Hill Gets Sued.
On Tuesday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously to revive Gennifer Flowers’ defamation suit against Hillary, which accuses Mrs. Clinton of masterminding a campaign to discredit her claim of an affair with her husband. The court will allow Flowers to try to prove that the former First Lady conspired against her with two presidential aides, George Stephanopoulos and James Carville. It will be remembered that after Bill and Hillary denied the allegations on CBS’ "60 Minutes" in early 1992, Flowers responded with a news conference in which she played recordings of intimate phone calls from Mr. Clinton that she had secretly taped. Carville and Stephanopoulos then said on "Larry King Live"’ that Flowers had doctored the tapes. Flowers’ lawsuit, filed in 1999, says Stephanopoulos and Carville knew or should have known their statements were false, and that they and Hillary conspired to generate the news reports and to protect Bill Clinton’s presidential candidacy. Sen. Clinton’s attorney, David Kendall, said that "the case is just as frivolous as it always was." Larry Klayman, Flowers’ attorney, said he will seek unspecified damages when the case returns to court. "We allege Hillary Clinton was the mastermind of them uttering the words that the tapes were doctored. They destroyed her." Miss Flowers, for her part, told reporters that she is "celebrating in my heart," and that she is "extremely excited and gratified that justice is being served in this case."
What Election?
Although Hillary may have taken a big hit because of the Democrats’ poor showing on election day, you wouldn’t have known it from her office’s press release. She began by congratulating her new colleagues and welcoming them to the Senate-not mentioning that most of her new colleagues are of the opposite party. In fact, Hillary pretty much ignored the national elections, focusing instead on successful Democrat candidates in New York: "I also want to congratulate Eliot Spitzer and Alan Hevesi on their victories; I know that they will continue to work hard for the people of New York. I am very proud of State Sen. Liz Krueger, and all of our new state senate and assembly members who won, and we in New York are confident that after all the votes are counted Tim Bishop will represent New York’s 1st District."
Condi vs. Hillary?
A post-election poll by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute showed, among other things, Sen. Clinton running second to Al Gore, 22% to 32%, as top choice for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination. Hillary also came up well short in a proposed match-up against President Bush, 55% to 38%, while Gore managed slightly better. Meanwhile, New York Times political columnist William Safire publicly predicted that Condoleezza Rice will defeat Hillary for the presidency in 2008. Safire said that he "awaits the day Hillary Clinton stops being a quiet, respectful freshman senator," and then predicted she will run for President in 2008, but will be defeated by Rice, who will by then governor of California.
Blind Faith. Despite Hillary’s apparent loss-by-association on election day, many Democrat insiders believe that the party’s leadership vacuum will soon be filled by Sen. Clinton, especially since she is the only Democrat who has the instant name recognition and fund-raising power to play a key role in the presidential primary season. According to Phil Klinkner, a Hamilton College political analyst, "Sen. Clinton’s position in the party was helped because the party’s leaders in the House and Senate wound up looking very bad in this election." And with the leftist radicalism of soon-to-be House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.), Sen. Clinton may actually provide a somewhat more middle-of-the-road approach for Democrat voters. In fact, Hillary’s announced post-election agenda of education reform, homeland security, protecting Social Security and Medicare seems downright moderate compared to Rep. Pelosi’s pet projects such as opposition to the war with Iraq, free needle exchanges for drug addicts and legalized homosexual unions. Victor Kamber, another experienced Washington Democratic operative who has close ties to the labor movement, sees Hillary as a leading spokeswoman for the party on its bread-and-butter issues. "Still," he says, "I can’t conceive under what circumstances she would be a presidential candidate in 2004. But as of 2008, the country could be ready for a woman President." Although Kamber has seen the polls in which a near-majority of those surveyed say they would not want Hillary as President, he notes that "Six years is plenty of time in which to overcome that problem."
