Hillary Weighs In On Lipstick-Gate, Doesn't Attack Palin
By Greg Sargent - September 10, 2008, 7:05PM
Hillary defended Obama from the GOP lipstick brigade at a D.C. news conference today, saying that Obama's comment was "in no way meant as an affront" and accusing McCain's campaign of trying to "divert attention away from challenges facing Americans."
But Hillary, apparently, refused to attack or criticize Palin...
Asked about Palin and her candidacy, Clinton responded only that the campaign should be about the issues. "What I see as critical in this election ... are the differences over issues." She added, "What happens in people's lives is what really counts... That's what it should be about."
A quick word on this. Lots of you have written in to ask where Hillary is or why Hillary hasn't savaged Palin or why she hasn't been more visible at this moment.
Here's the deal. The Obama campaign is in the driver's seat on this kind of stuff. I'm told reliably by people in both the Obama and Clinton camps that there were discussions this weekend -- in advance of Hillary's appearance on Monday -- on how to proceed. Both Obama and Hillary advisers were in agreement that having Hillary personally attack Palin would result in a distraction and media circus that would create more problems than it would solve and would take the focus off McCain and the issues.
I haven't found any evidence yet that Obama's people wanted any more from Hillary on the Palin front than she's delivered. Whatever you think of this conclusion, these things get discussed and hashed out by both camps behind the scenes, and they try to agree on a course of action beforehand. The notion that Hillary would or should go out on her own and attack Palin is just at odds with how these things work.
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