Hill v. Chuck, Part II.
Author Steven Brill, who is writing a book on how U.S. officials reacted in the wake of September 11, said in a recent radio interview that Hillary had her staff fabricate records of meetings and phone calls to families of the victims of the terrorist attacks in order to burnish her image as New York's leading politician on 9/11 issues. "I think [Sen. Clinton] has begun every statement she's ever made in her life about the families of the victims by saying she's met innumerable hours with the families of the victims," said Brill. But "None of it turned out to be true??? They gave me documents and phone calls and things like that which just plain never happened." e also said that Sen. Clinton's staff provided "an elaborate story, with an elaborate subtext of memos and phone calls" in order to make their boss look good. But that wasn't nearly as bad, says Brill, as when Hillary herself approached him to talk about his upcoming book. Apparently, Mrs. Clinton actually sought him out at the Ground Zero ceremony commemorating the first anniversary of the attacks. "I hear you want to talk to me about your book," she said to him. B rill remembered that the junior senator from New York then urged him to write that "the person responsible for aid to New York City was not [Sen.] Chuck Schumer but Hillary Clinton."
Brill, who ardently defended Hillary's husband during the whole Monica mess, was amazed that Hillary would go to such lengths to fabricate a phony record of 9/11 service "all in the cause, actually, of shooting down Chuck Schumer and getting bunch of pages in a book. It sot of takes your breath away when you think about it. Hillary efused to meet with a 9/11 family unless they appeared with her at a press conference, while Sen. Schumer took time out on a Sunday to meet with them, "no reporters, no cameras, no nothing." Brill concluded by saying that what stunned him "is that one person would try to steal away the credit from the other person, especially when everything I was hearing from the families is that Schumer" had helped far more.TaxTime April 15th came and went, but Hillary didn't release her tax return information to the public. Usually, releasing such information is a rite of passage for politicians, but not for Mrs. Clinton. "snators by and large don't release their tax forms, hey release their income in the form of personal financial disclosure reports," said Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines. But New York's senior senator, Chuck Schumer, will be releasing his tax returns to anyone who wants them. The Schumers have mostly salaried income, though, while Bill and Hill's family income includes millions in speaking fees raked in by her ex-president husband. For example, Hillary's financial disclosure forms from last year showed that Bill earned $9.2 million in fees for 59 speeches around the world at up to $350,000 per speech. Hillary's fondness for disclosure forms don't show all the details that tax returns do, like charitable contributions - maybe Hillary doesn't want to get in the same mess that Al Gore got into when his tax return revealed he donated $353 to charity on an income of nearly $200,000.
CQ on HRC and W.
Congressional Quarterly's Craig Crawford, a respected political pundit, is saying that "Hillary is the only thing that can save the Democrats" in 2004. Apparently, Crawford is so sure that Sen. Clinton will enter the race that he's already reserved his hotel room in New Hampshire to cover Hillary when she files in New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary. Crawford also predicted that Hillary will easily win the Democratic nomination, and that she has an "excellent chance" of beating President Bush.
Tribute to Earth.
Being the liberal that she is, Hillary couldn't resist letting Earth Day pass without putting out an official statement praising the day made-up by tree-huggers and balding hippies. Of course, she connected the state of the environment to "the children." Naturally, when it comes to the environment, "there is no group more deserving of our commitment and dedication than our nation's children." Hillary noted that "Earth Day gives us the perfect opportunity to focus on the future - our children's future. Today we need to commit ourselves to doing more - not less - to clean up our air, protect our children's health, and provide for safe and healthy communities." To that end, she will soon be reintroducing her legislation that will spend millions and establish a nationwide network to track American's health data. Said Hill: "Only through better tracking will we be able to enhance our understanding of what causes certain health problems and identify connections with the environment."
