The hidden perils of negative politicking

By Libby

Tom Hayden points out the ultimate danger of the Clinton forces making too big a deal out of Ayers. I'm not going to quote any of it, but if you read it, you'll see it belies the theory that Hillary is so fully vetted that she is less attackable. Two can play at that game and it's to his credit that Obama hasn't brought this up, but does anybody think that the GOP will ignore these past associations if Hillary manages to get the nomination? Especially after the Clinton camp themselves have validated the same meme against Obama?

Hillary's associations are much more damning. Unlike Obama, who was just a kid when the big stuff went down, Hillary was there and an active participant. Clinton supporters might want to consider Hayden's points before they do anything further to legitimatize this line of attack against another Democrat.

Comments

[The Grand Panjandrum]

LJ and the crew at No Quarter really are beyond all decency. LJ has always been a bomb thrower and now it happens to be at a Dem.

This process will be over soon enough, and we can only hope the half-brights will STFU.

[Mona]

Libby, Larry Johnson's piece literally made me sick. If he fell down a well until next November, I'd be happy.

Some of these Hillary supporters are doing the best they can to elect John McCain if, as I think likely, Obama gets the Dem nomination.

And as a libertarian who has been known to be quite critical of 60s radicals like Tom Hayden, I have to say his Nation article is spot on.

[Libby]

GP, I used to like reading that blog but I can't stand to anymore. It was kind of a fluke that I clicked in this morning and of course it set me off. Which is why I'm trying not to read any of the Hillary bloggers until this is over.

Mona, I AM a 60s radical of sorts and I was never a big fan of Hayden myself. I found him to be kind of a self-promoting grandstander but he's mellowed in his old age too I guess. I also the thought the piece was really good. It spoke to my growing distate for Hillary. I never liked her, or Bill for that matter, but I respected them. I'm losing that respect by degrees, every day that this thing keeps going on.

As for Larry Johnson, for a moment I actually found myself wondering if he's being paid by the GOP for that hit piece. It was so over the top, I couldn't ignore it, despite my vow to stay out of the fray.

[Mona]

It spoke to my growing distate for Hillary. I never liked her, or Bill for that matter, but I respected them. I'm losing that respect by degrees, every day that this thing keeps going on.

My experience was sort of like that. I never liked Hillary, but in the 90s had to quit the several right-wing mags I took because they were so over-the-top in deranged,salacious, conspiracy-mongering about Bill 'n Hill.

So I hate the Right Wing Noise Machine in the way it really revved up in that decade as a bunch of hate-filled sickos vis-a-vis the Clintons, even as I still did not like Hillary. (I think she totally lacks a principled bone in her body.)

I've just decided Larry Johnson is a Clinton hack, Taylor Marsh I can't read until the Dem nomination process is over, and I'm also sick of Jeralyn at this point. Even Shakesville, I think they see sexism where it isn't when it comes to Hillary critics. (But then, I have an unusually high bar for what I deem to be sexist.)