Bill Clinton's Rough Day on the Trail...Politico

[KoKo]

Last edited Sat May 14, 2016, 12:52 PM - Edit history (1)

Bill Clinton's Rough Day on the Trail

Friday the 13th was an unlucky date for the former president.

By Annie Karni

05/13/16 07:32 PM EDT

PATERSON, N.J. — Bill Clinton’s name was splashed across the front page of the New York Post Friday morning. “Blonde Bombshell,” the sneering headline read, detailing how the former president steered $2 million of Clinton Global Initiative funds to a company of a very attractive “friend.”

He was more than an hour late to a rally at Passaic County Community College in Paterson, New Jersey, because he got stuck behind a truck accident on the Tappan Zee Bridge.

And when he finally arrived at the organizing event where he dutifully touted his wife’s record and the significance of winning the June 7 New Jersey primary, he was heckled by a Bernie Sanders supporter for his passage of the 1994 crime bill.

“Why did you put more people in prison?" the heckler yelled out from the crowd.

It wasn’t an easy day — and it hasn’t been a smooth ride — for the Big Dog. Over the past few months, Bill Clinton has kept up a frenetic, cross-country campaign schedule almost as packed as Hillary Clinton’s. Along the way, he’s drawn huge crowds in small towns unaccustomed to seeing a former leader of the free world. But he also has been criticized for having lost his "magic" on the stump, knocked by loyal foot soldiers for talking more about his own record than about his wife, and left by his wife’s campaign to defend himself against a steady drumbeat of criticism of the 1994 crime bill, a significant part of his legacy. He’s also emerged as a prime target for Donald Trump, who has branded him an "abuser" of women.

Yet for all his drawbacks, Clinton is still viewed by his wife’s campaign as an inimitable surrogate, one who allies believe will be second only to President Barack Obama in his ability to get out the Democratic vote in a general election.

-------------

Despite his downsides, he remains a critical surrogate in a state like New Jersey, where Clinton allies want to end primary season with a decisive victory. “We have to win convincingly enough in New Jersey and California that all but the most extreme Sanders voters will say, ‘We lost fair and square,’” Rendell said. “If we lose, the Sanders people will say, ‘It was stolen from us, we had all the momentum.’”

-----------

But as Clinton took the stage Friday in New Jersey, his foundation was busy putting out fires. The foundation pushed back on the report that the Clinton Global Initiative had awarded money to a for-profit company that was part-owned by a Clinton friend, saying the original Wall Street Journal report — the one that sparked the tabloid headlines — “misleads readers.”

-------------

Clinton did not address the unflattering headlines. Instead, he tried to find a bright side to the ragged day. “I left right on time and a truck fell over on the Tappan Zee Bridge,” he explained to the crowd. “But if you go over the Tappan Zee, you see our biggest new construction project, the new Tappan Zee — that’s what we need in America.”

Continued at:

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/bill-clinton-new-jersey-campaign-223178

[TheCowsCameHome]

1. He's not helping.

[KoKo]

3. I wonder if many aren't waking up that he is running with Hillary

for what will be a Co-Presidency. Hillary did say in Kentucky that she wanted "Bill to come out of retirement." Odd thing is that he's been Campaigning in States since she declared her run. So he's hardly been in "Retirement" in the traditional sense.

[H2O Man]

5. Right

[CrispyQ]

6. Her comment about putting Bill in charge of trade agreements cuz he's so good at it

almost made me retch. But on DU you will read that she will have her own administration & govern to the left of Obama.

[Faux pas]

2. Kickin'

[politicaljunkie41910]

4. I guess no one bothered to tell that stupid Bernie Supporter

that Bernie also voted for the 1994 Crime Bill. I guess the Bernie Bros are too young to remember, and too stupid to Google it. This is getting to be annoying. No wonder they can't deliver the Revolution Bernie so desperately needed. Can they even spell REVOLUTION?

The fact that the RW tabloid The New York Post prints this kind of trash doesn't surprise me. But I thought Bernie's Bros were college students who could at least read about these things before they make an ass out of themselves.

[pinebox]

7. Nice ageism

Keeping it classy, huh?

We thought HillBots were old enough to tell the difference between right & wrong. Integrity vs weak sauce.
You know, FBI investigations, border fences, dirty weapon deals, Honduras, you know, reality.