Rangel Envy.
New York Democrat Rep. Charlie Rangel recently had an amazing comment on Hillary and her psyche: "I don't have the slightest clue who Hillary really is. I don't think you ever find out who the real person is. All I see is a gal who knew she was as good as anyone else, and she saw this guy she could make something of, so she forfeited Illinois and went to Arkansas. That's a hell of a move to make for a redneck, which is all he was." Rangel, who counseled Hillary to run for her Senate seat in 2000, could have been harsher, considering that for the second straight year Sen. Clinton has refused to help the family of police-shooting victim Amadou Diallo remain in the country, which is a pet project of Rangel. Thanks to Hillary's lack of help, it appears increasingly likely that Diallo's relatives will be deported to Ghana.
Hillary Uber Alles. .
Hillary recently visited Germany to speak at the annual Munich Conference on Security Policy, where she wowed the overwhelmingly male national security crowd. She advocated a direct role by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to stop the slaughter in the Sudan, asking for logistical, communication and transportation support. "We cannot continue to say, 'Never again,' as it happens again before our eyes," she said. Afterward, in the question-and-answer period, Hillary made clear that she was not suggesting that NATO expand "meaninglessly" in the world, but added that there are a number of areas where NATO intervention in pursuit of a UN mandate makes sense. She also thought there should be closer cooperation between NATO and Russia, a country whose military had played a prominent role in the tsunami relief effort, and even called for some NATO cooperation with Communist China. Hillary did manage to sneak in a dig at President Bush, saying that the administration and "its conservative allies" were wrong to denounce the United Nations "in violent terms."
Lindsey's Sweet on Hillary.
South Carolina GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham has worked with Hillary many times over the last two years, and he recently told the New York Observer that "there's a level of trust with her that's very real. When she does something with you, she makes sure that you're getting as much credit-or more-than she is. Which is politically smart, sure. But I also think it comes easy to her." Graham, who served as a House impeachment manager during her husband's impeachment trial in the Senate but is considered a somewhat unreliable conservative by Capitol Hill Republicans, said that "on the Armed Services Committee, Hillary has been anything but an ideologue. Anything but that. When I've got a new piece of legislation, and I'm looking for an ally on the other side, she's one of the first people I call."
Still Pro-Abortion.
Hillary tried to explain her recent abortion comments to CNN's Wolf Blitzer: "I have tried to make clear over many, many years that I believe that this is a very difficult issue, morally and in every other way. I don't see how the government can enter into this matter and criminalize the behavior of women and their doctors. Therefore, my hope is that we can find common ground, to deal with the underlying problem, which happens to be unplanned, unwanted pregnancies. The more we can work together to try to decrease those numbers, the less this will be a pressing issue in the hearts and minds of so many Americans." When she was asked whether she still supported the right to abortion, she answered unequivocally: "Absolutely. ... This is a problem that needs to be dealt with from the beginning in helping young women and young men understand responsible decision-making, in providing good moral values and upbringing, hopefully religious. We underpin so that people know what is right and wrong."
