Posted on 11/24/2007 10:15:19 AM PST by CT
Just when every poll has Hillary Rodham Clinton slipping, she has gotten a shot in the arm from a very unlikely source: President Bush.
In an interview on Tuesday featuring the first couple and Charles Gibson, the president said of Hillary: "No question, there is no question that Clinton understands pressure better than any of the candidates, you know, in the race because she lived in the White House and sees it first — could see it first-hand."
By saying that she “understands the klieg lights,” Bush lent credence to Hillary’s campaign assertion that she could “hit the ground running” if she were elected president.
Would somebody please explain to us what Bush is doing, touting Hillary just as the rest of America is finally catching on to her artificial, evasive and contrived campaigning style?
This is not the first time Bush has rescued the Clintons. After they left the White House, both the former president and the new senator had low ratings in the polls. Beset by scandal — the White House gifts, the pardons-for-sale, the payments to Hillary’s brothers for pardons, the Hasidic vote-for-pardon scandal, and Bill’s nolo contender plea to obstructing justice — Bill and Hillary were sucking wind.
But, Bush swept in for the rescue, picking the former president off the ash heap of history and elevating him to parity with his father in a two-former-president effort to raise funds for the tsunami victims. By giving him a respected place alongside a former president of unquestioned integrity, Bush gave Clinton a tremendous way to climb out of disgrace and into the limelight.
Then, when the tsunami relief effort was winding down, he re-enlisted former President Clinton to work with his father again on helping the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Not only did Bush help the Clintons in positive ways, but he let his justice department drop the investigations of the pardons, the gifts, the payments to Hillary’s brothers and the Hasidic vote scandal with no prosecution or plea dealings.
Then Bush let Clinton off the hook another time when the former president’s former National Security Adviser Sandy Berger was caught smuggling classified documents relating to 9/11 and the war on terror out of the National Archives in his pockets and socks. The Bush Justice Department accepted a plea deal with Berger which did not require him to say what documents he had taken and why he had swiped them. As a result, we never knew what aspect of the Clinton record on terrorism Berger was so anxious to cover up.
All of this kid glove treatment of the former first couple led to jokes about how George W. and Bill are the two children of President George H.W. Bush. Now the president is going easy on his putative sister-in-law, Hillary.
The fact is that Hillary has no idea what it is like to be president. Unlike Bill, she did not have to face the media daily and could keep them at arms
length as she toured the world, acting like a tourist, in carefully contrived photo opportunities. When she was really involved in public policy — during the health reform debate — her insistence on the secrecy of the proceedings led to a federal court order and judgment against her.
Is President Bush deliberately helping Hillary to win the nomination because he feels she would be the easiest one of the Democrats to beat? If he is, he’s making a serious mistake. She is the only Democrat who can bring 10 million new single female voters out of the woodwork to sway the election.
Or, is it an ex-president thing? A kind of exclusive club of former chiefs who treat one another with kindness, civility and bend over backwards to show respect? Whether it is through political miscalculation or elitism that Bush caters to Hillary Clinton, he should stop it. Every day, she bashes him full time on the campaign trail. His kind words for her are so out of place, they are jarring.
President George W. Bush has done quite enough to aid the election of Hillary Clinton as the next president of the United States already, thank you. Without his generosity to Bill and his refusal to prosecute matters that could embarrass the Clintons, he bears a great deal of responsibility already for Hillary’s rise to front-runner status in the Democratic primary.
Now I don't trust either family.
newsmax,worldnetdaily,debka...you get my drift.
BINGO! You’re in a roll today!
This article deserves a big barf alert.
Soooo many skeletons in the closet for both families (Bush Sr, BJ). I don’t think they will turn on each other.
What a load of bullcrock. This “Bush is supporting Hillary” drivel from the recent days is more overstretched than Pelosi’s face. Now they have to increase the hyperbole to “rescue”.
1.It hurts Hillary with the Democrat base to be associated
with Bush. An “endorsement” from the “Great Satan” is a
death kiss.
2.Bush merely said that she had first-hand experience in the
WH. That’s not supporting, not rescuing, not endorsing
anyone.
Attack Bush and the RINOs when it makes sense. Relying on this moonbatery makes us look... well like moonbats.
Anything morris says about hillary should be viewed through his hate-colored glasses. he hates the clintons so much he’s not able to be rational about them. Thus, anybody who doesn’t hate hillary as much as he does is “helping” her.
Seldom pick my news up from News Max. But the columnists are worth reading.
I think Morris is many times wrong. But in this case with Bush I too am scratching my head.
Mrs Bill Clinton is running in the Democrat Primaries. For the average Democrat Activist GW Bush is a cross between Adolf Hitler, Joe Stalin and Satan. Having him say nice things about Mrs Clinton has the same effect on Democrat Voters that having the high priest of the Church of Satan make favorable mention of a pope candidate would have on Catholics Cardinals.
The democrats hate Bush. How in the world would President Bush’s endorsement of Hillary be a positive?
Mrs Bill Clinton is running in the Democrat Primaries. For the average Democrat Activist GW Bush is a cross between Adolf Hitler, Joe Stalin and Satan. Having him say nice things about Mrs Clinton has the same effect on Democrat Voters that having the high priest of the Church of Satan make favorable mention of a pope candidate would have on Catholics Cardinals.
Sorry to not have made the acquaintance of such a charming fellow. You are obviously quite sure of yourself I see.
Mere suspicion of a Level II conspiracy is not knowledge of the actual conspiracy. The Pres is initiated into Level III conspiracy on Inauguration Day which is why he always changes behavior then and immediately. Level IV and Level V are reserved on a 'need to know' basis.
From the interview, Bush also said, "I do believe our candidate will beat her, if she happens to be the nominee."
Acknowledging she can handle pressure isn't exactly endorsing her. Saying she will lose wraps that up.
Morris somehow forgot that portion of his words.
First, in a general election the Bush 'endorsement' might help. But then again, I offer this out more as a head-scratcher (surrounding the Bush family going to the Clintons assistance) than anything else. So view it in that context.
And Newsmax can’t possibly any more discredited than CNN, CBS, Reuters...You get my drift.
He did not endorse her - he made a statement of the obvious.
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