“Just when I thought I was out… they pull me back in.”
— Michael Corleone
“Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly?
Because her father is Janet Reno.”— Sen. John McCain, June 1998
At the time Sen. McCain told this vile joke to fellow Republicans eliciting guffaws, not gasps the media were already universally running with the Lewinsky episode. Yet, the few parts of the media that reported on the incident would not even print the actual joke. McCain received little in the way of rebuke from the Clinton White House.
He said at the time, ”It was stupid and cruel and insensitive. I’ve apologized. I can’t take it back. I could give you a whole bunch of excuses, but there are no excuses. I was wrong, but do you want me crucified? How many days does it need to be a story?”
Obviously, not many. The event passed immediately. McCain had recently broken with the GOP and sponsored an anti-tobacco bill. It was defeated and is one of the reasons for the bad blood between the Arizona Senator and the Party’s right wing. But, it made him the Clinton White House’s favorite Republican despite his impugning a 12-year-old, not to mention the President, the First Lady and the Attorney General.
“She (Hillary) and John McCain are very close. They always laugh that if they wound up being the nominees of their party, it would be the most civilized election in American history, and they’re afraid they’d put the voters to sleep because they like and respect each other.”
— Bill Clinton, Jan. 2008
“Doesn’t it seem like Chelsea’s sort of being pimped out in some weird sort of way?”
— David Shuster, Feb. 2008
David Shuster made this query while subbing as host of MSNBC’s Tucker TV talk show. He was referring to the now visible role Chelsea Clinton is playing in her mother’s presidential campaign from dialing for dollars to super-schmoozing Democratic party “Super-delegates” to Town Hall surrogate to being caught inside a polling place on Election Day.
Hillary Clinton jumped on the chance to change the topic from her serial losses to Barack Obama, her Iraq War votes, her campaign’s fragile finances, her own now-exposed multi-millionaire finances, Bill’s shady big money deals and his racist slams at Obama — and wrote a hectoring, Mother Superior demand to MSNBC:
“However, I became Chelsea’s mother long before I ran for any office and I will always be a mom first and a public official second.
Nothing justifies the kind of debasing language that David Shuster used and no temporary suspension or half-hearted apology is sufficient.”
{Imagine that: a half-hearted apology being insufficient for a Clinton! I, for one, would appreciate even a half-hearted one re: her war votes.}
For his impertinent slang take on the adult 28-year-old former first daughter’s recent activities as a campaign operative, Shuster was, indeed, “suspended indefinitely.”
The next day he appeared on the network’s Morning Joe show and gave a brilliant, downright Clintonesque apology; “To the extent that people feel I was being pejorative, I apologize for that. I should have seen that people might view it that way, and for that, then I’m sorry.”
Then again, the show eponymous usual host Tucker Carlson said of Hillary Clinton last March, “But there’s just something about her that feels castrating, overbearing, and scary.” He was never suspended.
Recently, another cable TV bloviator, Chris Mathews was not suspended but was forced to apologize for serial referring to Sen. Clinton as “Nurse Ratched” and “Madame Lafarge.”
Having It Both Ways
A pattern is apparent here. The Clintons get to use their daughter for whatever it is worth if it benefits them, starting with the hagiographic video they showed at the 1992 Convention with 12-year-old Chelsea noting what great parents she had. After the election, both Clintons went on 60 Minutes and forcefully stated that Chelsea was “off limits.”
In its Election Show, Saturday Night Live made the mistake of viewing Chelsea as a public persona and made fun of her appearance. After drooling over the Gore daughters, noting that if they ever became president they would be “Babe-raham Lincoln;” the adolescent character Wayne said in regards to Chelsea, “While it’s true that adolescence has been thus far unkind, we think she’s gonna be a future fox.”
The show’s producer was forced to apology, as did the actors. And, the offending clip was removed from archives of the show.
At the same time, Rush Limbaugh said on his show, “Did you also know there is a White House dog?” referring to the incoming Clinton family pets. He pointed to a monitor which flashed a photo of Chelsea. Despite disapproval from the Clintons, Limbaugh never did apologize – claiming it was just a technical glitch.
“Never pick a fight with a guy who buys his ink by the barrel” is a quote often attributed to Mark Twain. The modern day analogy is “buys his air-time by the gigabyte.” So, the Clintons, while miffed, take a pass at holding the major leaguers like Limbaugh and Carlson to the same “suspension” standards they hold over a small fry like Shuster. They don’t even warrant a Mathews’ forced-contrition Purgatory. The “mom first” could barely even feign outrage at her “close friend” McCain.
Whether a clumsy attack on Chelsea or commentators using shorthand like “Ratched” to sum up their view of Hillary, or for that matter any less than flattering portrayal of the Clinton clan (remember how they went after the media for exposing Hillary brother’s cashing in on pardons?); they get to act offended or not — based solely on power political considerations.
{I’ve been calling her Sen. Ratched ever since she was elected. I happen to believe it is the perfect shorthand for the type of nanny state nonsense she incessantly promotes, such as these assaults on Free Speech.}
Another Double Standard
The Clintons selective use of Chelsea as prop, fund-raiser and schmoozer and their self-serving, selective outrage at any perceived slights directed towards their daughter is cynical enough. But, how disingenuous is it that Mary Cheney, a far less visible public actor than Chelsea Clinton, was outed as a Lesbian sans any outrage from the usual PC crowd? And look at the treatment of the Bush twins. We all know they are drunken sluts by now, don’t we?
MICHAEL DONNELLY thinks that a 28-year-old with a work history with huge management firms and hedge funds is an adult like Michael Corleone, who had choices other than joining the family business. He can be reached at pahtoo@aol.com