Hillary Clinton is a Repressed Comic?

Hillary Clinton, the supposed presumptive Democratic Party presidential nominee in 2016, has a comedic side heretofore unnoticed.  Last month, in an interview intended to promote her new book, she said that after Bill Clinton left office in 2009, her family was “dead broke” when they left the White House and that they had struggled to pay mortgages on their two homes [each valued at more than a million dollars].  Somehow, she managed to deliver this humorous line while maintaining a straight face.

Clinton haters, of course, claimed she was serious.  Sean Hannity and Laura Ingram, for instance, of Fox News fame, were sputtering in their outrage.  Lighten up people!  Of course, she was kidding.

She knew that her husband was going to receive a presidential pension of    $191,000 which should have mitigated the loss of his presidential salary of     $200,000.  There was no doubt that he’d be able to command speaking fees of many thousands of dollars per speech.  Everyone knew that. 

But even some liberals didn’t catch the joke

.

Jeremy Peters, a political correspondent for the New York Times, took her seriously and reacted defensively.  He suggested that Hillary may have displayed a tin ear when she was comparing her financial circumstances to the less affluent 99%, but her comments shouldn’t be equated with Mitt Romney’s 2012 gaffes.  After all, he pointed out, unlike the last GOP nominee, Hilary supports policies which aid the poor.

TheTimes writer didn’t specify but he was probably referring to such liberal policies as minimum wage increases (which depress employment among the poor) and welfare policies (which foster dependence on government handouts). 

On reflection, maybe Jeremy Peters has a sense of humor, too.