Do You Want To Know A Secret?
Hillary spoke at the brand new Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank established by former Clinton aide John Podesta, where she told the audience that President Bush has not been straight with Americans about any number of things-including the events of 9/11, the administration's energy policies, and the costs of the war in Iraq. "The Bush Administration describes progress on many fronts in direct contravention to what we are seeing and hearing every day. . . There is too much at stake to treat war as a political spin zone," she said. Sen. Clinton also blamed President Bush for sparing Americans "the sight of caskets coming home" and "refusing to release" timely casualty reports. She said that "We should be willing to admit the price that is being paid by these brave young men and women to pursue this policy," and that "We must always be vigilant against letting our desire to keep information confidential be used as a pretext for classifying information that is more about political embarrassment." The main point of her address was that President Bush is "undermining" democracy at home and abroad.
Swamp Stink.
Sen. Clinton called a nationwide test of Head Start four-year olds "culturally insensitive," and demanded that the testing-already under way-be delayed until it can be "fully vetted by experts." Her evidence? A big poster with drawings of a dam, a river, a valley and a swamp, at which disadvantaged four-year-olds are being asked to look and "point to swamp." According to Sen. Clinton, this is an unfair question for urban children, especially in New York City, because they are unlikely to have ever seen a swamp. Unfortunately, there are a couple of problems with Hillary's objection. Namely, the "swamp" question comes directly from a Head Start test developed during the Clinton Administration, and when Head Start four-year-olds were asked in 2001 to "point to swamp," "urban children were slightly more likely to get that item correct than rural children," said Dr. Wade Horn, assistant secretary for families and children at the Department of Health and Human Services, which has oversight of Head Start.
Presidential Poll.
A recent Quinnipiac University poll showed that 43% of Democratic voters want Hillary Clinton as their party's nominee in 2004. According to theQuinnipiac poll conducted last week, Hillary's closest competitor is Gen. Wesley Clark, with 10%. None of the other eight candidates is even in double digits. This may sound like good news to Hillary's supporters, but the poll also revealed that, among registered voters, President Bush beats every Democratic contender. Even more impressive, the poll also shows that he beats Sen. Clinton by a wider margin than he beats any of the other first-tier candidates, leading Hillary by eight points. Meanwhile, New Hampshire activist Bob Kunst has started up www.Hillarynow.com, a grassroots movement to draft Sen. Clinton into the Democratic race for President. Kunst says that he has collected more than 10,000 names and is leading a write-in campaign to get her in the primaries. "I believe that Hillary's left the door open" to run, said Kunst. "I think if she sees this wonderful reaction in what we're doing, I think we're going to have her here" in the New Hampshire primary. The filing deadline for the New Hampshire primary is November 21.
Park This!
Hillary has joined with her New York Democratic colleague, Sen. Chuck Schumer, to get tough on foreign diplomats who don't pay their parking tickets. Their bill will try to collect on the $21 million owed New York City for 186,000 unpaid tickets from up to 175 countries, and it does so by inserting an amendment in the foreign operations bill to reduce a country's foreign aid package by whatever amount that country owes in unpaid New York City parking tickets, plus an additional 10% penalty. When asked whether the bill would solve the terrible problem of unpaid parking tickets once-and-for-all, Hillary said "I don't know...but at least we now have legislation on the books." She also managed, as usual, to use the occasion to criticize the Bush Administration. "I have to add that the administration demanded that the secretary of State could invoke a waiver if the penalties against the country were not in line with America's national security interests, although for the life of me, I have a hard time understanding that."
