Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Hillary Clinton Plays Victim in New Campaign Ad

Just weeks after whining that she was up against an "all-boys club," Hillary Clinton is again playing the victim's card in a new advertisment castigating “The Republican Attack Machine”:

Here's the text:

Here they go again. The same old Republican attack machine is back. Why? Maybe it’s because they know there is one candidate with the strength and experience to get us out of Iraq. One candidate who will end tax giveaways for the big corporations. One candidate committed to cutting the huge Republican deficit. And one candidate who will put government back to work for the middle class.

The New York Times has an analysis of the ad, which questions its accuracy:

Mrs. Clinton promises to lead the country out of Iraq, but she does not mention that in 2002, she voted to grant President Bush the authority to take military action against Iraq. Both John Edwards and Senator Barack Obama have made similar promises to support middle-class voters and cut the federal deficit, though some budget analysts question the ability of Mrs. Clinton to balance the budget while increasing spending on health care and other programs. And on the experience front, Mrs. Clinton has frequently exchanged barbs with Mr. Obama over that issue — beyond their shared time in the Senate, Mr. Obama points to his time as a community organizer in Chicago, and she counts her tenure as first lady as time “in the White House.”

The Times also notes that the secondary object of the ad is to portray Clinton as the only Democrat with the leadership experience to stand up to the GOP. If that's the case, why play the victim's card?

The nihilist antiwar hordes eat up any and all attacks on the Republican "neocons," so Clinton may get some mileage out this message in any event.

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