Yesterday evening the Union Leader published an interview with Hillary Clinton in which they quoted her somewhat supporting an investigation into Planned Parenthood, bold my emphasis:
Calling them “disturbing,” Hillary Clinton said undercover videos showing Planned Parenthood officials discussing the sale of aborted fetal tissue raise questions about the process nationwide.
“I have seen pictures from them and obviously find them disturbing,” the Democratic presidential hopeful said during a sit-down interview Tuesday with the New Hampshire Union Leader.
“Planned Parenthood is answering questions and will continue to answer questions. I think there are two points to make,” Clinton said. “One, Planned Parenthood for more than a century has done a lot of really good work for women: cancer screenings, family planning, all kinds of health services. And this raises not questions about Planned Parenthood so much as it raises questions about the whole process, that is, not just involving Planned Parenthood, but many institutions in our country.”
“And if there’s going to be any kind of congressional inquiry, it should look at everything and not just one (organization),” she said.
On one hand Clinton dresses up Planned Parenthood's history of infanticide by presenting it more as a health care facility (one that can't do mammograms and simply acts as a referral service) while simultaneously sort-of saying that it raises “questions.” In fact, she says:
“And this raises not questions about Planned Parenthood so much as it raises questions about the whole process, that is, not just involving Planned Parenthood, but many institutions in our country.”
“Not questions about Planned Parenthood so much … And if there’s going to be any kind of congressional inquiry, it should look at everything …” So we really shouldn't investigate Planned Parenthood if we're not going to investigate other wrongdoing about which she can't be specific. (Perhaps start with her emails?) The topic here is Planned Parenthood.
It's a clumsy attempt at her husband's famous triangulation.
Before Bill Clinton's reelection his right-hand man, Dick Morris, coined a term to describe the strategy for winning the White House: Triangulation. It involved adopting some of your opponent's positions, mixing them with your own, and presenting your argument as in the middle, above both the right and left, as a means to co-opt your opposition. It worked for Clinton and contributed to his reelection. Hillary has never shared her husband's political acumen which is why her attempt here falls flat. She doesn't so much fall into the middle with a seemingly superior argument as she just doesn't say anything.
