Liberals bash Clinton, but will support her

Donald Lambro:

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has been criticized this past week for her evasiveness, dodginess, weasel words and shady connections — not only by her conservative critics but by liberal columnists and reporters.

In pointed political broadsides from some of the major liberal-leaning publications — including the New York Times and The Washington Post — the New York senator has been the target of surprisingly sharp criticism about her refusal to answer policy questions, investigative reporting about her husband's business dealings and unsavory fundraisers, and even assertions that her candidacy was solely beholden to her husband's political influence.

When asked by NBC's Tim Russert in last week's Democratic presidential debate about whether following in her husband Bill Clinton's presidential footsteps was creating a dynasty, Mrs. Clinton said, "I'm running on my own. I'm going to the people on my own."

But that answer didn't wash with Maureen Dowd, the liberal columnist for the New York Times.

"Without nepotism, Hillary would be running for the president of Vassar," she said in her column Sunday. "Of course, Hillary is never on her own. From the beginning, her campaign has relied on her husband's donors, network, strategies and strong-arming."

Other columnists and reporters similarly piled on Mrs. Clinton in the aftermath of the Dartmouth College debate that was seen by them as a litany of evasive answers.

In a post-debate analysis of Mrs. Clinton's "evasiveness on issues," such as troop withdrawals in Iraq, saving Social Security and whether Israel has the right to attack Iran, Associated Press writer Beth Fouhy said she "adopted the time-honored, front-runner strategy of dodging tough questions, contradicting the image of a strong leader."

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She is just being a Clinton and that is what the Democrats are going to be willing to live with. Being dodgy is how they get elected. When it comes to a choice between a dodgy Clinton and a real conservatives the liberals will swallow their tongue, shut up about her, bash the conservative and support the Democrat.

Not so Christian conservatives who would apparently rather see someone far worse get elected than compromise on an issue. They want to actually hurt Republicans if they don't get exactly what they want. That is a pretty self destructive attitude. It is also pretty stupid.