Wednesday Open Thread [2.12.14]

So on Sunday night or early Monday morning, the archives of Diane Blair were published. Mrs. Blair was an advisor to both Bill and Hillary Clinton during the former’s Presidency, and a close friend of Hillary Clinton. Mrs. Blair unfortunately died of cancer in the early 2000’s. The release of her archives include her contemporaneous notes from conversations with Bill and Hillary Clinton. Now, the conservative media has gone nuts trying to pretend that there is so kind of scandal to be found in these notes, but I have read through them, and while revealing and confirming of what we all suspected was going on behind the scenes (i.e. chaotic and unorganized first term that frustrated Hillary). Indeed, the shock of the notes was that Hillary and Bill did not have some sort of prearranged deal or open marriage.

Joe Klein:

“I wasn’t expecting much dirt from the Diane Blair papers, even though they were splashed internationally on Drudge on Sunday, with a big SCANDAL headline. And I wasn’t disappointed: not much there, except Hillary’s stiletto discription of Lewinsky as a ‘narcissistic loony tune.’ Indeed, the ‘editor’ of the ‘publication’ that ‘broke’ this story described the then-First Lady as ‘surprisingly human.’

To which I can only ask: Why surprisingly? I’ve known Hillary Clinton for nearly 30 years now. I wouldn’t say I know her particularly well, but well enough to describe her in an entirely different way-as relentlessly human. She has been willing to get really angry in my presence (I didn’t like her health plan). She has been willing to have open, questioning discussions about policy. She has, at times, displayed a wicked sense of irony; she has, at other times, admitted to having been badly hurt by the public reaction-the spitting, the invective-that splattered her 1994 health plan speaking tour. She has a profoundly goofy okey-dokey-artichokey personal manner; she is an extremely hard worker and clear thinker. She really cares about people, including the people on her staff, all of whom would stop a bullet for her. I’m not nearly cynical enough to attribute these qualities to pretense. She is obviously ambitious and can, at times, be ruthless-but so what? She is one of the finest people I’ve known in public life. (Which is not to say that I don’t think she may have some real problems running for President, problems of insufficient boldness and sometimes being just plain wrong-but that’s a different story.)

Oh, and one other thing: She loves her husband. The marriage is not a “partnership.” She loves the guy. Indeed, one of the saddest intimacies of the Blair papers was the implication the Clinton blamed herself, in a way, for the Lewinsky disaster.

My overwhelming reaction to the release of the Blair papers was sadness-sadness because I remember Diane Blair fondly, the sort of smart, level-headed person I’d want as a friend. But also because it brought back the disgraceful bilge volcano of the Clinton years-the non-stop garbage peddled and sleazed by Drudge and Rush and the then frisky young Fox Network, the fact that the Clintons were accused of drug-trafficking, murder, financial scandals and all sorts of vile craziness-none of which proved to be true. And no apologies have ever been forthcoming from the greasy perps.

Just like we will get no apology from the current reincarnation of the greasy perps for the false rumors they are spreading about our current President. The National Journal lists them: The President is gay and frequented Chicago gay bathouses, and yet he is having a torrid hetrosexual affair with Beyonce, all the while being a cocaine using hustler. Like the Clintons, he has people who cross him murdered. The Hawaiian official who released Obama’s birth certificate was murdered. Because he really is Kenyan, and he is also a reptilian shape shifter from another dimension.

POLLING

ALASKA–US SENATE–Hays Research: Sen. Mark Begich (D) 45, Dan Sullivan (R) 33, Joe Miller (I) 10;
LOUISIANA–US SENATE–Public Policy Polling: Sen. Mary Landrieu (D) 45, Bill Cassidy (R) 44