WALLACE: Senator, you have refused to criticize the MoveOn.org ad about General Petraeus. And in fact, this week you voted against a Senate resolution denouncing it.
President Bush said that you and other Democrats are more afraid - his word - afraid of irritating the left wing and MoveOn than you are about insulting the American military. Does he have a point?
H. CLINTON: No, he doesn't. But I think it's clear I don't condone attacks on anyone who has served our country with distinction and with honor, and I have been very vocal in my support of and admiration for General Petraeus.
I did vote for a resolution that made it clear I do not condone and do condemn attacks on any American, impugning their patriotism, and that includes people like Senator Max Cleland and Senator John Kerry.
I think we need to call a halt to any kind of attacks, from wherever they come, that would go after anyone based on their service to America.
Pretty standard so far, but at this point she does a perfectly disciplined Jane Hamsher pivot and attack.
But you know, this is not a debate about an ad. This is a debate about how we end the war in Iraq. That's the debate that I want to be participating in, and I think a lot of people on the other side don't want us to have that debate.
Nicely done!
She did spend a lot of time talking about her health care plan. Despite Democratic polling and messaging, I am still doubtful that the health care message is the best messaging, and especially if your name is Hillary Clinton. Read the transcript for more details, but essentially she has to go into a LOT of detail about how this program is different than her other program. You know, the one that failed miserably.
When you're explaining, you're not winning. Democrats are already sold on a health care plan, Republicans already don't trust her, so this is clearly a play for the middle, but it's a serious risk of raising Republican hackles even more.
Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 1)
1. I don't really see how she dodged the issue. She clearly didn't condone it on Fox News and on Meet the Press, an hour later, she was asked if she supported the ad, and she emphatically said, "absolutely not". Thats not dodging Moveon, she made herself crystal clear and it takes a biased conservative like you to think anything else.
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Patrick at 8:53PM on Sep 23rd 2007
2. Why don't you guys want to talk about how Bush and Rove insulted war heroes like McCain, Kerry, and Cleland? How come it was Ok when your freshman Congresswoman called Jack Murtha a coward. You'd be far more credible if you condemned those acts; your indignation now is nothing but self-serving partisanship.
J.Fox at 9:45PM on Sep 23rd 2007
3. I agree with post number one. If you had watched Meet The Press yesterday, you would see that she emohatically said that she does not condone the attack of ANYONE by ANYONE, even moveon.org. I'm not a huge fan of hers, but I don't think she dodged the question. Good try, though.
Ashley at 3:53PM on Sep 24th 2007
4. although Patrick (# 1), I have to say, I consider myself a conservative and I would still stand up for someone regardless of party.
Ashley at 3:53PM on Sep 24th 2007
5. RECORDS SET
- The only president ever impeached on grounds of personal malfeasance
- Most number of convictions and guilty pleas by friends and associates*
- Most number of cabinet officials to come under criminal investigation
- Most number of witnesses to flee country or refuse to testify
- Most number of witnesses to die suddenly
- First president sued for sexual harassment.
- First president accused of rape.
- First first lady to come under criminal investigation
- Largest criminal plea agreement in an illegal campaign contribution case
- First president to establish a legal defense fund.
- First president to be held in contempt of court
- Greatest amount of illegal campaign contributions
- Greatest amount of illegal campaign contributions from abroad
- First president disbarred from the US Supreme Court and a state court
* According to our best information, 40 government officials were indicted or convicted in the wake of Watergate. A reader computes that there was a total of 31 Reagan era convictions, including 14 because of Iran-Contra and 16 in the Department of Housing & Urban Development scandal. 47 individuals and businesses associated with the Clinton machine were convicted of or pleaded guilty to crimes with 33 of these occurring during the Clinton administration itself. There were in addition 61 indictments or misdemeanor charges. 14 persons were imprisoned. A key difference between the Clinton story and earlier ones was the number of criminals with whom he was associated before entering the White House.
Using a far looser standard that included resignations, David R. Simon and D. Stanley Eitzen in Elite Deviance, say that 138 appointees of the Reagan administration either resigned under an ethical cloud or were criminally indicted. Curiously Haynes Johnson uses the same figure but with a different standard in "Sleep-Walking Through History: America in the Reagan Years: "By the end of his term, 138 administration officials had been convicted, had been indicted, or had been the subject of official investigations for official misconduct and/or criminal violations. In terms of number of officials involved, the record of his administration was the worst ever."
STARR-RAY INVESTIGATION
- Number of Starr-Ray investigation convictions or guilty pleas (including one governor, one associate attorney general and two Clinton business partners): 14
- Number of Clinton Cabinet members who came under criminal investigation: 5
- Number of Reagan cabinet members who came under criminal investigation: 4
- Number of top officials jailed in the Teapot Dome Scandal: 3
CRIME STATS
- Number of individuals and businesses associated with the Clinton machine who have been convicted of or pleaded guilty to crimes: 47
- Number of these convictions during Clinton's presidency: 33
- Number of indictments/misdemeanor charges: 61
- Number of congressional witnesses who have pleaded the Fifth Amendment, fled the country to avoid testifying, or (in the case of foreign witnesses) refused to be interviewed: 122
SMALTZ INVESTIGATION
- Guilty pleas and convictions obtained by Donald Smaltz in cases involving charges of bribery and fraud against former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy and associated individuals and businesses: 15
- Acquitted or overturned cases (including Espy): 6
- Fines and penalties assessed: $11.5 million
- Amount Tyson Food paid in fines and court costs: $6 million
CAMPAIGN FINANCE INVESTIGATION
- As of June 2000, the Justice Department listed 25 people indicted and 19 convicted because of the 1996 Clinton-Gore fundraising scandals.
- According to the House Committee on Government Reform in September 2000, 79 House and Senate witnesses asserted the Fifth Amendment in the course of investigations into Gore's last fundraising campaign.
-James Riady entered a plea agreement to pay an $8.5 million fine for campaign finance crimes. This was a record under campaign finance laws.
CLINTON MACHINE CRIMES FOR WHICH CONVICTIONS WERE OBTAINED
Drug trafficking (3), racketeering, extortion, bribery (4), tax evasion, kickbacks, embezzlement (2), fraud (12), conspiracy (5), fraudulent loans, illegal gifts (1), illegal campaign contributions (5), money laundering (6), perjury, obstruction of justice.
BLACKMANVISION at 10:37AM on Sep 25th 2007
6. This latest flip flop by Hillary is as fine an example of her pandering and vote chasing as one could find.
Without time to take polls and gauge public sentiment Hillary said nothing while many in Congress and the Senate, among others, condemed the MoveOn "Betray Us" ad.
Without time to take polls and gauge public sentiment Hillary was afraid ( Persident Bush indeed used the correct word; afraid) to incur the wrath of MoveOn and voted AGAINST a Senate resolution to condem the MoveOn "Betray Us" ad.
"Polls show that the public approves of Petraeus' performance and endorses his recommendations for going forward with the surge-the first margin of approval for the administration's course of action in a long time."
SUCCESS IN IRAQ IS REWRITING OLD NARRATIVE
IBD 9-25-07
With the poll numbers in Hillary finally supports the man she called a liar and has condemed, on FOX news no less, the MoveOn "Betray Us" ad, what a surprise!
Pete at 7:41PM on Sep 26th 2007