Hillary Kicks Off 2012 Presidential Campaign....

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Saturday August 23, 2008 · 4:50 AM PDT

2008/08/23 · 04:50

Hillary gets stiffed

By MIKE ALLEN |
8/22/08 4:27 PM EST
Updated: 8/22/08 4:27 PM EST

There’s one Democrat who would seem to have little or no chance of being picked by Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) to be his running mate – his former opponent, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.).

Obama has often said, most recently on NBC’s "Meet the Press" on July 27, that Clinton "would be on anybody’s short list."

But apparently not his.

"She was never vetted," a Democratic official reported. "She was not asked for a single piece of paper. She and Senator Obama have never had a single conversation about it. How would he know if she’d take it?"

In a act of political sabotage worthy of Karl Rove, the Clinton camp took advantage of the heightened level of media alert to step all over Obama's veep announcement. With exquisite timing, the Clinton camp dropped a little bombshell guaranteed to a: get the maximum media attention; and b: crank up the level of rage and anger Hillary's supporters have for Obama.

With CNN pulling an unusually high number of viewers for a Friday afternoon in late August, the Mike Allen story made it just in time for one of Paul Begala's little turns on the "Situation Room". Begala, one of the original Clintonistas, with much hand-ringing and tut-tutting bemoaned the fact that Obama not vetting Hillary was a deep insult to a woman of her standing and accomplishments. And furthermore, Obama said over and over that he thought Hillary would be on any one's "short list".

By the five o'clock segment, when CNN realized that Obama was not going to announce his veep choice any time soon, they decided to boost the shunning of Hillary story and give it equal time to the announcement story. And like a dog with a new bone, Wolf (metalkprettyoneday) Blitzer slobbered all over it. So by the six o'clock segment, we had yet another of the original Clintonistas, James Carville, once again risen from his grave, glowering into the camera. Having already used his Judas line against Bill Richardson, he was reduced to sputtering and stammering over the ill-abuse of that remarkable lady.

And speaking of dogs, I see the Big Dog's paw prints all over this. The level of Bill's fury at Obama has been greatly understated by the media. He is apoplectic. And Bill's bite is a lot worse than his bark. We'll never know who it was exactly who fed Mike Allen this story. But it was obviously the work of seasoned political operatives.

Of course there still another trick or two in the Clinton bag. Hillary could announce the day before the election that, mirabile dictu, she's pregnant. And if Obama still wins, Bill could arrange to have another heart attack on the morning of the Inauguration.

Poll
174 votes Show Results
Who do you think was behind it?

BIll Clinton

Hillary Clinton

Mark Penn

Howard Wolfson

James Carville

Paul Begala

The Blessed Virgin Mary

174 votes Vote Now!
Who do you think was behind it?

BIll Clinton

75 votes

Hillary Clinton

41 votes

Mark Penn

17 votes

Howard Wolfson

4%

7 votes

James Carville

6%

11 votes

Paul Begala

2%

4 votes

The Blessed Virgin Mary

19 votes

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