Hillary Clinton Slings Some Last-Minute Mud

11 February 2008


On the eve of the Potomac primaries, Hillary Clinton said this about Barack Obama:

"Senator Obama has some questions to answer about his dealings with one of his largest contributors, Exelon, a big nuclear power company. Apparently he cut some deals behind close doors to protect them from full disclosure in the nuclear industry."

First of all, Hillary Clinton co-sponsored the bill she's now referring to.

Second of all, she has also taken sizable contributions from the nuclear power industry (including $68,650 from NRG Energy, who also gave $5 million to the Clinton Global Initiative, and whose chief executive is one of Hillary's "Hillraisers"). So if she's alleging that Obama passed a weak nuclear bill based on campaign contributions, she has the same questions to answer herself. Instead of directly accusing him of any wrongdoing, she merely throws out the idea. This is simple and plain mudslinging. Furthermore, she has once again attacked Obama in an area where she is actually in the weaker position.

So what happened with the nuclear bill? There was initially a radioactive leak in Illinois back in 2006. Nobody was injured or harmed. But in response, Obama co-sponsored a bill with Clinton to toughen regulations on the reporting of leaks. When James Inhofe (R-OK), a crazy person who also happened to be chair of the Environment and Public Works commission, made it clear that the law would not pass as written, Obama revised it so that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission would have to work out the exact reporting requirements.

Where is the impropriety?

Oh, and by the way - this was in response to a question about her income tax returns. After she loaned her campaign $5 million to keep up with Obama's fundraising, she was asked to disclose the source of the money she contributed to her campaign. She still refuses to do so until after she either wins or loses the primaries. Doesn't that completely miss the point?

UPDATE: Clinton has consistently misrepresented Barack Obama's positions throughout the election. She has distorted his ethics reform bill, his position on the PATRIOT Act, his Rezko ties, his "present" votes, his position on abortion, his statements about diplomatic preconditions, and his position on the Iraq war. This is just par for the course.

1 comment:

Sidney Condorcet said...

Even if everything Clinton intimated happened to be accurate, it still would remain small potatoes compared with the fundraising goings on of the Clinton Global Initiative and the Clinton Presidential Library. Millions of dollars from the Saudis? that shouldn't present any inherent problems when it comes time to pursue comprehensive energy reform, right?