What's important?

[Grendel]

Yesterday, about 11,000 pages worth of Hillary Clinton's daily schedules from her White House years were released to the public. Now, for someone who prides herself on her experience from these years, having an account of what she actually did is certainly worthy of some attention.

One of the first "stories" to emerge, however, was this--rather slimy, in my opinion--bit of connect-the-dots, cross referencing (http://http://www.newsweek.com/id/124286/page/1) the first lady's whereabouts on all the dates when Bill Clinton was having sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky.

(The lead? "Hillary Rodham Clinton was in the White House on a half dozen days when her husband had sexual encounters with Monica Lewinsky, according to the first lady's calendars released Wednesday.")

I realize salaciousness sells (I loved how they took care to include the specific detail "oral sex" when they could), but after 12+ years, is this even titillating, anymore? Member(s) of an news agency actually took the time to get all the relevant dates and details from the Starr Report to get this together overnight.

Is there any value to "journalism" such as this, in terms of an election?

What would you like to see the press devote their time to digging into?

[Luris Blear]

Well, it does seem vaguely important.

If she was in the White House and unable to keep track of one man then how can we entrust 300,000,000 more to her from the same building?

[Searcher]

Well, it does seem vaguely important.

If she was in the White House and unable to keep track of one man then how can we entrust 300,000,000 more to her from the same building?

So you're suggesting she keep a close eye on all of us somehow in order to make sure we don't commit adultry?

I'm about to insult the American public here, but the reason the press will focus on such things is simply because a vast majority of the public want only a soap opra which is easy for their minds to digest.

[RIP]

Well, it does seem vaguely important.

If she was in the White House and unable to keep track of one man then how can we entrust 300,000,000 more to her from the same building?


That's a ridiculous notion Luris and you know it.

[Luris Blear]

Actually, it's not so ridiculous. That's her husband. The man she married. The one person she pledged a lifelong bond to. She should know herself best, Chelsea might get second, but Bubba no lower than third. And he pulled a fast one on her.

Assuming we believe her at her own word, a lot of her campaign staff have been pulling fast ones on her.

So - her cabinet? Congress? Foreign diplomats? Corporations looking for welfare? Who else gets easy access to President Clinton?

[RIP]

Her husband was fucking around on her and that's a reflection on her ability to lead the country?

You cannot be serious LB.

[Driden]

Actually, it's not so ridiculous.

Actually, it is. You fail to realize just how easy it is to cheat. Even if your wife has no friends, never goes out, doesn't have a job guess what? She could easily hit up craigslist and have a man come over while you are working to support her. You could be cooking BBQ on the grill while she's in the backroom with your bestfriend. Point being? you can NEVER prevent cheating, if they are going to do it, they are going to do it no matter what, and someone cheating on YOU has no relection on how good someone is at their job UNLESS her job is a PI or she's some type of spy.

[Dr. Phibes]

What would you like to see the press devote their time to digging into?

I'd like to see the press dig into Hillary's past attempt to nationalize the healthcare system while Bill was president, effectively putting a good per cent of the U.S. economy under federal government control. Sounds a lot like National Socialism to me. Then I'd like to see a poll on how many Americans really think that the federal government is competent to administer national healthcare.

[Searcher]

I'd say the press digs into Hillary care (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=hillary+care&btnG=Google+Search) quite alot.
I'd also say that having a good percent of the U.S. economy under insurance and pharmaceutical company control has turned American health care into a very unfunny joke. I'd like to know how long americans are going to let lobbyists continue to run this country.

[Grendel]

Actually, it's not so ridiculous. That's her husband. The man she married. The one person she pledged a lifelong bond to. She should know herself best, Chelsea might get second, but Bubba no lower than third. And he pulled a fast one on her.If getting hoodwinked by a cheating spouse makes one's judgment questionable, then would being unfaithful and unable to uphold one's oath to a spouse--like McCain--call into question one's ability to adhere to the oath of office?

[Luris Blear]

I never said a thing about McCain being a better candidate. That man has brought a new low to the term "campaign promise." With him on the ticket, the best I can hope to read the 2008 ballot as is "Hips or Lips?"

No, I pretty much mean to say that everyone can apparently hoodwink Hillary. I say this not only because of Bill but because we've spent the last few months hearing about one fired aide after another also doing bad things -- apparently behind her back.

The other alternative is that she knew and is a liar.

This is not a pro-McCain rant. I'm almost certainly voting outside of both our Coke vs Pepsi parties this year thanks in large part to his presence on the Republican ticket. I'm only trying to say the obvious. This woman does not know what is happening.

[Grendel]

No, I pretty much mean to say that everyone can apparently hoodwink Hillary. I say this not only because of Bill but because we've spent the last few months hearing about one fired aide after another also doing bad things -- apparently behind her back.

The other alternative is that she knew and is a liar.

This is not a pro-McCain rant. I'm almost certainly voting outside of both our Coke vs Pepsi parties this year thanks in large part to his presence on the Republican ticket. I'm only trying to say the obvious. This woman does not know what is happening.Marital foibles are one thing, professional ones, an entirely different animal. Whatever anyone gathers from Clinton's behavior during this campaign, it's tough to claim she's naive, by any stretch. If anything, her issue is trying to calculate too many angles.

[Luris Blear]

It's the marital relationship -- her most intimate relationship -- and the professional one. Given the past few months of "I didn't know that my employee/spouse/friend was doing bad things," I want to present really one last hypothetical situation.

President Clinton. Republican Congress.

"I didn't know about those riders to (act against any given Democrat belief)."

"They said they would support me!"

In this situation, I think she has a better chance to carry the Republican platform than McCain.

[Vampire Lestat]

I took Journalism in college and I've worked in the field for a period of time (not anymore), and I'll tell you...it's shit like this that most of the press wants. It's sad but it's true. Journalists with sell their kids to get the best story and right now this is it. I for one don't give a crap about where she was during Bill's flings. Unfortunately a lot of people do care. It's stories like this that over shadow the real and more important stories that are being pushed to the back of the table.

I think the press should be focusing their time on more important things that actually have to do with the world and world changing events. Unfortunately, the majority of the press work like birds in a park. Once the "seeds" fall...they all swoop in together and those one or two members of press that don't won't "those" seeds and choose another get overshadowed and ignored.