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Senator Hillary Rodman Clinton polishes image as political centrist (hold yer nose)
Miami Herald ^ | 7/27/05 | STEVEN THOMMA

Posted on 07/27/2005 4:56:09 PM PDT by Libloather

Sen. Clinton polishes image as political centrist
Posted on Tue, Jul. 26, 2005

At the annual conference of the Democratic Leadership Council, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton called for moderation and an ideological `cease-fire.'

BY STEVEN THOMMA sthomma@krwashington.com


Sen. Hillary Clinton, right, delivers her remarks in Capitol Rotunda during a ceremony honoring artist Constantino Brumidi, on his 200th birthday anniversary, Tuesday, July 26, 2005, in Washington. Brumidi, the political refugee from Italy who painted 'The Apotheosis of Washington' in the eye of the dome of the U.S. Capitol. Seated from back left to right, Sens. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and Harry Reid, D-Nev. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton courted a moderate image on Monday, urging a truce between the liberal and centrist wings of her Democratic Party and a platform that bridges differences as she positions herself for a possible bid for the presidency.

Delivering a broad overview of public affairs that illustrated how she would lead the party, Clinton blended the rhetoric of President Bush in stressing an aggressive war on terrorism with the kind of talk her husband used in forging middle-ground consensus on divisive issues such as abortion and the role of faith in public life.

Clinton's venue was the annual conference of the Democratic Leadership Council, the same centrist group of Democratic Party leaders and activists that helped launch her husband's 1992 presidential campaign and where she accepted the chairmanship of a year-long effort to write a new party agenda.

She didn't mention ambitions beyond her 2006 reelection as New York's junior senator.

PARTY'S STAR

But to the audience of rank-and-file Democrats, there was no doubt that she's the biggest star in the party and the likely front-runner for its 2008 nomination should she seek it.

''I'd love for her to be president,'' said Elizabeth Kennedy Lawlor, a Democrat from Alabama, who waited eagerly after the speech for Clinton to autograph her latest book, Living History. ``She's a fighter. She's a survivor.''

Ever since she won election to the Senate in 2000, Clinton has been striving to establish her moderate or centrist credentials. Like everyone else at the meeting of party centrists, Clinton is keenly aware that the only two Democrats to win the presidency in the last 35 years have been moderate Southerners -- one of them her husband, Bill Clinton, and the other a former governor of Georgia, Jimmy Carter.

SEEKS `CEASE-FIRE'

In her speech, Clinton sought to bridge divisions in her party and the country.

''All too often we have allowed ourselves to be split between left, right and center,'' she said of Democrats. ``It's high time for a cease-fire.''

Instead, she said, Democrats need to convince the country that Americans can expand healthcare while being fiscally responsible, fight terrorism while strengthening international alliances and support free trade while protecting American workers.

She said Democrats need to support abortion rights while also using such tools as family planning and eased adoptions to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies and abortions. She urges ''common ground'' on abortion, though she hasn't wavered in her support of universal abortion rights. She referred to faith in God, shared values and a desire to ``protect our children from the excesses of the popular culture.''

Notably, she's working to overcome broad criticism of her failure when she led the Clinton White House's 1993-94 effort to expand health care.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: centrist; clinton; dlc; hillary; hillary2008; hold; image; nose; polishes; political; rodman; senator; yer
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Big Media seems to be pushing this centrist nonsense. Most leftists agree that the impeached *Bubba wasn't leftist ENOUGH. The Beast must not mind alienating the base.

Since spin equals perversion - what were the eight years of *Squirt really worth?

1 posted on 07/27/2005 4:56:10 PM PDT by Libloather
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To: Libloather

Anyone dumb enough to vote for her should get their own cott in the gulag of their choosing.


2 posted on 07/27/2005 4:58:15 PM PDT by samadams2000 (Pitchforks and Lanters..with a smiley face!)
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To: Libloather
Yeah. Right. Ask Vince Foster about how "centrist" dear Hillary is.

Hell, ask the Chinese.

3 posted on 07/27/2005 4:59:48 PM PDT by Reactionary
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To: Libloather
I'm listening to this substitute for Savage talking up Hillary! right now. It's funny, actually. He's not selling his point at all, just providing talk fodder.


4 posted on 07/27/2005 5:02:19 PM PDT by rdb3 (You'd PAY to know what you REALLY think.)
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To: Libloather

How many million times will the MSM use Hillary and Centerists in the same sentence over the next 3 years?


5 posted on 07/27/2005 5:04:25 PM PDT by Always Right
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To: Libloather

The dem base would vote for her no matter what she says. She has the luxury of leaning right. Nobody believes it except elderly people watching ABC news.


6 posted on 07/27/2005 5:07:22 PM PDT by somemoreequalthanothers
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To: Always Right
"How many million times will the MSM use Hillary and Centerists in the same sentence over the next 3 years?"


7 posted on 07/27/2005 5:07:43 PM PDT by jdm (The answer to the extra credit question on a Columbia U exam is always choice C: "Bush's Fault.")
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To: Libloather

It won't fly. The skank is a liberal.

EVERY VOTE SHE HAS ON MAJOR ISSUES.....IS A LIBERAL ONE.

She did not learn much from Kerry's failure.

He tried to sound moderate. He tried to talk that way for two years....

BUT HIS VOTES ON MAJOR ISSUES WERE EXPOSED.

AND HELLARY WILL HAVE HER VOTES EXPOSED TOO!

Just remember folks, the "Run Hillary, Run" bumper sticker...goes on the front bumber!


8 posted on 07/27/2005 5:08:38 PM PDT by ArmyBratproud (McCain, you'll never be president.)
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To: Libloather

hillary's kiddie car needs a wheel alignment...seems to be pulling to the right. (just keeps on molting)


9 posted on 07/27/2005 5:10:37 PM PDT by ripley
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To: Libloather
So perhaps the way to counter the fake shift to the right of Hillary is to loudly embrace how she's rejected the lies of the far left...eventually she'll hear enough flak from her real constituency that she'll cut out the phony stuff.
10 posted on 07/27/2005 5:12:58 PM PDT by highlander_UW (I don't know what my future holds, but I know Who holds my future)
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To: Liz; Howlin; MurryMom; ALOHA RONNIE; RonDog; Mudboy Slim; writer33; Diva Betsy Ross; ...
``She's a fighter. She's a survivor.''

Please note that this specific location was another 9/11 target. Todd Beamer was a fighter...

11 posted on 07/27/2005 5:19:08 PM PDT by Libloather (Just my luck - Hillary is the smartest person in the Milky Way - and picked MY planet to seek power)
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To: ArmyBratproud

Wish I could agree wtih you, but her votes aren't going to add up to SQUAT come '06 and even '08. You can track her meager (and destined to stay that way) voting record at the link below. You can literally SEE her moving to the center if you compare her votes in 2001 to the FEW votes she's had so far in 2005:

http://www.vote-smart.org/voting_category.php?can_id=WNY99268


12 posted on 07/27/2005 5:21:07 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (Save The Earth. It's The Only Planet With Chocolate.)
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To: ArmyBratproud
Yeah I can't wait to see the PIAPS in a goose blind.

What did that dumbazz Kerry say? That he'd hunted the beasts and fowl all of his life-something like that. Anyway, I know that it's just the kind of talk that I grew up hearing every time I was taken afield in pursuit of the beasts and fowl!

What a bunch of phony wienies!

13 posted on 07/27/2005 5:28:57 PM PDT by skimbell
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To: Libloather

"during a ceremony honoring artist Constantino Brumidi, on his 200th birthday anniversary..."

Wait a minute, you people are being too cynical. This was a ceremony to honor a famous artist and Hillary really does care about art. Remember when she had distinguished artists send in ornaments for her Christmas in the White House?


14 posted on 07/27/2005 5:35:16 PM PDT by strategofr (What did happen to those 293 boxes of secret FBI files (esp on Senators) Hillary stole?)
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To: Libloather

Why does she get to stand in front of a picture of George Washington? And then it's shot from an angle to give a more panoramic view. All of these questions answered by your friendly mainstream leftist media.

:)


15 posted on 07/27/2005 5:44:27 PM PDT by writer33 (Rush Limbaugh walks in the footsteps of giants: George Washington, Thomas Paine and Ronald Reagan.)
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To: Libloather

I heard Hillary is using the old, "Pee On Their Legs and Tell 'Em It's Raining" technique. I'm sorry to say, it works everytime with a lot of Americans. Gullible. Gullible.


16 posted on 07/27/2005 5:46:59 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (We did not lose in Vietnam. We left.)
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To: Libloather

retch.


17 posted on 07/27/2005 5:54:57 PM PDT by bitt ('We will all soon reap what the ignorant are now sowing.' Victor Davis Hanson)
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To: Libloather
The only operative phrase in the article is the inadvertant truth in the title : "Hillary Rodham Clinton polishes image"

Images are not real.

18 posted on 07/27/2005 5:55:03 PM PDT by cake_crumb (Leftist Credo: "One Wing to Rule Them all and to the Dark Side Bind Them")
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To: strategofr
Remember when she had distinguished artists send in ornaments for her Christmas in the White House?

I believe that was a Roman artist - during the mint age...


19 posted on 07/27/2005 5:57:44 PM PDT by Libloather (Just my luck - Hillary is the smartest person in the Milky Way - and picked MY planet to seek power)
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To: ArmyBratproud
And who could ever forget these immortal Hillary quotes : "It takes a village to raise a child" and "We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good."

She's as far left as Kerry.

20 posted on 07/27/2005 5:57:59 PM PDT by cake_crumb (Leftist Credo: "One Wing to Rule Them all and to the Dark Side Bind Them")
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