Of all the off-the-wall rhetoric that's marked this election cycle, recent comments from Candidate Clinton and her entourage take the veritable cake.
To paraphrase - and not too loosely - Clinton and company, including campaign manager Robby Mook, accused the Russian government of Vladimir Putin of hacking into the DNC, stealing gazillions of E-mails, and releasing them for the express purpose of hurting Hillary Clinton and helping Donald Trump.
To be sure, Russian media sentiment has been somewhat anti-Clinton - although not yet consistently pro-Trump. A poll last week from the Russian Fund for Public Opinion, a respected media polling group, found about 1/4 of Russians like Trump, 1/4 don't, and most have no opinion whatsoever, many not being very familiar with him.
Those who like the outspoken GOP candidate, though, tend to really, truly like him, as witnessed by one fan, 75-year-old Felix Kolsky from Nizhny Tagil, Russia, who offered the Trump campaign his entire life's savings of 100,000 rubles (about $1500), which he'd been planning to spend on a dental plate.
According to Russian media, Kolsky proclaimed, "I can live without teeth, if there will be no war. But (warmonger) Hillary Clinton . . . . It’s clear she's ready to storm Russia tomorrow!”
"Hillary the Warmonger" is a popular soubriquet for the former Secretary of State in Russia, where she's seen as favoring Ukraine in its ongoing struggle with pro-Russia separatists, as well as having worked against Russian interests in the Middle East and elsewhere.
Trump, on the other hand, has a long-standing rhetorical Bromance with Vladimir Putin, suggesting he'd like to reconcile with the Russian government and getting cheers at campaign rallies for lines like "Wouldn't it be nice if we could get along with Russia?"
But Warmonger is not the only tag many Russians have pinned on Clinton. Russians over age 40, especially, blame both Hillary and husband Bill Clinton for the collapse of the Russian economy during the 1990s.
Do Internet Searches for Clinton = Satan or Clinton = Wall Street Puppet on any search engine, and you'll get results from nearly as many Russian media sources as Republican - or Sanders supporter - sources.
The Russians have called Clinton a "Hawk's Hawk" and some Russian media have said she "represents the Party of War."
Accurately or not, they have also characterized her in many Russian media articles as a heavy drinker (I hadn't heard that, had you?) and a bisexual who has "had more women than Bill Clinton has had." (Where does she find the time?)
OK, Robby Mook. Maybe Russians in general - and the Russian media in particular - genuinely don't like your candidate.
But that doesn't mean that the Russians are actively working for our candidate, Donald Trump. We GOP activists certainly haven't noticed it.
Neighborhood Canvassing
Telephone Opinion Polls
The RNC Convention
Maybe we haven't been looking hard enough.
*****
To paraphrase - and not too loosely - Clinton and company, including campaign manager Robby Mook, accused the Russian government of Vladimir Putin of hacking into the DNC, stealing gazillions of E-mails, and releasing them for the express purpose of hurting Hillary Clinton and helping Donald Trump.
Those who like the outspoken GOP candidate, though, tend to really, truly like him, as witnessed by one fan, 75-year-old Felix Kolsky from Nizhny Tagil, Russia, who offered the Trump campaign his entire life's savings of 100,000 rubles (about $1500), which he'd been planning to spend on a dental plate.
According to Russian media, Kolsky proclaimed, "I can live without teeth, if there will be no war. But (warmonger) Hillary Clinton . . . . It’s clear she's ready to storm Russia tomorrow!”
"Hillary the Warmonger" is a popular soubriquet for the former Secretary of State in Russia, where she's seen as favoring Ukraine in its ongoing struggle with pro-Russia separatists, as well as having worked against Russian interests in the Middle East and elsewhere.
Trump, on the other hand, has a long-standing rhetorical Bromance with Vladimir Putin, suggesting he'd like to reconcile with the Russian government and getting cheers at campaign rallies for lines like "Wouldn't it be nice if we could get along with Russia?"
But Warmonger is not the only tag many Russians have pinned on Clinton. Russians over age 40, especially, blame both Hillary and husband Bill Clinton for the collapse of the Russian economy during the 1990s.
Do Internet Searches for Clinton = Satan or Clinton = Wall Street Puppet on any search engine, and you'll get results from nearly as many Russian media sources as Republican - or Sanders supporter - sources.
The Russians have called Clinton a "Hawk's Hawk" and some Russian media have said she "represents the Party of War."
Accurately or not, they have also characterized her in many Russian media articles as a heavy drinker (I hadn't heard that, had you?) and a bisexual who has "had more women than Bill Clinton has had." (Where does she find the time?)
OK, Robby Mook. Maybe Russians in general - and the Russian media in particular - genuinely don't like your candidate.
But that doesn't mean that the Russians are actively working for our candidate, Donald Trump. We GOP activists certainly haven't noticed it.
Neighborhood Canvassing
Telephone Opinion Polls
The RNC Convention
Maybe we haven't been looking hard enough.
*****
