When Politico fashions a story out of nothing but old scraps and ascribes their imaginary “shadow campaign” to Hillary, the internet burns up with commentary and articles about articles about the article. The New York Times justifies its assignment of a single reporter to the Hillary Clinton beat with a Sunday Magazine feature, and both the article and the other-worldly cover draw such attention that the reporter, like a moon reflecting the light of the sun, is suddenly a celebrity herself appearing on CNN and C-SPAN and granting a self-congratulatory interview to a New York Times blogger about how she broke through into the Clinton inner circle. Yet when a reasoned analysis of the subject of Hillary’s much maligned and largely unread honors thesis from Wellesley appears in two digestible parts in Forbes, like a tree falling in the forest, not a sound emanates.
I fully expected, upon wading into Ralph Benko’s The Secret Hillary Rodham Clinton, to find yet another right-wing slam complete with name-calling and labels galore. Instead, to my astonishment, I found well-balanced and informative piece with a fair assessment not only of Saul Alinsky but also of the degree to which Hillary’s study of the man, his methods, and his mission impacted her political trajectory.
Links to Hillary’s thesis (a scan of a rough draft) have been available online for years. In his opus, Mr. Benko provides yet another. Not having linked to the hit jobs published by Politico and the NYT, I provide these links without hesitation and dub them my must-reads for the month. You may or may not agree with everything in Mr. Benko’s analysis, but you will find yourself in an atmosphere of intellectual inquiry that has been rare in connection to any piece about Hillary Clinton in many a moon.
This Hillary has been a secret only to the extent that people have not gone on a search for her. We can thank Mr. Benko and Forbes for shining a light here.
Thanks so much for directing me to Mr. Benko’s articles. Thoughtful, wonderful read.
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I’m glad you liked them, Anita!
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Still that is a great find. Thanks so much.
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I too was expecting right-wing insanity, but was pleasantly surprised. Intelligent, thoughtful discussion of Hillary is hard to find from too many sources.
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And such interesting insights into Alinsky who is so often demonized.
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btw, i know this is off-subject, but if anyone here is on twitter, i recommend following eric boehlert of media matters. he’s great about debunking beltway media memes about hillary.
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OT I thought this was sweet http://siouxcityjournal.com/special-section/siouxland_life/bill-and-hillary-and-roger-and-me-remembering-the-good/article_66321839-5a8e-519a-a2c4-003759fdeb80.html
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That was very nice. The “I miss Bill” shirt is something i would have worn often since he left office. Especially on election day at the booths.
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OT:
Just a few weeks ago all the pundits were drooling over that mob boss wannabe in Jersey. They have the smoking gun and he is burnt toast.
http://news.yahoo.com/christie-knew-bridge-lane-closures-ex-official-says-214352437–finance.html
I am used to them imploding after they thow their hat in. He is a first casualty of many. This is going to be a rerun, a second string of clowns. 2012 style.
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There’s more coming. Sandy victims still homeless and funding running out for emergency shelter while $4K+ in Sandy funds were used to complete a high-rise in a community that was not hit hard. Of 278 units, developers are saying 48 will be affordable and offered to Sandy victims. I sense Christie’s fingerprints on this one too, and all the units should be affordable in this case and offered to Sandy victims still in temporary shelter.
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He needed to make commercials with his family too… about how great he is…
That storm hurt my family and friends in NY and they are still feeling it. My best friend finally moved back into her home in October, one year sleeping on an air bed at her daughter’s condo with her 5 cats. She is still having problems – the roof they fixed leaks, etc. So much stuff she will never replace after a lifetime of living there safely. No money left for a new bulkhead either but what can she do? She can’t sell it now. We all worry with every storm now.
Never liked him. Not one bit. Seemed like a big fake to me and he is just that.
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I hear ya. My house was blown apart on one side by the wind. It’s closed up now and the five broken windows replaced but, like a lot of Sandy-hit houses, an unprecedented number of broken pipes this winter, and that is not covered as Sandy-related by anything. So now we have to keep the water running when the temp goes below 20. Today was the first day in weeks that I was able to turn it off. No provisions for covering that larger water bill either, but these developers got all that money to build a high-rise.
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Fyi – Hillary’s letter to Senator Levin about Iran sanctions has been released. I found it through a link on the Huff Post. It’s very thoughtful, and great to see that her insight is still highly regarded and being sought out.
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