Posted on 08/09/2005 3:11:36 PM PDT by freedrudge
I had a fun weekend. I went up to Stamford, Connecticut, on Saturday. National Review magazine is having their 50th anniversary in early October, and Mr. Buckley asked me to narrate the one-hour video retrospective of National Review's history. So I met him in a recording studio at Stamford on Saturday morning, spent a couple hours narrating the video. Went back to his seaside estate -- well, it's on the Long Island Sound -- for lunch, and spent a very pleasant afternoon. Then it was on to the rest of Connecticut.
It happened again. I went to dinner with some friends Saturday night, lo and behold, I ran into some more people scared to death of Hillary. I'm going to stop going to this state. Every time I go to this state of Connecticut, and these are Republicans, these are conservatives, these are huge fans, big, big regular listeners of the program, and I just couldn't get away from, "Hillary this, Hillary that, I think Hillary is this." You know, and I keep arguing here, "Look, gang, there's no reason to be fearful." "But what if she wins? What if she wins?" Well, what if she does? She may win, I don't know, but there's no reason to go about this with any fear. I gave them all the things that I always tell you, that, yes, she may win the nomination, but she misses something else. She's Nurse Ratched. I was trying to tell these people she's Nurse Ratched. She's not likable, she doesn't come across as friendly, she doesn't have this "it" that you have to have as a politician these days on television. She just seems cold. She just, you know, a little stony. And people say, "Well, Rush, you're just being naïve." I'm not naïve, I'm not going to sit here and be afraid. She's a human being, for crying out loud. She's not the smartest anything in the world much less woman or lawyer. But anyway, I'm stunned when I go to -- and it's not just Connecticut. I mean, yesterday I was out on Long Island at Deepdale Country Club. There was a golf tournament fund-raiser for Sandler O'Neill, which was a company that lost 80 employees on 9/11. Mayor Giuliani was there, a number of people. It's a fund-raiser for the families of the employees who died at that firm, Jimmy Dunn puts it on. And even there I run into people, "What about Hillary?" I think it's the whole northeast. I think the whole northeast, I guess all they have is the New York Times, and all they've got is the network news, and they haven't yet gotten the signal of what's happening out there in red state America.
So I patiently endure all this, and I try to calm them and soothe them and give them the benefit of my wisdom and knowledge and opinions and analysis on all this. And then, I guess it was -- what was it, Sunday that Pirro or yesterday morning, Monday morning, that Jeanine Pirro announced that she was going to run. And I went, "Okay, how long is it going to take before we start hearing about her husband?" And, lo and behold, here's the story, "Five years ago, on the first day of her husband's tax evasion trial, Jeanine Pirro heard prosecutors claim that he had illegally deducted their luxury cars, the costs of fighting a paternity suit, even the custom-made pen for their pet pigs, Wilbur and Orville. 'There's not any part of my life that's not in that indictment,' Pirro complained as she strode out of federal court." And of course there are other stories other than this first one that the AP regaled everybody with, and all of them just kind of glance over the problems that Hillary has with her husband. I guess because she's already endured them and triumphed over them. But there's more to this race than meets the eye, folks, because if you look down the list of issues that Jeanine Pirro or Hillary Clinton hold, Hillary is not going to be able to take her to the woodshed on abortion because Jeanine Pirro is pro-choice, Jeanine Pirro is pro gun control. Jeanine Pirro, when it comes to social issues, is pretty moderate, some say liberal Republican. But when it comes to fiscal issues she is for tax cuts, she is opposed to big government, she is tough on crime, she's the West Chester County DA. I don't think this is going to be like the Lazio race. Jeanine Pirro could storm over to Hillary's lectern in a debate -- and there need to be debates, lots of debates, because it will not take much to show that Hillary Clinton is not just head and shoulders above everybody that walks in. Some people are even speculating that Hillary will get out of this race and won't even run for the Senate, won't even run for -- well, no, here's the thinking on this. The thinking is that all she's going to do is run for reelection and quit and run for the presidency, and that would give Jeanine Pirro something to campaign with. She's going to cost her money. This race could cost her upwards of 35 or $40 million to run for reelection in New York. There's also the fact that no senator has ever come from the Senate and gone straight to the White House since John F. Kennedy did it in 1960. She's not hell-bent on setting that record ablaze, being the one to break that. Her prize is the White House. So why spend $40 million that she's going to raise, have to quit in two years, have to lie during the campaign about not quitting in two years, when Jeanine Pirro will be out there saying, "New York needs a senator full time, and I'm it. You know Mrs. Clinton is going to quit in years." Now, the theory goes that if Jeanine Pirro, she's only got 30% in the polls right now because she doesn't have the statewide name recognition that Hillary does, but once the TV buys start, she can buy ad time in upstate New York pretty cheaply and so she can spend a lot up there and get some name ID and recognition pretty fast. What does Dick Morris say, if Hillary gets down to the 12 to 15 point margin she'll just quit while she's ahead and then spend the next two years touring the country, learning about America, preparing for her presidential run for 2008. She's going to be doing that anyway. I mean, if she wins her Senate seat in 2006, you're not going to see her in the Senate much, she'll be in New Hampshire and Iowa and all these other places. And she can't run the risk of losing and she can't run the risk of winning closely. So I don't know whether this is -- I'm just sharing with you the conventional wisdom. This is what the smart guys out there are saying. We have some audio from Jeanine Pirro. She was on Fox & Friends today and here's the question. E. D. Hill said, "You gotta go out there, you're well known in southern New York state, West Chester County, the areas around the city. How you going to get your name known around the state?"
PIRRO: I've been fighting for New Yorkers for 30 years. I've been a fighter and an advocate for families and children and the elderly and making sure that the innocent are protected. I'm from upstate, interestingly enough, and even though I live downstate right now, and I plan to get around the state, talk to people about the issues that affect them. Hillary Clinton promised tens of thousands of jobs to upstate New Yorkers. Where are those jobs? Those jobs and that promise has not been met. She listened and she's promised but there hasn't been delivery. I'm going to talk about the issues that are important to New Yorkers. The economy, making sure that Social Security is there for our senior citizens when they get to their golden years, making sure that the war on terror is fought in a way where we have the tools that we need through the Patriot Act, the tools that we as prosecutors have to investigate organized crime. We need at the very least those tools to make sure that we can investigate terrorism.
RUSH: Now, this is a woman -- did you hear that? That's about 50 seconds, folks, not one stutter, not one and, uh, and, uh, and, uh, just bam, rattled it right off. Does she sound confident to you? Does she sound like she knows what she's talking about? Does she sound passionate to you, does she sound committed? She does to me. Wouldn't want to get between these two, I'll just tell you, wouldn't want to referee this. I'll make this prediction to you, too. Somebody will advance as this campaign gets going, somebody will say, "Let's leave our husbands out of this." And Hillary will readily agree to that, knowing full well the mainstream press will leave her husband out of it, but not Jeanine Pirro's. So don't be surprised if that deal happens. Hey, Jeanine, Hillary, let's just leave our husbands out of this. We're both carrying some baggage here, we're independent women, we don't need to go down the dirt road, blah, blah. We'll see. Wouldn't be surprised. One more question, Brian Kilmeade said, "Jeanine, what do you say to people who say, 'You know what, she can't win this. We've got to put someone up there, and anyone who goes up there, this is a juggernaut you're going against, she's number one in the presidential polls, how are you going to beat her?'"
PIRRO: I have faced daunting challenges before when they said that woman couldn't try murder cases, that women weren't strong enough to be county judges, and that we couldn't be district attorneys. I spent my life fighting the odds and I'm in this, and I know it's an uphill battle and there are certainly races I could have run that would have been a lot easier, but I have a passion for this. I've fought for the people of New York, I now want to take it to the next level.
RUSH: And the next level is Hillary Clinton and the state of New York for the Senate seat that Hillary now holds.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Steve in San Antonio, Texas, welcome, sir, to the program. Great to have you with us.
CALLER: Hello, Rush, yes, mega dittos.
RUSH: Thank you.
CALLER: I was listening to your comments on the Jeanine Pirro case, and I think she might have a problem. If Hillary doesn't run, I don't think the Republicans pick up the seat. I can see the Republican base coming out for a beat Hillary campaign, but if Hillary drops the race, having a Republican base come out, a conservative base come out for a liberal Republican, I think any run-of-the-mill Democrat would beat her.
RUSH: You're going way ahead of me here. I don't think that that's even a factor whether Hillary wins or gets out, whether Pirro can win or not. That's for down the road. I don't even know that Hillary is going to quit the race. All I want to tell you is that Jeanine Pirro is a competent candidate. You want to talk about an intelligent woman, Jeanine Pirro is and Jeanine Pirro has been working in the trenches, as it were, for many, many years, and I'm just telling you that she's going to be underestimated simply because the press and everybody thinks that Hillary is -- well, who was it that said this the other day? Candy Crowley at CNN said that she's amazed, whenever she goes out and talks to Democrats, Hillary Clinton is like a goddess. Hillary Clinton is just like a goddess. Really, Candy? We've all known this for how many years? And because Hillary is a goddess, you know that's how Democrats look at her, Jeanine Pirro is going to be underestimated all over the place. But, you know, first two calls here, nothing but pessimism. I started the day feeling really good, really up, really optimistic, the first two calls are, "You can't, it won't happen, this is screwed, that's cheated, that's fixed, she can't win." What's with you people? If Hillary quits, even Pirro won't win? What kind of attitude is that? Where does this come from? Everybody wants to make news by being negative. Not here on this program.
She was expecting a cakewalk in 2006, but now she has a tough and articulate competitor.
If hillary runs she has to spend valuable money, time, and resources. If hillary doesn't she rightfully gets labled as a carpetbagger and chicken.
Can anybody say "bawk, bawk, bawka, bawk".
You're surely right, but a female opponent could expose Hillary as the phony she is. She'll still get re-elected in blue state New York, but if Pirro bests her in a debate, or even runs better than expected against her, it'll show Middle America that the would-be Empress has no clothes.
I totally understand, but this is New York were talking about.
And don't forget the CANKLED HEADBOBBING you know
Hillary is not going to like the idea of debating an experienced prosecuting attorney on live TV. And having to fight a vigorous Senate campaign will cost her money that won't be available in 2008
It's gonna take a lot of beer to get that image out of my mind.
#####It's gonna take a lot of beer to get that image out of my mind.#####
LOL! As Slick Willie would say, I feel your pain!
Pirro is heading into the meat grinder. I don't know who told her she had a chance, but the guy must be able to sell water on the Titanic.
A Pirro candidacy has a significant probability of collapsing. Her husband is a convicted tax cheat, and there have also been repeated allegations that he misappropriated confidential information on prosecutions from Pirro's office and gave it to the mafia.
Don't expect the NY Times to reveal Pirro's husbands misdeeds before the GOP primary. They'll wait until October for that. But how many voters are going to elect the wife of a mafia lawyer to the Senate?
And then we're all going to have to hear about how Hillary won a "landslide" and a "mandate" against a "tough" opponent.
Cox is a much better alternative.
As did Rush.
I agree with your concerns about pro gun control et al, but lets face it.... its New York. You could put Mother Teresa into office and that town would never change the State's position on those issues. So, one of those "anything but Hillary" candidates if fine with me.
Of course she will. She will simply say that every right wing wacko extremist targeted her out of simple envy and hate. The press will lap it up as will the Dem base. The rest of American will yawn five minutes after the election is over and won't remember whether it was a landslide or a close race.
Yes, that's the one positive side of Pirro running. The other bonus would be if some brave Dem stood up and gave Hillary a primary challenge (not that I think there's a chance of that happening). I wonder if Andrew Cuomo would be up for a little revenge match after the Clintonites pulled the rug out from under his Gubernatorial primary campaign?
Hillary Clinton will remain in the race.
And Jeanine Pirro will defeat her and be the next Senator from the state of New York.
If you think New Yorkers LIKE Hillary, you are very much mistaken.
New Yorkers are savvy and self-interested. Lazio was a nobody, a kid. Hillary Clinton was the President's wife, running in an election that Al Gore was expected to win. New York's been getting hind tit from a Republican administration and Congress.
Hillary won upstate, which trends Republican. Lazio didn't focus there, because he considered it safe and didn't have the resources (it was a Presidential year).
ANYBODY think that Pirro's not going to get great gobs of resources to defeat Hillary Clinton, spike Clinton's chances for the Presidency and take a seat for the Republican caucus?
She will have the resources, and she'll focus upstate and in the suburbs, which is all she has to win in order to win. And she will win upstate and the suburbs, and be the next Senator from the State of New York.
This is a flat out prediction.
Hold me to it.
The dynamics are there and the numbers are there.
New York is not a solidly Democratic state. It's a 50/50 state. The Democratic machine is not strong enough in New York, with a Republican mayor, to manufacture enough votes to swing an election.
Hmmmmm....Do we really need two women with idiots for husbands in positions that decide for the people of America? I wonder?
We all know Hitlery wants to run for President in the worst way. She is probably living, eating and sleeping this thought.
All I really want is never to see her or Bubba in office again and preferably behind bars.
Is that too much to ask?
Hmmmmm....Do we really need two women with idiots for husbands in positions that decide for the people of America? I wonder?
We all know Hitlery wants to run for President in the worst way. She is probably living, eating and sleeping this thought.
All I really want is never to see her or Bubba in office again and preferably behind bars.
Is that too much to ask?
Pirro IS serious competition. She isn't in the race just to bloody Hillary, she is in to win. Anything else is nonsense to suggest. We're either in it to win, or you don't run. Period.
About Dick, disagree with him. Oh, sure, losing by less than she did in 2000 would hurt but Hillary isn't going to give up any power willingly even if a race is close. The Senate is her fall back is she doesn't get the Presidency. She'd stick it out to the bloody end if close and pull out every trick in the book to win. If she won, watch it to be spun she defeated the right wing attack machine in '06, she can do it in '08.
We'll see how excited we all get if Hillary is elected President, however. Is Jamie Gorelick going to be her Attorney General? Does Sandy Berger get a national security job? Carville get a White House job?
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