Fundraiser or Campaign Stop?
Hillary recently spoke at a Democratic fundraiser where, among other things, she accused the Bush Administration of having the worst economic policies since Herbert Hoover. She told about 1,600 Connecticut Democrats that an increasing number of Americans are unhappy with Bush’s policies, which she thinks have no chance of solving the country’s economic woes. "There is an unease," she told the party faithful. "People know better than what they hear and what they see." Hillary also repeated a main theme of her campaign stops, which is that President Bush has squandered everything that her husband gained: "In just two years, the country again faces hefty budget deficits," she said. "We are, unfortunately, reaping the bad consequences of a wrong economic policy." Then she made the usual accusations, that Bush’s tax-cut plan favors the wealthy while sacrificing the programs that Americans really care about, such as public education, prescription drug coverage, child care, a clean environment, blah blah blah. Sen. Clinton received the strongest response when she angrily claimed it was unfair for critics of the war in Iraq to be accused of being unpatriotic. "I am sick and tired of people who call you unpatriotic if you debate this administration’s policies," said Hill as the crowd screamed its approval. "We are Americans. We have the right to participate and debate any administration." Ironically, as she was pontificating that Americans have the right to disagree with government officials, several anti-war members of the audience, who are still angry with the senator for voting to use force in Iraq, were escorted out by Democratic officials and the police for daring to speak out against Hillary. The fundraiser made more than $350,000 for the Democrats, which topped by $50,000 the record draw at last year’s dundraiser, when her husband spoke.
Flak Attack
Hillary’s office finally responded to reports that author Steven Brill’s new book on the 9-11 attacks details how Sen. Clinton and her staff tried to give a misleading impression of how much she helped the victims of the attack and their families. Sen. Clinton’s spokesman Phillipe Reines said, "Brill’s accusations are completely false and an obvious last-ditch effort to jump-start anemic book sales." Hillary’s mouthpiece added that "It’s hard to understand why Mr. Brill would choose to exploit such a horrible tragedy in this manner."
In a Book Store Near You
After initial reports indicated that Hillary’s memoirs were falling behind schedule, it has been confirmed that her book will be in bookstores June 9. The first printing of the U.S. edition, which is more than 570 pages, is scheduled to be huge: 1 million copies. When asked whether the book will deal with her husband’s extramarital affair with Monica Lewinsky and his impeachment trial, attorney Robert Barnett said, "People will just have to read the book, but I can tell you it is a complete and candid account." The title of her memoirs will be "Living History," because, according to Hillary, "I was very privileged to live history in the White House for eight years. It’s about those White House years; it’s not about my being a senator. There will be probably a hundred million different ways to see it because obviously it was a challenging time for our country. But I, as I look back, think there were a lot of good things that came out of those eight years, and I wish we could turn the clock back on economic policies in particular, because I think they worked for America. And many of the things I had the opportunity to be involved in, from welfare reform to health-care reform, have lessons for us going forward as a nation."
More Poll Numbers
A recent Quinnipiac University survey showed that among heavily Democratic New York voters President Bush would narrowly beat Sen. Clinton in a race for President. President Bush defeated the former First Lady, 47% to 44%, in a hypothetical match-up, mostly on the strength of huge margins upstate (57% to 33%) and in the suburbs (58% to 35%). On the other hand, Hillary led Bush in overwhelmingly Democratic New York City, 61% to 29%. The poll also found that the President has a higher job-approval rating than Sen. Clinton, 58% to 52%. Despite the fact that President Bush beats Hillary in her own state, she did make the best showing among all the Democratic contenders in the poll.
