Hillary macaca
Posted on 10/04/2006 7:36:37 AM PDT by Gopher Broke
Sen. Hillary Clinton Endorses Sen. George Allen Foe
Sen. Hillary Clinton endorsed Democrat Jim Webb in Virginia's Senate race Tuesday, praising the former Republican as an independent voice against President Bush's Iraq policies and a pliant GOP Congress that supports them.
The former first lady and possible 2008 Democratic presidential contender brushed aside a magazine article Webb wrote in 1979 that said women can't lead men in battle and decrying their admission to military academies.
Clinton's appearance comes as Webb battles claims from Republican incumbent George Allen that Webb has demeaned women. An Allen campaign ad features female U.S. Naval Academy graduates accusing Webb of creating hostility toward them when they were midshipmen in the early 1980s.
"That was 30 years ago and I've analyzed what Jim Webb has done. He's opened up positions - thousands of positions - to women that have not been available," the New York senator told reporters before a fundraising luncheon for Webb.
Allen, meanwhile, began the third statewide tour since kicking off his campaign in the spring, this time aimed at resuscitating his campaign after six disastrous weeks of developments that raised questions about his views on race.
His "Issues, Ideas, Proven Record Tour" opened after Allen took the extraordinary step of simulcasting a two-minute infomercial statewide Monday night in an effort to shift the focus off his campaign missteps. His first stop was in Fredericksburg where he joined Virginia House Speaker William J. Howell in addressing supporters.
In a way, he succeeded. Tuesday produced no reference to Allen's Aug. 11 use of the word "macaca," considered an ethnic slur by some, on a man of Indian descent, and claims last week by old Allen acqauintances that he often invoked a common racial epithet against black people.
The first joint event between Webb, a former Reagan military aide, and Clinton was rich in themes of reconciliation. Clinton absolved Webb for his Washingtonian magazine article titled "Women Can't Fight" and Webb, a decorated Marine veteran of the Vietnam War, forgave Clinton her antiwar activism during that era.
"There are people, some of whom I respect and will always respect, who believe that the wall that went up between those who supported the Vietnam War and those who opposed it will never come down, and I'm telling you that wall fell down for me on 9/11," Webb said.
Clinton focused on Iraq and the nation's finances, fixing Bush and Allen as his loyal proxy in her sights as she addressed about 110 Democratic women feasting on filet of salmon in a French bistro in Alexandria's tony Old Town.
"It's not just enough to talk tough. You have to be both smart and tough in the actions you pursue and the decisions you make," Clinton said.
"We are looking for a strategy that works, and it's not enough to stand under a banner which says `Mission Accomplished' or `Victory.' That is not a strategy," she said.
Allen spokesman Dick Wadhams said Webb's newfound alliance with Clinton and fellow Senate Democrats amounted to election-year expedience at odds with his past.
"For him to claim he is a Reagan Democrat is a joke," Wadhams said. "This is the same guy who once said the Clinton administration was the most corrupt in history and would not shake (Democratic Massachusetts Sen.) John Kerry's hand. Now here he is wrapping his arms around Hillary Clinton and John Kerry."
Allen's appearance with Howell in Fredericksburg followed his endorsement by the Hispanic Coalition in Washington earlier in the day. He planned another stop Tuesday in Weyers Cave in the heavily Republican Shenandoah Valley as he tries to rally his conservative base.
The latest Allen tour follows his 11-city campaign kickoff tour across Virginia in April when he was then considered a prominent contender for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination whose re-election was little more than a warmup. It also comes nearly two months after his annual "listening tour" in which he criss-crossed Virginia in a 35-foot motor home.
It was on that tour, during a campaign event before a mostly white crowd in southwestern Virginia that Allen singled out Webb campaign volunteer S.R. Sidarth and applied the name "macaca" to him. Sidarth, a tracker who had followed Allen's tour and videotaped his events, posted the footage on the Internet, spawning one of the year's major political stories.
Since that event, Allen has lost the 16 percentage-point lead he held over Webb in July in statewide polls conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. A poll Friday showed the two men tied at 43 percent.
Is this linked article or did you invent this ?
What did you expect?
I saw it on the WaCompost this morning.
um....duh?
Right. Why is it news that Hillary endorses another dem?
I'm shocked - SHOCKED! - that Hillary would endorse the Dem senate candidate!
Webb = typical liberal a**hole. He thinks he can get away with being a sexist jerk just because he's a Democrat. Just like Bill Clinton, Ted Kennedy, etc. Those women at the Naval Academy must have made him feel insecure. He's a member of the two-inch crowd for sure.
Yeah, but you see how the dims do things. She just "brushed it aside", end of controversy. Why don't the Reps. brush aside their stumbles like that? Simply refuse to discuss it. Once you start apologizing and defending, you're toast.
I'm just as stunned as I was when I heard Bush was supporting Allen.
Webb won the primary months ago. What took her so long?
"Webb won the primary months ago. What took her so long?"
Saving a "big name" endorsement until near the end. Nobody would have remembered it if she had done it months ago.
It's not that this is "big news," but more the fact that it's a bit risky because Hillary is such a divisive figure.
Heck, we're promoting this as much, if not more, than Webb is.
Combine that with the fact that the event only raised somewhere between $25-35K (I forget the exact amount).
Allen isn't lagging that bad. He is going to win. In fact, now that Hillary has stumped for Webb, it almost guarantees and Allen victory.
In other news, the sun will rise tomorrow.
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