Posted on 11/16/2001 1:22:43 PM PST by kattracks
It was a rare Kodak media moment.
New York Senator Hillary Clinton discussed in a no-holds-barred fashion on national TV - in a way that made it clear neither she nor her husband would have ever been elected dog catcher, let alone to high national office, but for the protection of the mainstream media's praetorian guard.
Such was the drama that unfolded Thursday night, as Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly dissected Sen. Clinton's performance in the wake of the 9/11 disaster.
Newsmax.com was there, as NewsMax columnist former congressman Dan Frisa crossed swords with Hillary surrogate Geraldine Ferraro - no debating slouch she - in a performance that laid bare one of the great political charades of our time.
The telling confrontation will no doubt go unmentioned elsewhere. And so NewsMax.com offers the transcript in full:
O'REILLY: Has the junior senator from New York, Hillary Clinton, been effective in the aftermath of the terror attacks? She has kept a remarkably low profile. She took some criticism for her mannerisms during the president's speech right after the attack and then she was roundly booed at the benefit concert for the police and firefighters at Madison Square Garden. (Clip showing Hillary being booed.)
Not a good moment for Mrs. Clinton. And she was also MIA at the World Series. With us now is Fox News analyst Geraldine Ferraro, a former congressperson from New York - as is Dan Frisa. Of course, Mr. Frisa is a Republican, Ms. Ferraro's a Democrat.
O'REILLY: So what has Hillary Clinton done in the two months since the attack?
FERRARO: Well, let me comment on both of those tapes that you just put out before I give you that. She was booed, you're right, at that event. Politicians do not do well at sports events or at rock concerts.
O'REILLY: But no other politician was booed ...
FERRARO: I was booed at a Knicks game while I was sitting in a paid seat. I had paid for it.
O'REILLY: That's because you were rooting for the Sixers.
FERRARO (laughing) Well, let me tell you ...
O'REILLY: Look, George Pataki wasn't booed. Giuliani wasn't booed. Even Bill Clinton wasn't booed.
FERRARO: Let me tell you what - they didn't boo when she was down at Ground Zero expressing sympathy. They didn't boo when she got $20 billion and pushed that legislation. They didn't boo when she authored legislation to have a 9/11 stamp that will give money to the families from that stamp ...
O'REILLY: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Give me one specific thing, Ms. Ferraro, give me one specific thing she's done for New York state since 9/11.
FERRARO: Well, what she's done is she has been the person who has pushed most - she and Chuck Schumer, you can't just say just Hillary - the two of them have pushed for the $20 billion ...
O'REILLY: It was a unanimous vote. You didn't have to push for that. It was a unanimous vote.
FERRARO: Hey, wait a minute. How does it get introduced? How is it moved? How is it unanimous? It's not automatic.
O'REILLY: I could have got Blinky the hamburger guy. Blinky the hamburger guy could have introduced that and it would have gotten passed. Anything else besides that?
FERRARO: No, no, absolutely not. In order to figure out what was going on with the Republicans in the Senate, she did get a unanimous vote.
O'REILLY: She didn't do it. Everybody voted for that. Blinky could have got it done.
FERRARO: Oh, Bill - it doesn't - he'll tell you things don't happen automatically in the Congress.
FRISA: No, I gotta side with Blinky on this one, Bill. Anybody could have gotten that passed.
FERRARO: Oh, God ...
FRISA: It was a disaster. It was a horror show. The president called Hillary and Chuck Schumer to the White House and said, "What do you need - you got it."
FERRARO: Were you there when she ...
FRISA: She didn't carry any water on that one.
O'REILLY: Wait a minute. They went back for another $10 billion and they got defeated. They got defeated, right? So Hillary didn't pull that one out of the fire, did she?
FERRARO: Listen, you know what? The thing that happens is when you go down to the Senate, you are a hundred people and she is one of the hundred. She is representing New York state ...
O'REILLY: But what has she done?
FERRARO: She brings - I'm telling you, you wouldn't let me finish - she authored legislation to have a stamp that will end up - it's a 9/11 stamp that will end up taking all the ...
O'REILLY: A stamp?
FERRARO: It's a postal service, a postage stamp. So when it's sold, that money will go to the families of the victims. She has authored legislation that will allow for the victims' families to have mental health services.
O'REILLY: That's already been taken care of.
FERRARO: What more do you ...
O'REILLY: Oh, I'm glad you asked that. What more ...
FERRARO: Well, what do you want?
O'REILLY: Here's what I want. Mrs. Clinton ...
FERRARO: She also brought 40 senators down to Ground Zero so they would vote for that ...
O'REILLY: Blinky could have brought them down.
FERRARO: Oh, come on.
O'REILLY: Wait, wait ...
FERRARO: But Blinky did not, she did.
O'REILLY: He didn't have Secret Service clearance. Mrs. Clinton has not visited one family that has been affected by the terror. Not one. She did not go to one funeral.
FERRARO: Yes, she did. She gave the eulogy at the chaplain, Chaplain Judge's services.
O'REILLY: I'm talking about the folks here. Not the regular - she didn't go to one family. Not visit one. She didn't go to one of the funerals of any of the folks. Can you defend that?
FERRARO: I most certainly can. You know, she's down in the Senate doing her work. Now let me also say ...
O'REILLY: Wait. I gotta let Frisa get in here. Go ahead.
FRISA: I think that's a poor excuse. I mean, the Senate is not in five days a week or six days a week or seven days a week. She could have certainly attended some of those funerals.
The other thing is she has not comported herself with the dignity that we've come to expect from a United States senator. She's actually hurting New York's case by making comments that blame the Bush tax cut for us not being able to respond appropriately after 9/11. She's also made comments using this tragedy to try and gain sympathy for herself by saying that Chelsea was in a position where she could have been hurt - where she was not.
FERRARO: Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on one minute, Oh, come on.
FRISA: Chelsea herself admitted in Talk magazine ...
O'REILLY: Let's give Ms. Ferraro the last word.
FERRARO: The child was down there. As a mother, as a father, the two of them did not know where Chelsea was and they did what every parent did, which is they went to a panic mode.
FRISA: But every parent didn't make up a story, Gerry, about where their daughter was.
FERRARO: They didn't make up a story. They both agreed that ...
FRISA: She did. She made it up that Chelsea was jogging around the Trade Center [when] she was 30 blocks uptown.
FERRARO: They both agreed that she was downtown. Whether she was jogging or she was walking, it doesn't make any difference.
O'REILLY: All right. We gotta go. But I was just amazed that she didn't visit one family, not one. (End of segment)
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Sen. Hillary Clinton
War on Terrorism
Just Freep mail me next week and I'll ping you.
The major chunk of the Clinton presidency was nothing but one big fundraiser. Most politicians absolutely HATE asking for money but not Billary and Hillary. They (especially Bill) really love asking for bucks. BTW, that cop was hit by Hillary's car while her majesty was on her way to a fundraiser.
All this hulabalu about Hillary will be ancient history by the time her next election comes around. Anything over a year old is ancient history to Americans.
You know how the politician grows in the job, matures and has a better understanding of the issues and the people they represent.
The Irish heritage firefighters and policemen will be putting their Xs next to the Ds (socialists)as their fathers and grandfathers did before them. Five dems for every Repub in NY City. And don't give me the old well they elected Giulliani and Bloomberg didn't they. Both those people are RINOS (Republicans in Name Only).
One can only hope the American public will reject these socialists. But the Republicans are also expanding Govt., so the future doesn't look all that bright.
Maybe our voting habits might be changed for the better by external forces in the near future. -Tom
Shirley = surely.
My funny bone makes me spell it that way. ;^)
God that would take at least 4 bags and the flag
All this hulabalu about Hillary will be ancient history by the time her next election comes around. Anything over a year old is ancient history to Americans.
This is why the NY's need to start a recall now to keep it alive
You too, huh?
More than a few of them are almost word for word off of FR.
vaudine
Not since she was twenty something and then only by that humongously ugly Web Hubble.
This is NYC, not Boston. The Borough of Queens is full of Republicans.
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