The Political Chase

Team Clinton Deflecting Hillary’s Record

The Wall Street Journal has a piece today attributing Hillary Clinton’s high negative (or trust) ratings in recent polls to "the debate on her record." So, what is the strategy to overcome that issue? According to the Journal, Team Clinton intends to deflect voters’ attention from her record. (Emphasis added.)

Clinton campaign image maker Mandy Grunwald and Ann Lewis, head of women’s outreach, are working to re-establish voters’ trust in Sen. Clinton, campaign aides say.

The campaign is also trying to shift focus away from recent debates over Sen. Clinton’s record and toward the economy…Monday, Sen. Clinton held an economic roundtable in Harrisburg, and she talked about a tax-cut plan for the middle class at an event in Fairless Hills, Pa., near Philadelphia.

The Journal dutifully cares out its journalistic responsibilities by simply reporting a few comments from Team Clinton and a few anecdotal references from voters. And with that, they have completed their job. Nowhere do they demonstrate an attempt to look at the issue from an historical perspective and put it in context with Team Clinton’s response and forward strategy.

This is a quick sampling of what the Clintons have said about the importance of candidates’ records in the past.

January 10, 2008 – Hillary on Obama:

He was a part-time state senator for a few years, and then he came to the Senate and immediately started running for president. And that’s his prerogative. That’s his right. But I think it is important to compare and contrast our records.

January 8, 2008 – Bill Clinton complaining about media not comparing Obama and Hillary’s record. (Video of this quote at the end of the post. H/T Crooks and Liars.)

“Second, it is wrong that Senator Obama got to go through 15 debates trumpeting his superior judgment and how he had been against the war in every year, numerating the years, and never got asked one time, not once, ‘Well, how could you say, that when you said in 2004 you didn’t know how you would have voted on the resolution? You said in 2004 there was no difference between you and George Bush on the war and you took that speech you’re now running on off your website in 2004 and there’s no difference in your voting record and Hillary’s ever since?’ Give me a break. “This whole thing is the biggest fairy tale I’ve ever seen…So you can talk about Mark Penn all you want.

December 3, 2007 – In New Hampshire, Bill Clinton criticized the media for too much focus on "pure politics" and not on the candidate’s records.

Bill Clinton said Tuesday that if reporters covered the candidates’ public records better, his wife’s presidential bid would be far ahead of her rivals.

"Sixty-seven percent of the coverage is pure politics. That stuff has a half life of about 15 seconds. It won’t matter tomorrow. It is very vulnerable to being slanted and rude. And it won’t affect your life," Clinton said.

(emphasis added)

July 19, 2007 - Bill Clinton

"If you look at the record on women’s issues, I defy you to find anybody who has run for office in recent history whose got a longer history of working for women, for families and children than Hillary does," the former president said in an interview with ABC’s Good Morning America.

When in doubt or troubled, implement the Burger King strategy.