Yesterday Kos published a diary regurgitating the ridiculously trivial Drudge Sludge story about waitress tipping protocol. In it he effectively accused the Clinton campaign of lying about the incident. Naturally as with most diaries with an anti Clinton bent it found itself on the Rec list. There are always two or three to choose from so no Clinton hater needs goes hungry. What this perhaps confirms is what many philosophers have long claimed, namely that when you get right down to it there isn't a lot of difference between the extreme right and the extreme left.
Anti Clinton stories have been the staple of Republican discourse for 17 years. Ever since Bill first ran for the presidency. They remain a major source of income for right wing journalists publishing in the NR, Weekly Standard, or their occasional perches in the more respectable media. Coulter, Limbaugh, Ingraham et al have grown super rich peddling this nonsense to rubes who in turn have picked up their talking points and recycled them endlessly on right wing blogs like Redstate and countless others. The nature of the charges have ranged from the unbelievably trivial like the waitress story to the totally preposterous which has Hillary as the lover and assassin of poor suicidal and long dead Vince Foster.
So why in the face of this mountain of mendacity do so many ultra supporters of Obama, Edwards, Dodd, Kucinich etc. choose to pick up these either grossly false, or at very least massively inflated, claims with accusations that Hillary and Bill are ....closet Republicans. The sort of trash talk, non sequiturs, over simplifications, lies, distortions, exagerrations about Hillary and sometimes Bill would not look out of place on the reddest of red blogs. When challenged on it they rationalize or minimize. One poster for exampled likened the story about Obama's plane missing the airport to the numerous attacks Hillary has been subjected to over the years. Empirical evidence like her voting record, her early attempt to tackle healthcare reform, landslide victories in senatorial elections, has no place in calculations of these people as it has no place in the fevered imaginations of the most extreme conservatives. They don't need evidence. They know. That's enough.
And therein lies the basis of my belief that these folks when you get down to it aren't too different from their cousins at Redstate. They are so absorbed with partisanship they will use any argument to attack Clinton regardless of it's relevance, veracity or long term consequences for the Democratic party. I will make no secret of my support for Clinton, but I never attack other candidates like Obama who is a very talented man. Clinton is a politician, I'm under no illusions about her ducking and weaving, but unlike her enemies I have the maturity to recognize that when you are a politician, particularly one surrounded by enemies who want to destroy the democratic party, that you have to dance around a bit. All politicians do it. Obama does it, Edwards does it, Giuliani does it. It's part of the job description. I don't agree with all her positions but she has a very liberal voting record and I believe she offers the best hope of capturing the white house next year. And even more important once there, with the assistance of Bill, undertaking the huge task of getting this country back on the rails. That's what a large number of democrats believe which is why she has been capturing the high forties of polls for month. That's a simple fact that the pocket Robespierres and Lenins here won't accept so they try to dismiss it as a media invented phenomena, Gallup is rigging it's polls and a variety of other conspiracy theories. This paranoia btw is another characteristic they share with the extreme right.
Frankly, I was shocked, yes I know it's comic, but I was when Kos joined this lemmings rush last night. I know he's not a fan of hers but once the proprietor of what is considered to be a major liberal blog, according to O'Reilly, and I consider that a mark of honor, starts recycling Drudge Dreck in way that can only be injurious to the Democratic cause one has to wonder what is happening. Why is it injurious? Because unwilling though many here are to accept it Clinton is the likely standard bearer of the party in a tremendously important election and reckless attacks like these serve only the interests of Republicans.
It's a serious charge. That blinded by the desire to promote another candidate or simple Clinton hate, many of her opponents have become all to much like the demented fools posting anti Clinton nonsense at Redstate. Alas the charge has all to much validity. Orwell was not wrong.