Multimillionaire Former First Lady -- Whose Husband Still Favors Free-Trade Deals That are Costing Thousands of Working-Class Americans Their Jobs -- Has a Lot of Nerve Accusing Her Rival of 'Elitism'
By Skeeter Sanders
Rarely is a politician so transparently full of hypocritical B.S. on any issue that only the most die-hard of that politician's supporters are blind to see it.
President Bush certainly comes to mind in that regard, insisting that his controversial warrantless surveillance program is legal, when almost everyone else by now knows full well that without warrants, the program is unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment's ban on unreasonable government searches and seizures.
Another example is the disgraced, soon-to-retire Senator Larry Craig (R-Idaho), who made a name for himself as an outspoken opponent of extending civil-rights protections for gay and lesbian Americans -- and then got caught soliciting gay sex in a men's washroom, even pleading guilty to it. So much for his "defense" of "traditional family values."
And please, don't get this blogger started about disgraced former Representative Mark Foley (R-Florida), who claimed to be gay after sexually-explicit e-mails and text messages with teenaged male congressional pages were exposed by ABC News.
Yet nearly two years later, there's still no evidence that Foley ever had sexual relations with adult gay or bisexual men and plenty of evidence that he's sexually attracted only to minors under 18 years of age. That's not homosexuality, folks. That's pedophilia -- period.
Hypocritical B.S. Not Limited to Republicans
But who says that being full of hypocritical B.S. is limited to Republicans? There are Democrats who are just as capable of it. Classic example: Disgraced former New York Governor Elliot Spitzer -- caught soliciting the services of a high-class prostitution ring. This is the same Elliot Spitzer who made a name for himself busting prostitution rings as a prosecutor and as state attorney general -- a hypocrisy so glaring that he had no choice but to resign.
Then there's Representative Charles Rangel (D-New York), who's called for a return to the draft, knowing full well that there's no stomach for it by the Bush White House, the majority of Rangel's colleagues on Capitol Hill and even the Pentagon itself -- and also knowing full well that his proposal would ignite a firestorm of opposition not seen since Vietnam among Americans of draftable age (if not an open generational war) if it ever became law.
Not to mention the fact that the Rangel measure would run afoul of a constitutional requirement that Congress first issue a formal declaration of war -- something it hasn't had the political will to do since the end of World War II -- before it can pass legislation reimposing compulsory military service, lest it violate the 13th Amendment's ban on "involuntary servitude."
Now we're witnessing the latest chapter of hypocritical B.S. by a Democratic politician -- this time by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.
Clinton Accuses Obama of 'Elitism' Over Remarks
The former first lady's presidential campaign is doing its damndest to score political points over rival Barack Obama's comments about bitter working-class voters in small towns ahead of next Tuesday's Pennsylvania Democratic presidential primary -- one that has in recent weeks seen her once-commanding 23-point lead over the Illinois senator in pre-primary polls shrink down into the single digits.
At issue are comments Obama made privately at a fundraiser in San Francisco a week ago Sunday. He was trying to explain his troubles winning over some working-class voters, saying they have become frustrated with their worsening economic conditions:
"It's not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations," Obama was quoted as saying.
I'm a native of New York City who's called the Green Mountain state of Vermont home since the summer of 1994. A former freelance journalist, I'm a fiercely independent freethinker who's highly skeptical of authority figures -- especially when they're on the wrong side of the issues I care about. But I'm not afraid to also call into question those with whom I would usually be "on the same page" if and when they, too, are on the wrong side of the issues I care about.
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