"This is who they are, and this is what they do"

Yes, there’s some good stuff in George Stephanopoulos’s memoir, All Too Human, on this, too. A lot of people had forgotten this, and the shameful incompetence that led to the Waco massacre that — unlike the blamed Limbaugh, etc. — actually inspired Timothy McVeigh, but by bringing it up again Clinton is reminding people, and undermining the elder-statesman role he was trying to carve out. Bad move. Either he’s losing his touch, or they’re getting desperate. Probably desperate: Rasmussen Presidential Approval Index: Obama Drops Nine Points in Three Days…

Lies and smears aimed at their fellow Americans, for short-term political gain. This is who they are, and this is what they do. It worked better, however, when there were fewer alternative channels of communication, and when their character was less well-known.