Over and over again I keep hearing two things about the Clintons:

• Bill and Hillary Clinton do not want a Democrat to win in '04 because they want Hillary to win in '08.
• Bill Clinton is supporting Wes Clark for the nomination so that he can be a shadow President when Clark wins.

Now, setting aside that these are contradictory positions -- oh, you can smush it into consistency by saying that Hillary will be Wes's running mate or something -- I just don't buy either one of them.

First, for all that people dislike Bill Clinton the adulterer, I do believe the man is a patriot and was actually trying accomplish good things for the country when President. I can't believe that someone as intelligent as he is could be happy with the prospect of four more years of Dubya tearing down everything he worked for. Put simply, I do not believe Bill Clinton would prefer that Bush be President over a Democrat.

As to Hillary's supposed "ambitions," again, I give her some credit for intelligence, too. I've never bought the theory that "Hillary wants to be President" -- it's rightwing gossip fomented to get their base all hysterical and whipped up into their typical warped, mysogynistic lather. I also think she recognizes that the chances of her being elected after another four years of Dubya's reactionary jingoism are almost nil. My hypothesis is that she wants to be a longterm, powerful Senator. The paranoia about the ambitions of the Clintons began in Republican circles and for some reason some Democrats have adopted it. It doesn't make sense to me.

As to whether one or both of the Clintons are supporting Clark. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that one or both preferred Clark -- everyone's got preferences -- but the evidence for strong preferences is thin and both have said complimentary things about all of the candidates. And even if one or both are 'helping Clark out' behind the scenes, that still does not support the "Bill wants Clark so that he can be the power behind the throne," not to mention it speaks terribly poorly of Clark (and I don't have the impression that Clark would put up with it, were he to become CinC).

Upshot: for some reason, some among the Democrats are incorporating Republican spittle, er, spin, about the Clintons and using it to promote or tear down the primary contenders. I still believe both Clintons care more about their party and our country than to deliberately behave in ways that would harm the Democratic party's chances in the fall.