Hillary Clinton: The dogfighting connection (BREAKING)

I have it on good authority from the Obama campaign (my cousin's running a lot of his NH/Iowa outreach) that more damaging information is coming out about Hillary Clinton's past, specifically with regards to dogfighting in Arkansas.  The Obama camp was originally going to sit on the information, especially due to the age of the accusation, but the newly released "kindergarten essays" and other low blows from the Clinton camp has made Obama's group have to go back on the offensive.

First, a reminder of what dogfighting actually entails, courtesy of the Michigan State University College of Law:

Dog fighting is an insidious underground organized crime that deserves much legal and political scrutiny. The blood sport, once sanctioned by aristocracy, embraced by medieval gentry and later promoted by colonial and Victorian miscreants, is now completely outlawed in the United States. Notwithstanding the absolute prohibition in America, it has reached epidemic proportions in all urban communities and continues to thrive in many rural areas as well.  Dog fighters are violent criminals that engage in a whole host of peripheral criminal activities. Many are heavily involved in organized crime, racketeering, drug distribution, or gangs, and they arrange and attend the fights as a forum for gambling and drug trafficking.

Full article here.

How does Hillary Clinton fit in?

Apparently, there is substantial evidence that Hillary Clinton, while helping her husband campaign for the Governorship of Arkansas in 1978, attended several underground dogfights organized by rural campaign supporters of her husband.  Although there is no video evidence of these events, there are between four and six witnesses ready to come forward and testify she was at at least one of the events.  Bill himself never attended, presumably to distance himself from the practice.  To be fair, dogfighting was tolerated in the 1970s in a way it isn't today.  But Hillary, as an attorney with the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families and the Legal Services Corporation, would have known that attending and supporting underground dogfights was itself a crime, even if she wasn't running the events herself.

It gets better.  Last year, Hillary Clinton and Michael Vick met on two documented separate occasions in Virginia in May 2007 (google it), and one possible occasion on June 2007, without her staff being allowed in on the meetings.  My cousin says they're still trying to determine what, if anything, was discussed in these meetings, but I can't imagine what connection Hillary Clinton would have to Michael Vick other than this one.

Now that some of this is coming out, we now know why Clinton is the only major candidate running for President who hasn't condemned Michael Vick's actions outright!  At the time, some observers speculated that Clinton didn't want to upset the black urban population to which dogfighting sometimes appeals, but now it's becoming clear that there's a deeper, more insidious reason for the "no comment."

I think it's absolutely critical that Hillary Clinton respond to these allegations even before the Obama campaign has a chance to make the full press release.  Write, call, do whatever you can, and don't let Clinton get away with dodging this important issue.  The fact that this is clearly a parody diary should make no difference.  All candidates must respond to all accusations made against them, no matter how unsubstantiated or fabricated they may be.  It is the only way to insure transparency in our democracy, especially if it's also true, as another cousin who works on the Edwards campaign tells me, that Hillary Clinton's long-term romantic affair with former Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders will be exposed in Elder's new book (due for publication in September 2008).  Unless Clinton manages to use her political influence to block that one as well (it's due to be published by Murdoch's empire, and don't forget Murdoch's a Hillary supporter and donor, so hmm.)

Ah, politics.