Republicans for Hillary, Part 1

http://slate.msn.com/id/2088758/ ^ | Monday, September 22, 2003, at 4:00 PM PT | Timothy Noah

[bmwcyle]

There's a powerful political movement afoot to draft Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., for president in 2004. Its partisans are committed almost to the point of fanaticism, and their number is growing by the hour. This thing is an absolute juggernaut. Even so, the Draft Hillary '04 forces probably won't secure their candidate's Democratic nomination. Why not? Because they're all Republicans!

[bmwcyle]

There's a powerful political movement afoot to draft Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., for president in 2004. Its partisans are committed almost to the point of fanaticism, and their number is growing by the hour. This thing is an absolute juggernaut. Even so, the Draft Hillary '04 forces probably won't secure their candidate's Democratic nomination. Why not? Because they're all Republicans!

All right, that's a slight exaggeration. After considerable investigative effort, Chatterbox was able to identify five Democrats who think Hillary Clinton should enter the nomination race. The only one you've likely heard of is Mario Cuomo, former governor of New York, who earlier this month told the New York Post, "I would support her in a flash if she came into the race." But Clinton isn't Cuomo's first draft choice; last month he was touting Al Gore. And even Cuomo says he doesn't expect Clinton to run.

Who are the other "Draft Hillary" Democrats? Well, there's Randy S. Howington, who set up this Web site, apparently as a sideline to his main interest, which is honoring the memory of John Denver. A "Vote Democratic" button on the Hillary site indicates Howington's party allegiance. A Miami-based gay rights activist named Robert Kunst is taking time away from his presidency of the Oral Majority (slogan: "No More Bushit!") to circulate a "Draft Hillary" petition online. Kunst is a Democrat, too (though in 2000 he ran for Florida governor as an independent). Kunst is allied with Adam Parkhomenko, a freshman at Northern Virginia Community College who earlier this month registered his "Draft Hillary 2004 for President Committee" with the Federal Election Commission. Parkhomenko is a Democrat. Finally, Esme Taylor of Sausalito, Calif., has a Web site, the Hillary Clinton Forum, that advocates a presidential run. Taylor runs the Yellow Pages Superhighway, a search engine for Yellow Pages listings around the country, and, yes, she's a Democrat.

These scattered grass-roots efforts hardly add up to a significant movement within the Democratic Party. Conceivably, they may someday; many great political campaigns had small beginnings. But the halting progress of the Draft Hillary movement on the left is a joke when compared to the rapid snowballing of the Draft Hillary movement on the right. To conservatives, it's a mainstream article of faith that Bill Clinton, who in the end could be stopped only by the constitutional limit on presidential terms, will come back to haunt Republicans by installing his wife in the White House. Booga-booga!

Who are the "Draft Hillary" conservatives? You'd do better to ask who isn't. Here's a very incomplete sampling:

William Safire wrote about the Clintons' plan for a 2004 Restoration in the Sept. 22 New York Times. According to Safire, Bill Clinton encouraged Wesley Clark's entry into the race in order to leach support from Howard Dean, John Kerry, Joe Lieberman, and Dick Gephardt:

If Bush stumbles and the Democratic nomination becomes highly valuable, the Clintons probably think they would be able to get Clark to step aside without splintering the party, rewarding his loyalty with second place on the ticket.

In his online column of Sept. 18, Wall Street Journal editorialist John Fund floated the "stalking horse" theory more cautiously before concluding that even if Clark won, the result would be another Clinton presidency:

Should Mr. Clark be elected president, the Clintons would have a strong ally in the Oval Office. If he does well but doesn't get the nomination, he may be viewed as a suitable running mate for Mrs. Clinton or some other Democratic nominee in the future. … Mr. Clark no doubt is his own man, but with so many old Clinton hands surrounding him, don't be surprised if Mr. Clinton is occasionally tempted to act as if he were still Mr. Clark's commander-in-chief.

President Bush's cousin, John Ellis, envisions a variation on this theme in which Hillary Clinton becomes Clark's running mate.

Former Clinton wunderkind Dick Morris, who has long made clear his loathing for Hillary Clinton, claimed in a Sept. 21 interview with Monica Crowley on New York's WABC radio that Hillary and Bill told 150 Democratic Party fat cats dining at their Chappaqua home "not to give money to anybody else." For some reason, Morris had left this detail out of an earlier (Sept. 8) telling of this story on Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor.

Conservative columnist Mark Steyn urged Clinton to run in an Aug. 31 column, describing her in worthy-adversary tones ("The Clintons didn't get where they are without being bold").

The conservative Washington Times couldn't contain its excitement in a Sept. 18 story reporting that Bill Clinton had said in a California appearance, in response to a question about whether Hillary would run, "That's really a decision for her to make." Further down in the story was Hillary's unambiguous recent statement, "I am absolutely ruling it out."

Carl Limbacher, a right-wing investigative reporter, has published an entire book, titled Hillary's Scheme, about how Hillary Clinton plans to run in 2004. Its findings have been endorsed by Rush Limbaugh ("There's no question Hillary Clinton wants to be president") and Sean Hannity ("Of all the books that have been written about [Hillary Clinton], this one is the definitive book that probably the Clintons will fear the most").

Why are all these conservatives desperately committed to the idea that Hillary Clinton will run for president, when most liberals of Chatterbox's acquaintance either have little interest in this prospect or actively oppose it? Chatterbox will explain this puzzling phenomenon in his next column.

They are lining up!!! /sarcasm

[hapy]

funny

Thanks for the laugh!

[Dan from Michigan]

I want Hitlery to run...so she can get her ass kicked, and the Klintlers can get a final nail driven in their political coffin.

[bmwcyle]

Also see Click here

[tractorman]

I think they’re all playing right into W’s hand.
Once Shrilliary gets lured into the race then W will begin playing his cards.
Saddam captured, Osama captured, economy roars, Iran falls, North Korea and Pakistan go down, China goes capitalist, everyone’s happy and we roll into Nov. ’04 and crush Hilliary, the libs, the lamestream media and terrorism forever.

God bless America and President Bush

[bmwcyle]

The libs will print everything.

[dfwgator]

"Don't throw me in the briar patch B'rer Rabbit."

[bmwcyle]

Click here for Part 2

[joesnuffy]

Please dont throw Hitlerly into
Dat ole briar patch

[bmwcyle]

Hillary should be thrown in the middle of the Atlantic.

[Lou L]

In another thread, someone said that if Pres. Bush "appeared" weak, HIllary would no doubt sieze the opportunity to run.

This whole idea (of a Hillary presidential run) raises some questions, though none about why she'd want to run.

1. If Bill Clinton is only encouraging Wesley Clark's entry into the race, can anyone speak to Clark's fundraising efforts to date? Is anyone donating to his campaign?

2. What about all the Democratic money that's been raised to date for their primary runs? I thought the Democratic coffers had run dry. It would seem to me, that with so many candidates, it would be a waste of time for anyone else to donate if Hillary was going to run.

3. What could happen to money already raised? Could the other candidates donate or loan it to a Hillary campaign?

4. Could it be part of a "Rove-ian" strategy to "make" Bush look somewhat weak, to encourage a run from Hillary? I would think that if WMD were to be found in Iraq, or Saddam or Osama were captured, or if the economy continued to improve, Bush would be untouchable.

[bmwcyle]

3. Only if the money was collected in a PAC. Any direct money can not transfer without the Bill and Hill Money Laundry Company.

[Maria S]

From the same basic website, here's an interesting article about the EPA and Christy Todd Whitman:

http://www.hillary.org/hc/Hillary_Clinton_Forum_995_chat1.cgi

TEWKSBURY TWP. - Former federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Christine Todd Whitman vehemently denied downplaying health risks in Manhattan in the days following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in a talk before local business leaders here.

Speaking at a luncheon at the Fiddler's Elbow Country Club in Bedminster Township Friday, Sept. 12, Whitman said she is "personally offended" by charges that she put the public at risk by assuring them the air was safe to breathe before tests were conclusive.

"I can say, absolutely confidently, that the charges that have been leveled against the agency, and the White House, are absolutely not true," Whitman told a gathering of Somerset County government and business leaders known as the Fifth Friday Friars.

Whitman, a former Republican governor and a resident of neighboring Tewksbury Township, made her remarks the day after the second anniversary of the collapse of the World Trade Center towers.

Whitman, who stepped down from the EPA post in late June, was harshly criticized in an August report by the EPA inspector general for allegedly giving the public reassurances about the level of air quality before the facts were known.

The report was given extensive national media coverage in the days leading up to the second anniversary of the terrorist attacks. Some New York Democrats, including Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, also criticized Whitman.

Speaking before a sympathetic audience - many of those in attendance have known her since she was a Somerset County freeholder in the mid-1980s - Whitman said she wouldn't have told the public the air outside the Ground Zero perimeter was safe to breathe if she wasn't certain it was true.

"Every study subsequently has agreed with that (initial) report," Whitman noted.

"I never said anything that wasn't vetted by the scientists (at the EPA), she added later. The scientists, had information that allowed them to render accurate opinions on air quality even before tests results were conclusive, she said.

In the days after the terrorist attacks, Whitman said, the EPA put out three different messages regarding air quality.

According to Whitman, rescue workers in "the pit" were warned to wear protective respirators, as were members of the general public who suffer from health and respiratory problems.

But for healthy people living and working outside Ground Zero, she said, the EPA concluded there was no threat.

Whitman said many rescue workers at Ground Zero ignored the warning, complaining that the respirators were heavy and cumbersome.

"The health problems we're now seeing, it's the people who were down in the pit at Ground Zero," Whitman said.

Whitman also denied giving in to Wall Street's desire to quickly re-open the lower Manhattan financial district.

"There were a lot of people who wanted Wall Street open within two days, but we said no," she said. Most businesses didn't re-open until Monday, Sept. 17, six days after the attacks.

[bmwcyle]

Good fine, what is means for Dems I don't know.

[Bringbackthedraft]

"and the Klintlers can get a final nail driven in their political coffin."

That won't help, we have to drive a wooden stake through their hearts first.

[scabbage]

Mario Cuomo, former governor of New York, who earlier this month told the New York Post, "I would support her in a flash if she came into the race."

Is this guy out of his mind? Oh that`s right, he`s a democrat. First off, you have to ask yourself; What has this woman ever done? What has she ever accomplished in her life besides winning a Senate race by buying up votes with pardons and cut jail terms? This womans whole life is a scandal! From being a total radical in college (and she still is), to having scandal after scandal as a lawyer, and as first lady. What does Mario think she is going to be like as freggin` President? Are you kidding me? One can only imagine what she would do to buy votes this time. Her husband only pardoned terrorists.TERRORISTS who bombed NYC and Chicago ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY TIMES!!! She will do or say ANYTHING for a vote, and god knows what kind of favors shes going to repay if she gets there.."Oh, Mohammed and his Islamic sect have all voted for me...Let me get them our nuke secrets. Its only fair." This woman is DANGEROUS because she is psychotic, and that she is anywhere near politics is outrageous.

[Eala]

Hillary should be thrown in the middle of the Atlantic.

What have you got against the Atlantic?

[bmwcyle]

I wish when you post, your feelings would surface.

[bmwcyle]

The Atlantic is much stronger then the stupid who defend that woman.

[Protagoras]

I want Hitlery to run.

It's Bush's best chance for reelection.