Yes, it's that time again -- a chance to play another round of What's Bill Clinton Thinking?
Given the last few days, it seems Team Clinton has just jettisoned all pretense at appearing consistent or honest altogether, because the folks that brought you "Bring Me The Head of Samantha Power" are now rolling out this new piece o' hypocrisy:
[Bill] Clinton then alluded to the resignations and calls for resignations that have been traded back and forth between the campaigns.
"I don't think any of these people oughta be asked to resign," he said. "All these guys that say bad things about any other campaign, they say, 'Should they resign?' My answer is no; they're repeating party line. They oughta stay right where they are. Let's just saddle up and have an argument. What's the matter with that? That's what America's about, right?"
I'll wait a moment while everyone collects the pieces of their heads from the floor post-explosion.
What's interesting here, is how many ways Bill's statement is disingenuous. Not only is it hypocritical in terms of their reaction to the Power fiasco, it basically forces them to take absolute ownership of Geraldine Ferraro's comments, Joseph Wilson's continuing Wright smearing -- and that's not even to mention all the other dogwhistling that may/may not have been present in this race since Iowa.
I'm sure part of this statement is to bolster Senator Clinton's reputation as a fighter, and set the stage for her campaign to be able to pin any negative comments (such as McPeak's recent McCarty-ism comparisons) onto Senator Obama himself; painting Obama as a "business as usual" politician is much more important, you see, than addressing Senator Clinton's lying problem, or the fact that she is losing this race, and will not be able to win short of a superdelegate coup.
Personally, I would welcome an argument between the candidates on actual issues (small though their differences on policy may be, their world views are dramatically different, and their perspectives on said issues would inform voters in incredibly persuasive ways).
But instead, we get Bill Clinton echoing George Bush's cowboy persona with this "saddle up" nonsense, and pushing for more negativity and personal attacking, which as we have come to see is the only way the Clinton campaign appears to know how to move forward.
Most of all, though, I would just like to be able to believe that when this candidate -- or her surrogates (especially the ones that are former Presidents) -- says things like this on the campaign trail, that her campaign actually intends to follow through on them.
Don't get me wrong; all politicians posture. But sometimes I really wonder how stupid this campaign thinks I am.