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The lady doth protest too much Hillary Rodham Clinton says she’ll never run for president; right, and Elvis is still alive

When it comes to Sen. Clinton, the normal rules of politics don't apply. By Jay Severin MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR

April 9 — She’s baaack. Of course, she never went away. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the subject of more vitriol than any freshman senator in history, remains the fascination of the news media. The latest case in point is a recent, impromptu remark she made to a New York reporter.

ACCORDING TO the Associated Press last week, as New York’s junior senator strode to her waiting car, a scribe shouted the question “Are you ruling out running for president, ever?” And Clinton answered “Yes!”

Moments later my cell phone rang. (Since correctly predicting here two years ago HRC’s political plans, I now enjoy the dubious honor of being a Hillary expert.) It was the Associated Press, seeking a comment on what appeared to them to be a ground-breaking declaration: Clinton’s first Shermanesque statement that she will not seek the presidency, “ever.”

“Does this mean she can’t ever run now?” asked the reporter. “You must be joking, and you must have short-term memory loss,” was my reply.

I told him to take a deep breath, and to remember this is Hillary Rodham Clinton of whom we are speaking. The normal rules — even of gravity — simply do not apply. Of course this incident does not signal that she can not and will not run. Here are the reasons why:

Like the Jack Nicholson character in “The Shining” (“You are the caretaker; you have always been the caretaker”), Clinton is running, she has always been running, she will always be running for president. Given what we know of her, that some people (journalists!) still think she doesn’t want to be president is scarier than the fact that 16 percent of the U.S. population believes Elvis is still alive. Given the informal circumstances of her statement, Clinton’s off-the-cuff remark could be easily disclaimed, even by an amateur prevaricator. But the senator is to the game of denials what Tiger Woods is to the game of golf. She can, and will, simply say she didn’t understand or hear the question.

Even if there were enough reporters around to witness an unambiguous statement, Clinton will claim she never said it or, more likely, that she has “no recollection” of saying it. And the media will let her get away with it — just as they did for eight years as America’s shadiest first lady, and in her Senate race. (Those who still await Godot still await the vaunted “tough-as-nails New York press corps who are going to eat her alive.” They might as well await the Easter Bunny.)

If trapped by the statement, Clinton will say: “Running for president?! Oh, I thought you asked whether I was gunning for the president! That’s why I said No.” Or, “You meant president of the United States?! I meant president of the PTA!” And the media will let her slide.

Even if she said it on tape and the press challenged her on it (as long as we are dreaming...) when the time comes for her to seek the presidency — and it will — Clinton will say: “The circumstances have changed. I meant that when I said it, at a time when I needed to fight for New Yorkers. But now I believe our country needs….” (Fill in the standard yadda, yadda.)

SIGNIFYING NOTHING

Bottom line is that Clinton’s remark means absolutely nothing — and I wouldn’t be surprised if she or her staff disavow and renounce it within a week. Alas, Hillary maven though I may be, it appears I was wrong. It took one day. Sunday’s New York Times reports that one day after her “not ever running for president” remark, Clinton told reporters in Washington, “I didn’t say anything differently yesterday than I’ve always said…I am going to be the best senator I can be…and I don’t intend to run for president.” And, continues the Times, “when pressed whether that meant that she intends never to run for president, Clinton responded with more than a little exasperation, “I have answered this question a million times…I have nothing more to add to what I have said.”

-- Anonymous, April 09, 2001