Deconstructing Masterly Clinton Politics

Consider Hillary Clinton's recent statement about the morality of being gay or lesbian: "I'll leave that judgment to others." Notice how artfully, carefully, this is constructed. A coastal lib, doubtless, sees 'judgment' in this sentence - if they think about it at all - as synonymous with 'decision', 'call', or 'belief' - but in any case the coastal lib definitely doesn't see it as an anti-gay slur, which is what Clinton wants.

In contrast, ask yourself how a reasonable southern evangelical - not a wingnut, but a reasonable one - reads the word 'judgment' here - it's church talk, Bible language, Jesus' teaching - "Judge not lest not you be judged." Hillary's winking at Christian evangelicals, speaking their language, and intentionally letting it sail right over the heads of the coastal libs that this is what she's doing. Coastal libs are inattentive to words like judgment, grace, and faith when used in a semi-secular context.

This ingenious way of appeasing two groups at once, without having either one quite realize this is what's being done, is fascinating, and doubtless it originated with Bill. It's a potent political device.

Giuliani's Position on Gay Rights Alters Hillary's

As evidence of exactly how much Giuliani's candidacy is changing the schematic of American politics we'd do well to look at a recent situation that arose when Senator Clinton was asked if she deems homosexuality to be immoral; as with everything, she gave the focus-group tested response that she would prefer to leave that judgment to others. (This is designed to placate both gays and homophobes simultaneously, to be all things to everyone.)

Normally this would work fine for a Democratic candidate...but wait! In this instance the Republican is not predictably, reliably anti-gay. In fact, in this instance the Republican actually has a stronger and better record on gay rights than she does! Mercy of mercies! Guess what?
After having an afternoon to think it over the Clintonistas must have realized that by simply presenting his positions in his usual in-your-face, take-it-or-leave-it style, Giuliani is well positioned to capture gay votes as well as anti-gay votes without equivocating or tap dancing. Why? The gays love him for respecting them, and the homophobes won't consider this to be their top issue anyway (national security is). Therefore the retraction statement that evening that, guess what!? The senator doesn't believe being gay is immoral after all (after having an intervening afternoon to make some political calculations).