The Biden candidacy leak and Clinton hatred

First, yes, such a thing as Clinton hatred exists, and not just among wingnuts.

Maureen Dowd

One primary residence it occupies is 620 Eighth Avenue in New York City, where, since 1992 (if not earlier), a bottled redhead op-ed columnist has maintained an intense hatred for All Things Clinton.

As lined out in detail by Politico, Joe Biden became, in essence, "his own leaker" to the New York Times about his possible presidential campaign. And, that bottled redhead, Maureen Dowd, took the bait and ran.

Per Politico and others noting this might undercut the image of Biden's emotional authenticity, I thought at the time of the leak that Biden's angling for the presidency was a bit creepy, on using emotions over his son's dying. Now, there's this add-on. The general public may not take note, but Democratic insiders will. This is starting to sound like the 1998 plagiarizer Biden. (And, as for me? This makes me, if anything, less likely to vote for Biden than Clinton. Not that I'll be voting for either one any time soon, either in Dem primaries or the general.)

Beyond that, not just in leaking in general, but in going straight to Dowd, Biden knew exactly what he was doing. He knew that Dowd bats vaguely liberal, is at "the paper of record," and has a lot of Democratic inside baseball followers. It was quite coldly calculating. Hell, maybe the dying Beau suggested it, Joe?

But, let's go back to MoJo Dowd.

As for her? The venom oozes. Here’s a sample:

Two controlling superstars with mutable hair and militant fans, married to two magnetic superstars who can make a gazillion an hour for flashing their faces and who have been known to stir up trouble. 

A pair of team captains craving a championship doing something surreptitious that they never needed to do to win. 

It turns out Tom Brady and Hillary Clinton have more in common than you would think.

This reminds me of a girls’ high school PE locker room fight, where the women fight more viciously than the men ever would.

Then, there’s the political bank shot that follows:

Many Democrats fret that she seems more impatient than hungry, more cautious than charismatic. They are increasingly concerned that, aside from the very liberal Bernie Sanders, who could be approaching his ceiling in the early states, there is no backup if something blows up.

We can’t have Bernie … so who?

She says Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has been asked … and passed.

She them moves on from him to casually name drop the Vice President of the United States.

I seriously think the only thing that will satisfy her is the death of Bill and Hillary Clinton, or at least Hillary. Given that Biden, as Senate Judiciary chairman, made a total hash of the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings, somewhat throwing Anita Hill, and totally throwing other would-be but uncalled witnesses, under the bus, to do Biden a solid is anti-feminist.

As for Joe Biden? He's a lawyer; he knows the legal disbarment from using the unimpeachable words of a dying man, which is exactly why he included Beau's alleged "stop the Clintons at all costs" comments.

Note that I said "alleged." Beau Biden was a dying man, now dead; he can't be impeached or cross-examined to ask if he actually said that. Convenient, no?

For that matter, and to riff on Maureen Dowd, how much does Joe himself dislike the Clintons? Even if he doesn't run, he's stuck a nice shiv in the backs of both, and his hint of running put at least some Clinton fundraising on hold.

I'm sure he has no especial love for Bernie Sanders, but he could be hoping this helps Martin O'Malley.