A few days ago, Hillary-- disgracefully, tried implying that Bernie is not just a gun-nut but a sexist trying to silence her to boot. I wonder which p.r. firm came up with that line. It's a natch for her though. Even one of her most outspoken, dedicated backers, Hilary Rosen, who had been tweeting earlier that Bernie looked like a madman, was exasperatied by how the Clintons lie and twist reality for their own political purposes, a reason so many Americans distrust them-- regardless of how horrid their Republican opponents are:And for people who weren't there... we have The Google! New York Times, October 15, 1996:
In a radio advertisement aimed at religious conservatives, the Clinton campaign is showcasing the President's signature on a bill banning gay marriages in spite of earlier White House complaints that the issue amounted to "gay baiting."The advertisement also promotes President Clinton's work to protect religious freedom and says he wants "a complete ban" on late-term abortions "except when the mother's life is in danger" or when a woman "faces severe health risks."It refers to Mr. Clinton's support of the Defense of Marriage Act, which the President signed into law last month, to the dismay of many gay rights advocates. Mr. Clinton signed the law early on a Saturday morning, minimizing news coverage. He said he had long agreed with the principles in the bill but hoped it would not be used to justify discrimination against homosexuals.The White House spokesman, Michael D. McCurry, had earlier criticized Republicans for raising the issue, calling it "gay baiting."The Dole campaign was critical. "This is a President who signed the Defense of Marriage Act in the middle of the night so it wouldn't be news, but now he does paid advertising to promote it," said a Dole spokesman, Gary Koops. "This is a President who has never supported any restriction on abortion, but now, 20-plus days before the election, he does ads touting the fact that he now says he supports restrictions."
Rewriting history used to be so much easier. Last week Rachel Maddow had a nice, relaxed sit-down with Hillary Clinton on her show. Here's the transcript that's caused all the commotion yesterday:
MADDOW: On-- on the issue of finding a path between the left and the right, finding what’s doable and what’s not doable, I’m a true-blue liberal, and I’m allowed to say that. OK? (LAUGHTER)But one of the things that I have been struck by – and during the Obama administration-- is that a lot of the-- really, the civil rights achievements of this administration have actually been undoing things that were done in the Clinton administration.Whether it was “don’t ask, don’t tell” or the Defense of Marriage Act or the-- you know, tough on crime (ph) mandatory sentences. Former President Clinton is progressive on all those issues now… CLINTON: Right.MADDOW: …but the policies that he signed-- for politically practical reasons-- in the ’90s have taken-- you know, the political mural-- miracle of Barack Obama’s election and-- and-- and a decade of progressive activism to unwind those things to get back to zero.And so I know that you and President Clinton are different people, and I know that-- I don’t-- you-- you’re not responsible for what he did as president. But is your approach to civil rights issues the same as his, or is it different? CLINTON: Well, I-- I want to say a word about the-- the issues you mentioned, because my-- my-- my take on it is slightly different.On Defense of Marriage, I think what my husband believed-- and there was certainly evidence to support it-- is that there was enough political momentum to amend the Constitution of the United States of America, and that there had to be some way to stop that.And there wasn’t any rational argument-- because I was in on some of those discussions, on both “don’t ask, don’t tell” and on-- on DOMA, where both the president, his advisers and occasionally I would-- you know, chime in and talk about, “you can’t be serious. You can’t be serious.”But they were. And so, in-- in a lot of ways, DOMA was a line that was drawn that was to prevent going further.MADDOW: It was a defensive action? CLINTON: It was a defensive action. The culture rapidly changed so that now what was totally anathema to political forces-- they have ceded. They no longer are fighting, except on a local level and a rear-guard action. And with the U.S. Supreme Court decision, it’s settled.“Don’t ask, don’t tell” is something that-- you know, Bill promised during the ‘92 campaign to let gays serve openly in the military. And it’s what he intended to do.
Hillary herself felt it was once politically convenient to be seen as a little anti-gay:She's changed her mind. Too bad she can't claim to have had a D-minus from the National Organization For Marriage. She and Bill should just admit they were wrong and apologize and move on. I mean if an asshole like Tony Blair could apologize for his role in the Iraq War and the subsequent rise of Isis, why can't Bill and Hill cop to their bad decisions on LGBT issues?The new CBS News poll of Iowa Democrats-- taken after Hillary eviscerated Trey Gowdy's silly Benghazi Republicans-- found her barely ahead of Bernie among likely caucus participants-- 46-43%. (The CBS poll in New Hampshire shows Bernie continuing to beat her by big numbers-- 51-36%.) Politico's story after the Iowa Jefferson-Jackson Dinner was how Bernie went on the attack and that he "launched a new, frontal attack on Clinton’s record, caution and character-- a direct response to her recent surge in the polls here and nationally, and fueled by her strong performance at the first Democratic debate earlier this month. The shift represents a gamble: Can a nice-guy candidate publicly dedicated to running on substance turn to attack mode without sacrificing his reputation as an authentic voice of the people?" Huh? Bernie went negative? Well no. Read a little further down and Politico reluctantly admits that "The Vermont senator, as always, did not go after the front-runner in a personal way or mention her by name. Instead, he delivered a fiery yet indirect indictment of her entire political career. In his 25-minute speech-- backed up by the thundering chants of supporters chanting 'Feel the Bern!'-- he attacked Clinton’s slowness to take a position on the Keystone pipeline: 'This was not a complicated issue,' he said. He lambasted her for now opposing the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which she once called the 'gold standard' of trade deals. 'It is not now, nor has it ever been, the gold standard of trade agreements,' Sanders said. And he reached back to Clinton’s 2002 vote to support the war in Iraq, an issue that plagued her eight years ago when she took the stage here. 'When I came to that fork in the road I took the right road, even though it was not the popular road at the time,' he said. Well... the shoe fits. He is after all, running for president on his record and his judgment and his courageousness as a frontline leader, against an opponent who is trying to distort her own-- and his-- record.Want to make sure Bernie is elected president instead of more of the same Establishment crap? You can do it here, where you will also find the progressive candidates running for Congress who have endorsed Bernie and his platform.
