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The heat wave has broken, but New York politics has become
enveloped in its own heat wave: the Weiner-Clinton saga. It’s not just the
Weiners and the Clintons who are keeping the scandal in the news. Anthony
Weiner’s inamorata, aptly named Sydney Leathers has been enjoying her fifteen
minutes of fame.
For those who want a full accounting of the details, the
London Daily Mail has become a go-to source.
Now the Clintons are
beginning to sweat.
Anthony Weiner and Huma Abedin have been doing their best
Bill and Hillary Clinton impersonations, but, for now it is not helping Weiner
at the polls. For the Clintons it is a nightmare; it has thrown unwanted
attention on the Clinton scandals.
Fred Dicker reported in the New York Post this morning:
Worried
about the potential impact on Hillary’s likely run for president in 2016, the
political power couple has begun aggressively distancing itself from the
crippled mayoral contender, according to sources.
Doubtless, Anthony and Huma feel betrayed. The Clintons had
been treating them as their protégés. After all, Bill Clinton officiated at
their wedding and Hillary treated Huma Abedin like family.
Weiner and Abedin have not hidden the fact that they are
just following the Clinton playbook in dealing with the scandal.
Feeling the heat, the Clintons are beginning to use
anonymous surrogates to do damage control.
Dicker explains:
Bill
and Hillary Clinton are angry with efforts by mayoral hopeful Anthony Weiner
and his campaign to compare his Internet sexcapades — and his wife Huma
Abedin’s incredible forgiveness — to the Clintons’ notorious White House saga,
The Post has learned.
“The
Clintons are upset with the comparisons that the Weiners seem to be encouraging
— that Huma is ‘standing by her man’ the way Hillary did with Bill, which is
not what she in fact did,’’ said a top state Democrat.
Weiner
and his campaign aides have explicitly referred to the Clintons as they
privately seek to convince skeptical Democrats that voters can back Weiner
despite his online sexual antics — just as they supported then-President Bill
Clinton in the face of repeated allegations of marital betrayals.
“The
Clintons are pissed off that Weiner’s campaign is saying that Huma is just like
Hillary,’’ said the source. “How dare they compare Huma with Hillary? Hillary
was the first lady. Hillary was a senator. She was secretary of state.”
For some reason this Democratic operative seems to feel
offended that anyone would compare Huma Abedin with Hillary Clinton. After all,
Abedin was not the first lady, was not a senator and was not secretary of
state.
Sorry to have to say it, but that is not an argument. After all,
people naturally tend to emulate their betters. Who else but the Clintons would
Anthony and Weiner choose to emulate?.
If the tactic worked for the Clintons, why wouldn’t it work
for the Weiners?
The notion that Huma Abedin is not first lady is no more an
argument than Hillary Clinton’s mindless effort to distance herself from the
murder of Ambassador Stevens and three other Americans in Benghazi.
Remember her immortal words: What difference, at this point,
does it make? By this principle, we would never investigate any crimes and
would never retaliate after being attacked.
The reasoning is astonishingly bad. Naturally, no one
in the mainstream media will call her out on it.
Efforts to distance the Clintons from the Weiner scandal
began last week with Michael Tomasky. Now, the Clintons have upped the ante.
Soon, Dicker says, someone closely associated with the them, a Dede Meyers, will
call for Weiner to drop out of the race.
In the meantime, New York Republicans are nowhere to be seen
or heard.
5 comments:
Viva Weiner! A Weiner mayoralty would be a daily reminder of Clintonian sleaze. It would also add to the gaiety of nations when Boris Johnson latches onto the joke. Republicans are silent in the hope that the Weiner sore will suppurate as long as possible, but they'd do better to make partisan attacks and elicit a protective response from the left.
Imagine the shoe on the other political foot. Prudish rantings emanating from the NYT; Dems agog with moral fervor the whole bit. What is it about Republcans that they refuse to fight on the same turf as Democrats?
Jim sweeney,
I suspect that much of the Republicans inability to demonstrate real moxie is due to the constant barrage of negativity thrown at them from a corrupt "media," the "race and sex card used as a cudgel to keep them from commenting and a progressivism that will lie, dissemble with impunity. It will be interesting to see how they handle the fact that a lot of the "media" machinations and the race and sex hustlers are losing, and being challenged, the ability to control the dialogue.
Since much of Hillary's success has depended upon the above listed groups she will have to deal with the outcome of a changing political environment. I don't think she is as malleable, as demonstrated by her "What difference does it make?" comment as Bill or as astute as he is. Hillary is no where as fast on her feet as Bill. She presents all the trappings of royalty and nothing of the common person.
Political cowardice is the Republicans biggest enemy. They have yet to figure out that standing one's ground gains more people inclined to vote for them. If one cannot demonstrate a real difference in the "marketplace of ideas" then people will not have the information that will sway them to your side.
On the other hand, do the Repubs need to get into this? Then the Dems could start attacking them and go into defense mode on Weiner.
Of course, I agree with all you say about the Clintons. But still, I do see a difference between the behaviour of Weiner and that of Bill Clinton. Bill is a simple womanizer, like so many others,without much self-control but biologically, I would say, normal. Weiner is a pervert.
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