Over at NRO's The Campaign Spot, the perspicacious
Jim Geraghty challenges my column today to the effect
that I said Hillary Clinton's Democratic opponents might benefit
from making an issue of her massive record of corruption.
He writes: "... on every scandal, most grassroots Democrats came
to her defense, and insisted she was the blameless victim of a
partisan witch hunt. When health care reform went down in flames,
they had to overlook her faults. Chinese fundraising? Renting out
the Lincoln Bedroom? Time and again, they looked at emerging facts
- or perhaps the proper metaphor is closed their eyes - and
declared, 'it is not her fault, she has done nothing wrong.'"
He then says that it would hurt, not harm, the other candidates'
political chances to attack Hillary because "Democrats aren't just
supportive of Hillary Clinton's rise to the presidency: they're
emotionally and intellectually invested in it."
Read his whole post. It's a good one. I actually think that
every point he makes about the Dem voter psychology is right on
target. If Obama, for instance, goes after Hillary, the odds are
that he would be digging his own grave.
But -- and here is the "aha" moment -- he's getting crushed by
the Clinton juggernaut anyway. The only chance he or anybody else
has of beating her is to roll the dice. In this case, the winning
dice roll would cause the big media to not just repeat but make a
cause (again) of the Clintonite corruption, so much so that even
though most Democratic voters would want, psychologically, to rally
to her side, they would be brought up short by the impression that
Hillary would be so much of pinata that they risk losing the White
House yet again. Changing metaphors, making the ploy work would be
the equivalent of a quadruple bank shot in pool, along with a
sidespin bump at just the right time.
But if you are Joe Biden, for instance, what is there to lose?
Especially since the charges he could make against her have the
virtue of being true.
So I agree with everything Jim wrote. But if I were advising one
of Hillary's opponents, I'd tell them to start attacking her
anyway. Then again, that might just be me looking for a good public
spectacle to watch.
topics:
Health Care, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton
