You know, I am just beginning to become conscious of something. Hillary Clinton might not be able to do anything to make me forgive her for her war tiangulating. It might just be that she can’t regain my trust no matter what she does. I might just see that kind of political juggling with other people’s lives as a few steps outside of any decent restraint and control. But it might not matter. I might wind up defending Hillary Clinton because the centrist pundits on my tee-vee treat her with such unfairness and contempt that it drives me to defend her honor.
Take Andrew Sullivan, for example, from the Chris Matthews Show:
SULLIVAN: I think she’s been a very sensible senator. I think—find it hard to disagree with her on the war. But when I see her again, all me—all the cootie-vibes resurrect themselves. I’m sorry—
PANEL: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
HOWARD FINEMAN: That’s a technical term!
SULLIVAN: I must represent a lot of people. I actually find her positions appealing in many ways. I just can’t stand her.
It’s pretty clear that David Broder can’t stand Hillary either, but that is okay with Joe Klein because David Broder is the hardest working turtle look-alike in journalism.
I know it’s become common practice to slag David Broder in the blogosphere. But let me say this in David’s defense: he is not an armchair pundit. Even now, at the age of 236, or thereabouts, he goes out and really does his homework, riding the buses and hitting the living rooms of voters in the crucial states. If you’ve ever wondered why people like me revere Broder, it’s his work ethic–and not just his kindness, civility, judiciousness and institutional memory.
And given Broder’s civility, it is really noteworthy when he hauls off and delivers a column like this about Hillary Clinton.
It is significant that David Broder crossed the lines of civility to praise John McCain at Hillary’s expense? No…it’s not. What’s significant is that left-leaning (supposedly) columnists like David Broder and Joe Klein, and a right-centrist like Andrew Sullivan, all can’t stand Hillary Clinton. She isn’t centrist enough? She isn’t hawkish enough? She isn’t pro-corporate enough? Or is it still about the smell of Arkansas stinking up the Georgetown parlors?
Hillary is really in for a squeeze. She’s polling at 4% over at Daily Kos (with a sample size of 22,000). The centrist media can’t stand her. The right thinks she is the bride of Satan. It’s amazing she is polling better than McCain, Guiliani, or any other potential GOP cannon fodder.
I don’t hate Hillary Clinton. I think she represents the right-wing of the Democratic Party. I don’t think she will stir up too much if she becomes President. She’s a safe choice in a time when ‘safe’ may be a luxury we can’t afford. I won’t support her candidacy in the primaries. But with enemies like Broder, Klein, and Sullivan, she can’t be all bad. She must be doing something right. At least, that’s what the polls tell me. I just don’t think John McCain is electable.