Susan Estrich Tells Clintons To Shut Up ...

[MORTARDUDE]

http://www.creators.com/opinion_show...olumnsName=ses

SUSAN ESTRICH

FOR RELEASE: WEDNESDAY, MAY 14, 2003, AND THEREAFTER



The Clintons are back.

Sidney Blumenthal -- much-hated former Clinton aide, ethically challenged former journalist -- $850,000 advance in hand, has a new book out on May 20, attacking everyone who ever attacked him or the Clintons, rehearsing once again the old right-wing conspiracy, every attack on them, answered. The right wing conspiracy revived, answered, again.

Hillary's book is next.

Could someone please tell these people to shut up?

The Democrats might have a chance of electing a new president if they could get the last one, and his defenders, to clear the stage. It doesn't matter if they're right or wrong. They should be history.

The Clintons suck up every bit of the available air. Nothing is left for anyone else. They are big, too big. That's the problem.

The 2004 candidates need a chance to get some attention, to rise to Clinton's level, which they'll never do so long as the likes of Sidney Blumenthal are playing into the hands of conservatives in insisting on debating the scandals of the 1990s.

Don't get me wrong. No one spent more time defending Bill Clinton than I did. Too much, according to most of my friends. But in a constitutional crisis, there was no choice. Enough is enough.

There's no excuse for a grown man to have an affair with an intern, whether his name is Bill Clinton or Jack Kennedy. What the former president did was wrong.

It's bad enough that Fox has given Monica Lewinsky a talk show. Of all the hundreds of women who could help find Mr. Personality, the last one on earth who's earned the right to do it is the Queen of Blow Jobs of the 1990s.

The Republicans shouldn't have impeached him for it, but he shouldn't have given them the ammunition. And we shouldn't still be discussing it.

Why are we? Or, to put it more accurately, why are they?

Not because it serves the interests of Democrats of the future.

It doesn't help Howard Dean, or John Kerry, or Dick Gephardt.

It makes George W. Bush look good.

It gets Sidney on TV shows. If the issue is ethics, no one has less than Sidney Blumenthal. He used to call me, during the Dukakis campaign, which I was running and he was supposed to be covering, to offer covert advice, which if accepted might result in better coverage. Much later, when I criticized him, he tried to get me in trouble with my editors. All the while, I was defending his boss. That's Sidney. He's Hillary's best friend. No wonder Republicans are delighted to see his return to the spotlight.

It raises money for their causes.

The Bill and Bob (Dole) show on CBS has proven to be a colossal bore. The ratings have fallen. Is anyone getting the message? I fear not.

Let's not mince words.

Hillary Clinton is never going to be president of the United States. There is no more divisive figure in the Democratic Party, much less the country, than the former first lady. And I like her. But many women don't. Even Democratic women. Even working women. Not to mention non-working, independent, non-political women. She can be a great senator. She's smart, hard working and effective. She is much respected among her peers.

But the more people talk about her as a future president, the more money Republicans raise. The more people talk about her as a future president, the less attention the current candidates, who might win, receive.

Revisiting the scandals of the past does no service to the Democrats of the future.

Bill Clinton is a brilliant man. But the more attention he gets, the more the Democrats of the future suffer. He would be the first to say this, if it weren't about him.

Enough with the Clintons. Please. Not for the sake of the Republicans. But for the Democrats ...

To find out more about Susan Estrich and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2003 CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.
Originally Published on Wednesday May 14, 2003

[1IDVET]

She is all over this one!
I don't like her loud mouthed ass either, but, I gotta agree with her here.
I hope they keep talking about Bill and Billary, more ammo for the Republicans.

[Andy]

I saw Sue on a talk show just a week ago. My wife and I agreed she was high on something, looking at her I'd guess liquor or just enough downers to keep her talking. There's a woman who is still mad that Dukakis didn't win, well she was his campaign manager. I think she's right about Mrs. Clinton. It seems that today there is a formula for our first black or female president just like there was prior to the Civil War.
Before the war began, until Lincoln, to get elected you had to be from the North but had to believe in Southern values, Pierce, Buchanan, Filmore all fit the bill.
Today for a woman or black to become the Prez the candidate would have to be Republican and fairly conservative. The person would get the usual Republican votes (for the most part) and simply because he/she was a black or woman would get a lot of black and or female votes. Thus Mrs. Clinton, popular in the polls as she is prior to a run for office might get nice numbers, during a campaign, she would get eaten for breakfast.
As far as everyone in the Dems talking about Bill or having him talk for them - let the good times roll.

Stay healthy,
Andy

[HARDCORE]

Andy -

I must have misread or misunderstood the following paragraph in your well-written piece? Can you clarify for me?
----------------------------------------

TO QUOTE YOU:

Before the war began, until Lincoln, to get elected you had to be from the North but had to believe in Southern values, Pierce, Buchanan, Filmore all fit the bill.
----------------------------------------------

Was not Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Harrison, Tyler, and Taylor from Virginia?

Was not Jackson from South Carolina?
And was not Polk from North Carolina?

-------------------------------------

Like I said, I must have read this wrong, and I am questioning from a purely curiosity point of view?

VERITAS

[Andy]

Hardcore,
Sorry about that, the comment was a bit vague. When I said, "Before the war began..." I was refering to the anti-bellum perior. What I wanted to say was nearing the end of the anti-bellum period when they wouldn?t allow a northern state to enter the union without a southern state, so as to keep the Senate balanced, this formula for president was used. Around the time of the great compromise of 1850, when sectionalism and hard feeling between north and south really got serious, Only northerner?s (north had more people i.e. more electoral votes) had a viable chance to win a presidential election. He also had to appeal to the south, southern values, not an abolitionist or even someone who scolded the south for having slaves.
My point was, like the late anti-bellum era, if a black or woman is to become president, he or she must come from the Republican party. Congolese Rice, with a good PR person could kick Mrs. Clinton?s butt. Clinton has name recognition but she also has loads of baggage and very high negatives. Rice would appeal to blacks and women and a lot of republicans would vote for her due to her attitude of kicking butt and taking names.
You are right, a majority of presidents prior to the Civil War (Washington to Lincoln) were from the South. I totally understand the misunderstanding. Guess that sometimes my brain (such as it is) takes off long before I start typing.
Stay healthy,
Andy

[HARDCORE]

ANDY, Thanks for the heads up. We Massachusetts types have to stick together, even if I have been banished to the backcountry of San Diego County, along with the rest of the snakes, scorpions, buzzards and other unsavory critters! LOL

[1IDVET]

It seems as if the Clinton's are still running their mouths.
They are trying to take attention away from the Dems presidential hopefuls. This way Bush wins in '04 and Hillary has an open shot in '08. If a Dem were to win in '04, she would likely have to wait until '12 to be able to run again, this would make her 68 years old, and not worth the effort to them.