Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Affairs & Political Shields
Even though the primary is over, Hillary Clinton's people are still spinning her campaign. Flack Howard Wolfson declared Monday that the former first lady would have won Iowa if Edwards hadn't remained successful in lying about his affair with Rielle Hunter.
Maybe. Maybe not. One argument is that the anti-Hillary vote would have congealed around Obama. Even though Wolfson said that "Our voters and Edwards were the same people," the fact is that Hillary didn't adopt her "working people" line until after Edwards dropped out of the race.
But more importantly, now that Wolfson is in the reassessment mode and admitting that issues of affairs have an impact in campaigns, maybe he should give Chris Matthews a break. Matthews infuriated Clinton and Co. for daring to speculate that the Monica Lewinsky affair helped launch Hillary Clinton's Senate career. After pressure from the campaign and various women's groups, Matthews apologized.
However, if Wolfson can say that Edwards' lying about his affair, "certainly had an impact on the election," why can't someone say, had the Lewinsky affair never come to light, Hillary Rodham Clinton might never have become a New York senator -- and then a candidate for president?
Hey, if we're engaging counter-factual, coulda, woulda, shouldas...
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Maybe. Maybe not. One argument is that the anti-Hillary vote would have congealed around Obama. Even though Wolfson said that "Our voters and Edwards were the same people," the fact is that Hillary didn't adopt her "working people" line until after Edwards dropped out of the race.
But more importantly, now that Wolfson is in the reassessment mode and admitting that issues of affairs have an impact in campaigns, maybe he should give Chris Matthews a break. Matthews infuriated Clinton and Co. for daring to speculate that the Monica Lewinsky affair helped launch Hillary Clinton's Senate career. After pressure from the campaign and various women's groups, Matthews apologized.
However, if Wolfson can say that Edwards' lying about his affair, "certainly had an impact on the election," why can't someone say, had the Lewinsky affair never come to light, Hillary Rodham Clinton might never have become a New York senator -- and then a candidate for president?
Hey, if we're engaging counter-factual, coulda, woulda, shouldas...
Labels: Hillary Clinton, Howard Wolfson, John Edwards
