early and often

Hillary Clinton’s First Lady Schedule Reveals That Hillary Clinton Was the First Lady, Little Else

Hillary Clinton

Photo: Getty Images

It was fun for a while imagining what juicy nuggets might be buried in Hillary Clinton’s public schedule as First Lady, released yesterday by the National Archives. Something like, “July 19, 1993: 10 p.m. — Hillary Murders, Fakes Suicide of Vincent Foster” or “December 20th, 1998: 9 p.m. — Hillary and Bill Have Makeup Sex, But Do Not Cuddle.” Needless to say, nothing nearly that interesting has been found, though armies of reporters are combing through the records for anything useful, an assignment made more difficult because so much of the records are vague (“Private Meeting”) or redacted. Regardless, since the records top out at over 11,000 pages, a few somewhat interesting and possibly politically relevant tidbits have been uncovered.

• Brian Ross and the ABC investigative unit discovered that Clinton may have been in the White House when Bill Clinton stained Monica Lewinsky’s blue dress. [ABC News]

• Jason Zengerle sighs and says that with reports like the above, it’s no wonder Clinton wanted to keep her records private. [Plank/New Republic]

• Glenn Greenwald excoriates the “sleazy” press (singling out Ross) for pressuring Clinton to release the schedules, and then using it to remind voters of the Lewinsky scandal. [Salon]

• Jake Tapper writes that, even though she opposes it now, Clinton spoke at a briefing in unequivocal support of NAFTA on November 10, 1993. [Political Punch/ABC News]

• Kenneth P. Vogel and Andrew Glass believe Clinton comes off as a traditional First Lady and not as much as a “co-president” in the schedules, giving her opponents a rebuttal against her claim to have gained presidential experience in the White House. [Politico]

• Susan Davis writes that Clinton’s dispute with Sinbad over how dangerous their trip to Bosnia in 1996 was is unresolved by the schedule for that day. [Washington Wire/WSJ]

• Ari Berman thinks that despite her claims of being thoroughly vetted, the documents show there’s much we still don’t know about Clinton. [Nation]

• Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball look at the curious choices made in what information was redacted and what was kept in. One example: On March 9, 1995, Clinton took separate photos in the White House Map Room with both notorious fund-raiser Johnny Chung and the astronaut Eileen Collins. But in the schedules, Chung’s name was blanked out for “privacy” reasons, while Collins’s name was left in. [Newsweek]

• Chuck Todd and Mark Murray believe that despite the many redactions, the release of the schedules can help the Clinton campaign by giving them the appearance of transparency. [First Read/MSNBC] —Dan Amira

For a complete guide to presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John McCain — from First Love to Most Embarrassing Gaffe — read the 2008 Electopedia.

Hillary Clinton’s First Lady Schedule Reveals That Hillary Clinton Was the First Lady, Little Else