Now tell me which one is the pig? :-)
Posted on 08/20/2005 5:42:15 PM PDT by nj26
POLITICIANS are used to being accompanied by bodyguards. Hillary Clinton has an extra shield: a Republican guard protecting her from accusations that she is too left-wing. Her mission to persuade voters that she is centrist enough to become president in 2008 depends on the company she keeps.
Clinton, a Democrat senator for New York, rarely takes a step in public or a policy initiative without being surrounded by Republicans. It is disarming her opponents and helping to polish her image as a moderate with a realistic prospect of winning the White House.
Clinton spent last week in “baked Alaska”, which has been experiencing record high temperatures, to investigate one of the left’s favourite causes, global warming. Her travelling companions were three Republican senators: John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Susan Collins.
Together they agreed, in the words of McCain, that there was “overwhelming scientific evidence” of climate change and that “human activities play a very large role”. All Clinton had to do was concur. It is as if they are “dating”, said one cynical television news anchor.
“Hillary is trying to become less Hillary and more Clinton by following her husband’s path to election as a moderate,” said Kellyanne Conway, a Republican strategist. “It’s a very smart strategy to hang out with McCain because he’s a media darling and it guarantees favourable coverage.”
Clinton visited Iraq earlier this year with McCain — both are against withdrawing American troops on the grounds that greater numbers are needed to assure success — and has joined forces with Graham on improving health insurance for army reservists.
She has co-operated on health reform and national security with right-wing ideologist Newt Gingrich, one of the fiercest opponents of her husband Bill Clinton, and with Bill Frist, the Republican Senate leader. There is a trade-off: her star power generates an enviable level of attention for their initiatives.
Sightings of Clinton with leading Democrats such as John Kerry, last year’s presidential contender, have become rare while Bill is now best friends with George Bush Sr, the former president.
Clinton’s well crafted bipartisanship is beginning to grate with conservatives. Peggy Noonan, Ronald Reagan’s former speechwriter, last week derided the “creepy chumminess” between the two camps.
“Newt smiling with Hillary and John McCain giggling with Hillary leaves you wondering: why are these people laughing?” Noonan complained.
The one Republican who could take centre-left votes from Clinton in a presidential contest is McCain, not least because of his reputation for putting politics above party. Cosying up to Clinton, however, could hurt his chances of winning his party’s nomination in 2008.
“He should be attacking Hillary Clinton if he wants to be popular with Republicans, but he enjoys the attention,” said Larry Sabato, a political analyst at the University of Virginia.
Clinton has the left of her party so sewn up that she can afford to move to the centre without alienating her base. The question remains whether the American public will buy her image as a moderate.
Mike McCurry, White House press secretary for Bill Clinton, said her interest in bipartisanship was genuine. “The country is hungry for any leader who wants to rise above the divisiveness,” he added. “The irony is: she is the least well placed politician to do that because she is a lightning rod for the right.”
Clinton’s moderation is paying dividends in New York, where she faces a battle for re-election to the Senate next year. Polls show her leading Jeanine Pirro, her Republican rival, by 64% to 28%. Clinton has already accumulated a war chest of $21.8m for the race. “She’s raising money at a presidential clip,” said Steven Weiss of the Center for Responsive Politics.
Conservatives in New York are beginning to cold-shoulder Pirro while the tabloid newspapers are having a field day with her husband Al Pirro, a convicted fraudster and father of a 22-year-old illegitimate daughter.
Republicans had been hoping to use the Senate race as a means to turn Clinton into damaged goods before 2008 but she has high approval ratings even in conservative upstate New York. The same is not true for the rest of America. “So far it’s been an easy ride but she has a massive set of problems,” said Sabato. “She is not only seen as a liberal, she is also disliked.”
Nobody knows this better than Clinton herself, according to McCurry. Even if teaming up with the right does not win her the White House, it could help her to maintain a high profile in the Senate for years to come. “I would not be surprised if she were to decide that this was the best contribution she could make to her country,” he said.
Either way, she will be flanked by her Republican guard.
Hillary Clinton and John McCain have something in common.
Neither one will ever be President.
RINOs...not Republicans. Putting lipstick on a pig still doesn't change the fact that said animal is in fact a pig.
Hillary's secret weapon
F.B.I .FILES
Translation ... Hellary has to hide behind other people because when Hellary does speak up and the real Hellary is talking
Folks don't like what they hear
Now tell me which one is the pig? :-)
no matter. Pirro is brilliant and has said things that turn people on to the reality of power hungry, egotistical pigs like mcnovacain, newt salamander gingrich and hillary the progressive mobster
"Hillary's secret weapon... F.B.I. FILES"
I've often wondered what is in Lindsey Graham's. He never misses an opportunity to hail the queen.
McCain isn't a republican, he's a Hillbot wannabee.
Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton
Sure it is...The power brokers at the Council on Foreign Relations have already picked Hillary...And they are going to allow the people to vote her into office...
You don't think that Hillary could be quietly "putting out" for these guys, could she? I mean, they sure are wearing satisfied smiles on their faces these days.
Hello! As if Hillary must hang around with McCain to get coverage! The American people are pretty darn stupid if they fall for this moderate act of hers.
"You don't think that Hillary could be quietly "putting out" for these guys, could she? I mean, they sure are wearing satisfied smiles on their faces these days."
I doubt Hillary is, but you can bet that the Clintons wouldn't be above hiring a call girl (or boy) to entertain McCain or Graham if it got them into the White House. It's not as if Bill Clinton doesn't know where to find a sexually-adventurous young lady.
These presidential wantabe's make me sick to my stomach!!!!!!!
Yes, this is a good insight into Hillary's latest political manipulation. What's really interesting is this is the first positive step I've seen McCurry take in the Clinton direction since he quit working for them. I wonder if he's being hired on to the team again.
Both are self-inflating boors.
Both have drug-addicted spouses.
There's a pic on Google I can't post. It shows a male organ in a frying pan. (Google/Images, "Martha Stewart" and you'll see it.) I think that more aptly describes the situation.
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