At a stop in rural Pennsylvania, over winding roads and through rolling hills in small Lewistown, PA, where people lined the streets to watch his motorcade approach, former President Bill Clinton had high praise for the man who has clinched the nomination for the other party…. But McCain, who Mr. Clinton said is a “moderate”, “has given about all you can give for this country without dyin’ for it.”…. He said McCain was on the right side of issues like being against torture of enemy combatants and global warming, which “just about crosses the bridge for them (Republicans).”…. The praise from Clinton comes as McCain, with the Republican nomination locked up and trying to rebrand his Maverick label, has tried to distance himself from President Bush, most notably on foreign policy. In a speech this week McCain talked about the need for more diplomacy.
Coming soon to a McCain commercial near you- former (Democratic) President Bill Clinton endorsing John McCain! Well, OK…so it wasn’t an overt, passionate endorsement of McCain, but you can bet that when the campaign commercials roll out this fall, this unfortunate sound bite will be front and center. Like his wife, the former President is so focused on winning the Democratic nomination that he seems not to recognize what his words mean- or what they will mean once a Republican strategist finishes twisting and molding them into exactly the message that will catapult John McCain into the White House. Odd for a man normally so politically astute, don’t you think? Then again, it appears that he, his wife, and in fact the entire Clinton campaign has become so focused on winning the battle that they’ve lost focus on the war.
It’s sad that a brilliant former President such as Bill Clinton has been relegated to speaking in obscure places like East Bumfuck, NM before about as many people who show up at the local Krispy Kreme for breakfast every morning. Over the past few months, though, he’s become such a loose cannon that he’s become something of a liability for his wife. You can’t muzzle a former President, but you can certainly shuffle him off to remote corners of the US, where tumbleweeds outnumber Democratic voters.
This campaign began with such promise for the Clintons. For so long, Hillary was the presumed and “inevitable” nominee. Unfortunately for her, you can’t win the game in the first quarter. Now that the opposition has come back and overtaken her campaign, the shrillness and desperation has been almost palpable. Perhaps we should shuffle Hillary off to East Bumfuck, NM as well….
