Hillary, say it ain't so

Move over Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, make room for the next cheater.

That’s because Hillary Clinton appears poised to cheat in the presidential race on a scale that would dwarf what steroids have done to baseball’s image for honesty and fair play. The sort of cheating candidate Clinton is toying with now, over the Michigan and Florida delegations to the Democratic convention, will make the scandalous fixed World Series of 1919 look rather bush league in the hall of infamy.

When the Democratic Party’s national officials decided in their own peculiar wisdom to punish pushy Democrats in Florida and Michigan for breaking party rules over the re-scheduling of their primaries dates, well, the die was cast.

The candidates knew those states were told their delegations’ votes would not count at the convention if they ran their primaries earlier than the national rules allowed. The candidates agreed not to campaign in those states. Of course, the voting proceeded in violation of the rules, nonetheless.

It was an unusual situation, but rules matter in any contest -- sports or politics -- and when Democrats in those two states defied their political party’s agreed upon rules, they knew they were doing so at their own peril.

It says here that if Clinton continues to pursue the notion of reanimating those two states’ delegates’ votes, she would be doing so willing to pour stinking cynicism all over the fresh idealistic enthusiasm of the new young Democrats Barack Obama has been bringing to the Democratic Party.

It’s hard to think of a more poisonous thing anyone could do to the long-term interests of Team Donkey. If the smell of widespread cheating is in the air these days, perhaps that has something to do with the thirst for change and authenticity that has marked this campaign season.

If in the pursuit of her dream of being the first female president, Hillary Clinton is willing to cheat to win, wouldn't that be an utter betrayal of what she says she has stood for during her 35 years of accumulating baggage?

If such a betrayal would truly be out of character, could it be that Hillary is so desperate she has resorted to taking steroids?

Please, Hillary, say it ain't so.

-- Words and art by F.T. Rea