SFGate.com Carla Marinucci's take on the event tonight
Clinton tests West Coast waters
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/01/29/CLINTON.TMP
(Excerpted)
Among the highlights of Clinton's conversation:
-- On the victory of Hamas in the recent Palestinian elections, Clinton said the world had become less stable, and she was "deeply troubled" by that development.
"We cannot recognize or negotiate with Hamas unless they renounce violence," she said.
-- On the issue of wiretapping, she said the administration had taken a "defiant" and illegal stand: "We had to upgrade and increase our surveillance," she said. "We saw some holes in our laws and we moved to plug them ... (but) what this adminstration is saying is we have a right to do whatever we think is necessary without going to the Congress," without getting court approval.
"There's no reason that the adminstration could not have come to the Congress and asked for the lawful authority," Clinton said.
-- On whether she would renounce her vote in support of giving the president authority to go to war in Iraq, Clinton said she had been told "the intelligence had been consistent -- we now know, consistently wrong" regarding Saddam Hussein's connection with weapons of mass destruction.
"I voted to give (the president) that authority, and I don't regret that vote," she said. "I regret the why he used the authority."
-- On the administration's response to Louisiana residents in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Clinton called it "disgraceful," and added, "now we're turning our backs on them," charging that "a deliberate policy of neglect" has taken root.
Maybe Hillary should tally up reality and run against Ray Nagin.