Plenty to talk about, not much to say

Last fall writer Josh Green wrote an unflattering article about Hillary Clinton in the Atlantic Monthly. This spring GQ spiked an article about Sen. Clinton Green was writing for that magazine. Coincidence? Not according to Ben Smith at Politico. He writes, "Clinton's aides pulled a page from the book of Hollywood publicists and offered GQ a stark choice: Kill the piece, or lose access to planned celebrity cover boy Bill Clinton." Smith goes on to write that Bill Clinton "is a favorite cover figure, because his face is viewed within the magazine industry as one that can move product," and GQ was planning to feature Mr. Clinton and his trip to Africa in the December magazine.

So what did Green write in his Atlantic article that caused Hillary Clinton's campaign to resort to publicity blackmail? Just this: "Today Clinton offers no big ideas, no crusading causes - by her own tacit admission, no evidence of bravery in the service of a larger ideal. Instead, her Senate record is an assemblage of many, many small gains.

Her real accomplishment in the Senate has been to rehabilitate the image and political career of Hillary Rodham Clinton. Impressive though that has been in its particulars, it makes for a rather thin claim on the presidency. Senator Clinton has plenty to talk about, but she doesn't have much to say."