The Real Hill. At a recent “New York Women for Hillary” breakfast, Sen. Clinton blasted the Bush Administration on a number of issues, including unemployment, women’s rights and the environment. Said Hill: “We are living in a time when the other side doesn’t want us to see the facts. Facts are inconvenient—facts about global warming, facts about mercury in the air, facts about people staying unemployed longer.”
She also told her supporters, who helped to raise $250,000 for her Senate re-election campaign: “There has never been an administration, I don’t believe, in our history more intent upon consolidating and abusing power to further their own agenda,” meaning, she explained, “Whether it’s the right to organize and be part of the American labor movement, whether it’s the right to be able to be have a choice when it comes to the most private and intimate decisions that a woman has to make, whether it is to protect the environment—whatever it is that we slowly but surely built up during the 20th Century, this current administration and their allies in Congress want to turn the clock back on all of that.” There were 1,000 people in attendance at the event, and they applauded her red-meat rhetoric. “I know it’s frustrating for many of you, it’s frustrating for me. Why can’t the Democrats do more to stop them?” I can tell you this: It’s very hard to stop people who have no shame about what they’re doing. It is very hard to tell people that they are making decisions that will undermine our checks and balances and constitutional system of government who don’t care. It is very hard to stop people who have never been acquainted with the truth.”
She also mocked those Republicans who profess their religious beliefs, saying: “Some honestly believe they are motivated by the truth, they are motivated by a higher calling, they are motivated by, I guess, a direct line to the heavens.” She followed up that remark with a seemingly self-deprecating comment: “I talk to Eleanor Roosevelt all the time, and she has never said there is any reason to only have one point of view. But apparently they have a different direct line.” Hillary also criticized the media for supposedly not being hard enough on the GOP: “It’s shocking when you see how easily they fold in the media today. They don’t stand their ground. If they’re criticized by the White House, they just fall apart. I mean, c’mon, toughen up, guys, it’s only our Constitution and country at stake.”
Hooray for Hillary. Hillary was the unquestioned star at a recent series of Hollywood fund-raisers that brought in an estimated $1 million in one night. She appeared at a $1,000-per-person soiree at the home of Warner Brothers chief Alan Horn, a dinner at the home of radio syndication billionaire Norm Pattiz, and a late-night bash co-hosted by performers such as Christina Aguilera, Scarlett Johansson and Jake Gyllenhaal. Even though Hillary has publicly criticized Hollywood for targeting young people with violence, the Hollywood elite still came out in force for her. “Mrs. Clinton is someone who has been a fighter on Democratic issues,” said Chad Griffin, a former Clinton White House staffer who is now a political consultant in Hollywood. “She has been seen as someone who has been willing to stand up and speak her mind on the issues, and stand up to the President.” Ironically, these glitzy and lucrative fund-raisers came almost immediately after David Rosen, a former campaign aide, was acquitted of deliberately concealing more than $700,000 in financing for a star-studded fund-raising gala for her 2000 Senate campaign.
Pillow Talk. Hillary’s husband recently talked about his wife’s 2008 prospects on “Larry King Live” and “NBC Nightly News.” He claims that Hillary has not decided what to do in 2008, but that she would make a “magnificent” President. The former President said that Mrs. Clinton should not rule out the possibility of running in 2008, even if that means she cannot pledge to serve out a full second term. He suggested that his Hillary follow the example of Texas Gov. George W. Bush in 1998, when he refused to rule out the possibility of cutting short his second term in office to become President: “If she wants to entertain that, she ought to do pretty much what President Bush did. He didn’t rule it out, and he shouldn’t have ruled it out.” Of course, this advice is in stark contrast to what Arkansas Gov. Clinton told voters in 1990, when he pledged to serve his entire term if he was re-elected. In general, Mr. Clinton believes that Hillary “is focused on finishing this term and getting re-elected, and that’s exactly what she should focus on. … “If she loses that focus, she might not get to the next election.”
Free at Last. David Rosen, the former national finance director for Hillary’s 2000 Senate campaign, was acquitted by a federal jury of charges that he tried to cover up the extravagant costs of a Hollywood fund-raising gala. Rosen had been charged with two counts of making false statements to the Federal Election Commission about the cost of the event, but the jury decided to acquit him after deliberating for about six hours. Although Sen. Clinton was not charged and claimed to be unaware of any wrongdoing, Republicans were hoping against hope that a guilty verdict for Rosen would adversely affect her 2006 re-election bid and scuttle any hopes for a possible presidential campaign in 2008. For his part, Rosen was ecstatic: “It was hard for me to hold back tears. My whole family is crying, and my attorney is crying. It was the happiest moment, next to my marriage, in my life,” he said. Meanwhile, Hillary’s lawyer David Kendall said “We have said from the beginning that, when all the evidence is in, David would be vindicated. That has come to pass, and Sen. Clinton is very happy for David and his family.”
White House Hopes. A new Gallup poll bodes well for Hillary’s White House hopes, as the survey showed that, for the first time, a majority of Americans would support her bid for the presidency. Fifty-three percent said they were “very likely” or “somewhat likely” to support Clinton for President in 2008, which is up from 42% back in June 2003. The only sobering news for Hillary is that opposition to her candidacy is solid, with 46% of those surveyed saying they were “not very likely” or “not at all likely” to support her. Nevertheless, even this number is down 10 percentage points since June 2003. In addition, 51% of the 1,006 adults surveyed by Gallup by telephone from May 20-22 said they had a favorable opinion of Clinton, which is up from 44% in March 2001.
Hillary continues to play coy, telling CNN that she is running for re-election in 2006, because “that is what I work on every single day, just as I have worked my heart out for the last four years. I think that many people in New York know how hard I’ve worked. … And I’m going to continue doing that every day, and I’m not going to get diverted. I’m going to stay focused on what my job is as the senator from New York.” When she was asked about her plans for 2008, she said, “I’m not even, you know, remotely considering that. My view is that, you know, life unfolds at its own rhythm. You know, I have never lived a life that I thought I could plan out. … And obviously, it’s, you know, it’s very flattering, I guess, for people to feel that way, and I appreciate it. But, you know, I’m focused on ’06.” In somewhat related news, Lynn Cheney recently told Larry King: “You know, people are thinking of Mrs. Clinton running for President. I think Mrs. Bush ought to run for President. If we want to have a Bush dynasty, let’s get Laura Bush.” Her husband, Vice President Dick Cheney, who has ruled out running for the White House in 2008, concurred: “It’s a great idea,” he said. “And I think I know who would win, too.”
Viagra Falls. It was recently discovered that Viagra was given to sex offenders under the Medicaid program, the result of a policy instituted by Hillary’s husband in 1998. Now, it appears that Sen. Clinton wants to stop this taxpayer funding. “She does not believe anyone on Medicaid should have Viagra paid for,” said her spokesman, Philippe Reines. One of Hillary’s potential 2006 opponents, Jeanine Pirro, blasted the government giveaway of Viagra, saying, “By paying for their Viagra, it amounts to state- assisted sexual assault.” New York officials recently learned that nearly 200 convicted sex offenders were using Medicaid to get the drug—a fact that Pirro says has likely led to further sexual attacks. Said Pirro: “My office has prosecuted cases where pedophiles have used Viagra on children, where 86-year-old pedophiles are using Viagra, so they can continue to molest our children. … Shame on us for allowing this to happen.”
