Today's New York Times' "Political Memo" has a bit on Hillary's recent travails, and don't you know, it all comes up roses for HRC...first, the Times' version of events:
...things did not heat up until Monday, when the senator, speaking at a ceremony in Harlem honoring the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., said that Republicans ran the House of Representatives "like a plantation" in which dissent was not tolerated. Mrs. Clinton also attacked the Bush administration in that same speech as potentially being "the worst" in the nation's history.
The Republican National Committee responded within hours, accusing the senator of using divisive and racially charged language on a day devoted to national reconciliation. Then, two days later, the national party sent reporters an Internet video of her speech included in an e-mail message titled "Hillary's Back," in an apparent effort to conjure up an image of her that she has tried to largely shed: shrill leftist partisan.
The message accused Mrs. Clinton, among other things, of failing to attend an Armed Services Committee hearing that looked into body armor for troops.
"Senator Clinton repeatedly attacked the Bush administration over body armor, called for hearings, and then didn't bother to show up," said the statement. (Mrs. Clinton's spokesman responded that the briefing was called on short notice and that the senator already had a full day of events scheduled with constituents in New York and sent an aide in her place; her spokesman added that only one Republican attended the special briefing.)
And if that were not enough, the White House's chief spokesman criticized Mrs. Clinton, as did Laura Bush. "I think it's a ridiculous comment," Mrs. Bush told reporters on Wednesday, two days after Mrs. Clinton made the remarks. "It's a ridiculous comment - that's what I think."
The attacks by the White House and their Republican allies put the Clinton camp in a state of high alert, with the senator's advisers enlisting prominent black Democrats to come to her defense
Note the buzzwords: accuse, an apparent effort to conjure up - oh, poor Hillary! And Among other things, And if that were not enough... Hillary is the victim here, dammit! Can't everyone see that? Note that the reporter does not even discuss the appropriateness of Hillary's racist "plantation" remark (made on MLK day, no less), and defends her within the article (no bias here, folks!) by pointing out only one Republican made it to the hearing.
That's no excuse - it's her pet issue, she has to be there. It is her job.
And the "black Democrats" comment also implies racism on the Republican side as well - but these poor plantation Congressman know they must echo plantation policy in order to get their share of the goodies for their constituents.
And you know this is all good for Hillary:
The attacks may help energize her network of financial supporters at a time when she faces no serious opposition in her re-election bid this year in New York. But perhaps more important, the Republican attacks are already leading Democrats to rally around her...
Yea, OK, this is the same pie-in-the-sky wistful rationale I heard all throughout the 2004 campaign. Same old Hillary - opportunist, leftist, divider, weakling.
Bring it on, HRC!
New York Times story here: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/22/politics/22clinton.html
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