Parker writes: "The new year began not with a cannonball off the 'fiscal cliff' but with an outbreak of conspiratorial cynicism."
Parker: 'Eventually, Clinton will have to step forward and take her medicine.' (photo: Brendan Smialowski/AP)
The Character Assassination of Hillary Clinton
02 January 13
he new year began not with a cannonball off the "fiscal cliff" but with an outbreak of conspiratorial cynicism.
This time it's Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whose fall and concussion, followed by a blood clot between her brain and skull, has prompted an embarrassment of theories. The gist: That woman will do anything to avoid testifying about Benghazi.
Several commentators on the right opined via Twitter and TV, those most deadly hosts for the parasites of rumor and innuendo, that Clinton was faking her concussion to duck out on her appearance before congressional committees investigating the attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Libya that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.
An independent report published last month placed substantial responsibility for the deaths on the State Department. Not only was security at the Benghazi compound weak, relying heavily on local forces with conflicting loyalties, but requests for additional security apparently were ignored or denied.
The sentiment that Clinton might not wish to testify on the matter is not without reason. It is hard to imagine the agony of knowing that one's lack of vigilance may have contributed to four deaths. But the attacks on Clinton during her illness, essentially attacks on her character, have been cruel and unfair. What must the world think of us?
Clinton, who fainted as a result of dehydration after a bout of flu, hit her head and suffered a concussion, after which a blood clot was discovered. She had to be hospitalized while blood-thinning medications were administered and monitored.
Although her critics backed off once the clot was reported, initial responses ranged from "She's faking" to demands for proof of her concussion.
One writer demanded her medical records. John Bolton, former ambassador to the United Nations, called Clinton's affliction a "diplomatic illness" to avoid testifying about Benghazi. Later he suggested that details were skimpy in an effort to protect her potential 2016 presidential run.
"I think it's the too-cute-by-half approach that's reflected in the absence of transparency that's going to end up damaging her and damaging her credibility," he said on Fox News.
Again, Clinton may well prefer to miss her day before the firing squad, but it is unlikely that doctors or a hospital would assist a secretary of state - or anyone - in concocting a fake affliction.
Besides, you can't have it every which way. Immediately after the Benghazi attacks, Clinton took full responsibility for the events and was accused by Republicans of falling on her sword to protect President Obama. Now that she's temporarily indisposed and unable to elaborate on her admitted responsibility, those same critics insist she's trying to avoid taking personal responsibility.
The viciousness of the pundit class is disheartening and disgusting. And these days everyone's a pundit. Got an opinion? Why, step right up to the microphone. If you're "good TV," you too can be a "contributor."
Out in the hinterlands, where Americans consume "news" that suits their political proclivities, opinions are formed on the basis of what-he-said. Reputations and lives are ruined on the tines of pitchforks glimmering in the light of torch-bearing mobs. And those are just the "news" shows.
One doesn't have to be a fan of Hillary Clinton, though a Bloomberg poll says that two-thirds of Americans are, to feel tainted by the relish with which she and many others have been attacked - unfairly and disproportionately. Susan Rice, who was Obama's favorite to replace Clinton as secretary of state, comes to mind.
But this isn't a problem only for women or Democrats. The rush to character assassination seems to be our only bipartisan imperative and is a blight on our political system. In this brooding age of superstition and portent, every misspoken word is a lie, every human error a hanging offense.
This is to suggest not that we be naive or credulous but that we seek some balance in our approach to discovery. At the moment, we seem to be ricocheting between hysteria and delusion.
Eventually, Clinton will have to step forward and take her medicine. She is slated to appear before the House Foreign Affairs Committee in mid-January, though the date hasn't been set. The nation clearly needs answers on what happened in Benghazi, and no doubt Clinton will provide them.
This is not blind faith in a favored politician but respect for a process that relies on accepted rules of order. We owe our representative to the world - which is to say, ourselves - at least this much.
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"This is not blind faith in a favored politician but respect for a process that relies on accepted rules of order. We owe our representative to the world - which is to say, ourselves - at least this much."
yes, Kathleen Parker and The Washington Post have a blind faith in our America system and it's "process". Okay, you can fool me once, but once is all you get. Our system is corrupted.
Da*n few politicians (Bernie Sanders is one of the few who comes close) speak for me, or for a sane or just system which will leave anything either livable, or worth living in, for anything's futures.
Unless, W, the people, get off our apathetic entitled consumer asses, and demand, support, and create a world worth living in, based on something besides legitimate rapist bankers, endless wars,and reducing all life to a $ value to be exploited for personal gain, then, we are an absolute failure as a species.
We are up against the wall of Nature folks, and what are we going to choose?
Pass the cake and the Koolaid? Shop on Buy?
Or choose love and respect and conserve/protec t the commons of Nature for ALL?
The re-election of Boehner (thankless, Bonehead) as Speaker of the House is just how wrong we continue to get it!
This group of Republicans have ruined our system of government like no other before it...dump these guys in 2014 and let's get working on building that better world in the US.
I hope Secretary Clinton will survive and be well in 2013 and beyond.
N.
This is an odd article to ground political comment. Clinton, Like Bush, Obama, W. Clinton, Reagan, Kennedy, LBJ, etc is a war criminal. BUT the article is not about serious politics; it is about personal attacks on a person in abstraction from her politics. I don't know why RSN bothered to post it. I personally don't like gossip, even if it refers to someone I dislike.
No blood splatters on bushes behind where he lied, nor on the grass beside him. Hmmmm? Another telling goof-up was that Vince Foster had absolutely NO grass or soil on the soles of his shoes, an impossibility if he walked from his parked car and then walked to the grassy place where he was suppose to kill himself.
It was a poor job, not by skilled assassins, that's for sure.
But good enough for the cover-up.
One of which is John Bolten, I want to see proof that he is human.
I be Bolten to the John.
Republicans have NO ONE to run, but the cold, humanoid clones we've seen for decades. They think they have to get out front to prevent another unacceptable candidate!
First a black man, then a WOMAN???? HILLARY CLINTON???
Can you imagine the rabid paranoia and the unbearable weight of fear for the right??
How about: NAFTA, Welfare "reform", and financial deregulation (doing away with Glass-Steagal) on the domestic front and pushing for the sanctions against Iraq on the foreign policy side (which according the the UN was responsible for the deaths of at least 1/2 million children) not to mention the illegal overthrow/coup of the democratically elected President of Haiti (Aristide). Facts...not a temper tantrum.
OH, You KNOW that will NEVER happen, it is not in their DNA! Bolton is the biggest asshole I have ever seen, except for Cheny, Rove, etc.
The saying goes, "There are exceptions to every rule." Thank you for being one of them.
She needs a hair cut and new clothing designer. Her jewelry selection reminds me of my mother who died in 1969. A little nip and tuck might also help the scowl that is seemingly caught in every unsuspected photo.
This goes down as the most chauvinistic comment of the year. A bit of the "Queen Bee" syndrome.
asked Deepok how he was feeling after their journey to India. He said he felt rested; she replied she felt exhausted: the difference? Deepok had taken a nap, meditated, and included a therapeutic massage. Oprah had continued to work
without a break. Seems like Hillary may also be one of those "women who do too much".
Ever seen a picture of Mitch McConnell? Compared to him Hillary is a beauty queen. But what matters is whaat's inside, not outside. Mitch McTurtle is rotten to the core and hates democracy. There's where your attacks should be aimed.
Did the woman every have any down time? Hell, she's probably getting the first rest she has had since her appointment.
She probably got the blood clot from so much long-distance plane travel, every think of that?
If I were on my death bed and I had to put my affairs in someone's hads, do you think I would pick Mitt Romney, George W. Bush, George H.W. Bush, Ronald Reagan or sorry to say, any of our male leaders. I would pick Elizabeth Warren or Hillary Clinton. Both are equally as competent and able. We need what they've got and we need it NOW!
It's nice to see women saying, "Can the crap. Misogyny is over. If you haven't received the memo yet--or read the one you got--that is your problem."
As a slip-and-fall concussion victim, I urge understanding and patience. Such injuries are extremely dangerous, with ongoing complications and pain.
Such vicious thinking is the lock step way of America's reich (not "right")--alway s has been, always will be. At best, they are disgraceful; at worst, they tempt Karma. And invite resulting Calamity into their own lives.
Karma is a long time coming tho, I am afraid.
In return, how about releasing the pertinent documents concern JFK?
I'm so sick and tired of this male chauvinistic crap. I've put up with it every single day of my 60 years on this planet. Enough already! If I disagree with any of Ms Parker's points here, it's to say she doesn't give enough credit to the instinctive senior white male anti-smart-fema le attack mode.
ghostperson-You knew about this? The guy the GOP wanted to put on Mount Rushmore showed signs of dementia throughout his 2nd term and we the American people were not informed about it...scandalous , simply scandalous! If I remember correctly, to even suggest such a thing about the "great communicator" would get you a visit from Secret Service or the FBI, or both, plus the NSC, et al.
Reagan was an actor, giving the best performance of his career, in a theater called "The White House."
We must all remember that after Reagan swore to protect the US Constitution, and therefore the people of the United States, he went ahead and fired all the people who were trying, under very stressful circumstances, to protect the flying public. Reagan's agenda was to bust unions, because that is what his handlers were 'directing' him to do, and he was very familiar with taking direction when he was playing a part. Period; end of story!
18 April 1983-Beirut, Lebanon – Car bomb destroys Embassy – 63 killed.
12 December 1983-Kuwait City, Kuwait – Truck bomb at Embassy – 6 killed.
20 September 1984- Beirut, Lebanon – Truck bomb at Embassy – 24 killed.
November 1984 Bogota, Colombia – Car bomb at Embassy – 1 killed.
No big deal when Rombo was prez.
Reagan was a Chancy Gardner-like figure as seen in the film "Being There."
What I resent most about our "leaders" and their handlers is being treated like a mushroom, covered with manure and kept in the dake. If this is democracy then our Constitution and its amendments are a pack of lies agreed upon, just like history.
That was a very different time. Even so, it strikes me as a more "honourable" type of lying than which emerges from the current White House.
I don't think so...
The other is suspicion about what's really wrong with her and what really happened. Of course they would never lie to us, and so we can trust them to tell us the truth. Still, blood thinners are not prescribed for bleeding inside the head, because who needs more bleeding there?
And that Clinton is a person of integrity or common decency is preposterous. She's a bloodthirsty instrument of ruthless imperial policy, who in the manner of Madeleine Albright gloated over the prospect of nuking Iranian cities. If she were doing and saying exactly the same things on behalf of Bush, as Condoleeza Rice did, this would be much more clear to some of us here.
The type of clot Mrs. Clinton developed is a sinus venous thrombosis. As explained by Dr. Larry Goldstein, director of Duke University's stroke center, the clot developed in a "drainage channel" and is one of the few types treated with blood thinners.
But what does that have to do with Ms. Clinton and the situation at hand? She is being treated with blood thinners for a venous thrombosis, the opposite of bleeding. You do understand the difference, don't you?
The real critique of Clinto is that she is the Guardian of Empire and plays the role quite dutifully.
The real critique of Clinton is that she is the Guardian of Empire and plays the role quite dutifully.
unfortunately, I have to agree with you on this one. So much for women being more compassionate than men.
I thought the Republican package was set up to be Jeb Bush with a sidekick. Maybe Michelle Bachman to make the ticket look progressive?
I truly hope for Hillary's sake that she fully recovers from this life-threatenin g injury. I also hope for the country's sake that the despicable ogres who politicize this and every other tragedy never sink lower than they already have.
A mother and democrat that approves wars, assassinations of people abroad, etc. etc. has proved she has no character.
(Remember you can't count Ron Paul, he's supposed to be a Libertarian, even though he runs as a Repub. Still I don't like him, never was fond of misogynists.)
The beauty of wingnuts having carped till their vocal cords and writing fingers are frayed is that we are virtually immunized to it. It is now expected and is basically like that Larson's Far Side cartoon which shows that the only thing a dog hears from what his owner is saying is "bla, bla, bla, bla, bla."
I don't see liberals, of any consequence, lying about Republicans or cooking up wild conspiracy theories.
GOP Senator Crapo just got busted for DUI nearly double the state the legal limit. I don't see any Democrat demanding his hide or anything else.
I cannot agree that the campaign of character assassination is bipartisan. It's not. David Vitter is still in the Senate.
And even if the CIA & administration knew who it was they shouldn't have said they knew. You don't catch perpetrators by announcing you know who they are and you're coming after them.
It's a covert war and that means you keep as much secret as you can just like the terrorists do.
The NATO aircraft stopped the slaughter of civilians by Gaddafi's air force. There's is zero evidence they "killed 1000s of Libyans and no Libyan has made the charge.
Not Perfect? Is that how you label someone sho has supported and continues to support policies that amount to war crimes; who has supported every adventuristic US military intervention since Bill was President (including the illegal overthrow of two democratically elected Presidents -- Haiti and Honduras); who fully supports the Patriot Act, the MDAA, a Presidential assassination list, rendition programs that result in torture; Welfare "reform" that Robert Reich resigned over and began the full frontal attack on the new deal welfare state? What "peace" has this woman ever worked for?Does one have to be "perfect" to oppose such policies and condemn anyone that does?
We have a very toxic and sick country, and these people need to be removed from power. They are not going to let go of it, and they need to have their fingers pried from the lever of power ... come on people - PRY!
It may well be that Sec of State Clinton in in agony knowing that her lack of vigilance may have contributed to four deaths at the Libya embassy. However, I see no indication on Hilary's part that she is in ANY agony at a far greater number of deaths of innocent children in Gaza or Palestine or Afghanistan or Pakistan. THAT is what troubles me, a woman of similar age and educational background to Hilary.
Indefinite detention.
kill list,
drone attacks,
arctic drilling,
Bradley Manning,
fracking
and so on !
She is not a saint, but I wish her well.
However, since I choose not to run for public office, I'm left w/choosing to support those that do, which like every other commoner, is based on ideology- again like religion. If money was not involved in politics, men & women wouldn't compromise integrity once elected into office, (or appointed). Unfortunately, the almighty greenback dictates who rules; thus leaving us peasants with only conspiracy theories and living thru the aftermath of their destruction, or benefits of what they do when they do good.
Personally, I think Pearl Harbor, like "9-11," could've been avoided but the malfeasance within the confines of top secret American governance allowed it to happen- to get the results that ensued afterwards. I never believed Kennedy was assassinated by a Russian fall-guy and I think Jaquie probably found out who killed her husband and choose to take that to her grave.
Adding to the tragic headlines is when celebrities get more attention than the good people who disappear, such as the late Senator Paul Wellstone. I care more to find what really brought his plane down, more than I care if O.J. did or didn't "do it." So as for Hillary, I just wish her well.
They really showed their red a%%3% on that one. So, are they human enough to apologize or are they less than scum?
They would need Jacob's ladder to reach the level of scum.
In a baited field of government officials doing heinous things, precisely how does one calibrate a particular official as the pinnacle of wrongdoing without so much as giving context or making specific charges or comparisons?
If Secretary Clinton suggested water was wet, the hysterical right would wad their boxers into a bunch and scream that it was a lie and somehow make it into an evil conspiracy to dupe people with scientific gibberish.
In reality, women have had it with the Todd Akins-Rush Limbaugh Syndrome. Imbeciles and gasbags, have led this country to its ruin. We can't even pretend that we have a functioning government anymore.
We have a privileged, cabal of males who have ruined the economy for the majority, behaves hatefully towards women, Latinos, Blacks and Indians and non-Christians, 20% holds 89% of the wealth in the U.S. but despises a safety net for wage earners whose lives they destroy and who now want to destroy critical lands/water/acq uifers that produce the crops that feed the nation and its livestock so that dirty imported oil can be shipped abroad.
Our situation is as bad as the story in Frankenstein but the latter was fiction.
"Saudi cleric has issued a fatwa (a religious ordinance) that calls for the gang rape of Syrian women. ... religious leader issued a decree that promotes hours-long “intercourse marriages.”
www.salon.com/2013/01/02/saudi_religious_leader_calls_for_gang_rape_of_syrian_women/
And secretary of state - protector of women? Please!
The president must explain the White House's actions.
And the White House--not the State Dep't--appears to have blocked any and all action to save the diplomats in Benghazi.
For what reasons I do not know.
I love Hillary Clinton. she is the kind of lady every red blooded American should be proud of. She will make a great president in 2016. Needless to say I will help out during her campaign. As for John Bolton, he is at the top of my right-wing nutcase list. He is the kind of an asshole every red blooded American should be ashamed of. As for Obama, he will end up as being one of the best presidents in American history.
Aygen
Democrat
Istanbul
In this case it accomplished exactly what they wanted. They wanted John Kerry to be removed from his senate seat so that Scott Brown would be moved back in. And yes, every senate seat is important. How much did it cost (a lot from my pocket) to put Elizabeth Warren into Ted Kennedy's old seat? I believe the most ever spent on a senate race?
It also starts the war against the person they right is afraid of, Hillary Clinton. Swift boating used by Dotty above would be an apt describtion of their attack.
The third reason is that the right is afraid of cuts to the military budget which are coming. This even though they were the ones who refused to allow a bill to pass that would have upped the security at the places like Benghazi. Their over reaction is good politics from their point of view. Never underestimate this enemy. They buy the best from Madison Ave. Happy New Year my friends and enemies...lol.. .bobby t.
uber sexy. Madison Ave knew this. It almost worked. Sex sells, doesn't it?
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