longest period of peace-time economic expansion in American history, which included a balanced budget and a reported federal surplus. Certain individual's attempts to portray the Clinton Era as this terrible epoch are just not in keeping with an unbiased historical view. There was controversy but there was so much more than that, like the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 that kept our economy in such great shape during the 90s. So who is really polarizing and dividing the Democratic Party? I say it's any Democrat who is trying to downplay or dismiss the positive impact of the Clinton Years. This is a scenario America should be all-too-familiar with: older woman who's spent her entire career gaining the experience needed for that big promotion she's been eyeballing is cast aside when that time comes for a young male up-start with a fresh face, new ideas and "charisma" or "charm." Of course everyone will come up with some great excuses as to why she shouldn't get it that have NOTHING to do with the fact that she's a woman. Whatever helps you sleep at night.

George Fabo

03/25/08 - 22:31

Geeeez, Pat your a pud.