Friday, July 11, 2008

TEAM CLINTON'S REVENGE?

I'm in a bad mood and I don't really feel like thinking seriously about anything, so here's some irresponsible idle speculation:

There's a front-page story in today's New York Times about the fact that Congressman Charlie Rangel has managed to wangle four rent-controlled apartments in Harlem. It doesn't surprise me -- he's always been a last-of-a-dying-breed type in two senses, both an unreconstructed New Deal/Great Society Democrat and an old-fashioned big-city machine pol, a real operator. (William Greider goes on at length about him as the latter in his 1992 book Who Will Tell the People.)

But I'm wondering why the story is breaking now. I have absolutely no basis for this, but I can't help wondering whether Team Clinton is miffed that Rangel, a Clinton supporter until the last primary, pressured her to give up her nomination fight and to back off from open pursuit of the #2 slot, while publicly questioning her judgment after her non-concession speech on June 3.

I know Senator Clinton is being a very good soldier, but clearly all in Hillaryland is not sweetness and light -- here's James Carville on CNN calling some Obamaites "amateurs" and "children that are playing with matches"; over there is the endless parade of PUMAs (is something I'm not aware of preventing Senator Clinton from urging these people a bit more insistently to back the hell off?). And was Clinton's vote on FISA a dig at Obama?

As I said, idle speculation -- and wondering whether a Clintonite might want to slip embarrassing information about Rangel's leases to the Times is very idle speculation, and quite irresponsible of me. But, hell, it's my blog, so there you go.

No comments: