Wow.
Another stunningly moronic anti-Hillary diary hits the Recommended list.
Just embarrassing.
The author of said diary is no stranger to using the Internet as an attack dog. From his perch on the Working Assets blog and on his own blog, he played professional vulture, preying on Daily Kos favorite Paul Hackett while being paid by Hackett opponent Sherrod Brown.
Maybe the diary author was upfront about taking cash from Sherrod while turning his erstwhile "independent" political and current events blog into a biased slant-fest, but it was surely news to me when I heard it.
I thought I was reading unpaid commentary.
Not so.
The Wikipedia entry that refers to the Internet dirty tricks ploy he used when working for Philadelphia mayoral candidate Dwight Evans has been scrubbed, but you can look at the Google cache here.
Here is one version of the story:
[He] was also involved in a controversy in 1999 when he worked for mayoral candidate Dwight Evans in Philadelphia. He was caught employing dirty tricks, specifically a misleading website, and was fired by Evans. Evans ended up losing the race because of Sirota's ethical lapse.
I'm mentioning the troubled history of the diary entry's author here, because I am hoping that people will view said entry through the lens of his past record and understand the nature and form of the little nastygram he planted about Sen. Clinton today.
It's no secret that I am a supporter of Sen. Clinton in her 2006 Senate run and that I look favorably on her as a presidential candidate in 2008. (Although, this being said, she would quite quickly lose her spot in my heart on Gore declaring a candidacy.)
So, it's natural that I would come and am coming to her defense here.
The author of the diary entry cited above seeks to describe Mrs. Clinton as a craven anti-progressive captive to corporate interests who does not care about Liberal values and issues.
Nothing can be further than the truth.
Here is Sen. Clinton's voting record.
It is ... fabulous.
http://www.issues2000.org/...
Sen. Clinton is one of the most Liberal U.S. Senators. Her voting record -- with the exception of the Iraq War vote -- is the pride of New York Democrats. It is on the Iraq War and on the Iraq War only that Sen. Clinton seriously parts with the Liberal mainstream.
If Progressives, Liberals, Democrats and members of the Daily Kos community want to criticize Sen. Clinton on this point, I believe that they have every right to do so. I myself believe that she has not exercised the right judgments regarding the war in/on Iraq and that she continues to shirk her responsibility to safeguard American troops abroad and regular Americans at home.
If she runs for president in 2008, she will be called on this.
And not just by Daily Kos readers.
But to make a bit of crap up about her in the way that this diary author does and then to disingenuously claim that one is not "anti-Hillary" at all ... Whatever.
This website is best when participants participate honestly, avoid dirty tricks and insinuations and stick to issues and reality. We're supposed to be part of the reality-based community. Anti-Clinton hysteria is best incited elsewhere.