Heathers Reunion
by digby
I don't know it it's coincidence or by design, but today I have seen three --- count 'em --- three different stories trashing the GOP's favorite Democratic punching bags in that patented superficial tabloid nastiness that we have mercilessly been spared since the Bush administration came to town and trashed the country ( to paraphrase a famous insider bon mot.) Now why is that? I'm sure it can't be because the GOP is back to its smearing ways just because they are on the ropes. They wouldn't do that would they? Why we're at war!
I wrote about the two Drudge blasts from the past earlier today. Now here comes another one, this time from the New York Times: what are all the wags saying about that famous Washington power couple who might be running for the White House? Prominent Democrats are very concerned about the state of their marriage and how that will affect the wife's ability to run for president. He's a playboy and she's a frigid bitch, in case you didn't know. But they pretend to love each other because they are both superficial, calculating power freaks, which sets them apart from most leading Democrats who are just plain crazy. The grassroots, we know, are very, very angry. (Joe Lieberman is really the only sensible one.)
I have to assume that it is a slow news day at the Times or that a big story fell out and they had to fill it with something because I can't believe somebody thought it was actually newsworthy to put this on the front page. And it's a doozy, filled with all kinds of juicy People magazine style armchair psychology as related by anonymous "friends." Substitute the names and you could be reading about the travails of Brad and Jen or Tom and Katie --- all that's missing is the fake breasts, although it's possible I missed a reference somewhere. Atrios wonders why they couldn't get anyone on the record about the frequency of the couple's lovemaking, but I think they actually hinted quite broadly that they aren't getting it on often enough to satisfy the public. Page six couldn't have done any better than this:
Friends -- eager to smooth any rough edges on the relationship -- tell old-married-couple stories of them gardening, playing Scrabble, and dining out at Le Cirque, Rasika, and Bayou in Harlem with old pals like the former party leader Terry McAuliffe, the power broker Vernon Jordan, and others. Last Christmas Eve, they wandered through the near-empty Chappaqua Village Market together, noticed by the occasional fellow shopper.
Rarely, however, do the Clintons appear in public when they are together. That physical distance is largely driven by their careers, but it is also partly by choice.
[...]
Democrats preparing for 2008 describe the political challenge this way: Clinton could prosper as a presidential candidate, yet the return of "the Clintons" could revive memories including the oft-derided two-for-the-price-of-one appeal of his 1992 presidential campaign, her role in the universal health care debacle, and the soap opera of infidelity.
No folks, that excerpt isn't from Hello magazine or even Vanity Fair. That's the New York fucking Times and it's on page one. If people aren't thinking about the Clintons in terms of infidelity and betrayal now, New York's newest tabloid rag is going to make damned sure they are reminded of it.
I do not know if Hillary is running for president and I'm not making a case for her candidacy. I do, however, think she has the right to try to earn the nomination without this gossip-at-the-hair salon coverage by the NY Times. And believe me, it won't just be her. Look at the spooky picture of Mark Warner on the cover of New York Times Magazine. He looked like something out of a David Lynch movie. I have no doubt that we are going to be reading many derisive accounts of Al Gore the bearded, earth toned circus freak. It's quite clear that if the Democrats are are coming into power, the Times is going to pick up right where it left off when it was last obsessed with Clinton's crotch and Hillary's cold, cold heart. Or perhaps, more to the point, this piece is just a first notice that they plan to.
Democrats be advised: the press is a bunch of braindead robots who are uninterested in changing their puerile Democratic storyline even in the face of the most disasterous administration in American history.It's shocking. You can love Hillary or hate her, I don't care. But goddamit the intimate state of her marriage to Bill Clinton is nobody's business and it NEVER HAS BEEN. If the gossip rags want to play this game, there's nothing anyone can do. But it is just shameful that the New York Times would go back to their cheap, tabloid coverage of politics when the world is on fire. I'm honestly stunned that this is happening again.
I am writing letters to the editor about this and I urge everyone else to do it too. Perhaps we can request that they put other politicians' marriages under this kind of scrutiny. John McCain's wife had some problems if I recall. How's she doing with that? Maybe a reporter should go around and ask all of her friends to comment off the record. The presidency is a very stressfull job for a first lady. Can she take the pressure without resorting to ... well, you know. People are asking. It's a factor. And hey, what about Rudy? He's got a helluva marital track record. Matt Stoller has another suggestion, here.
Seriously, I think this deserves some pushback from the blgosphere. Regardless of your feelings for Hillary, this is obviously just the beginning of another trivializing smear fest against Democrats in general. This stuff is done for no other reason than to make Democrats appear unserious, immoral and halfway nuts. There is a concerted effort coming from somewhere to create a drumbeat that when Democrats are in the spotlight the country is going to be back in trivial tabloid scandal land. It almost has the feeling of being a threat. The mainstream press, having apparently learned absolutely nothing from their failures of the last decade are obviously eager to put on their Heathers costumes and have a little bitch party.
This time they need to hear from us. Here is the page with all the email addresses for letters to the editor and to the ombudsman. Let them know we aren't going to let this happen again without a fight.
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