All Comments (161)

even worse Mrs. Clinton said of the sniper fire." I made a mistake...so what" and this from some one that thinks they can lead...I made a mistake so what...Not for me...

Thanks,

J. Meakin Hoffer
Murphy, NC

Sally, dear, dear Sally- YOU'RE AN IDIOT! I saw you on the talk show this morning telling how Hillary should go to a retreat and find out who she is. I hope to God that you do 1/10th of what she has done in her lifetime for people.
Go get a guru Sal- and suck your thumb!

I read your post and seen your comments on Hillary Clinton. I think she knows who she is and people need to give her more credit due then people like you. Perhaps Ms. Newreporter coming off as a know it all.. perhaps the problem doesn't fall with Hillary it falls with you.

I don't think you know what your talking about. I don't think you know who Hillary is and you should take a closer look and be a bit more positive and your arguement would have been more convincing if you were less negative.

YES, ALL TALK AND NO STEAM TO BACK UP THOSE WORDS... GET A NEW JOB!!!

Who really cares about your views on politics with comments like that???

GO back to your housework!

I read your post and seen your comments on Hillary Clinton. I think she knows who she is and people need to give her more credit due then people like you. Perhaps Ms. Newreporter coming off as a know it all.. perhaps the problem doesn't fall with Hillary it falls with you.

I don't think you know what your talking about. I don't think you know who Hillary is and you should take a closer look and be a bit more positive and your arguement would have been more convincing if you were less negative.

YES, ALL TALK AND NO STEAM TO BACK UP THOSE WORDS... GET A NEW JOB!!!

Who really cares about your views on politics with comments like that???

GO back to your housework!

Sally, who are you to judge Hillary or anyone else for that matter? You have some nerve. The most judgmental folks are the ones with the most skeletons in their closet. You're obviously an Obama fan. Why can't you leave the private affairs of people private. Leave folks their dignity. Judge not lest ye be judged, Sally!

I find it odd for Sally Quinn to attempt to take the moral high ground in critizing Hillary for sticking with her husband through good and bad. In affairs of the heart nothing is clear cut. Just ask Ann Bradlee.

I do NOT want my daughter to be a HILLARY.

Very good balanced article. You hit the 'nail on the head'. It's really unfortunate that the political process is such that candidates have to lie their way into winning. In fact it is precisely these flaws that in my mind disqualifies one from ascending to the highest public office of this land.

She could have left, she did not. What could not be clearer is the Clintons' demonstration that marriage is a contractual relationship -- in their case, the consideration was, and is, political power and political office. Bill's infidelity provided her with more sympathy than scorn, and helped her retain the image of "victim" -- rather than bagwoman for illegal campaign contributions or business deals -- and access to tremendous political assets. It was wonderful cover for her ambition and drive toward political power and future campaigns for Senate and the ultimate prize. Her loyalty brought him an intact marriage, of sorts, and substantial defense against the attacks of his political opponents and his accusers. Interestingly, the "faith-based" aspect of marriage are irrelevant to the Clintons' marriage - and irrelevant to this fine article.

She could have left, she did not. What could not be clearer is the Clintons' demonstration that marriage is a contractual relationship -- in their case, the consideration was, and is, political power and political office. Bill's infidelity provided her with more sympathy than scorn, and helped her retain the image of "victim" -- rather than bagwoman for illegal campaign contributions or business deals -- and access to tremendous political assets. It was wonderful cover for her ambition and drive toward political power and future campaigns for Senate and the ultimate prize. Her loyalty brought him an intact marriage, of sorts, and substantial defense against the attacks of his political opponents and his accusers. Interestingly, the "faith-based" aspect of marriage are irrelevant to the Clintons' marriage - and irrelevant to this fine article.

Thank you Sally for getting to the core.

Sally:

You nailed it perfectly. Although I have always voted for a Clinton on a ballot, the hypocrisy Hillary displays in her comments about Jeremiah Wright are amazing, and they have now lost my vote. She did pick her husband and she did not throw him out despite knowing who and what he was through all of these episodes.

Also, since this is the wonderful On Faith site, I just want to add that while Barack has distanced himself from Rev. Wright, he has not walked away from the UCC. For those who research the UCC, they will find that it is a progressive, open Christian denomination that is often a refuge for those who have become frustrated with the dogma and self-serving behavior of other traditions--both Protestant and Catholic.

Thank you for these remarks and for everyone who has come together to give us On Faith.

WeddingVows?:

I categorically object to your post. Is this not supposed to be a faith based site? Did I incorrectly learn in Sunday school that wedding vows are a contract in front of God. There is no out clause for adultery.

***Did your Sunday school teach you the part of the Bible that says: THOU SHALT NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS AGAINST THY NEIGHBOR? Fact is, they probably told THOUSANDS of calculated, bald-faced LIES during their administration. Get the picture yet, "WeddingVows"?

It is SO gratifying to see liberals FINALLY coming to grips with the Clintons and their selfishness and ruthlessness. My only question is: WHAT THE HELL TOOK YOU SO LONG? MANY OF US OUT HERE RECOGNIZED THESE PATHOLOGICAL TRAITS back in 1991 in the infamous "60 Minutes" interview.

Oh well...better late than never I guess 8-)

I categorically object to your post. Is this not supposed to be a faith based site? Did I incorrectly learn in Sunday school that wedding vows are a contract in front of God. There is no out clause for adultery. Sticking with Bill was a personal choice for HRC. Whatever her motivations it is highly irresponsible and Un-Christian of you to judge someone for doing exactly what she promised in front of her community and before God. Without being judgmental, I feel like you have committed a greater hypocrisy than what you are accusing Senator Clinton.

You're the last one who should be lecturing anyone on morals and marriage. Have you no sense of shame?

Please everyone remember that on policy issues, there is very little difference between the democratic candidates.

Hillary wasn't that bad until she:

- Broke agreement in Florida and Michigan.
- Lied about supporting NAFTA.
- Started pandering to the poor and uneducated.
- Lied about sniper fire - at this point, you thought she'd say or do anything to get elected.
- Went negative (3am, muslim, shame on you, etc) - same old divisive Washington politics.
- Wants to obliterate whole countries now..
- Mismanaged campaign and campaign funds

She is no good for this country, and almost persona non-grata-borderline-despicable personality. She has to drop out now. No Vice President nod, no nothing. Write books, build your library, make speeches, make a fortune and watch someone else who knows how to run an organization run the country.

Hillary claims that she believed Bill's finger-wagging denial of the Lewinsky affair and had no clue he was lying until shortly before the first of his botched apologies. Long after most of America knew he was lying. (And none of us was living with him/strategizing with him/prepping his testimony, etc.)

So Hillary was either a dupe or a liar. Which qualifies her more to be President?

When Bill Clinton was President I became aware that the dislike toward him was not policy driven but visceral and bone deep. I thought it would be good for some perceptive author to write about and explain this after he left office and the dust had settled. As I have watched the performances of both of them in this campaign, I have started to understand why Republicans had these attitudes towards them. It was there all the time but many like myself could not (or would not) see it.

She laid down with a dog named Clinton, and now she is justly covered with fleas!

Sally- This is a wonderful essay of the problem many Americans had with Bill Clinton for 8 years, and why many will never see him as a great President---his character. You neglected to mention that all of those accusing women were active Clinton supporters, making their accusations very credible and their "punishments" all the more sinister.

I'm a former Republican who voted for Bush twice and never voted for Bill Clinton. But I am actively supporting Barack Obama now.

I'm only sorry Sally that you and others in your opinion-maker circle didn't call it this way in the 1990s as it was occurring. If you had, maybe the Clintons wouldn't still be able to dismiss it all as part of some "vast right-wing conspiracy". It was Newsweek after all, that spiked Michael Isikoff's Lewinsky story until Matt Drudge leaked it.

Look, it's not that I don't agree with this post in many ways, but everyone needs to quit bringing up Kathleen Willey's story without mentioning that she LIED TO FEDERAL INVESTIGATORS and admitted it when her friend wouldn't back up her story. Willey is a perjuror.

Move on, indeed. Just as Obama has, I condemn and
repudiate Jeremiah Wright's hate speech, even though I understand why he feels the way he does and quite likely, would feel the same way.
But for all those sanctimonious souls who say Obama should have left the church, why didn't every Catholic leave the church when its pedophile
priests were exposed and the mother church continued to deny the victims and gave the abusers safe harbor? Hillary is such a creature of politics--she knows what fears and prejudices within the electorate she can tap into just as she knows that Jeremiah Wright's "hate speech" just gave cover for the racists within the party.
Of course she stayed with Bill, but then more abused spouses stay in the relationship than have the guts to leave--the "folk" can relate to her, "workin' class, stand-by-your-man gal she that she is.

Everything you've written is true.

When will you acknowledge the Post's role in supporting and enabling it to happen?

I think I love you for this posting.

Strange that you should be writting about this in such a fulsome manner. I suppose your position on Senator Clinton's is somewhat coloured by having been the other women in the original Bradley marriage and succeeded in marrying Mr. Bradley after the affair. However, that does not explain the stridency in your tone...

Thank you for finally getting the truth out there. Knowing this history,it is stunning that feminists still support her.

A feminist is someone who is in a relationship that is based on respect and trust----what happens in the home is more important to the feminist cause than what happens in the work place. It teaches our children about self worth, equality and love---- and when to stay and when to go!

Thanks Sally - she chose to stay, she chose to enable and trash other women to further her own nest, I am so glad the majority of those who have voted in this primary have chosen to say "Enough!".

The only state left that can hurt our party is the Clinton state of denial.

Thank goodness! Thank you for writing this. This is THE reason that as a woman, a lifelong Democrat, and a supporter of women's rights, I will not support Hillary Clinton. Mrs. Clinton is a classic example of an abused woman and in my more charitable moments, I feel sorry for her. If she truly had struck out on her own and protected her child, I might have more respect for her. As it is, my charitable moments are fewer and fewer and I would never vote for someone I cannot respect. I am an enthusiastic and hopeful supporter of Senator Barack Obama.

thank you, Sally, for laying this out so clearly. the biggest mystery, for me, is why liberals maintain this strange love affair with the clintons who are, to my eyes, a repeat adulterer and his blindly supportive wife. neither plays well with me, a midwestern democrat who wants to believe that a strong feminist woman can find the gumption to stand up to a husband like bill and start a new life without him.

thank you, Sally, for laying this out so clearly. the biggest mystery, for me, is why liberals maintain this strange love affair with the clintons who are, to my eyes, a repeat adulterer and his blindly supportive wife. neither plays well with me, a midwestern democrat who wants to believe that a strong feminist woman can find the gumption to stand up to a husband like bill and start a new life without him.

Thank you Sally, for a frank and honest piece. As a former strong Clinton supporter, I have become very disillusioned with both of them through this campaign. This "say anything/do anything" to win attitude is cynical and destructive. Her indefagitable will to win, may have been admirable if she was an athelete...but shes not, shes trying to be the leader of the free world. And isnt that what characterized Karl Rove and the Bush Presidency. If democrats were being honest with themselves,i think they would acknowledge the clintons are simply the left wing version of that campaign.

This article gets it right. In Hillary Clinton's defense, it is common for those who are constantly attacked to come to imitate their attackers. She responded to those who used the "politics of personal destruction" by adopting the same tactics. But I don't think her victim status in the past justifies her decision to become a victimizer herself.

Some folks who have had affairs with married people are decent people. Some folks make their money. Some marry it. In any case, accusing others of being trashy is not classy.

Wow. This is one of the best summaries of the Clinton dynasty I've ever read.

The essence of Hillary Clinton's moral failing is not that she elected to stay with Bill. That decision was her choice about her present and future. Instead, the gigantic moral failing was Hillary Clinton's willingness to destroy other people to protect Bill from the consequences of his own failings and quite likely illegal behaviors (such as sexual harassment, rape, coercion, etc).

Hillary Clinton's major moral failing in her White House years has several significant consequences. It undercuts her claim to be a standard bearer for feminism and for women, since she trashed women who claimed basic rights in favor of her husbands abuse of those women. Her moral failing in the White House revealed a narcissism and unbridled hunger for power, which we've seen in this campaign in her willingnees to say or do practically anything to win, without regard for how it hurt her party or her party's core constituencies. And Hillary Clinton's moral failing on the issue of Bill Clinton's likely crimes of sexual harassment and abuse is completely parallel to her moral failing on health care reform in 1993 (her own ego triumphed over the policy goal) and her gigantic failure in 2002 to oppose the Iraq War.

On the Democrats' side, Hillary Clinton's failings should have disqualified her long ago as a viable candidate. And on the Republican . . . saints of Willie Horton be praised, lordy, lordy, you ain't seen nothing yet if you somehow get to see a Republican campaign against Hillary Clinton. There isn't as much mud in the Mississippi River as would be plastered on the head of Hillary Clinton.

Joe

I suppose we can all look for a new chapter in the Clinton soar opera in 2009! Free from round the clock coverage, Bill could succumb to a fresh bimbo eruption! May be Hillary will get up and leave, and redeem herself by carrying water for Obama, to get his health care initiatives through the Senate.
But if Obama loses, which cannot be ruled out, look for Billary to start Hillary'2012!

This was the dumbest thing I've ever read.

Boy, did this article sure get yanked off the On Faith home page pretty quick. Interesting.

Wonderfully written...I've been waiting months for someone in the Democratic Party to have the backbone to say this. The myth that Obama is the weaker candidate is "the biggest fairy tale" of this season, and the sooner we can get this couple off the stage the better. Rove & Co. are crying, just a little, tonight, but then that's another kind of nostalgia.

Tabloid government was and is a disaster. Only Georgieboy could have made all these sad Boomers nostalgic!

Thank you, Sally, for the public service.

Wonderfully written...I've been waiting months for someone in the Democratic Party to have the backbone to say this. The myth that Obama is the weaker candidate is "the biggest fairy tale" of this season, and the sooner we can get this couple off the stage the better. Rove & Co. are crying, just a little, tonight, but then that's another kind of nostalgia.

Tabloid government was and is a disaster. Only Georgieboy could have made all these sad Boomers nostalgic!

Thank you, Sally, for the public service.

Thank you for a spot on article. I used to be such fans of the Clintons and it truly saddens me to see what they have become or what they have always been.

Wonderfully written...I've been waiting months for someone in the Democratic Party to have the backbone to say this. The myth that Obama is the weaker candidate is "the biggest fairy tale" of this season, and the sooner we can get this couple off the stage the better. Rove & Co. are crying, just a little, tonight, but then that's another kind of nostalgia.

Tabloid government was and is a disaster. Only Georgieboy could have made all these sad Boomers nostalgic!

Thank you, Sally, for the public service.

Wonderfully written...I've been waiting months for someone in the Democratic Party to have the backbone to say this. The myth that Obama is the weaker candidate is "the biggest fairy tale" of this season, and the sooner we can get this couple off the stage the better. Rove & Co. are crying, just a little, tonight, but then that's another kind of nostalgia.

Tabloid government was and is a disaster. Only Georgieboy could have made all these sad Boomers nostalgic!

Thank you, Sally, for the public service.

Wonderfully written...I've been waiting months for someone in the Democratic Party to have the backbone to say this. The myth that Obama is the weaker candidate is "the biggest fairy tale" of this season, and the sooner we can get this couple off the stage the better. Rove & Co. are crying, just a little, tonight, but then that's another kind of nostalgia.

Tabloid government was and is a disaster. Only Georgieboy could have made all these sad Boomers nostalgic!

Thank you, Sally, for the public service.

Wonderfully written...I've been waiting months for someone in the Democratic Party to have the backbone to say this. The myth that Obama is the weaker candidate is "the biggest fairy tale" of this season, and the sooner we can get this couple off the stage the better. Rove & Co. are crying tonight--bet on it.

Tabloid government was and is a disaster. Only Georgieboy could have made all these sad Boomers nostalgic!

Thank you, Sally, for the public service.

What does this vilification of a couple with marital problems have to do with faith? What does an anti-Hillary screed have to do with the mission of the "On Faith" forum?

The Clintons are in a class of their own and have no business being anywhere near the seat of power and authority.

Good article. Is this really the WP that I'm reading? Contrary to your assertion, Ms. Quinn, where was the press 10 years ago? Lionizing Hillary for her toughness for sticking with Bill during the impeachment fiasco.

Short memories,have we.

Thank you for saying what I've been thinking. Hillary stayed with a man who said to the American public, 'I did not have sex with that woman.' He lied. Yet now Hillary thinks she should be POTUS. Should we assume that since she has a 30+ year relationship with a man who lied to the American people, that she too will do the same? Absurd, I know. But this is what Obama has been hearing about Wright.

Why didn't he leave the church after 20 years? Why didn't Hillary leave Bill after 30 years? Because relationships are complex and multi-dimensional...not simplistic as the media would have you believe.

Sally, all I want to say thank you. From my heart I would like a woman as my president but not this woman, not this family.

two words: YOU + ROCK

thanks!

Well, she *did* take an solemn vow before God to stay with her husband as long as they both shall live. Richer, poorer; sickness, health; etc.

I won't say that I could have done it myself in that situation, but I wouldn't castigate her for upholding her marriage vows.

We'd probably be better off in this country if *more* people would take marriage that seriously.

Clintons are very immoral people. They influenced younger generations the wrong way. Besiedes, they were never able to govern properly. Their time is over. And I truly can't understand people, who cast their votes for Mrs. Clinton.

This is sooooooooooooooo lame: "Besides, Barack Obama completely broke off his relationship with Wright"
... Obama didn't break off his 20+ year relationship with Wright until Wright refused to "white-wash" his rhetoric for the general public ... this is the stuff Obama was listening to for 20+ years.
And Sally ... you can't compare a husband to a minister ... one would think you would know that!

Sally: You hit the nail right on the head. You have to give full credit to Hillary for being such a cold, calculating, do-anything politician. She is not someone who would allow, morality, the truth, honor, humiliation, husband's philandering, embarassment, or any other trait from achieving her ultimate dream of the Presidency of the United States.

This is an apt analogy. But what is good for Obama is not turnabout for Hillary. She is given carte blanche for hypocrisy by the media, because she owns them. It could well be that the Clinton campaign has dirt on major editors that they routinely blackmail them with to get the spin they want. It's the only explanation for how she seems to control them even when every shred of reality says they should be calling her on things.

I am an Obama supporter and now understand the narcissism of Jeremiah Wright But this is too much of a polemic against Hillary Clinton - folks can be stuck with each other in the institution of marriage for all kinds of reasons, some not so good. However, it is intensely personal and not to be judged in this way.

This was a very well written article. For the life of me I can't understand why Mrs. Clinton is even running for president. If I were her I would have a new identity by now. Also, that was so true about Chelsea being totally humiliated. The world should know that the Clintons are not above lying about any and everything.

You need to retract your claws Sally. Your shredding of Hillary was obviously commentary not journalism.Actually it was extremely personal.What journalism school did you attend?

You need to retract your claws Sally. Your shredding of Hillary was obviously commentary not journalism.Actually it was extremely personal.What journalism school did you attend?

Brava, Sally. She had the choice, but ambition ruled. You called it just right.

Thanks for the article. This was probably the clearest analysis of the Clintons I've ever read in the Post. She didn't leave Bill because he was her ticket to higher office. It was naked ambition, pure and simple.

America IS ready for a black or female or female black president. Just not either of these two hopeless twits.

Wow! Wow Wow! Your article is totally correct and on point. What makes this article different is that its not opinion or conjecture its fact!

You are absolutely right. She should have gotten up and walked out of the White House.

What has bothered me from the beginning is Bill Clinton's role. I agree that she should not have stuck by her man, not after episode after episode.

What has scared me from the beginning is his role if she were to win. She's already shown that she's a wimp (just by standing by him before) when it comes to him. Does anyone really believe that he won't be the Cheney in this administration? She says she won't give him a job in the White House...but what about 3 a.m. when the phone is ringing?

Keep on her case, Ms. Quinn. You've struck a chord with many of us. And I'm a member of that "older woman" base that she supposedly has.

This article speaks the truth! The Clintons are low class, ruthless hypocrites who will do anything to win. And the reason their marriage survives is because they are just alike - unethical and overly ambitious. What normal woman would stay with a man who has repeatedly and publicly disrespected her with his extramarital affairs?

I find the fact that Hillary went on O'Reilly's show also to be disgusting. O'Reilly has spoken of her in the most hateful and disrespectful terms, yet she pandered to him too.

And the Clintons have also revealed themselves to be the sleaze they are by dropping their most dedicated constituency (blacks) to pander to the lower class whites who traditionally are anti-black. I assume that their plan is to return to their black followers after they have successfully bamboozled the lower class whites they deem critical to Hillary's success.

And sadly it all works in America because we are not ready for a black man to be president whether his name is Barack Obama or Barry Smith. And the media is largely at fault for this.

>

Looks like Obama will take NC and Clinton Indiana.

Tell me this isn't racist voting.

Only its ok for the black racists to vote skin color.