November 29, 2024

"The whole thing is hard for me to write. I couldn't sleep for two years after the election. I was so angry, I wasn't fit to be around."

"I apologize to all those who endured my outbursts of rage, which lasted for years and bothered or bored people who thought it pointless to rehash things that couldn't be changed...."

Writes Bill Clinton in his new book, quoted in "Bill Clinton makes stunning confession about his bizarre behavior after Hillary's defeat in America's 'darkest election'" (Daily Mail).

Presumably, he means he didn't sleep well. The assertion that he couldn't sleep for 2 years is patently untrue. He's still alive.

Clinton also writes in a mode that would be called "election denialism" if it were pro-Trump: "Almost two years after the election, Kathleen Hall Jamieson, a highly regarded social scientist said Russia's cyber attacks piled on top of Comey's interventions were effective enough to persuade voters in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin to vote for third parties or stay at home. If so, Putin's enablers were Comey and the political press."

What about the Russia hoax that Hillary participated in?! Shouldn't that balance the effect of "Russia's cyber attacks"?

What were the "cyber attacks"? Here's Kathleen Hall Jamieson's book, "Cyberwar: How Russian Hackers and Trolls Helped Elect a President: What We Don't, Can't, and Do Know" (Amazon Associates link). From a 2018 New Yorker article about that book:
[Jamieson's] case is based on a growing body of knowledge about the electronic warfare waged by Russian trolls and hackers—whom she terms “discourse saboteurs”—and on five decades’ worth of academic studies about what kinds of persuasion can influence voters, and under what circumstances. Democracies around the world, she told me, have begun to realize that subverting an election doesn’t require tampering with voting machines. Extensive studies of past campaigns, Jamieson said, have demonstrated that “you can affect people, who then change their decision, and that alters the outcome.” She continued, “I’m not arguing that Russians pulled the voting levers. I’m arguing that they persuaded enough people to either vote a certain way or not vote at all.”

The words "Steele" and "dossier" don't appear in that article, and I'm not going to buy Bill's book on Kindle just to do a search. Amazon used to let you search for a word before buying a book. 

13 comments:

mezzrow said...

A little over one hundred years ago what Theodore Roosevelt thought was very important, and then it wasn't. Perhaps Alice would want to be Commander in Chief in these times.

Political dynasties are a hard thing to pull off. Bill would be well served to count his blessings. After all, he got so very much of what he wanted.

Jaq said...

I would find this stuff a lot easier to swallow if they dealt with the herd of elephants stampeding through the room. But the way this is written, it carefully steers clear of actual examples of this "persuasion." For example, is it "Russian persuasion" to note how many countries that the US and NATO have attacked since the fall of the USSR compared to Russia, or is it just a brutal hangover from one's support for these wars that we now know was predicated on lies and nefarious motivations?

I guess the answer is to call me "Ivan." Maybe "Crazy Ivan," I really liked "The Hunt for Red October."

Jaq said...

Trump is the real "light bringer." Bill Clinton started the cycle of endless wars that we have been in since, since the military industry was on hard times post Cold War. Clinton, and every president since, other than Trump, have been "hood winkers," not light bringers.

Dixcus said...

To avoid FOIA discovery, Clinton ran an email server from her bathroom - an unsecured, unpatched version of Microsoft Exchange. This is what got hacked. (Bush Secretary of State Colin Powell also did this.)

She was committing numerous felonies by this, beginning with storing highly classified secret US government documents on an unsecured off-site server. This is classical evidence of espionage. Once the server was discovered, she had her lawyers go through its contents and delete about half the emails it contained ... AFTER the server had been subpoenaed ... yet another felony that anybody not named Clinton would go to prison for.

This is the "hacking" and "cyber" that Bill Clinton is complaining cost Hillary the election. If her server hadn't been hacked and its damning contents revealed, then it's true ... Hillary might have hoodwinked the nation into electing this monster.

Fuck Bill Clinton. He should be in prison right alongside his crooked wife and they should rot there. It's a goddamn shame that Donald Trump doesn't have the balls to put her there.

Dixcus said...

He needs to be put under oath, and under a very bright light, and be forced to tell what he knows about the activities on Jeffrey Epstein's island.

That probably wouldn't be legal to do. And yet it should be done nonetheless.

rehajm said...

Wandering in the woods is a good look for them…

Oso Negro said...

God help us all! The Clintons ARE thinking to have another go.

chuck said...

The Russians tricked the Democrats into nominating Hillary by manipulating the primary process. It was the slickest election interference ever.

Another old lawyer said...

Dixcus, couldn't agree more. Only this time the deposing attorney needs to sure of his verb tenses in asking questions.

Mary Beth said...

What about the Russia hoax that Hillary participated in?

It's okay when we do it.

I don't doubt that people told Bill that Russian influence kept voters from voting for Hillary. Anyone who is still hanging on to Bill isn't going to tell him that Hillary lost because, despite what Obama said, she really isn't likeable enough.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

That meme of Jesus arm wrestling Satan to defeat Hillary should have been declared an act of war

Dave Begley said...

When will we be free of these grifting Clintons? Bill wanted Hillary to win so that he could fuck interns on the Resolute desk.

Temujin said...

The reality is that more people in more states preferred a non-political former tv show host and lifelong developer and self-promoter over the arrogant, entitled bureaucrat who thought just being the first woman was enough.
They claim it was the Russians who swayed people toward Trump, but cannot fathom that people might have just come upon their disgust for Hillary on their own.
And even today, they still cannot get their heads around the fact that they had nothing to sell but abortion and- again- the first woman thing. It's not enough. There has to be some meat in the sandwich. Russians or no, substance and likability go a long way in a campaign.