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Hillary porn

by Mark Gisleson

After yesterday's snafu, I wasn't eager to return to the subject of Wesley Clark, but this new post from Kos is pretty compelling:

Rumors are flying fast and furious that Hillary is contemplating a White House bid now that Bush looks "beatable."

A great deal of Clark's financial support would come from the Clinton money machine, and there's obviously no room for both candidates in the race.

As for a Hillary bid, all I have to say is, what is she thinking?

[more]

Kos also has the latest Iowa numbers, with Dean leading the pack with 25% to Gephardt's 21%. Clark's at 3%, but that's fairly moot, especially in the context of yesterday's link on that "no name" poll that used bio's to let poll respondents rank candidates. If you're looking to bone up on Clark, Tapped recommends this article he wrote for The Washington Monthly on multilateralism.

Steve (Perry — the guy whose name is up at the top of the page) thinks I'm a bit of an optimist, but there really does seem to be a sea change taking place in American politics. Granted, I've been saying things were on the verge of swinging back to our way of thinking ever since Reagan took office, but this time I'm really, really sure I'm right. [Note: Steve says I can't use emoticons, but in the upper Midwest this is known as dry, self-deprecating humor.]

Ashcroft's numbers are down, Alabaman evangelicals are questioning regressive tax policies, Madonna's in country, MediaWhoresOnline reports Al Franken's new book is about to go #1, and E.J. Dionne Jr. is leading off columns with lines like "Maybe we should just scrap Labor Day and rename it 'Capital Day.'" Not only is the tide turning, but sarcasm is replacing the Right's thirty-year-old Don Rickles put-down routine in providing our laffs du jour.

Not that the Democrats have their standup act entirely together. Romenesko has this link on Rep. Karen McCarthy whose no-shows in DC have cost the Dems big on numerous votes. Contrived storm clouds are gathering on Cruz Bustamante's horizon in the form of MECHA. Tom Daschle is still "leading" the Senate minority caucus, and the DLC still controls the DNC like Murdoch controls Fox.

The new Air Force Academy report will undoubtedly lead to aggressive Drudge and Fox-fueled exposes into Ivy League rape and sexual harassment coverups, although it's hard to see this being bad for the Dems over the long haul. People are starting to wake up to the fact that the Republicans have held or shared the reins for an awfully long time, and it will get progressively harder to for them to blame liberals for public morality being in decline when it's so obvious that the culture of big business has been far more culpable.

A good example would be last night's kisses between Brittney and Madonna and Christina at the Grammys. On the one hand they're "liberals" (whether they actually are or not is, of course, irrelevant), but on the other, it's big business that's holding the camera and encouraging the pose. Of course the Right is always quick to try to carve out Hollywood as not being part of Big Business, but that's pretty disingenuous since Big Business relies on Hollywood to sell their products.

Clearly, opportunity is knock-knock-knocking. Rick Geddes of the WaPost reports that e-mail is killing the Post Office, but more to the point, his numbers show the increasing access Americans have to the Internet, and alternative news sources. Those who choose to seek real news and not jingoistic propaganda can now do so, and barring a cybercoup that puts the 'net back in the hands of the oligarchs, this Iraq War may be our last manufactured conflict, barring an outright Bush coup.

But Clinton-Clark in '04? Boy, does that ever take the fun out of all the Wesley Clark speculation. And talk about your Orwellian Schwarzeneggerian Oedipal issues: how will all that fake Hillary porn* on the Internet play a role if the junior senator from New York runs? Those phototoons could prove to be the "cloak room joke that backfired" of the 2004 election cycle. The Mighty Wurlitzer's been running a cottage industry in pornographic satire for quite a while now, and will have to take responsibility for sexualizing Hillary in the eyes of many Americans. They have much to answer for, but I want to be in the peanut gallery for this day of testimony before the committee.

*This is the "cleanest" image in my collection, and is generally captioned so as to blame Hillary for the recent electrical blackout.

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Sorry about the domestic agenda two days running. I know a lot of Steve's fans come here for the foreign news and Iraq. Do check out Cursor for a weekend's worth of reading on that score.

Posted by Steve Perry at August 29, 2003 11:41 AM

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