Hillary Clinton is frantically trying to disassociate herself from her longtime friend and former legal associate, Webster Hubbell, after Hubbell was recently indicted for fraud, conspiracy, tax evasion, and other charges. The story was already front-page news in every major American newspaper, and the top topic of discussion on every newscast and political talk show on radio and cable television, when it received even more attention after longtime Clinton friend Harry Thomases, in the paperwork for his lawsuit against Simon and Schuster, discussed Hubbell's criminal actions, and allegedly advised an editor at that publishing house to lie about Hubbell's criminal behavior if asked. "Hubbell's crimes could reflect badly on the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign," Hubbell warned. Clinton spent the majority of her time in the recent Democratic debate fending off tough questions about her connections with Hubbell, to the point where she was almost unable to address any of the issues she undoubtedly preferred to discuss. Clinton has canceled two fundraising appearances in recent days, and her entire campaign team is hunkered down, trying to figure out how to put out this raging campaign fire.
Wait, this doesn't sound right....
If you're reading this, I promise you a dozen newspaper interns and junior Republican strategists have already clicked into this before you, hoping to find some dirt on Clinton to strew around their particular venues. To them, I say, Made you look, you whores.
For those who just beamed in from Barsoom, this is an obvious rewrite of the Giuliani-Regan-Kerik debacle. The big difference: the mainstream media is refusing to give it any real coverage, certainly not the level of obsessive, Paris-Hilton-french-kissing-Britney coverage that Hillary would receive if it were her. Perhaps another acronym will cover the phenomenon: IIWH, or "If It Were Hillary...." Perhaps IIWAD, or "If It Were a Democrat...."
The level of dirt available for raking up on the Republican candidates is breathtaking, with Rudy certainly leading the pack of possibilities, but not the only one. The connecting theme for all of them is how the mainstream media is roundly ignoring all of it. Giuliani's mob ties, the corrupt cronyism infesting the Giuliani, Thompson, and McCain campaigns, there's plenty more. The media's focus on everything and anything negative about Clinton (and Obama, and Edwards -- CNN had themselves a good old hatefest over Edwards this morning) is reminiscent of the Gore-bashing that dominated the 2000 campaign. I expect a reprise.
I meant to write this diary last night, and am typing it now through a blinding sinus headache, so the level of snarkery and wordsmithery isn't up to my usual self-dictated standards. As it stands, I'm just disgusted. It isn't that the media just doesn't get it. They get it, all right. They know just what they're doing. Whores.