|
|
|||
|
|||
|
|
Political Mudslinging Barry Farber Mr. Believe-It-Or-Not, Robert Ripley, told us the shortest poem in the world was one entitled "Fleas." Here follows the full text. "Adam Had ‘em!" This is the shortest column I've ever written. Why not? A woman need not be fat to be charming. On Saturday, Jan. 20, Sen. Hillary Clinton announced she's in the presidential race for 2008. She announced it on her Web site. The talking heads immediately told us why Ms. Clinton chose to announce so precipitously. Barack Obama already had announced, and was eating at her turf. Story Continues Below
Others said, no; Obama had nothing to do with it. Hillary simply had to sink mud cleats and grab traction, and right now was a good time.
I have an alternate opinion. The Hillary campaign had just been accused — most likely unfairly — of committing the biggest blunder of the past two or three political years. Three days before her Web site announcement her "people" allegedly leaked word that Barack Obama had attended a Muslim madrassa in Indonesia and lied about it! In other words, Obama was not just a Muslim; he was a lying Muslim! Again, probably unfair! My eyeballs bulged and dangled by the optic nerve as I saw that acidulous accusation attributed quite openly to "Hillary's people." How stupid! How unswervingly dumb! Any 10-year-old could have orchestrated a leak, not from "Hillary's people," but from "unattached" parties 18 times removed from the Clinton campaign making the same accusations against Obama without a provable, much less admitted link to the Hillary campaign. At which point Sen. Hillary Clinton could have thrown her shoulders back, assumed a flint-faced frown, and roundly denounced such "religious, racial, and ethnic politics" and hammered home the mantra that, "Nobody cares where a candidate got his education. The only question is, is that candidate smart enough and experienced enough to be president and commander in chief and the leader of the free . . . etc., etc., etc." When a payload of political poison hits the air and the day goes on without booming denials, the dirty deed has done its damage. And we heard nothing about the matter from the Clinton campaign over that weekend. Obama madrassa, true or false; "Hillary leaked it" true or false, all gets emulsified at that point. You can‘t unring a Chinese gong. Damage control now consists of changing the subject. So, instead of the kind of announcement a Hillary presidential bid should normally call for; instead of a screaming crowd of Hillary partisans giving energy to her announcement at the planned date in the future they had to rush into an "announcement" by immediate Web site. And on a Saturday morning, which is the traditional dumping ground for news you want concealed not exploded, exploited, and ballooned forth unto all the universe. It was as though Tom Cruise and what's-her-name, instead of hiring a goodly portion of sub-Sahara Africa for their nuptials, had instead sneaked quietly into the office of a justice of the peace in Gaffney, South Carolina. It reminded one of the days when a girl rushed her wedding date precipitously forward when signs of pregnancy appeared. That pressure seems to have eased these days. But Hillary couldn't sit there and be perceived as a vicious mud-slinger without a big booming news story to wash it away. Thus, the "announcement!" My needs are simple. If a Hillary aide did that dirty trick, I don't demand capital punishment. Just promise me that if she wins, the person who did it will not become anything more important than the coordinator of interns.
Editor's note:
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
Print Page 
Forward Page 
|
| All Rights Reserved © 2008 NewsMax.Com |