Hillary's Triumphal Loss
Hillary Clinton was taking the elevator up to her Senate office yesterday for the first time since she lost the Democratic presidential nomination when one of her aides, Philippe Reines, warned her about the condition of her office.
In her months-long absence, Reines cautioned, "things have gotten a little casual."
The vanquished candidate swung open the door of her private office and found two of her legislative assistants in T-shirts, caps and sunglasses playing at a ping-pong table while the rest of the staff cheered them on. Clinton tossed her head back with her famous laughter, then sat on the couch to watch Mike Szymanski score match point against colleague Ann Gavaghan.
The girl had lost -- again! To the ping-pong loser, Clinton had some empathetic advice. "Ann," she said, "you have to be very gracious in defeat."
It was a lesson Clinton learned at great cost in her extended battle with Barack Obama. But as she returned in defeat to her old home in the Senate yesterday, she was received as if in triumph. And, in a sense, her stature had increased during the failed primary battle: She left as a legislator but returned as the leader of an 18 million-strong movement of women and working-class voters -- a group whose support Clinton's Democratic colleagues fervently desire.
-- Dana Milbank
By Dana Milbank |
June 25, 2008; 12:00 AM ET
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Posted by: LYNN PARKER; | June 26, 2008 8:42 AM
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HILLary;\
SHAME ON YOU! YOU ARE SELLING OUT AMERICA AND THE PEOPLE OF THIS COUNTRY FOR THE DOLLAR BILLS YOU SPENT !
OBAMA IS A SMART, HE IS ENDANGERING THE COUNTRY BY PROMISING YOU MONEY RELIEF FOR YOUR CAMPAIGN MISTAKES, AND YOU ARE GOING FOR IT!
I GUESS 18 MILLION PEOPLE WERE WRONG THINKING YOU CARED MORE FOR US THAN YOUR PERSONAL MONEY PROBLEMS. YOU ARE SELLING US OUT!
NOTHING YOU DECIDE TO SAY IN THE INTEREST OF OBAMA WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE TRUTH. THIS MAN SHOULD NOT BE PRESIDENT AND YOU SHOULD TAKE CARE OF YOUR OWN FINANCIAL DEBTS. THERE IS NO ONE TO VOTE FOR AND IF AMERICANS WERE SMART THEY WOULD NOT VOTE ON ELECTION DAY! IF IT REMAINS OBAMA VERSUS MC BUSH WE ARE SUNK HERE IN THE USA. THANKS FOR NOTHING AND GIVING IN TO THE DOLLAR BILL OVER OUR COUNTRY!