The Big Mo.
Last week, Hillary made a fundraising stop for Democratic Missouri Treasurer Nancy Farmer in her race for U.S. Senate against incumbent Republican Christopher (Kit) Bond. Hillary helped raise more than $200,000 at a sold-out luncheon in St. Louis, an event that her aides said was the first time she had campaigned for a Democratic challenger to a Republican colleague. However, Hillary never mentioned Sen. Bond by name, instead directing her invective against President Bush. Hillary accused the President of fostering "an attitude by this administration that they are unaccountable, that they can do as they choose," and that Bush is "trying to create more privilege, more chances, for those who already have it." Thank You, Come Again.
Hillary also used the occasion of Farmer's fundraiser to make an insulting allusion to Mahatma Ghandi. She introduced a quote from Gandhi by first saying that "He ran a gas station down in St. Louis." After everyone finished laughing, Hillary continued: "No, Mahatma Gandhi was a great leader of the 20th Century." The director of a U.S. center devoted to the Mahatma's teachings called the remarks stereotypical and racially insensitive. After being approached by The Associated Press to clarify the remark, Sen. Clinton suggested in a statement sent late Monday that she never meant to fuel any stereotype that certain ethnic groups were synonymous with operating gas stations. Said Hill: "I have admired the work and life of Mahatma Gandhi and have spoken publicly about that many times. I truly regret if a lame attempt at humor suggested otherwise." Needless to say, if a Republican had made the same remark, he would have been run out of office. But since St. Hillary said it, the backlash is more like a tap on the wrist. For instance, Michelle Naef, administrator of the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence, praised Hillary and her husband as long having "supported the Gandhi message," and said that "I don't think she was, in any way, trying to demean Mahatma Gandhi." And Prof. Brian Robertson said that "there's no reason to think she doesn't admire Gandhi. . . . After all, Gandhi was influential to Martin Luther King Jr., and I know she respects King." Kill Hill.
A South Jersey prison inmate was recently charged with threatening to kill Sen. Clinton. Edward Falvey, 51, was charged in U.S. District Court with threatening to kill an immediate family member of a former President, a federal crime. Falvey is already serving a 30-month term for robbery in a federal prison, and was scheduled for release in June 2004. But if he is convicted of threatening to kill Mrs. Clinton, he faces up to five more years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Falvey was arrested and charged with threatening to kill President Jimmy Carter. In 1977, he was convicted and received probation. In April 2003, he allegedly wrote a letter to a prison psychologist in which he said he wanted to "shoot a very famous person . . . My life is dull and boring. I need to spice it up." His plans included a "hit list" naming "H.R.C.", as well as former President Bill Clinton and federal judges, in addition to detailed plans for shooting the junior senator from New York. In another letter, Falvey allegedly explained why he wanted to assassinate Hillary: " Because when I am released, I have nothing to look forward to! This could be how my 15 minutes of fame starts . . . I'll also make it into history books." Falvey also allegedly repeated his assertion to Secret Service agents who visited him in prison in July. After the agents left, Falvey allegedly wrote to the prison psychologist: "This is all starting to get exciting . . . I feel like a movie star." Miss Popularity.
Hillary's not just popular with crazed inmates. In the annual Gallup Poll, Hillary was named as the woman that Americans admire most. It was the sixth time in the past seven years that she topped the list. Sixteen percent of the public named Hillary, compared to 7% for Oprah Winfrey, 4% for Laura Bush, 4% for Condoleezza Rice and 2% for Barbara Bush. These numbers have only served to increase speculation that Sen. Clinton will enter the presidential race in 2004, according to Democratic campaign consultant Gale Kaufman. Kaufman also noted that while President Bush was named as the man Americans most admire, he "has slipped by 10 percentage points from Gallup's December 2001 poll, Mrs. Clinton gained considerable ground in the poll from two years ago."
