". . . some stock trading or something? I don't remember what that was all about."

Accusations only, Kim, nothing proved. The right-wing character assassination team went to work on the Clintons the instant Bill was elected (actually, before) and it didn't let up for a moment. Hillary was especially targeted because she didn't just do "wifely" things like busying herself with redecorating the White House. Knowing her interests and capabilities, Bill asked her to help in developing a health care plan, and she came up with some very good ideas, which, unfortunately, got trashed right from the start. You see, Hillary was (and is) an "uppity woman." That's intolerable!! Also, I think the right-wing is scared s**tless that she might actually run for president someday, so they make it a point to keep dumping on her, just in case.

The right-wing character assassins operate on the principle (or lack thereof) that if someone is accused of something—anything—the public will assume that there must be something to it. In short, "to be accused is to be condemned." The dislike of Hillary that you and many other people have—without being able to pin down a real, specific reason for it—shows that the right-wing character assassination team is very good at what it does.

A very simple (and very mild) example of the kind of thing I'm talking about was the constant drumbeat in the last presidential campaign that "Al Gore is boring!" Al Gore is a very intelligent man (reading any of his books, such as World in the Balance amply demonstrates this, but how many people actually read them?) and he's not particularly flamboyant, but he is definitely not boring. Yet I'm sure that oft repeated epithet affected a sufficient number of unthinking voters to cost him many thousands of votes.

Look for a lot of "put-down" sound-bites and character assassination tactics in the coming campaign. Karl Rove in particular is a master at this, and that's one of his functions in the White House. It's already going on, but it seems a bit diffused right now because with so many Democratic candidates vying for the nomination, the character assassins have to scatter their shots in several directions. It will become very obvious when one candidate is selected and they can really target their venom.

Don't be politically naïve. They count on that.

Don Firth