Sen. Clinton stamps out '04 White House speculation

Charlotte Observer ^ | 09/25/03 | STEVEN THOMMA

[bedolido]

WASHINGTON - Amid rampant speculation that she's secretly plotting a return to the White House, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday flatly ruled out running for president in 2004.

"I'm not running," she said in her first visit to a breakfast forum with national political reporters since she and her husband appeared there on the eve of his 1992 campaign.

Asked if there were any circumstances that could pull her into the race, she shook her head and said, "No."

Clinton has repeatedly said she would not run for president in 2004 and that she would serve her full Senate term, which runs through 2006. But talk of a Clinton candidacy has risen to fever pitch, driven first by former President Clinton's recent comments suggesting she had not made up her mind and then by the speculation that retired Gen. Wesley Clark is entering the campaign as a stalking horse for Sen. Clinton.

Pundits, noting that some former Clinton White House aides are advising Clark, speculate that the Clintons are secretly backing Clark with hopes that he would stop front-runner Howard Dean, muddle the field and clear the way for a possible late entry by the former first lady.

"That's an absurd feat of imagination," the senator said, stressing that she and her husband have not endorsed Clark, who is from Arkansas.

"We have been supportive to all of the candidates running in any way they have requested," Clinton said, explaining that the help included information and advice. "We are not supporting or endorsing any candidate."

She brushed aside the suggestion that the party needs a high-profile savior to rescue it from a weak field of 10 candidates.

"We have a group of very strong and impressive candidates," she said. "Someone very formidable is going to come out of this process. And we're going to support strongly whoever the nominee is."

A Clinton candidacy would stir America's political extremes - liberal Democrats who yearn for a champion to take on George Bush as well as conservatives who use the threat of another President Clinton to raise money and boost radio talk show ratings.

If she did enter the race, she likely would tower over the field. A recent national poll for Quinnipiac University found that Clinton would lead with the support of 45 percent of Democrats, more than the nine other candidates combined. The poll didn't include Clark, but a Newsweek poll that did include him also showed Clinton well ahead.

At home, nearly 3 out of 5 New York Democrats want her to stay out of the presidential campaign, according to a poll released Wednesday by the Institute for Public Opinion at Marist College.

Clinton insisted that she doesn't yearn for the presidency. "I'm very happy doing what I'm doing," she said. "I have my hands full."

She chided Bush for not crediting her husband for military accomplishments, including victories in Bosnia and Kosovo and a military force that won in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"After the first Gulf War, Dick Cheney said he should send a thank-you note to Ronald Reagan because you always fight wars with the military you inherited," she said. "I don't think he's done that to my husband yet. I would be happy to deliver it personally if he would write it."

She also said that intelligence before the war in Iraq might have been wrong, but she broke with many in her party by saying it did justify the need to topple Saddam Hussein. She said she confirmed Bush administration assessments with private briefings from experts from her husband's administration.

"The intelligence from Bush I to Clinton to Bush II was consistent. That intelligence … was very strong on the continuing presence of biological and chemical programs. … It was also very consistent on the continuing effort to develop nuclear capacity," she said.

"It seemed unlikely you could ever fully remove this threat short of regime change."

She voted for the Senate resolution last fall authorizing war against Iraq, but said she's "bewildered, surprised and disappointed by the failure of the administration" to secure more international help and prepare better for post-war Iraq.

[b4its2late]

All this means is that she's running for sure now.....

[Piquaboy]

I wish she would run. A long run right out of the U.S..

[mikeb704]

Anyone check to see if she had her fingers crossed behind her back?

Michael M. Bates: My Side of the Swamp

[lawgirl]

I wish she would run. In front a bus.

[concerned about politics]

The Hildabeasts popularity is an illusion. She's celebrity, but nothing more, and even that is getting old to many. Most favorability polls have her around 30%+ to 40% max.

Nielsen: Dean Beats Hillary, Bush

If a newbie like Dean (virtually unknown) can beat the beast, it's obviously nothing but the power of suggestion and a manufactured illusion of her political power.

[Attillathehon]

"After the first Gulf War, Dick Cheney said he should send a thank-you note to Ronald Reagan because you always fight wars with the military you inherited," she said. "I don't think he's done that to my husband yet. I would be happy to deliver it personally if he would write it."

And did she have a copy of her "husband's" thank you note to Bush senior with her?

[Consort]

Many of us have said she would go the VP route in 2004. Has she ruled that out, as well?

[lodwick]

PIAPS/clark '04

[baseballmom]

"The intelligence from Bush I to Clinton to Bush II was consistent. That intelligence … was very strong on the continuing presence of biological and chemical programs. … It was also very consistent on the continuing effort to develop nuclear capacity," she said.

Interesting, that she would actually admit to this. Of course, it's one thing to tell the Charlotte newspaper, it's another to stand up and tell Kennedy that he is WRONG to say the war was a fraud and made up in Texas for political points. That is the most disgusting thing I've heard in a longggggg time.

And, I'll believe she is not running in '04 on election day in '04.

[Piquaboy]

I was trying to be kind which is hard to do when it comes to speaking of "Ole Thunder Thighs".

[tsali1927]

All those who believe a Clioton does not lie Stand up

[vin-one]

she's in, complimenting Bush (almost)

she knows the American Public agree with the war
She is going to have an ex-General as a running mate
she needs to build up her strong military backing to even consider making a run
this is going to get ugly right after the first of the year.
either that or she is making sure nobody beats Bush in 04, so she has a clean slate for 08'

remember It's for the children

[linn37]

another day another denial

[trustandobey]

How can she personally deliver a letter to her husband when she only sees THE BIG CREEP when she's thinking of running for President, and she's not running.

[concerned about politics]

"I don't think he's done that to my husband yet. I would be happy to deliver it personally if he would write it."

Maybe she could actually read what's written in "her" book while she waits. It's gonna be a while - like never! DUH!

[Semi Civil Servant]

Her lips say "No", but her lying, shifty eyes say "Yes".

[concerned about politics]

Clinton insisted that she doesn't yearn for the presidency. "I'm very happy doing what I'm doing," she said. "I have my hands full."

Yeh. Just trying to keep her senate seat, which she knows is defeatable.
She's a waste of NYs time. Fire her. Vote in another.

[steve-b]

Then there's the "RUN, HILLARY, RUN" bumper sticker, displayed by both Democrats and Republicans.

The difference is that the Democrats put it on the back of the car....

[Arrowhead1952]

She saw this poll this morning.

Bush 48% Dean 35%
Bush 52% Lieberman 35%
Bush 45% Clark 38%

Posted by NYC Republican
On 09/25/2003 7:24 AM PDT

[mund1011]

Lest we forget what we should be thanking the Stainmaster for. Here is an exept from an article by Jonathan Clark in the American Daily (posted by "contributor" on 16APR03):


The Truth About Clinton’s Military
American daily - Jonathan Clark

* Between 1960 and 1991, the United States Army conducted 10 "operational events." From 1991 through 1999, the Army conducted 26 operational events --- 2 1/2 times that number in 1/3 the time span.

* As of 1999, there were 265,000 American troops in 135 ountries.

* Since the end of the Gulf War, our military has shrunk by 40 percent. Army divisions have dropped from 18 to 10. The Army has reduced its ranks by more than 630,000 soldiers and civilians and closed over 700 installations at home and overseas.

* Since 1990, the Air Force has shrunk from 36 fighter wings (active and reserve) to 20. The Air Force has downsized by nearly 40 percent while simultaneously experiencing a ourfold increase in operational commitments.

* At the height of the Reagan Administration build-up, the Navy had 586 ships. As of 1999, it had only 324. The Clinton Administration’s blueprint called for that number to further drop to 305. If the rate of ship construction and retirement by this administration is continued, that number could fall to only 200 ships by 2020.

* Since 1987, active duty military personnel have been reduced by more than 800,000. To illustrate that problem:

1. In June 1998, the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier battle group deployed with 770 fewer personnel than it did on its previous deployment three years before.

2. At about the same time, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, another carrier, began a 6-month deployment 464 people short of its 2,963 authorized billets.

3. In late 1998, the USS Enterprise deployed for the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf short 400 personnel.

* In 1999, the Navy had a total of 22,000 empty slots in a 324-ship fleet.

* In addition, the armed services suffered a severe ammunition shortfall going into the Kosovo engagement. According to the Service Chiefs, the FY99 ammunition
shortfall for the Marine Corps is $193 million. For the Army in FY00, it is a shocking $3.5 billion.


* A-10 pilots flying over Kosovo were forced to spend their own money to buy inferior, off-the-shelf GPS receivers at local stores and attach them with Velcro to their
planes to use in conjunction with their outdated survival radios should their planes crash.

* At a congressional hearing held in February 1999 at the Navy’s Strike and Air Warfare Center in Fallen, NV - the world-renowned "Top Gun" fighter pilot school -
Members were told that mechanical problems had grounded 14 of the center’s 23 aircraft.

* In 1999, more than half of the B1-Bs at Ellsworth AFB were not mission capable because they lack critical parts.


Thanks sewer trout Clinton. I'd be happy to deliver this thank you note personally so I could bitchslap him myself.