Hillary Clinton Emerges As Moderate

Associated Press ^ | Sunday, July 28, 2002 | SHANNON McCAFFREY

[Dog Gone]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- When Hillary Rodham Clinton began her Senate bid, some on the right warned she would make even liberals such as Ted Kennedy look conservative.

Fund-raising letters that raised millions of dollars for Clinton's Republican opponents decried her ``wild-eyed radical leftist views'' and branded her as ``a liberal's liberal.''

But since she won election in 2000, Clinton's behavior has often belied those predictions.

On Monday, she was giving the keynote address at a Democratic Leadership Council meeting in New York. The centrist group, whose ``third way'' ideas were popularized by her husband, is also home to Democrats including Louisiana Sen. John Breaux, whom President Bush courted for his Cabinet, and Georgia Sen. Zell Miller, who flirted with becoming a Republican.

Once a supporter of Republican Barry Goldwater, Clinton now receives high marks from liberal groups. The U.S. Public Interest Research Group scores her 85 out of 100 while Americans for Democratic Action gives her a 95 percent positive rating.

But far from aligning herself with Kennedy, Minnesota Sen. Paul Wellstone and the other members of the party's liberal wing, Clinton has cast herself as a New Democrat on some key issues.

``I have always tried to strike a balance and to be someone who was a New Democrat, a third-way thinker, about how we end the gridlock and brain-dead politics of the past,'' Clinton said Friday.

``I think you have to view the world as it is, not as you would wish it to be,'' she added.

Clinton supported bankruptcy changes even though critics complained they did not do enough to protect mothers owed child support or those facing catastrophic medical bills.

She is co-sponsor of a welfare bill that increases child care aid but also work requirements. That so angered some poverty advocates they protested outside her Washington home.

She bucked her liberal Hollywood supporters and teamed with Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., on a bill that would penalize the entertainment industry for marketing sex and violence to children.

Supporters say it is no recent conversion.

``This has always been who Hillary is,'' said DLC founder Al From, who worked closely with both Clintons leading up to Bill Clinton's presidential bid.

``From her days as first lady of Arkansas, when she was pushing teacher accountability standards, she has never been the wild lefty,'' From said.

Former California Rep. Vic Fazio, a pioneer in pulling Democrats toward the center, agreed.

``The mythology of the Clintons is very different than the Clintons themselves. That is especially true for Hillary,'' Fazio said.

Others see a calculated makeover intended to position her for a return trip to the White House.

``She is a complete and utter opportunist,'' said Morton Blackwell, the Virginia Republican committeeman who formed an ``Emergency Committee to Stop Hillary Rodham Clinton'' during her Senate bid.

``The Madonna of politics,'' added Tripp Baird, Senate analyst for the conservative Heritage Foundation, likening Clinton to the pop star famous for makeovers. ``It's phony. I think she's angling for the presidency and she can't do it as a Ted Kennedy liberal.''

While Clinton has said she will serve out her six-year Senate term and not run for president in 2004, she is not as definitive on 2008.

It is notable that the three Democrats considering presidential runs in 2004 -- Lieberman, John Kerry of Massachusetts, and John Edwards of North Carolina -- are all DLC members.

Clinton's DLC credentials are not quite as clear.

Her most visible foray into policy as first lady was the attempt to bring about a national health care reform, a plan critics denounced as socialized medicine. It was shelved.

``People from the right and the left kind of project on to me their ideals without any sense of where I am or what I am doing,'' Clinton said.

``I have always tried to do what I thought was both right and practical,'' she said. ``It's important to have core principals and values, but if you're going to in active in policy and politics you have to be a realist.''

Any similarity to the former president's message should come as no surprise, said Mike McCurry, one of Bill Clinton's former press secretaries.

``Politically, these two human beings have been so connected for so many decades, their thinking is intertwined like DNA strands,'' McCurry said.

[F16Fighter]

Hillary Rodham Clinton:

"I have always tried to do what I thought was both right and practical...It's important to have core principles and values..."

Forget about shoveling the sh*t -- this woman needs a fleet of those giant earth-diggers from the iron ore mines in Minnesota.

[BigWaveBetty]

Sure hillary hates Dick Morris, but she kept every scrap of information he gave her and blubba. Advise from Dick was always, appear to be a moderate and steal the other parties ideas and make them your own.

Welfare-Reform Protest Lands in Hillary's Yard
from Newsday
by Ellen Yan

Washington - A breeze ruffled the leaves, and birds chirped on a cul-de-sac as five school buses chugged past the million-dollar houses and unloaded welfare recipients in front of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's home.

"Stop waffling on welfare," the demonstrators and their children chanted as they waved breakfast waffles in their march across Clinton's driveway. Suddenly, two Secret Service agents appeared, asking the crowd of 100 or so to move back. When one of them took away a box of waffles left at the front door, demonstrators booed. Link

There were never any still pictures of this fun. I can't imagine why.

[Dog Gone]

Where's the barf alert???!!

Be honest. Did it need one, or could you tell just by looking at it?

What galls me is that this is being passed off as straight news by our unbiased media.

[mrsmith]

"Hillary Clinton Emerges As Moderate Reincarnation of Mother Theresa- Only Smarter"

Boy does she own these lickspittle parasites on the First Amendment.

[Libloather]

"I have always tried to strike a balance and to be someone who was a New Democrat, a third-way thinker, about how we end the gridlock and brain-dead politics of the past," Clinton said...

She's lying. Nothing New there...

[Mo1]

``The Madonna of politics,'' added Tripp Baird, Senate analyst for the conservative Heritage Foundation, likening Clinton to the pop star famous for makeovers

Doesn't this mean Hilda is getting a new outfit too??

[rdb3]

. . .and Cornel West is an Uncle Tom.

Cornel West is indeed a sellout.

[kitkat]

"She bucked her liberal Hollywood supporters and teamed with Sen. Joseph
Lieberman, D-Conn., on a bill that would penalize the entertainment industry
for marketing sex and violence to children. "

TRUE! Absolutely true! I am SO encouraged by the huge fines the Hollywood liberals are paying as a result of that bill. /sarcasm

This is just one more socialist lie by Hitlery and Joe Lieberman. They tell us they're working on a bill and then they go to Hollywood and tell the liberals there not to worry about it. IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN.

[backhoe]

"Has that clinton "legacy" made you feel safer yet?"

Lest Americans ever forget why the clintons, and all their enablers need to be hectored, hounded, and harried into silence, until "clintonese is only spoken in Hell," look here:

Hodgepodge O' Hillary

The Holiday *Best* of Bill Clinton & his Friends!

-Some old strange clinton "stuff"--

To find all articles tagged or indexed using clintonscandals, click below:
	click here >>>	clintonscandals	<<< click here
(To view all FR Bump Lists, click here)

To find all articles tagged or indexed using Hillary, click below:
	click here >>>	Hillary	<<< click here
(To view all FR Bump Lists, click here)

[Pokey78]

And in other news:

Bill Clinton becomes a Catholic priest, Maxine Waters joins the John Birch Society, & Bob Barr renounces his citizenship & moves to Cuba.

[goodnesswins]

"about how we end the gridlock and brain-dead politics of the past," Clinton said..."

Yeah, typical Democrap trying to resolve the problems THEY CREATED for THEIR USE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Diogenesis]

[parsifal]

Yup. First step in readying the sorry b*tch for presidency. "Make" her into a moderate. parsy.

[Iscool]

I'll help...It's a lot like George W...With George, it's "don't watch what I say, watch what I do"...With Hillary, it's "don't watch what I do, watch what I say"...

They apparently are both racing to the middle as fast as they can...That's where the majority of votes are at...The "Nether" party does seem to have a Twilight Zone twist to it...

[dirtboy]

She bucked her liberal Hollywood supporters and teamed with Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., on a bill that would penalize the entertainment industry for marketing sex and violence to children.

The irony here is so rich that only someone with their head completely up their posterior (i.e., an AP reporter) could parrot this with a straight face.

``The mythology of the Clintons is very different than the Clintons themselves. That is especially true for Hillary,'' Fazio said.

Truer words have never been spoken - but not in the way Fazio meant them.

[Texbob]

This release must have been written by Liar Land Scam Artist Hillary Clinton herself. Only she could tell a lie a big as claiming to be a moderate, instead of a flaming Liberal like she is.

[catpuppy]

... Americans for Democratic Action gives her a 95 percent positive rating.

Doesn't sound "moderate" to me.

[dirtboy]

When one of them took away a box of waffles left at the front door, demonstrators booed

Hillary wanted some breakfast. She never could pass on a freebie...

[smorgle]

If she thought it would get votes or money, Hillary would emerge as a ham sandwich.

[Bahbah]

Wish I could help you. As always, whenever I hear Clintonspeak, my jaw drops open and my head shakes from side to side. I guess that is speechlessness in the extreme.