Awkward Afterword.
The paperback version of Hillary's Living History is not due to be released until April 19, but her new four-page afterword is already out. In it, she ponders why her memoirs have sold millions of copies. "I knew that some readers just wanted to see how I would explain the personal challenges I had faced," she wrote. "Apparently, a few wanted a signed copy to sell on eBay." And some just "were eager to see me in the flesh and decide for themselves whether or not I was a normal human being."
Hillary remembered how she toured endlessly to promote her book and signed copies until her hands became swollen, leading to a "newfound appreciation for ice packs and hand braces," and undoubtedly affirming her conviction that ergonomic standards are critically important. By the time she finished her tour, her signature looked like "the tracks of a confused chicken." Sen. Clinton also writes of being handed a business card by a gentleman with the handwritten inscription, "If you're ever single, give me a call." No word if it was Republican pundit Tucker Carlson. At one bookstore, Hillary was upstaged when hundreds of kids came rushing into the store, "not to see me, but to camp out until midnight to snatch up the first copies of the new Harry Potter book."
But the best-selling author didn't use her afterword for light-hearted reminiscing. She also used it to attack the Bush Administration of hostility to the middle class, and also that efforts to get along with her Republican colleagues, "including a few who led the charge for my husband's impeachment," have often been defeated by "ideology and partisanship."
Tough Interview.
Hillary appeared on the brand new liberal talk radio network, "Air America," with host Al Franken. There she criticized the President for not sending enough soldiers and weaponry to Iraq, and implied that this alleged lack of preparation led to the attacks in Fallujah that massacred and mutilated four U.S. aid workers. "It was heartbreaking and horrible to see the desecration of the four men who were killed in Fallujah," she told Franken. "Of course I've been saying for more than a year that we didn't send in enough troops in the beginning. I think the administration wanted to do both Afghanistan and Iraq with as few troops and as limited a commitment as possible. I think it was a mistake."
Then Mrs. Clinton went on to blast the administration for not wiping out al Qaeda before invading Iraq. "I believe that whether or not you agree with the action in Iraq, the timing of it diverted resources and equipment like the Predators and many of our Special Ops and intelligence personnel from Afghanistan prior to getting the job done there with respect to completely eliminating the al-Qaeda presence in Afghanistan."
Not surprisingly, Hillary also took the opportunity to heap praises on former counter-terrorism czar-turned-Bush critic Richard Clarke, saying that he has "come across very credibly and knowledgeably about what he saw as our shortcomings as a nation, which is a totally fair assessment because we had never been up against an enemy like this before, and what we should be doing to protect ourselves." Even less surprisingly, she claimed that she and Clarke were of the same mind when it came to Iraq, saying that "he has made a very important point about the diversion of time, attention and resources and commitment from Afghanistan, which he argues has undermined the overall war against terror." How this coincides with her vote to use military force in Iraq remains to be seen.
April Fool.
On April 1, Hillary gave an April Fools' Day speech on the Senate floor. She said that "I sometimes feel that it is April Fools' Day every single day here on Capitol Hill, on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue in the White House, because on issue after issue of profound importance to the American people, our government is basically saying, 'April Fools'." She then went on to list the typical DNC talking points in a tirade against the Bush Administration, denouncing the President's policies in regard to the budget, jobs, Medicare, education, gas prices, the minimum wage, overtime pay-the list was quite extensive. Sen. Clinton concluded by saying, "Time and time again, we have seen the President and the majority say one thing and do something else. It is April Fools' Day today, but that is no way to run a government. It is no way to run a great country."
