Karl Rove: “I’m not certain, again, that beating up on Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky is a particularly good thing to strengthen your skills.”
“‘Frankly, Rand Paul spending a lot of time talking about the mistakes of Bill Clinton does not look like a big agenda for the future of the country,’ Rove said on Fox’s ‘America’s Newsroom.’ Rove said that candidates for the presidency need to do two things in 2014: make their campaigns about something larger their personal ambitions and strengthen their skills. ‘I’m not certain, again, that beating up on Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky is a particularly good thing to strengthen your skills,’ Rove said.” [Politico, 2/11/14]
Joe Scarborough: “So Andrea, this is all very exciting. I feel like Michael J. Fox about getting into a DeLorean.”
[Morning Joe, 2/11/14]
Joe Scarborough: “This is just sheer insanity.”
“If anybody thinks Americans want to go back and re-litigate this, trust me, I was there the first time we litigated this and Americans didn’t want to hear it then. This is just sheer insanity and as far as these papers go, I mean, come on.”
[Morning Joe, 2/11/14]
Joe Scarborough: “The Republicans need to focus. Let’s have fights on issues. But this stuff, Mike, is going to get eyes rolling awfully fast.”
Well you know again, it’s not, it’s sort of… legally you wouldn’t call this hearsay in court but this is one woman writing notes about a friend. Again, if this is the opposition research that Republicans are going to have — no, I’m just saying. How do you get people back to work, right? And I would much rather fight about the Affordable Care Act and debate that and talk about why that is bad for business and talk about why we need to build the Keystone pipeline. The Republicans need to focus. Let’s have fights on issues. But this stuff, Mike, is going to get eyes rolling awfully fast. [msnbc, 2/10/14]
Andrea Mitchell: Documents were “all available at the University of Arkansas for four years, getting little notice.”
Andrea Mitchell: For years, Diane [Blair] catalogued Hillary Clinton’s reactions to the rough relations with the press and scandals, including Monica Lewinsky and impeachment, all available at the University of Arkansas for four years, getting little notice until inflammatory excerpts were posted last night on an anti-Clinton website.
Dr. Angie Maxwell, University of Arkansas: I think that it’s very cherry picked. It’s very selected.
[NBC Nightly News, 2/10/14]
Much of the archive was made available to Carl Bernstein for his 2007 book.
“Much of the Blair archive has been reported on before. Carl Bernstein told msnbc via email that ‘significant parts’ of the archive, which is the property of the Diane Blair Trust, were made available to him by Blair’s husband, Jim, for Bernstein’s 2007 biography of Hillary Clinton, A Woman in Charge. ‘I believe some of the papers had yet to be transcribed and/or deposited by the Trustees at the time,’ Bernstein told msnbc.” [msnbc, 2/10/14]
Mike Barnicle: “If Reince Priebus thinks that this is a critical issue, man he ought to wrap it up. This is so over. People are so not interested.”
[Morning Joe, 2/11/14]
David Axelrod: “This strikes me as warmed over seconds from Drudge’s table that already were baked in the cake.”
According to Politico, “David Axelrod, a longtime Obama adviser, agreed that such blasts from the past will have little effect. ‘This strikes me as warmed over seconds from Drudge’s table that already were baked in the cake,’ he said. ‘I don’t think it will have any bearing.’” [Politico, 2/10/14]
Ex-DGA head, Nathan Daschle: “None of this is news; it’s just water cooler gossip.”
According to Politico, “Nathan Daschle, former Democratic Governors Association executive director, said he thinks there could be interest among younger voters because it’s ‘political tabloid’ theater. ‘But it’s not really relevant unless she makes it relevant,’ he said. ‘There is no reason to respond to this on a personal level, and even less on a political level. Winners talk about the future; losers talk about the past. … She is the most well-defined potential presidential aspirant since Richard Nixon. None of this is news; it’s just water cooler gossip. She could be president if she has a message about the future. She definitely won’t be president if she spends her time defending the past.’” [Politico, 2/10/14]
Brazile: “These files have been out there since 2010, so why are they so relevant today?”
According to Politico, “‘These files have been out there since 2010, so why are they so relevant today?’ Donna Brazile, Al Gore’s 2000 presidential race campaign manager, wrote in an email. ‘What’s the news? Is it just the soundbite?’ Brazile, whose tenure with Gore was marked by a candidate trying desperately to calibrate away from the Clinton-era scandals, added, ‘Do they think by revisiting this saga in [Hillary Clinton’s] life will impact her decision to run? I believe a backlash is forthcoming.’” [Politico, 2/10/14]
Time: “In terms of policy and news, Hillary and Bill Clinton’s own voluminous writings are much more revealing.”
“For those who loved the USA Network television show Political Animals — starring Sigourney Weaver as a former First Lady turned Secretary of State modeled after Clinton — for its voyeuristic quality of what we always imagined Clinton might sardonically say in a closed room about everything from her husband’s infidelities to health care to Vince Foster’s death, these papers are a treasure trove. But in terms of policy and news, Hillary and Bill Clinton’s own voluminous writings are much more revealing.” [Time, 2/10/14]
Van Jones: “It didn’t even work in the 1990s when this stuff was actually news.”
“Get this, Hillary Clinton apparently didn’t think too highly of Monica Lewinsky. Wow. I guess she’s just toast for 2016. I don’t know when the republicans are ever going to learn. First of all, we already know this stuff. Second, try to convince independent voters that hate the Clintons because of stuff in their personal life never works. It didn’t even work in the 1990s when this stuff was actually news, but apparently the GOP thinks it can deflate the most famous woman in the world by chirping Lewinsky in every news cycle. It is not going to work. But take note, Senator Rand Paul. Cynical tone deaf attacks on a powerful woman will not help you close the gender gap. Stuff like that is what created the gender gap. I’m sure you agree with that, Kevin.” [“Crossfire,” CNN, 2/11/14]
Tracy Sefl: “This is old, this is stale. This is also, I don’t know how many ways you can say irrelevant.”
“Van used the word ‘new’ earlier, let’s do a fact check. There’s nothing new here. Something that’s been recycled, rehashed. Maybe they put it in a new font for this release. This is old, this is stale. This is also, I don’t know how many ways you can say irrelevant. But what I love is that the Republicans think that they’re on to something. By all means, here’s a shovel, keep digging, it is, I agree with Van, will not help women feel motivated to move over to the Republican Party, which is something that certainly the Republican Party would need.” [Crossfire, CNN, 2/11/14]
Terbush, The Week: “It’s more anti-Clinton spaghetti being thrown against a wall to see if anything sticks.”
According to Jon Terbush in The Week, “It’s more anti-Clinton spaghetti being thrown against a wall to see if anything sticks.” [Jon Terbush, The Week, 2/10/14]
Terbush, The Week: “If all the anti-Clinton shadow campaign has are some decades-old talking points, then the GOP is probably better off just building that time machine.”
According to Jon Terbush in The Week, “To be sure, this tactic isn’t new or unique. What’s notable is just how weak these efforts are. If all the anti-Clinton shadow campaign has are some decades-old talking points, then the GOP is probably better off just building that time machine.” [Jon Terbush, The Week, 2/10/14]
L.A. Times’ Deputy Nat. Editor: “As the Clinton campaign song put it in 1992: ‘Yesterday’s gone.’”
According to Cathleen Decker’s news analysis in The Los Angeles Times, “More to the point, both Clinton and her detractors need to gaze through the windshield, not the rearview mirror, for both sides’ political benefit. Apart from serving as a fundraising tactic, Clinton criticism does little to help Republicans craft a vision for the future that embraces more than the shrinking base of Southern whites who have powered the party to congressional strength but are not numerous enough to win the presidency. And responding to Clinton criticism does nothing to help Democrats frame a vision of government that incorporates lessons learned from the recent recession and the quicksand of Obamacare. As the Clinton campaign song put it in 1992: ‘Yesterday’s gone.’” [Cathleen Decker, News Analysis, The Los Angeles Times, 2/11/14]
The Hill’s Amie Parnes: “I don’t think it matters.”
MORGAN: … which is the point about the Monica Lewinsky point I guess that people like, you know, Rand Paul and others have been trying to ramp up the sense that when Hillary runs, Bill will still be lurking around and he’s a liability because of what happened 16 years ago with an intern at the White House. Do you think it’s actually going to matter? Do the American people still care about Monica Lewinsky enough to punish Hillary at the ballot box because of something Bill did nearly two decades ago?
PARNES: I don’t think it matters. I think when people go to the polls, they’re going to look for what she did and we talked a lot about that in our book. I think if you want to weigh what she did at state, you should read this book and find out because it is how she makes decisions.” [Piers Morgan, CNN, 2/10/14]