I guess Hillary is finished with triangulation. Here is some of what she said yesterday at a celebration of Martin Luther King Day:
“Hillary Rodham Clinton sparked a Martin Luther King Day political firestorm yesterday by describing the GOP-controlled Congress as a ‘plantation’ during a speech before an African-American congregation in Harlem.
“‘When you look at the way the House of Representatives has been run, it has been run like a plantation, and you know what I’m talking about,’ Clinton (D-N.Y.) told an audience at the Canaan Baptist Church of Christ during an event sponsored by the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network.”
Actually, I don’t have any idea what she’s talking about. She elucidated:
“‘It has been run in a way so that nobody with a contrary view has had a chance to present legislation, to make an argument, to be heard,’ she added to thunderous applause.”
Chattel slavery was bad because nobody with a contrary view got to talk? Despite the thunderous applause, Mrs. Clinton was demeaning the genuine injustice that was slavery. She added that the Bush administration will go down as “one of the worst” in history. She must be taking rhetoric lessons from Howard Dean.
Hillary wasn’t the only Democrat to use Martin Luther King Day to get in a few licks. Al Gore also seized the day to criticize the administration’s policy of eavesdropping on citizens who chat with terrorists. Gore’s remarks were ho-hum, vintage Gore. But Hillary’s were so dumb that I was struck dumb. What can you say about something so outrageous?
Fortunately, the White House was not struck dumb:
“Asked about the criticism coming from the two high-profile Democrats on the same day, [White House spokesman] McClellan said, ‘Well, I think we know, one tends to like or enjoy grabbing headlines; the other one _ sounds like the political season may be starting early.'”
He added: “If Al Gore is going to be the voice of the Democrats on national security matters, we welcome it.”