To Republicans, Hillary Clinton is the gift that keeps on giving. But Democrats? They want her to go back to the woods and stay there—something Clinton is clearly not going to do.
With just weeks left until the midterm elections, calls by Democrats for her to pack it up and head into obscurity are increasing, which, unfortunately for them, comes at a time when both Bill and Hillary have decided a six-month speaking tour is exactly what the country needs.
Visiting 13 cities between November and May 2019, the Clintons’ speaking engagements will focus on "stories and inspiring anecdotes that shaped their historic careers in public service, while also discussing issues of the day and looking toward the future," according to Live Nation, the tour's organizer.
But Hillary’s been making headlines lately even before the official tour kicks off—just recently she really did a number for the #MeToo movement when she insisted Bill’s affair with 22-year-old intern Monica Lewinsky was not an abuse of power because she was an adult. And as Guy reminded us in the wake of those comments, there was a lot more corroborating evidence against him than anything thrown at Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Then, in a cringeworthy interview with CNN, the former secretary of state actually came out in favor of incivility toward Republicans, stating: "you cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for, what you care about." Only if Democrats win back the House and/or the Senate can civility start again, she explained. "Until then, the only thing that the Republicans seem to recognize and respect is strength," she added.
Sen. Bill Cassidy reminded Clinton what this incivility towards Republicans has actually looked like in practice.
At a time when Republicans are being shot, stabbed, doxxed, beaten, mailed powder, run out of restaurants, and sent death threats, Hillary Clinton urges Democrats to be even more uncivil. What an irresponsible statement. Every Democrat should denounce. pic.twitter.com/TdEmISWnzM
— U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (@SenBillCassidy) October 9, 2018
Thus, it’s in this context that Democrats have been begging her this week to just get out of the limelight—for good.
A column in The Daily Beast titled “Dear God, Hillary Clinton. Please, Just Go,” calls on Clinton in no uncertain terms to exit stage left.
We’re three weeks out from the 2018 midterm election, and Hillary Clinton is popping up again like a Halloween ghoul who keeps rising from the grave to terrorize the American public; only this time accompanied by the increasingly #MeToo burdened uber-villain, Bubba. [...]
Hillary’s continual pursuit of limelight and headlines ensures that the image of the Democratic Party remains an outdated, outmoded, and frankly despicable for far too many voters. This comes at a time when leading Democrats are attempting to focus voters’ attention on the future—2020, and beating Trump—and jostling for the role as the new party leader.
It also undercuts Democrats’ positioning as the only party that really cares about #MeToo and that will fight for survivors…. […]
Zombie movies for Halloween are fun. But whether you’re a Democrat, a Republican, or neither, there’s only so much zombie politics you can take. That’s what the Clintons essentially offer now—a brain-devouring, egocentric version of Democrat-ism lurching and festering onward, seemingly endlessly.
A New York Times editorial board member wrote an op-ed arguing that Democrats may need an intervention “before she further complicates life for her fellow Democrats.”
And finally, Democrat Marie Harf admitted she’s not doing the party any favors by sticking around.
“I take no happiness in saying this, but yes … I think she has become a distraction,” the co-host of Benson & Harf told Fox News’s Martha MacCallum. “If her goal is to help the Democratic Party, the media tour, the comments particularly about 'Me Too' and sexual assault, it's just not helping. It’s a distraction at a time, what, 19 days out from the midterms? Democratic candidates are looking to the future, not the past and she is the past."
Ouch.