PrintApril 16, 2008
Washington Post: Most Now Distrust Hillary, Including 37% of Democrats
An important side story to the main article in this morning's Washington Post on Hillary Clinton's poll problems is one by Anne E. Kornblut and Jon Cohen, Poll Shows Erosion Of Trust in Clinton - Most See Dishonesty. Being a Post article, it still refuses to excoriate Hillary -- something she richly deserves -- but it contains remarkably little excuse making. The lede, believe it or not:
"Lost in the Hillary Rodham Clinton campaign's aggressive attacks on Barack Obama in recent days is a deep and enduring problem that threatens to undercut any inroads Clinton has made in her struggle to overtake him in the Democratic presidential race: She has lost trust among voters, a majority of whom now view her as dishonest."
The Clintons' dishonesty has long been evident to individuals on both sides of the aisle, but the Democrats and the media have routinely given both Bill and Hillary free rides. Even when the dishonesty was blatant, the media would choose to either change the subject or turn the tables on one of the Clintons' perceived 'enemies', usually a Republican or conservative.
But Bill Clinton had something that Hillary has never had: charm and likeability. Some would want to believe anything Bill said, even though they knew deep down he was lying through his teeth. For those who chose not to believe Bill's lies, he had at his disposal various hit squads -- led by people such as his wife, Lanny Davis, Paul Begala, James Carville, and Sid Blumenthal -- whose sole mission was to destroy anyone who didn't toe the Clinton line.
Hillary was good at leading the hit squads, but is proving to be a lousy candidate. She has managed to do in a few short months what the "vast right wing conspiracy" couldn't do in 16 years: damage if not destroy her husband's legacy and position the Democratic Party and its coalition on the precipice of self-destruction.
It's dangerous to underestimate the Clintons; neither of them are going to be politically dead until the ashes of their ambitions are scattered to the four corners of the earth. But if it is close to the end of Hillary's aspirations for the Presidency in 2008, the defining moment will have been her Bosnia lies. Much of the Clintons' media, like Andrea Mitchell of NBC who accompanied Hillary on her Bosnia trip, knew the real story but kept their mouths shut as Hillary wove her tale. However, other souls in the media, and many more in the Democratic Party, finally said "enough is enough" and the truth came out -- this time in the form of archived CBS news footage.
The Clintons and their minions then did what had worked quite well for them for the past two decades: they released the hounds. But this time was different -- few took them seriously. When the next incident happened -- the mistaken story of the woman who, along with her unborn child, died after being 'refused' health care because she didn't have a hundred bucks -- everyone just rolled their eyes. "There she goes again..."
Hillary isn't only about to lose the nomination. She's also well down the road to turning herself into a laughingstock. It's just that she doesn't realize it yet.
