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Inside Clinton's Dysfunctional War Machine

How the primary effort failed

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff

Posted Jul 1, 2008 2:26 PM CDT

(Newser) – There are many reasons for Hillary Clinton’s primary defeat, and most of them can be found within the political warrior and the creaking war machine she built, Gail Sheehy writes in Vanity Fair. Invoking the Lincoln administration, Clinton called her bickering advisers a “team of rivals.” Craving secrecy and shaped by White House battle scars, she chose a trustworthy cabal of loyalists—who hated each other.

Though the hierarchy was disastrously unclear, Mark Penn’s constant call to attack, to be “tougher than any man,” caught Clinton’s ear. It appealed to the natural fighter in her. “What Bill doesn’t understand is, you’ve got to do the same thing: pound the Republican attack machine and run against the press,” she told Sheehy in 1992. Faced with an opponent who refused to attack, Hillary crumbled.

Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., speaks at a campaign event in Watertown, S.D. Thursday, May 29, 2008.
Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., speaks at a campaign event in Watertown, S.D. Thursday, May 29, 2008.   (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
Hillary Rodham Clinton listens during the Pelham Preparatory Academy Class of 2008 Commencement Celebration, Sunday, June 22, 2008 at Fordham University in the Bronx borough of New York.
Hillary Rodham Clinton listens during the Pelham Preparatory Academy Class of 2008 Commencement Celebration, Sunday, June 22, 2008 at Fordham University in the Bronx borough of New York.   (AP Photo/Tina Fineberg)
Hillary Rodham Clinton pauses as she speaks during the Pelham Preparatory Academy Class of 2008 Commencement Celebration, Sunday June 22, 2008 at Fordham University in the Bronx borough of New York.
Hillary Rodham Clinton pauses as she speaks during the Pelham Preparatory Academy Class of 2008 Commencement Celebration, Sunday June 22, 2008 at Fordham University in the Bronx borough of New York.   (AP Photo/Tina Fineberg)
In this May 30, 2008 file photo, former President Bill Clinton delivers his remarks at the announcement of the formation of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, in New York.
In this May 30, 2008 file photo, former President Bill Clinton delivers his remarks at the announcement of the formation of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, in New York.   (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
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