It's clear to us here that as soon as the math became obvious, Bill & Hill chose to start down the kitchen sink scorched-earth path. But why? Primary politics isn't enough to explain it. We've seen losing candidates on both sides over the last few months, and pretty much every one of them has been more gracious and party-minded than this.
Why have Bill & Hill tried so hard to utterly destroy Obama even if it takes the party down too? Many have speculated as to why they chose this spectacularly divisive road, but I haven't seen a really convincing answer for this from anybody.
Here's my guess: money. It's the greenbacks, stupid.
We know that Bill & Hill have been raking in the dough over the last eight years. They fueled this money machine by creating the meme of being "relevant". They carefully cultivated Hillary's image, from the Senate run through the "inevitable" thing, so as to raise her profile and thus her (and his) influence ... and thus both of their incomes. And it worked. Book deals, lobbying fees, speaking engagements, library donations, yadda yadda yadda. Sure, some of that would have happened anyway, but you think Bill would have gotten as much if he didn't look to become a nicely influential First Husband? The relevant palm gets the most grease.
Of course then Obama came along. Bill & Hill aren't dumb, they can count as well as we can. So, seeing as Hillary wasn't going to win, they came up with Plan B. How can they stay as relevant as possible under the circumstances?
I'm guessing it went like this. They figured, if Obama wins, the focus moves to him, and Bill & Hill wind up with less relevance, and thus less income. Their story is over. They're history. (Literally.) And history doesn't make the big bucks.
But if McCain wins, Bill is still the "last Dem president", so he stays relevant. Hillary is still a Senator and after an Obama loss ("damn McGovernite insurgents!") she stays relevant by once again being framed as the "inevitable" 2012 Dem president ("stick with us this time, we know how the game is played."). Relevance means influence, and influence means money. Bottom line, Bill & Hill make more big bucks. And they're friends with "maverick" McCain, they've got themselves convinced that he won't be so bad as all that. That's their self-justification anyway.
Shorter me: all this chaos that's been giving us ulcers over the last few months is simply a career move for them.
It's the same Clinton mantra as always: "it's the economy, stupid." But now, it's their personal economy that's driving the game.
This, of course, is pure speculation. But to me it kinda makes sense. How about you? What do you think?