THREE MARTINI LUNCH: FEBRUARY 24, 2015

National Review's Jim Geraghty and Radio America's Greg Corombos discuss current events. Today's topics: Hugh Hewitt will moderate a GOP presidential debate, more egregious government waste, and more foreign donations to the Clinton Foundation.



Axelrod warns of a 'dangerous' Democrat personality cult… No, the other one

We're well beyond the point at which we can chalk David Axelrod's strikingly antagonistic comments about Hillary Clinton's campaign-in-waiting up to artlessness or a temporary failure to observe etiquette. At this point, it has become clear that President Barack Obama's close advisor is deliberately undercutting the position of the Democratic candidate aspiring to replace him in the White House.

In conjunction with a media tour promoting the release of his memoirs, Axelrod has been on a conspicuous mission to call into question Hillary Clinton's abilities as a campaigner.

On MSNBC's "Hardball" earlier this week, Axelrod said John Podesta, who is expected to be Clinton's campaign chairman in the coming months, "has to get control of the Clinton operation."

In a radio podcast with Politico's Glenn Thrush, he said Clinton's paid six-figure speeches may have hurt her chances in 2016 and that he would have advised her to take a different approach.

Even his book reveals what Axelrod wrote to Obama in a memo about Clinton before the two went head-to-head in the grueling 2008 Democratic primary.

"…For all her advantages, she is not a healing figure," Axelrod wrote in a 12-page strategic memo to Obama in late 2006, "The more she tries to moderate her image, the more she … compounds her exposure as an opportunist."

According to a source who spoke with The Hill, the former secretary of state's allies appear both hurt and stunned by Axelrod's blatant effort to blow out Clinton's candle in order to make the president's appear to shine brighter.

"She's been a great team player, she's been very supportive of the president and she hasn't gotten in front of him on a lot of issues so what's he trying to do?" one unnamed Clinton ally told The Hill.

"It's not helpful, and it's definitely not appreciated," another said.

They haven't seen anything yet. Speaking with Yahoo's Katie Couric recently, Axelrod shed all self-awareness in order to make the point that Hillary Clinton's supporters were cultivating a cult of personality around her and that was a dangerous condition. Yes, really!

Also read:

Bloomberg: What In God's Name Are the Clintons Doing?

Goldman Sachs Is Ready for Hillary