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ENDORSEMENTS OF SPITE?
One vaguely wonders whether Ted Kennedy and Chris Dodd eventually came out for Obama out of pique at Clinton's habit of laying claim to their legislative accomplishments. We already know Kennedy was irked at Clinton's attempts to take the credit for S-CHIP, which he was the prime mover behind, and now comes further evidence that the Family and Medical Leave Act, another product of the Dodd-Kennedy duo which Clinton takes credit for, had nothing to do with her. Her site talks abut her experience "Helping to pass the Family and Medical Leave Act," but her newly released records show that she never held a meeting or hearing on the bill. And given that Bill Clinton signed the FMLA 10 days after he entered office, it's a bit hard to see what role she could have played.
COMMENTS (10)
Bill Clinton's been claiming FMLA as one of his great accomplishments for years and it was never a problem for anyone. Most of the country attributes FMLA to Bill. Kennedy/Dodd are going to have a hard time undoing the last 16 years of allowing a Clinton to take credit for it.
Hillary, though, should stop making such easily disproven claims; in addition to being, you know, wrong, it's just another example of dumb political moves in a campaign seemingly built on them.
Posted by: Stephen | March 20, 2008 10:40 AM
Agreed on Kennedy endorsing Obama out of spite. The Kennedys were furious that Clinton gave LBJ more credit for civil rights than JFK.
Posted by: indie | March 20, 2008 10:51 AM
Look, this is Washington DC, not As The World Turns (or Beverly Hills 90210); it's entrely possible that Dodd and Kennedy endorsed Obama for the reason many people support him 0 because he's inspiring, and they believe he can make a difference. Geez, must we use everything as an excuse to denigrate one over the other?
Posted by: weboy | March 20, 2008 11:24 AM
Funny how Kennedy used to say that SCHIP wouldn't have been a possibility without Clinton before he started shilling for Obama...
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Oct. 6, 2007: "The children's health program wouldn't be in existence today if we didn't have Hillary pushing for it from the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue."
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/giving_hillary_credit_for_schip.html
Posted by: littlgnyc | March 20, 2008 11:37 AM
It'd be nice if someone would just make it clear that most of HRC's experience was most likely as a sort of in-house Lobbyist-in-Chief, which would explain why she defended the breed at Yearly Kos last year, and would also save her from the accountability questions, since lobbyists are generally pretty shadowy participants in the process. My guess is that it wouldn't dissuade her supporters , because they don't seem to have any problems with the lobbyist-driven system, and those who don't support her at this point already know that more of the same's in store should she win.
Posted by: latts | March 20, 2008 11:41 AM
Hillary is liar... A flat out liar.. That's it.. She lied about NAFTA, S-CHIP, FMLA, her her role with the Irish peace talks (her schedule says she was touring in Africa at the time), and Bosina (on a trip with Sinbad).
Posted by: Ann | March 20, 2008 12:25 PM
So it's fine that our politicians endorse out of spite? Yeah, that seems like a step in the right direction for a new kind of politics.
Posted by: Julene | March 20, 2008 1:16 PM
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/giving_hillary_credit_for_schip.html
reposted to spite Ezra!
(see what I did there?)
Posted by: willyjsimmons | March 20, 2008 2:04 PM
The Clinton vs Kennedy feud is bigger than S-CHIP. It is partially about "who" the leading Democratic family is.
If Hillary were able to win the presidency, the Clintons would surely replace the Kennedys as the Democratic first family and take over the role of "patriarch/matriarch" that had long been Ted Kennedy's and the Kennedy family.
Posted by: skeptic | March 20, 2008 3:15 PM
Fat lot of good the Kennedy endorsement did for Obie in MA since Billary won there. And it does seem that Kennedy was driven by his hefty ego.
Posted by: Hyannispit | March 21, 2008 12:47 AM