1) News or opinion page: Since when is opinion relegated to the opinion page?

2) Is it news: Would Barbara Bush humping the help make the front page as news?

Seriously, Sir Charles may not be a role model, but the First Couple are at least supposed to try. Either the POTUS or the First Spouse banging the help is both news and a bad thing. Popularizing oral sex is somebody else’s job…if you get my drift?

When I lived in Aspen a few years back, Bill made a visit and was hitting on EVERYTHING that moved in that town. We all knew it, it was an open topic among the locals (Aspen is to the left of Trotsky, BTW). My wife worked at the hotel where he was staying, and saw his activites up close and personal – needless to say, not surprising in the least.

Add to this the fact that they’ve been leading completely separate lives, including different domiciles (Hillary in upstate, Bill in Harlem), and it’s not a stretch to say that it’s a marriage of convenience at this point. Only a fool would argue otherwise – a zebra doesn’t change its stripes.

“Hillary Clinton – wife of former President Bill Clinton, a womanizer, who lied to a federal grand jury about various episodes of infidelity in his marriage, who had an affair in the Oval Office with a 23 year old female intern, and who was subsequently impeached in the Congress of the United States of America – today announced…”

Do you care if he has? Absolutely not.

Why is it somehow a political benefit for Hillary to stay with him? Because Bill Clinton is beloved by a super-majority of the political left. Not necessarily by the electorate left, but certainly by those who wield power in the Democrat party. And Hillary’s political ambitions are greatly enhanced by her ability to leverage that power – which continuing to have a relationship with Bill gives her.

Do you think they love each other? Don’t know, suspect they do, but fear it is at some sort of non-romantic, utilitarian level.

My point in mentioning Clinton as a positive was that Kurtz says “Will at least some Americans worry about the role that Bill would play in a second Clinton presidency?” I was suggesting it could have been asked “Do most Americans think that Hillary’s policies will reflect that of her husband and thus think the economy will do well?” Or some other such question. All his questions are framed in a negative light. Why not frame them positive? Because then he would be accused of liberal bias? Maybe. But the prism from which it is viewed will be on Bill’s misdeeds, not Hillary’s forgiveness (which, apparently is unfathomable for some of you). Serious discussion indeed.

But, I do want to know how you would answer the following questions:

Do you think Bill has had an affair in the past 10 years?

Do you care if he has?

Why is it somehow a political benefit for Hillary to stay with him? Would it not be much more of a benefit to dump him and start a ‘new life’ or say some other such jingoism? I think THAT would be a much easier political play and wouldn’t stress them the hell out either.

Do you think they love each other? Why is this question not the most important one when discussing this matter? It should be the only important question.

Perhaps we should have more speculative pieces about the relationship troubles between the President and his father? How about 3000 words about their troubled relationship and how the Presidents quest to avoid his fathers mistakes have led him to fall into many new ones. Sure it would be speculative and based on rumor and innuendo, but then again so was the hit piece on Clintons marriage.

Well, Catch22, there have been many speculative pieces on just that topic, often contrasting their directions on Iraq, their respective electoral fates, etc. Many delve into just the kind of armchair psychology that usually permeates stories on the Clintons. The notion that Bill and Hillary Clinton are somehow being singled out just doesn’t wash.

The only thing that singles them out is the reality that if she wins, it’ll be the first time that a former president has re-entered the daily life of a White House. That’s something that’s never happened before, and even beats the oddness of a son succeeding the man who defeated his father. That is news, even if you didn’t have the added complication of the fact that Bill Clinton has shown himself to treat his wife quite shabbily. It’s an inescapable soap opera which most definitely strays from the realm of home life to the world of politics, and if people don’t want it, than they’re probably going to have to look for another candidate, rather than hope no one will mention it.

And no, the media shape’s the public’s image of a person, even if it’s a few thousand people per day, that adds up by election day of ‘08.

Fair enough Mike, but you were the one arguing that given Clinton’s approval numbers and the economy under his watch, people would be looking forward to his return and wouldn’t have any interest in stories like this one. So which is it?