Sunday, September 21, 2008

Hillary on Sarah

Here is Hillary's first statement put out following McCain's pick of Palin:

“We should all be proud of Governor Sarah Palin's historic nomination, and I congratulate her and Senator McCain. While their policies would take America in the wrong direction, Governor Palin will add an important new voice to the debate.

A nice measured response to say the least.

Then....nothing. Just try and find Hillary speaking about Palin in the news anywhere except for the following examples.

A few weeks ago in Ohio she amended an earlier statment she had used before with McCain in Denver and said:

"No way, no how, no McCain, no Palin."

She went on with a similar statment from before as well, but added Palin's name:

"All that McCain and Palin offer is four more years of the same failed policies."

This is the same Hillary that slammed Obama by saying, "I think that I have a lifetime of experience that I will bring to the White House. Sen. John McCain has a lifetime of experience that he'd bring to the White House. And Sen. Obama has a speech he gave in 2002."

It's interesting to me and it must be incredibly frustrating to the Obama people, that Hillary refuses to say much about Sarah. Even these few comments are not exactly fighting material. And we know from her campaign against Obama that Hillary can punch with the best of them. She took the gloves off with Obama, but she isn't doing that with Palin.

She not only hasn't punched at Sarah, but she has even praised Sarah recently:

"Clinton told a Democratic campaign rally in Florida on Monday that the Alaska governor's candidacy as John McCain's running-mate was a "great accomplishment".

It's my speculation that the reason she has not been hard on Sarah is two fold. It is mostly her hidden, but clear disdain for Obama. Secondly, there is a part of her that doesn't want to bash a woman running on the ticket too badly. There may even be a part of Hillary that is proud of Palin. Who knows?

Politics makes strange bedfellows.