Posted on 06/18/2003 11:04:28 PM PDT by Utah Girl
Hillary Clinton cut her teeth on the Watergate scandal. As a counsel for the House Judiciary Committee impeachment inquiry staff, she made it her mission to topple President Nixon. Hillary helped drafted a document that would provide the legal basis for three articles of impeachment. The House Judiciary Committee's former chief counsel, Jerome Zeifman, later revealed that the Hillary-penned document changed the existing impeachment protocols in order to burn Nixon. According to Clinton biographer David Maraniss, Hillary believed Nixon was "evil."
Yet more than any other political personality, Hillary resembles her nemesis. Not in policy matters: Nixon was a center-right politician, while Hillary is a far-left radical posing as a centrist. But in terms of career path, Hillary has clearly patterned herself after the man she loved to hate.
Nixon's entire career consisted of disastrous circumstances followed by miraculous recoveries. He was the ultimate survivor.
His career truly began in 1948, when Nixon bullishly pursued Alger Hiss, correctly suspecting that Hiss was working for the Soviets. Nixon's prominent role catapulted him to national prominence.
In 1952, two years after Nixon won a Senate seat, Dwight Eisenhower selected him as his running mate. After serving two terms with Eisenhower, Nixon narrowly lost his bid for the presidency in 1960 to John F. Kennedy.
In 1962, Nixon met his lowest point to date: defeat in the California gubernatorial election. "You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore," Nixon famously told the press, "because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference." His image was in tatters. For the next six years, Nixon held no elected office.
In 1966, Nixon's hard campaigning for Republican candidates garnered him widespread popularity within his party. In 1968, Nixon's rejuvenation earned him the Republican presidential nomination and then the presidency. It was an astonishing political turnaround.
The Watergate scandal of 1974 seemed to put Nixon down for the count. But once again, Nixon was able to rehabilitate his image, playing a substantial role in U.S. foreign relations until his death in 1994.
Hillary's career has followed a similarly up-and-down path. She claims to be the ultimate survivor. But she is not. While Nixon regained his political standing through his own efforts, Hillary has survived because of her power merger with Bill Clinton.
Like Nixon, Hillary began her career by targeting a public figure: Nixon himself. Hillary's involvement in Watergate launched her career, but it was her marriage to Bill Clinton in 1975 that truly ensured an upward trend. Bill was elected Arkansas attorney general in 1976 and governor of Arkansas in 1978. Meanwhile, Hillary was appointed by Jimmy Carter to the board of the Legal Services Corp. in 1978.
Hillary's career languished during the two years that Bill Clinton was not in office. She was relegated to borrowing money from Clinton's business partner, James McDougal, until her husband's re-election in 1982.
The early 1990s were Hillary's lowest point. With questions about Whitewater surfacing, Hillary finally exploded, blaming the press for sullying her image. "You know, I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas," she railed, "but what I decided to do was to fulfill my profession, which I entered before my husband was in public life." It wasn't quite Nixonian, but it was close.
Hillary's greatest defeat came in 1993. After her husband appointed her head of the Task Force on National Health Care, Hillary recommended nationalizing the health care industry. Her plan was completely rejected and led to the first House Republican majority in decades.
But there was Bill, helping Hillary climb out of the pit once again. The Monica Lewinsky scandal helped Hillary rehabilitate her image. At first, she denied Bill's wrongdoing and blamed the "vast right-wing conspiracy." Then, she played the innocent wife cuckolded. Her popularity soared. Her election to the Senate in 2000 confirmed that her fortunes were rising, and fast.
But finally, Hillary has hit her Watergate. Her new book, Living History, is a cover-up in purely Nixonian fashion. She says that the purpose of Whitewater was merely "to discredit the president and the administration and slow down its momentum … (Whitewater was) investigation as a weapon for political destruction."
Most egregiously, Hillary claims that she was completely ignorant of her husband's sexual adventurism. "I could hardly breathe. Gulping for air, I started crying and yelling at him, 'What do you mean? What are you saying? Why did you lie to me?’" Yeah, right.
Hillary has become what she most hates: a scandal-ridden politician enmeshed in a series of cover-ups. Like Nixon, she will fall. Unlike Nixon, she does not have the personal strength to rise alone.
Exactly. The press will do it for her. WMDs and other crap will clog the airwaves 'till Bush has been crippled enough for a Dem to make a challenge. The problem for them will be when the economy turns around 'cause people tend to vote their wallets rather than foreign policy.
This cow will wait in the wings to see how much damage has occurred to Bush's Titanic before she decides to 'man' the lifeboats (become a candidate). They'll likely throw Kerry at Bush in '04, as a man-over-board gesture.
Given that my crystal ball has gone hazy, I look to see her for sure in '08 when Bush is out of the picture.
PS, there won't be any men or capitalists in her lifeboats. Just Children.
The Case Against Hillary Clinton
"There came the moment when I realized: They're never going to leave. Other presidents and first ladies do their work, leave their imprint, and make a graceful exit. But the Clintons -- they'll stay until the last footlight fizzles and pops, and then we'll have to wrestle them to the floor of the stage."
--PEGGY NOONAN
Peggy Noonan, a former speechwriter for Ronald Reagan, has remained a political insider of sorts over the years. With friends and contacts (liberal and conservative) still roaming the halls of power, she's heard enough slime to fill three political novels. But sadly, this book is fact.
Not one to pick up the pen simply to gossip, Noonan sees it as her duty to warn New Yorkers and all Americans of the perils ahead. Clintonism, it turns out, may indeed be here to stay, only this time with a new, far more dangerous captain at the helm. Peggy's inside dope leads her to an inescapable, even frightening conclusion: Hillary's rise to power may turn out to be as inevitable as was husband Bill's. May.
So Noonan has taken pains to set up what she hopes will be a roadblock in Hillary's way. And she does indeed blow the lid off Madam President -- with such relentless factuality that the Politically Correct will find it impossible to dismiss. A bare-bones outline ...
How Hillary came to be ... well, Hillary. Noonan boils down the horror into a few chapters, intelligently The complete laundry list of scandals, including bizarre new twists and revelations
Senator Hillary? The arguments conservatives rely on to talk themselves out of panic. Grim answers
What Hillary's opponent must brace for in the fall campaign (even Bill looks gracious by comparison)
Shattering the myth that "Hillary will only be one of a hundred senators, so how much harm can she do?"
How Hillary's influence will remain deadly, long after the Clinton administration is over -- even if she loses in New York
Is Hillary as bad as she used to be? Peggy Noonan shows: she may be worse
The classic Clinton spin, perfected by the first lady. Can you spot it?
Radical Hillary: buried in her writings -- if you know where to look
Coarse, aggressive, paranoid Hillary: Noonan gathers testimony from Mrs. Clinton's friends and former co-workers, some of whom claim some strange experiences with her
Madam President's nightmare vision of marriage and the family -- and especially fathers
How she makes herself immune from popular anger. The crucial role of media propaganda
The loan for her house in Westchester County? She even lied about THAT
Queen Hillary's pampered life, remarkably similar to British royalty
The liberal media's shocking view of Hillary. Why they still look the other way
Peggy Noonan is, frankly, not optimistic. But she does think that fighting back is worth a try. That's why she wrote this book. After all, why lie down and let the wrecking crew roll over you? We agree, and we urge you to explore Noonan's warnings and her "look ahead" over the coming year. Think of it as a citizen's guide to fighting Hillary. We'll all benefit.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.