Hillary Clinton's Olympic Failure

NewsMax ^ | 7/6/05

[areafiftyone]

2008 presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton has failed in her first major foreign initiative - a high profile bid to bring the 2012 Olympic games to New York City.

Hours before this morning's announcement that London would host the 2012 games, Clinton was pulling out all the stops to bring the sports extravaganza to her constituents back home.

Mrs. Clinton told reporters in Singapore, where the Olympic committee was meeting, that the Big Apple "exemplifies Olympic values every single day. Living in New York is like living in an Olympic Village - you have every language from every corner of the globe."

While New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg headed up the U.S. delegation, and former boxing great Muhammad Ali joined in the effort - it was Mrs. Clinton, whose global popularity has been heralded in the world's media, who was the clear star of the U.S. team.

In comments to the Associated Press, she noted that the Summer Games have never been held in New York.

"We have lived the Olympics, now I'd like for us to have a chance to host the Olympics," she said.

In arguments before the committee, the former first lady even invoked the specter of the 9/11 attacks:

"We're standing here a little less than four years from the time when we were attacked and we're telling you that New York City is the place to bring the 2012 Olympics because people of New York are resilient," she insisted. "They're extraordinary in their capacity to pull together and plan for the future."

Before this morning's announcement, the AP called Mrs. Clinton "the top political heavyweight for New York's [Olympic] delegation."

But now that she's failed to come through, don't look for the press to spend much time dwelling on what went wrong.

[Exit148]

I would have LOVED to have been a fly in her brain when London was announced!

[cvq3842]

Good point.

[Irish Queen]

Funny!

[section9]

Ah, but you know something? One American did come out well from all this.

Condoleezza Rice didn't have to go to New York to cheerlead for New York's Olympic Bid. And indeed, shortly after her speech to a New York rally in support of New York's bid to host the games, she got props from the locals for her efforts.....

An animated Secretary of State rallies the crowd in New York last week before the Olympic Committee's meeting in Singapore.

One of the things that I noticed was that shortly after Dr. Rice made a splash in the middle of Hillary's territory, picking up chits with the local Republicans (okay, I know, it's Bloomberg, but there are Republicans in that town, and don't think that she didn't check in with Pataki and Rudy before flying in...) for giving NYC the Old College Try, Hillary jumped at the chance to fly to Singapore to see if she could rope in the games for NYC. Thankfully, her "charm" can't outdo that of Tony Blair, David Beckham, and Sebastian Coe. But that didn't stop Hillary from trying to move the spotlight back to her....

In an astounding makeover that still has New Yorker's buzzing, Senator Clinton continually tried to draw attention away from Dr. Rice during the Olympic rally last weekend. Here, pictured in a Mets hat and an ill-fitting black pantsuit, Senator Clinton looks on as Dr. Rice addresses the crowd...

I strongly suspect that Hillary's reactive self was motivated to try to go to Singapore to try to win the games for NYC by Condi's presence in NY. It's the Summer of 2005, there's no campaign going on right now. For her part, Condi begged off the trip because of scheduling conflicts (she is home today prepping for G-8 in Gleneagles and China-Japan-Korea next week). As a result, Condi got the benefit from being associated with the Olympic effort, but not the failure of the loss. Clinton is saddled with that, for the time being.

BTW, mehears that Pataki has been making 2006 noises. Falling on his sword to bruise up Hillary for the Party's sake? Sweet!

Be Seeing You,

Chris

[oceanview]

Pataki may actually be able to beat Hillary for NY Senate. It won't be easy, running against a celebrity with 100% media support never is - but he's got the best shot, and she is the weakest Democrat to run against in a statewide race.

I think this attack on Pataki by Hillary calling for a condemnation of Rove really POed Pataki.

[The Mayor]

I think so, she keeps all her visits secret so we can,t freep her.
She is in and out like the invisible woman.
Never have seen those 300,000 jobs she promised.
Then she says, "Erie counties problems are erie counties"..
It's her party that has destroyed NY

[leprechaun9]

Scorecard on Hitlery = NO RUNS! NO HITS! ALL ERRORS!

[areafiftyone]

I am hoping for an upset in 2006. I just have this feeling she may not win.

[Political Junkie Too]

Maybe Hillary! will blame Tana Goertz for blowing the Olympic task on the final episode of The Apprentice. It's all because she couldn't find an American Flag to give to Gov. Pataki during the Opening Ceremonies!

-PJ

[CitizenM]

Watch for Hillary's name to all but disappear from the discussions of this subject in the MSM

...and be replaced with: "It's all Bush's fault."

[OrioleFan]

the AP called Mrs. Clinton "the top political heavyweight for New York's [Olympic] delegation."

I'm getting so tired of these thunder thigh jokes...

[Michael.SF.]

I am hoping for an upset in 2006.

I still believe there is a high probability that she will not run in 2006. Instead she will use that time to start her campaign for the presidency.

This assume that the Republicans will have a candidate that can score a 35-40 approval rating before the campaign even begins.

[areafiftyone]

Well as far as Senator goes COX is definitely running - Pirro I am not too sure about. As far as President - the field is wide open but the choices STINK!

[John Robertson]

The only reason Her Heinous appeared in stories about how she was pitching for NY to get the Olympics is, she must have gotten word that they were coming to NY, and wanted to grab the credit, making it look like she "brought the games home."

Either she was misled, to look foolish; or she and her people got strong signals from the committee that it was going to happen (variation on the latter: someone misread what was likely a demurral; if it was a staffer, his or her career is over, of course).

At any rate: She is damaged, somewhat, by this, since the story of her championing this effort was so close in the news cycle to the games going to London. It is also true that the MSM will barely mention this.

[xp38]

Let's go to the tape!!! The voting results round by round.


Round 1
London: 22
Paris: 21
Madrid: 20
New York: 19
Moscow: 15

Round 2
Madrid: 32
London: 27
Paris: 25
New York: 16

Round 3
London: 39
Paris: 33
Madrid: 31

Round 4
London: 54
Paris: 50

[areafiftyone]

I was sooo happy this morning. The MSM may not report it but they made A HUGE mistake when they showcased Hillary because she was on all the NY stations with her photo-op. NYers won't forget that and now that we lost they will put the two together even if the MSM doesn't report it. She made a HUGE Mistake and whether the MSM reports it or not doesn't matter because we KNOW she was there and she bragged about her phone calls and her connections. She acted like it was in the bag because SHE is supposedly a hot shot in Europe. This will NOT be forgotten.

[bray]

I would have loved to gone to NYNY to see the Olympics and spend some big bucks, but HilaryCare Rob'em blew it; again!! Guess we'll just have to go to London and spend our $$$.

Pray for W and Our Freedom Fighters

[areafiftyone]

Hey you can still come to NY and spend some big bucks! We would love to have ya here! Actually I wouldn't mind going to London myself! I've been there once and had a great time.

[bray]

Better yet, come to Oregon to see some great scenery and shoot an elk!!

Pray for W and Our Freedom Fighters

[Polyxene]

Heinous Hitlery went to Singapore for one reason -- to keep herself front and center. She couldn't care less about New York or the Olympics. This was all about her (and it was yet another free trip out of the country.) The Clintons never do anything unless there is something in it for them -- mostly monetary.