Tuesday, January 17, 2006
The Latest GOP Anti-Clinton FauxGate Attempt...
...is to pretend that Hillary Clinton said something wrong and naughty when she -- in front of an enthusiastic Harlem crowd -- likened the GOP House to a plantation where dissent is not allowed. (Of course, no actual descendants of former slaves had any problem with her comments; in fact, Al Sharpton good-humoredly accused her of lifting the idea from his 2004 presidential campaign speeches.) If the word "plantation" is the problem, guess what? Republicans have referred to an imaginary "liberal plantation" for over a decade now. Think Progress has already found the Newt Gingrich citation. And I remember George Will and his conservative buddies invoking this mythical "liberal plantation" many times back in the 1990s. (Just Google GEORGE WILL LIBERAL PLANTATION -- or click here.)
Note: "FauxGate" is my term for the fake scandals that the GOP/Media Axis love to pin on Democrats, especially those with the arrogance to win elections. Remember the "Clinton scandals" of the 1990s? Whitewater, Wen Ho Lee, TravelGate, HaircutGate? FauxGates, every one of them.
Nowadays, in order to distract from the very real Republican scandals -- Iraq, Frist, Abramoff, DeLay, Cunningham, TreasonGate, WiretapGate, MedicareGate, etc., etc. -- the GOP and their fellow travelers in the press scurry to invent FauxGates targeting Democrats.
Lately, the FauxGates have featured Howard Dean or John Murtha. But, in a sign that the GOP is nostalgic for the '90s just like everyone else, this week's FauxGate features Hillary Clinton.
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