The Coddled Chelsea Clinton

"Pimped out." By now, everyone knows the significance of that phrase. Because MSNBC substitute host David Shuster used that colloquialism (somewhat incorrectly, I might add), he's now a suspended substitute host at MSNBC, all because the Clintons raised a fuss in order to protect their little girl. I supported the Clintons' overprotection of Chelsea during Bill's presidency, much as I supported the Bushes' overprotection of Jenna and Barbara. The media is at its irresponsible worst when it attacks the teenage to college aged children of presidents or other politicians. Chelsea Clinton is no longer in that category, though, and the Clintons are continuing to build a very high wall around her. If Chelsea were not involved in Hillary's campaign, I could understand that, too. But she is. She is an adult woman helping in a political campaign, and as such she is fair game, just as any other member of any presidential campaign.

It is fair to question whether Hillary Clinton is using her daughter for her own political good. Granted, Shuster chose a fairly ineloquent way of doing so, but it was not a slur, period. MSNBC's cowardice is another, different example of the media at its worse, but this time it is example of the media's weak spine. This should surprise nobody, though. The media has been cowed by Clinton handlers every time a reporter has even attempted to acknowledge Chelsea on the campaign trail.

We should just all be thankful that Shuster didn't use the correct colloquialism, because the Clinton outrage would have been difficult to stomach. I have little doubt that Hillary is indeed whoring her daughter out politically for her own good. And for the record, pimping or whoring, that's ultimately a criticism of the Clinton campaign, not Chelsea.

Victim=Victory for Hillary?

Kevin McCullough writes a column today in which he calls on talk radio to back off of Hillary Clinton's illegal immigrant gaffe at a recent debate. I don't agree with the totality of McCullough's column, but he does bring up what I think is an interesting twist that the eventual Republican nominee will have to handle carefully if facing Hillary:

4. Hillary only wins - when she is a victim. Perhaps the most overlooked aspect of the entire Hillary fall-out issue is that such an incident plays directly into her strategy. Hillary can never be a champion of strength for anything as long as she is a "front runner." Her most historically significant positives always came in the aftermath of a moment in time in which she was able to castigate herself as a victim of circumstance, or of the abuse of men. When her husband was diddling interns in the Oval Office, her approvals were low. When he was discovered and exposed for it - her positives shot through the roof. It gave her a "cross to bear" moment to do the "right thing" even though she and the former President are more like business partners than any marriage I'd ever want to participate in. Fast forward to her run for the U.S. Senate after Mayor Giuliani had dropped out of the race due to his personal marriage issues and prostate cancer. Enter Congressman Rick Lazio and the now infamous moment of crossing the stage and slapping the pledge form on her podium and demanding that she "sign it." The Congressman confessed to me just a year ago that had he understood how that act would be spun by Hillary and her team of support in the mainstream media that he would have never considered it. Team Hillary was out in force following the debate, even through alternative media pages like Drudge, they were able to work the headline spin that Hillary had been ganged-up on. She was given a rousing "homecoming" at Wellesley College where she worked a jab into the speech. Emotional conference calls held by the campaign the days following called down more criticism upon the man asking the questions at the debate - not the candidates. And just to sweeten the pie team Hillary's number one attack dog - the former President - was sent to shake his finger before television cameras and call Russert's aggressive questioning "breathtakingly misleading." Rush has said it for years - but the only way Hillary wins is as a "victim," and now the "front-runner" is "just that."

By and large, the only times that the public has found Hillary Clinton a likable or sympathetic person has been been when she has appeared the victim. When not the victim, Clinton is an easily unlikable person. If she gets the nomination and heads into the general campaign with a sizable lead in the polls over the Republican nominee, Republicans are going to have to unload on her, but they are going to have to do so carefully. They will be well served to highlight her many negatives and to put her in positions where her unpleasantness shines. If they beat up on her like they beat up on John Kerry in '04 (deservedly so), though, she just may be able to spin herself back into the sympathetic victim in time to win in November.

To boldly go where only a Clinton will

One word: absurd.

Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday blamed the Bush administration's fear of scandal for the firing of eight U.S. attorneys, dismissals she said were virtually unprecedented.

The New York senator dismissed any comparison between the midterm firing of the federal prosecutors last fall with the replacement of 93 U.S. attorneys when her husband, Bill Clinton, took office in 1993.

The age of the retreads

The San Francisco Chronicle is raving about a new YouTube video, Hillary 1984.

It may be the most stunning and creative attack ad yet for a 2008 presidential candidate -- one experts say could represent a watershed moment in 21st century media and political advertising.

Yet the groundbreaking 74-second pitch for Democratic Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, which remixes the classic "1984" ad that introduced Apple computers to the world, is not on cable or network TV, but on the Internet.

I find very little groundbreaking about that video. It is a blatant rip off of a comercial that hasn't been interesting in 20 years. YouTube itself is hardly groundbreaking anymore. The video adds nothing to the fight between Hillary & Obama. Frankly, I'm tired of watching things that are remade. My kingdom for a fresh idea. Unfortunately, we are in the age of the retread, where a lame remake of an old commercial is considered groundbreaking because it is on the net. Please. That commercial, and ones like it, are unlikely to sway new voters. If anything, they serve as boosters for those already in a politician's support base.

Where's Lloyd Bentsen when you need him?

Because Hillary Clinton is no Jack Kennedy.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton invoked the campaign of the nation's lone Catholic president, John Kennedy, last night as she talked about her challenge in becoming the first female commander-in-chief.

"He was smart, he was dynamic, he was inspiring and he was Catholic. A lot of people back then [1960] said, 'America will never elect a Catholic as president,' " the White House hopeful told the New Hampshire Democrats' 100 Club fund-raiser here.

"But those who gathered here almost a half century ago knew better," she said. "They believed America was bigger than that and Americans would give Sen. John F. Kennedy a fair shake, and the rest, as they say, is history."

Noting women are "the majority" of voters and are in the workforce in "record numbers," she added, "So when people tell me 'a woman can never be president,' I say, we'll never know unless we try."

It's funny, because I hear surprisingly few people say that a woman can never be president. I do hear people say that Hillary could never be president. There's a difference there.

Go Hillary!

I don't want to go into great detail on this, but I recently witnessed an interesting transition. A long time Democrat associate of mine talked politics with me. We never agree on politics. The spector of a Hillary Clinton presidency seems to have changed that, though. This individual is probably the exception more than the rule, but this person so despised Hillary that his/her mind was opened to ideas of the right. If there is one, there are others, so I'm beginning to think that Hillary might be good for conservatives in 2008.