Hillary's new low

From Joe Conason at Salon.

"Hillary Clinton's campaign crossed a symbolic boundary this week when its operatives sent around clips from the notoriously Clinton-hating extreme-right press to denigrate Barack Obama and his advisors . . . by dispatching a pair of articles from the American Spectator and World Net Daily in an attack on Merrill "Tony" McPeak, the retired Air Force general and chief of staff who now serves as one of Obama's principal military advisors. Both stories sought to create the impression that McPeak is not only anti-Israel but anti-Semitic -- and thus taints Obama -- because of crude comments he made during a 2003 interview with the Portland Oregonian.

. . . clip . . .

"Whatever McPeak's offenses, the Clinton campaign went too far in responding. When it starts circulating material from the same ultra-right rags that have routinely accused the Clintons of felonies and treason, its behavior reeks of cynicism. Shall we all start reading World Net Daily for news and guidance? If so, we could learn the "real story behind the Clinton body count," how Hillary plans to "snatch wages" from uninsured workers, the latest developments in "Hollywood mogul" Peter Paul's fraud lawsuit against Bill Clinton, and hot new charges by both former impeachment counsel David Schippers and former White House employee Kathleen Willey that the Clintons burglarized their homes. That latter story appeared in World Net Daily a few weeks ago under the permanent slug "All the Ex-President's Scandals."

I didn't really care when I began reading recently in comments on the liberal blogs that many people thought (think?) the Clintons see themselves as more important than the democratic party. I suppose all politicians see themselves transcending party to one extent or another, but it just seems like Clinton's increasing disregard for the process by which we remain fellow travelers gets worse with each day. As a pretty loyal democrat I don't know how I'm going to be able to vote for her if she does win the nomination. Honestly, it makes me really sad.