Must Reads: Hillary Clinton’s Post-2008 Political Hit List
Every a.m., Mediaite publishes a primer of what the interweb machine is writing, talking, tweeting, and blogging about, so that you may fool friends and family into thinking you are a trove of information and insight. Today: the Clinton hit list everybody’s pretending to be shocked about, recess appointments reach the Supreme Court, Maryland really, really blew its state Obamacare exchange, and more.
“Hillary’s Hit List” (Amie Parnes and Jonathan Allen, The Hill)
In an excerpt from their forthcoming book HRC: State Secrets and the Rebirth of Hillary Clinton, The Hill’s Amie Parnes and POLITICO’s Jonathan Allen take the reader to Hillary Clinton’s post-2008 score-settling session, where Clinton—or, more accurately, aides who were so loyal to her that they had internalized her desires—drew up lists of figures who had crossed the candidate by endorsing Obama. Full of tidbits like this:
Almost six years later most Clinton aides can still rattle off the names of traitors and the favors that had been done for them, then provide details of just how each of the guilty had gone on to betray the Clintons—as if it all had happened just a few hours before. The data project ensured that the acts of the sinners and saints would never be forgotten.
There was a special circle of Clinton hell reserved for people who had endorsed Obama or stayed on the fence after Bill and Hillary had raised money for them, appointed them to a political post, or written a recommendation to ice their kid’s application to an elite school.
Good reading, though all would be wise to learn the lesson of last week’s Robert Gates brouhaha: Thou Shalt Be Careful Drawing Conclusions From Thy Excerpts.
“Defining the Scope of the President’s Recess Appointment Powers: In Plain English” (Amy Howe, SCOTUSBlog) / “Forget the Framers” (Eric Posner, Slate)
The Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments this morning on President Barack Obama’s recess appointments to the National Labor Review Board. The invaluable SCOTUSBlog has everything you need to know on the case, the issues, the NLRB, and more. Meanwhile, Eric Posner at Slate gets into the confusing minutia of originalist arguments about James Madison and recess appointments.
“Maryland Officials Were Warned for a Year of Problems With Online Health-insurance Site” (Aaron C. Davis and Mary Pat Flaherty, Washington Post)
Pretty much what the headline says. The killer detail:
Instead, by the next morning only four people had signed up using the Web site — and amazed that anyone had gotten through the system successfully, state officials contacted each of them to make sure they were real.
Since everything relates back to 2016, this can’t be good news for Maryland Governor and Democratic up-and-comer Martin O’Malley.
“Syria Rebels Turn Against Most Radical Group Tied to Al Qaeda” (Anne Barnard, New York Times)
Syrian rebels are redoubling their efforts to beat ISIS, the Syrian al Qaeda affiliate which has crashlanded in the midst of an already horrendous Syrian civil war. ISIS is less interested in defeating Assad than in establishing a Sunni state, and will happily kill any rebels who get in the way of that plan. The result has been intra-turf war between al Qaeda and the rebels that has weakened opposition to Assad and made potential allies, like the United States, blanch at supporting Assad opposition for fear of enabling al Qaeda.
The rebels now hope that a concerted effort to defeat ISIS will reignite their cause ahead of January 22 peace talks. In a woeful irony, to become stronger at the peace talks, they must become more violent toward al Qaeda.
[Image via Chuck Burton/AP]
——
>> Follow Evan McMurry (@evanmcmurry) on Twitter
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
