Thursday, May 15, 2003 11:19 p.m. EDT
Estrich to Clintons: 'Shut Up'
Democratic Party strategist Susan Estrich attempted to spark a political mutiny on Thursday by telling her party's two most powerful figures, Bill and Hillary Clinton, to "shut up."
What accounts for such rank insubordination?
Estrich says that unless her party's most dynamic duo gets off the stage, other Democrats won't stand a chance of defeating President Bush in 2004.
"Could somebody please tell these people to shut up?" Estrich implored in a column that, though little circulated by mainstream newspapers, received wide coverage by top radio talker Rush Limbaugh and Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes."
"The Clintons suck up every bit of the available air," the one-time Dukakis campaign manager complained. "Nothing is left for anyone else. They are big, too big. That's the problem."
"The 2004 candidates need a chance to get some attention, to rise to Clinton's level, which they never will do as long as the likes of [former Clinton hatchet man] Sidney Blumenthal are playing into the hands of conservatives in insisting on debating the scandals of the 1990s," Estrich continued.
Released this week, Blumenthal's book "The Clinton Wars" reportedly paints his old boss as a saint. And if the "Sid Vicious" screed isn't enough to take the country back to those halcyon days of cigar sex and semen-stained dresses, Hillary's book is due out in less than a month, Estrich warns.
"We shouldn't still be discussing it," the political consultant laments.
Adding insult to injury, Estrich also contends, "Hillary Clinton is never going to be president of the United States," arguing that she is simply too divisive and polarizing to be elected.
But the fact that Mrs. Clinton continues to top Democratic presidential polls despite her vow not to run only compounds the problem.
"The more people talk about her as a future president, the less attention the current candidates, who might win, receive," says the Democratic analyst.
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Editor's note:
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