Posted on 07/29/2002 6:23:53 AM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection
For the second time in a week, New York Senator Hillary Clinton reportedly "blew her top" at a Senate colleague, prompting concern that she's no longer able suppress the notorious temper that left more than a few White House underlings and campaign coworkers scarred by her blistering tirades.
Sen. Clinton "hit the ceiling" last week over her fellow New Yorker, Sen. Chuck Schumer's highly publicized gubernatorial endorsement of state comptroller Carl McCall, reports the New York Post's Albany correspondent Fred Dicker.
McCall's bid to become the state's first African-American governor has Democrats torn over whether to support him or Andrew Cuomo, the ex-Housing Secretary who recently told the New York Times that Bill Clinton was his hero.
Sen. Clinton has reportedly complained that Schumer's McCall endorsement was nothing more than a "cynical effort" to curry favor with African-American voters at her expense, a senior New York Democrat with firsthand knowledge of the situation told the paper.
The short-fused ex-first-lady is said to be "doubly furious" over the timing of Schumer's endorsement, coming just before a unity dinner for state Democrats was scheduled to take place.
While Hillary's latest tirade occurred behind her target's back, Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold wasn't so lucky, getting a face-to-face dressing down from his New York colleague the week before. Clinton was said to be angered over fund-raising restrictions imposed by the recently passed McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law.
Witnesses say she "screamed" and "shouted" at her Wisconsin colleague at the closed door meeting a week ago Thursday, shattering the collegial atmosphere that normally prevails in the Senate.
The outburst against Feingold was said to be Mrs. Clinton's first targeting a fellow senator since taking office in Jan. 2001.
But it follows a long string of similar incidents over the years that have been largely ignored by the press.
In 1996, for instance, when Mrs. Clinton was upset at the burgeoning Travelgate scandal, she lashed out at then-White House Counsel Abner Mikva. According to the late Barbara Olson in her landmark Clinton biography, "Hell to Pay," Hillary unleashed "such a vicious streak of humiliating profanity that he resigned."
"She is angry. Not all the time. But most of the time," revealed author Gail Sheehy in her more forgiving biography, "Hillary's Choice." One target of Hillary's anger, longtime aide Carolyn Huber, told Sheehy, "The person on the receiving end of it never gets over it." According to the author, Huber "shivered" as she related the insight.
Campaign aides Paul and Mary Lee Fray describe a 1974 Hillary meltdown where she called Mr. Fray "a f - - king Jew bastard" to his face.
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton attributes Mrs. Clinton's campaign finance-related outburst to pressure brought to bear by the watchdog group's client Peter Paul, whose account of illegal Clinton fund-raising practices is being taken more seriously by the Bush Justice Department in recent months.
"I guess Peter Paul is getting to her," Fitton told NewsMax.com last week, when asked about her Feingold tirade. "The Justice Department recently told us that his information on Mrs. Clinton is checking out," he added.
Paul has told investigators that he donated over $2 million in cash and in-kind contributions to the Hillary 2000 campaign, most of which she failed to report as required by law to the Federal Election Commission.
With the Justice Department's dropping its New Square Pardongate case against Mrs. Clinton, Paul's complaint is the only area left where she has any legal exposure.
Negotiations between the Justice Department and Paul, who had fled to Brazil after being indicted on stock fraud charges, are going well enough that he's expected to return to the U.S. in the coming months - a development which could signal a full blown federal probe into his allegations.
"Even now, some continue to delude themselves. They attack Mr. Clinton’s actions, but they can’t bring themselves to admit that Senator Hillary also is at fault. Most of us, however, now realize that she is an equally detestable partner in a scandal whose sleazy dealings finally have been brought to light."
"Conservative critics of the Clintons have been amused to see the former President’s friends writhing in agony on talk shows and in op-ed columns in recent weeks. They wonder why other Democrats and liberal commentators are so angry. It’s not as though the Clintons have suddenly become something they’re not; they’ve been selling their principles to the highest bidder for years. It’s not as though they’ve betrayed their core values; what core values did they ever have?"
"What the critics -- understandably satisfied to see their judgment confirmed yet again -- miss is the amount of self-loathing in the Clinton pile-on. Pro-Clinton commentators and colleagues now realize just how much they compromised, just how much they excused, just how ridiculous they looked in their defense of this corrupt couple. The end of the Clinton Presidency and the beginning of another Bush era has inspired a round of reflection, and Clinton supporters find they can’t look at themselves in the mirror."
"They are ashamed of themselves, which is a good deal more than anybody can say of the Clintons. Indeed, they remain smug and self-righteous, certain that New York will forget the early weeks of 2001, certain that New York will embrace its junior Senator once again."
"They have fooled the public before. They believe they can do so again."
"Let’s hope that this time, they are wrong."
Clinton Corruption Plays Us for Fools -- We Won’t Forget
The New York Observer, 5 March 2001
http://www.newyorkobserver.com/pages/story.asp?ID=3895
GEE, I thought the whole PURPOSE of the DemocRATic party was a CYNICAL EFFORT TO CURRY FAVOR of various minorities in order to maintain political power at the expense of America as a whole.
I'd LOVE to see that .. and crossing my fingers
she's the type to go off her meds than pay for them...it's probably why she wants a free prescription entitlement passed
IMHO, a lot of it is a case of: "The enemy of my enemy (in this case 'rich,white Repub.') is my friend."
You forget - she still has access to all 900+ FBI files. She can say anything to anyone on whom she posseses damaging information.
It's called leadership by extortion.
Two words: Free Money.
Junior is reaching and who's talking about it?
What makes you think it's part time?
Do I see a pattern of Ole Crust verbally abusing "F*ing Jew B@st@rds?!?"
LOL!
Then let's not let her NEAR the nucular (yeah, I know) button!!
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