Clinton Says Debate Made Dems Vulnerable

[Herman Munster]

http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2007Nov07/0,4670,BillClintonSwiftBoat,00.html

CHICAGO — Former President Clinton said Wednesday that all the Democratic presidential candidates could be open to a "swift boat kind of ad" if they try to give quick responses to complicated issues like driver's licenses for illegal immigrants.

A day after being criticized for defending his wife, the former president tried to explain his comments linking criticism of Hillary Rodham Clinton to the swift boat campaign against John Kerry's military record in the 2004 campaign. Bill Clinton made the comparison Monday during a speech in Las Vegas.

Sen. Chris Dodd said it was "way over the top." Sen. Barack Obama said he was stunned to hear the former president make such a comparison.

At the end of a Democratic presidential debate last week, Hillary Clinton hedged when asked whether she supported a plan by her home state governor to issue licenses to illegal immigrants. Dodd, Obama and others have accused her of trying to have it both ways on the issue.

Bill Clinton said Wednesday he didn't think it was a good idea to tackle such a complicated issue by asking the candidates to answer with hand-raising. He said candidates should have enough time to give full answers.

"I thought it made all the Democrats vulnerable to a swift-boat-kind of ad in the general election," Clinton told reporters after a rally at a South Side ballroom with several hundred of his wife's supporters. The event was closed to the media.

"When you have complicated issues, you don't want to turn them into two-dimensional cartoons," he said.

[Yael]

1. Clinton says debates detrimental to the inevitability meme

News at 11

[cuke]

12. Practicing for a job with FauxNews?

You make up quotes as well as anyone working there now

[laureloak]

2. Americans don't want double talkers from either party.

Learn a lesson or two Hillary.

[Joe the Revelator]

3. If you want to lead the free world...

...you should be able to come up with a concise, clear answer to issue questions. It's sad to see Bill shill for evading questions.

[AtomicKitten]

4. No, it made her vulnerable.

[jmp]

11. The world revolves around her ...

Therefore, we are all vulnerable. ;)

[AtomicKitten]

14. Ah, I see now.

thanks for connecting the dots

:hi:

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

5. Well, I'm a little torn, because he is married to Sen Clinton and it seems he's operating

from a bit of protective instinct.

I've had my husband, in professional settings because we work for the same company, try to "defend" me when he thought I'd been done wrong by the powers that be. And, without me wanting him to do that, but he was coming more from the heart than the mind and well, I can see how Pres. Clinton just gets aggravated because his wife is in the cross hairs right now.

It's going to be a long election year, for sure. MKJ

[IndianaGreen]

6. "The event was closed to the media."

It was a simple question requiring a "Yes" or "No" answer, not a hand raising question like Big Dog is quoted by AP as saying.

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Hitting A Vain: A full week after the Democratic debate, Hillary Clinton is still flailing on the licenses-for-illegals issue--justifying her position on unconvincing federalist grounds, letting her husband mount an equally specious it's-all-too-complicated defense. Maybe she can keep it going until Iowa Caucus Day! ... Yuval Levin is astounded by this performance. Wouldn't it be better for her just to take the hit for supporting Spitzer's plan and move on? The most troubling aspect of this incident, for Democrats, isn't that Hillary can't finesse an issue as well as her husband--we knew that. It's the possibility that a) she panics in adversity--a point Levin emphasizes or b) she's too vain to let herself be perceived as having given a wrong answer, so she goes back to correct it even when that only compounds the damage. ...

http://www.slate.com/id/2177540/#flailing

[mmonk]

7. It was insulting to compare legitimate questions concerning her issue dodge

with the swiftboating of John Kerry. No patch will work Bill.

[cuke]

13. MAybe that's why he made no such comparison

[sjdnb]

8. It is obvious Bill is repaying the 'Monica debt'

at this point and regurgitating what Hill's handlers tell him to.

This is far too ridiculous a statement to ever come 'naturally' to him.

[IndianaGreen]

9. There may be an element of Clintonian panic at play here.

While the folks in the Beltway continue to live in that imaginary world of theirs, to the rest of the country illegal immigration and secure borders are legitimate issues that cut across party lines. Hillary not only blew the debate, her subsequent clarifications and explanations have made her look worse.

Hillary Clinton's lead in New Hampshire is now only 10 points in Rasmussen's robo-poll--down from 23 points in mid-September. Ten points isn't nothing two months before a New Hampshire primary, but it's pretty close to nothing. Especially if it's ten-points-and-falling. ... P.S.: Hillary has now used two of what she must have considered the most powerful weapons in her arsenal--1) the gender victim/Rick Lazio card, and 2) her husband--and they both backfired. Doesn't that make them hard to use again? ... Hillary shouldn't panic. But judging from her performance so far, she will. ...

http://www.slate.com/id/2177540/#flailing

[sjdnb]

10. Well, if by Clintonian you mean Hillary ... then, yes,

it is possible, perhaps, probable -- after all, she was at one time a Republican ... but, Bill NEVER panics (ref. 7/4/1999 - India/Pakistan defusing of Nuclear Standoff in between fireworks and smiles)