Hillary Slings Mud

          Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, 18^th century editor of the satirical French monthly Le Figaro, gave us the memorable epigram “Plus ça change, plus c’est la mȇme chose,” translated as “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”

          I was reminded of that listening to Hillary Clinton last week.  Back in the infancy of our republic, political slander was a veritable art form.  James Callender, for example, a hack journalist and scandalmonger, was particularly vicious in his attacks on George Washington and Alexander Hamilton.   Even after he exposed Thomas Jefferson’s dalliance with Sally Hemmings, Jefferson wasn’t above using him to slander John Adams in their contest for the presidency.
          Now we have Hillary Clinton slandering her Republican opponents by accusing them of “systematically and deliberately trying to stop millions of Americans from voting.”  She cited Rick Perry, Scott Walker, Chris Christie, and Jeb Bush by name and even threw in the Supreme Court for eviscerating key provisions of the Voting Rights Act.
          As Hillary’s calumnies were the central part of a speech at Texas Southern University, a traditional black institution, they were clearly a cynical attempt to solidify the support of black constituents.  She will need it.  But can she count on it?  Hillary’s poll numbers show that she is distrusted by an increasing number of voters.  If they don’t trust her, will they buy her mud-slinging tactics? 
          The blowback to Hillary’s speech has been immediate and fierce.  When you engage in a mud fight, expect some of the mud to be thrown back at you.  But if you’re already up to your neck in a virtual cesspool of scandals, what’s a little more mud?