By Tim Howe
I’ve swooned over the soaring rhetorical splendor of Barack Obama and John Edwards. I’ve geeked out on the earnestness of Tom Vilsack and Bill Richardson. But most of all, I’ve cringed at the political calculations and machinations of Hillary Clinton. Not only because they seem so redolent of what’s wrong with what politics has become in America, but because they’re likely to be successful and place her squarely on the path to a November ’08 showdown with whoever happens to survive the GOP primary.
And the prospect of a Hillary candidacy more than anything has made me fear for civilization. What passes for political discourse in this country has been on an ever-downward spiral for some time now. And the Red State/Blue State invective long ago reached a level that makes me literally sick to my stomach. And I’m well aware that the right wing’s Public Enemy #1 is Hillary.
While I’m a card-carrying member of the ACLU, a big city, pro-choice, pro-labor liberal trial lawyer, I’m also an avid hunter and outdoorsman, so I spend a lot of time with Republicans. Generally, they’re okay people. Really. But going way back to 1992, even the most kind-hearted, decent and open-minded among them have shared one thing: an utter loathing for all things Hillary. I’ve even endured the sweetest little PTA soccer moms telling the most vile jokes about Hillary Clinton’s sex life. It is singularly amazing the level of hatred that’s been directed to this one woman.
In January 2000, the one thing that bouyed my spirits as George W. Bush took the presidential oath of office was the thought that I’d finally rid myself of the Bill & Hill bashing. They were gone, after all. The Republicans had won not just the Oval Office, but controlled both houses of Congress. Surely, they would move on. Surely, I was wrong. Rarely did a month pass without an e-shot at either Bill or Hillary or both polluting my inbox. When Hillary joined the Senate, the volume only increased, and since she’s set her sights on Pennsylvania Avenue, the floodgates have opened wide.
I wanted it to end. I wanted a presidential campaign that was at least nominally about the issues, not personal attacks. I thought that if the Democrats put up somebody other than Hillary, we could avoid the poison. But I realize now that I was kidding myself. The right will always hate Hillary. And no matter who the Democrats nominate, the number one tactic from the right will be attack attack attack. (Can you say Barack “Madrassa-attending Hussein” Obama, Fox News?)
The watershed moment came when I opened two e-mails from my best friend, a fellow who is conservative but relatively apolitical, save of course for his hatred of Hillary Clinton.
The first e-mail was a story about Hillary Clinton meeting with a Native American group who bestowed upon her the title “Walking Eagle.” The punch line was the old fellow’s line that a walking eagle is one too full of shit to fly. Now I’ll allow that there’s a smidge of humor in poking that kind of fun at a politician, but there was also a smidge of the familiar about this gag. Sure enough, a quick check of Snopes.com revealed that the same story, substituting John Kerry and his tribal name, “Running Eagle,” circulated in 2004.
The second e-mail, though, is what really brought me up short. It had been forwarded quite a bit before it reached my friend, and he had in turn forwarded it to many others, including me. It told the story of Hillary Clinton insulting some representatives of the Gold Star Mothers by failing to meet with them when they came to Washington to press their case for veterans’ aid. I couldn’t believe it, so I again made a quick trip to the Snopesters – who sure enough thoroughly debunk this tall tale. What’s more, the Gold Star Mothers have made public statements and issued letters and e-mails apologizing for the slurs being made against the Senator in their name, with the fervent hope that it would stop. It hasn’t.
And so I have realized that the truth no longer matters. That honesty and good faith are no longer valid currency in the American political debate. That even the best can and will sink to the worst. I don’t know whether to cry or scream.
I have also realized that the only thing that will make me feel better is if Hillary actually wins. Because when it comes to the vile beasts that keep putting these filthy, hateful lies out there, the only thing that will sufficiently punish them is to give them what they loathe the most, to give them President Hillary Rodham Clinton.
And so, with apologies to Barack and John and the rest of the members of my party, who I’m quite sure would make just fine presidents, I pledge to do all that I can to shove it right down these hateful bastards’ throats and elect Hillary Clinton president in November 2008.
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Care to disagree? Send your thoughts to the Beachwood political desk. You must use a real name to be published.
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READER COMMENTS
1. From Harriett Green:
I’m sorry, but that’s a pretty weak reason for supporting Hillary Clinton. In fact, I think your stance merely propagates the small-minded pettiness that you deplore in modern politics – “I’m going to make them mad because they made me mad.” I’m currently lukewarm about Hillary Clinton precisely because of her political calculations, specifically her vote to authorize military action for the Iraq war. We’re in a time where political machinations have made this nation a shell of what it once was. I want a candidate who unequivocally acknowledges the horrific mess that the Iraq War has become, and stands up for the human rights and Constitutional principles that have fallen by the wayside during the Bush Administration. In my eyes, Hillary doesn’t do that and so far, John Edwards is looking like the best candidate for the job.
2. From Nick Jarmusz:
Despite the chronology implied by Tim in the fourth paragraph, Bill and Hill were never really gone. Her Senate term started before (albiet, by only a few days) his exit from the White House. It’s hard to forget someone if they never leave.
3. From Vince Michael:
Nice opinion piece – it does grab onto the annoying thing about the last dozen years of Republican ascendancy, which is the fact that they only run “against” people, places and things. The triumph of 2004 was so short-lived not only based on Dubya’s incompetence but also on a fundamental problem with an ideology defined entirely in the negative. The GOP needs Hillary desperately because without her they resolve into vapors.
Posted on April 3, 2007