Clinton technique -- the distraction

With the nomination contest between Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama heating up, the Clintons are starting to resort to some of the classic techniques they have used in the past. I'm sure they had not planned on using these until the general election campaign.

Yesterday, a commentator at MSNBC noted that Chelsea Clinton has now been taksed for a more active role in the campaign. He described this as "pimping-out" Chelsea; probably not the most elegant language but certainly the gist of the facts. While the most important trend in the nomination is the erosion of Clinton's support, Hillary got the classic distraction going by whining about the language used about Chelsea. And thus, the media was distracted from the real story.

A Clinton distraction like this, one involving an attack on the media, serves dual purposes. Not only is the public distracted from what is really going on but members of the media are discouraged from sharp coverage of Clinton in the future. In fact, Hillary's complaints about unfair media coverage disguise the reality that she has been treated very gingerly -- not only in comparison to republicans who are attacked on a regular basis, but also in comparison to other democrats. Who else, for example, could claim eight years of experience as "co-president" while keeping all of the documents secret that might shed light on this claim.

Clinton every day for the next 4 or 8 years?

Who can consciously consider the idea of having another four or eight years of Clinton every day. The one thing you can say for sure about Hillary is that she has no greater sense of integrity and honesty than her husband. Today we find out, for example, that Hillary had to loan her campaign $5 million last month. Up until this past Tuesday, Hillary promoted herself as the "inevitable" candidate. But Obama has been moving up in the polls and seems to have some momentum as the campaigning continues. Had it been known prior to super Tuesday that Hillary was having to did into her pin money to fund her campaign, it would surely have helped Obama. Since that information would have been damaging to Clinton, it was kept under wraps.

But now, Hillary wants us to view her as the underdog so we are told she had to loan her campaign money. We were even told that her campaign staff has had to go without being paid -- well, maybe that part wasn't actually true but, with a Clinton as the source, actual facts mean nothing.

Any outcome would be better than Hillary and Bill Clinton back in the White House.

Edwards drops out

John Edwards has ended his five year campaign for president. Only Hillary Clinton has been running for longer.

Edwards based his campaign on a class-warfare approach; the haves versus the have nots. Class-warfare techniques have not been particularly successful in the United States since most people seem to understand that a free society provides the opportunity (but not the guarantee) for have-notes to become more like the haves.

Of course, Edwards was a stange poster-boy for the have-nots. His personal lifestyle was one of narcissism and excess consumption. For example, he was evidently unhappy with his 11,000 square foot or so house and had it replaced with one of 26,000 square feet. He had some huge piece of property yet still complained that he had to share the road with other residents. The best example of narcissism and vanity was his $400 haircuts -- charged to his campaign.

Edwards was also well known for changing his mind on positions he had taken in the past. Since Edwards' participation in the public sector was limited to a single term in the Senate, his flip-flopping as a percentage of positions he had previously taken was probably more than any other candidate.

Edwards will be remembered for his $400 haircut, his man-love with John Kerry during the 2004 presidential and his exploitation of his wife's cancer in an attempt to butress his campaign. Good riddance.