Hillary (& Bill) Clinton

excerpts from the Iowa Daily Report

official draft Hillary website:

October 16-31, 2003

… Tall Tale Bill Clinton strikes again… Today’s National Review Online (written by Rich Lowary) reports that former President Bill Clinton is now saying ‘I told you so’ regarding President George (W.) Bush and Osama bin Laden. Here are some excerpts from the Rich Lawry article: “If only President Bush had listened to Bill Clinton. The former president, who is now the second-guesser in chief, told an audience the other day that he had warned President Bush about Osama bin Laden in an "exit interview" as he left office in early 2001. … Bin Laden was a big security threat, who became steadily bigger during Clinton's years in office. … Al Qaeda-trained Somali fighters downed American helicopters in the Black Hawk Down battle in 1993. Eighteen Americans died, which was enough for a jumpy Clinton to order a hasty retreat. Bin Laden took notes. "The youth realized," he later explained, "that the American soldier was a paper tiger." By way of explaining the bug-out, a former top Clinton official told me in my new book, Legacy: Paying the Price for the Clinton Years, "We didn't know we were at war with those guys at the time." … The next attack against U.S. interests came in the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 U.S. servicemen. In the midst of the investigation that focused on Iran, which was clearly implicated, Clinton made a quasi-apology to Tehran. … After al Qaeda nearly leveled two American embassies in Africa in 1998, Clinton responded militarily, but with two inconsequential cruise-missile attacks. "We used kid gloves after the embassy bombings," retired Gen. Wayne Downing, former commander of U.S. special forces, told me. "Cruise missiles — that's the coward's way out." … He [Clinton] was, fundamentally, the do-nothing president about terrorism, although he knew — as he tells us now — the grave nature of the threat. It was Bush who could have told Clinton a few things about how to respond to terror in their exit interview, since his instincts were so much sounder. After the al Qaeda attack on the USS Cole in October 2000, Bush as a candidate said that "there must be a consequence." Common sense, right? Not for Clinton. He let the attack go unanswered.” (10/17/2003)

… The Drudge Report is carrying an article about a ticked off Tinsletown producer Peter Paul is suing Bill and Hillary Clinton for not reporting his $2 million – yes M-I-L-L-I-O-N – ‘in kind’ campaign contributions to Hillary’s 2000 senatorial run. According to the article, producer Peter Paul says the Clintons’ failure to report it has gotten him in hot water with the Feds. Here are some highlights: “Judicial Watch, which has sued the Clintons several times over alleged campaign finance violations, filed the lawsuit on Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court on behalf of Paul, who is in a federal detention facility in New York after being extradited from Brazil last month to face federal fraud charges. In December 2001, a Los Angeles judge dismissed a similar lawsuit in which Paul sought damages and the return of stocks and cash he had pledged to Hillary Clinton's campaign. A federal grand jury indicted Paul in 2001 on charges he manipulated the price of stock in his company, Stan Lee Media Inc., before dumping it and bilking investors out of $25 million. If he is convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison and millions of dollars in fines. Paul, 52, believes he owes his federal troubles at least in part to the Clintons, who pressured him to commit $2 million in cash and Stan Lee stock to produce a lavish Hollywood fund-raiser in 2000, Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton said. According to his lawsuit, Paul gained access to President Clinton by promising to contribute to his wife's Senate campaign. At one point, the lawsuit said, he promised Bill Clinton a compensation package worth $16 million to sit on Stan Lee's board and act as a worldwide emissary for the company.” (10/17/2003)

… Although Hillary Clinton’s re-election race for her U.S. Senate seat is still three years away, her actions would indicate otherwise. An article in today’s New York Times observes the New York senator is so ‘loved and hated’ that she is cast into a perpetual campaign mode. Excerpts: “… home in New York, with her re-election campaign more than three years away, the junior senator from New York is acting like a candidate on the run, embarking on the kind of furious bout of campaigning normally found with a politician who is trailing in the polls…. the pace she is setting reflects a recognition that she, more than most politicians, cannot take anything for granted. And that means doing all she can, all the time, to try to counteract a basic fact of life for her: a lot of voters really dislike her. … People close to her, however, describe her as being in something of a bind, measuring her every action so she does not stir up her sizable number of opponents. "Her margin of error is small," said one senior Democratic official who is close to her. … Lee M. Miringoff, the director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, said there was danger in Mrs. Clinton's unfavorable ratings, which provide an opening that can be exploited by Republicans and other opponents who would like nothing more than to stop her political rise in its tracks. He noted, for example, that a poll his organization conducted in late September found that Rudolph W. Giuliani, who is considering a run against Mrs. Clinton in 2006, would handily defeat her, 57 percent to 40 percent. (10/18/2003)

We always knew President Clinton had a thing with gyrating his pelvis, but now, he is cashing in on the talent to raise money for the National Democrat Party. Pulsing lights, throbbing hip-hop music and Bill Clinton are on tap next week for a Democratic National Committee fund-raiser at a Washington D.C. nightclub designed to transform young professionals into political donors. The Washington Times is running a story on the event in today’s newspaper. The Oct. 27 at the hot spot, Dream, will include an open bar, full dinner, members of the Washington Redskins, a percentage of the "more than 50 celebrities" invited to the fund-raiser, and Mr. Clinton, whom "everyone will have an opportunity to see." Hip-hop acts Ginuwine and Big Boi of Outkast along with actor and comedian Chris Tucker also are expected to appear. The enormous four-story nightclub at 1350 Okie St. NE in the New York Avenue warehouse district opened in November 2001 with a jacuzzi, two large showers and bedrooms in the posh VIP lounges. Now, is that a Clinton spot or what? Young Democrats will be charged $50 for admission, with requests to give as much as $500 for "VIP tickets," according to the DC Social Insider website. "If Democrats are going to be successful in reaching out to young people, we're going to have to take the party to them — where they work and where they play," said DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe. (10/22/2003)

President Clinton is offering advice again to the other candidates on how to run their campaigns. To some, it might look like he is covering Wesley Clark’s campaign from criticism that Clark is not a true Democrat. Part of the reason for this is that many of Clinton’s former staff is now employed in the Clark campaign. I don't believe that either side should be saying 'I'm a real Democrat and the other one's not,' or 'I'm a winning Democrat and the other one's not,'" Clinton said in an interview in the November issue of American Prospect, a liberal magazine, Clinton is quoted as saying in an Associated Press story.(10/24/2003)

"We can't win if people think we're too liberal. But we can't get our own folks out if people think we have no convictions. So the trick is to get them both," said President Bill Clinton regarding his advice to the Democrat field of presidential candidates. (10/24/2003)

In CBS’s Washington Wrap there is the continuing saga of Hillary’s fans not understanding ‘no.’ Is this a case of stalking? She keeps saying no, no, no … but Bob Kunst, president of Hillarynow.com, just won’t take that for an answer. Armed with signs, flyers, bumper stickers and buttons, Kunst showed up at the Jefferson-Jackson dinner in New Hampshire on Thursday to spread his message. And he’s not stopping there. On Friday, Kunst is taking his "Run, Hillary Run" table to the Big Apple and plans to park himself in Times Square to spread the word. He’s convinced his message is working and so, with or without Hillary, he plans to soldier on. (10/25/2003)

Bill Clinton, according to an Associated Press report, said the current Democratic presidential candidates make up the most experienced field he’s seen since 1960. That’s when John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Hubert Humphrey, and Stuart Symington ran. Clinton said, “I feel good about this field” and “five or six” of them would make good presidents — but he wouldn’t name whom. And can any of them beat President Bush? Clinton said, “You never can tell who’s going to shine until the show starts, and the show hasn’t started yet.”(10/25/2003)

Former President Bill Clinton announced yesterday that he has persuaded four foreign generic-drug companies to provide low-cost drugs to AIDS patients in Africa and the Caribbean. (10/25/2003)

For weeks Democrat candidates for President have put a hold on Democrats on Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt's nomination to head the Environmental Protection Agency. Republicans pushed Tuesday for a procedural vote to move the nomination despite Joseph Lieberman, John Kerry and John Edwards’ holds on the nomination. Lieberman’s opposition was highlighted in the Hill online edition for failure to show up to the Committee overseeing Levitt’s nomination. Lieberman serves on the Committee and was making the most of blocking the nominee. A hold on the nomination is one of those peculiar courtesies Senators afford each other. A hold means that until a Senator removes that hold that the Senate will not vote on that matter unless a provision of Senate Rules are followed to dislodge the matter to the floor. Republicans in the Senate had accumulated the 60 votes necessary to confirm and move the matter. So, who should step to the Senate microphone – Lieberman, Kerry, Edwards? No, Hillary Clinton, She explained that the White House had told her in a letter that it would take additional steps over two years to protect New York City residents who potentially had been exposed to harmful substances from the World Trade Center rubble.  Clearly the White House knows who is important to deal with in the Senate. And, all of a sudden the question is about Bush’s treatment of New York and exposure to the World Trade Disaster, not Bush’s environmental policies as the three Presidential Wannabees claimed. (10/28/2003)

The Washington Times’ Inside Politics recounts how Tony Blair’s spinmeisters are questioning the veracity of Bill Clinton’s knowing about Blair’s irregular heartbeat previously. (10/28/2003)

To a screaming crowd of about 5,000, former President Clinton took the stage Monday night at ‘Dream One’ -- a Washington D.C. nightclub hot spot -- to help the DNC raise money. "We’ve got to have a policy where we make more friends and fewer terrorists," Mr. Clinton said. "An America where we all go forward together." As reported by CBS News.  There is lengthy coverage of the “Shake Your Booty” party in the Washington Post: "I never had any money until I left the White House," he says, causing D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, standing beside him onstage, to double over with laughter. "Now I have plenty." He decries the Bush tax cut, saying, with his slow slyness, "I never had any idea the new president would take such good care of me. . . . I'm a little embarrassed to live in a huge country that gives me a huge tax cut and runs a huge deficit so that when the baby boomers retire you'll be taking care of them instead of your own kids. I don't think that's right."  (10/29/2003)

Glass houses

[Go to Washington Times Inside Politics] United Press International reports that Mrs. Clinton said the Bush administration's secrecy about September 11 and prewar intelligence on Iraq was "more about political embarrassment than national security." Speculation and support for Hillary to run for president continues. It will not help with the latest poll numbers putting her against the current Democrat field: H. Clinton 43%; Clark 10; Lieberman 8; Gephardt 8; Kerry 7; Dean 7; Edwards 5; Sharpton 1; Braun 1; Kucinich 1; Undec. 10. Dean where did your numbers go? As a result, "the pillars of [our] democracy are shaking," said the former first lady, who invoked executive secrecy to protect discussions by her health care task force. (10/30/2003)

Another Bubba Whopper

"According to[Bill] Clinton's account, he tried to convince Bush to abandon his other national-security priorities to focus on al Qaeda during an 'exit interview' with the newly elected president. 'In his campaign, Bush had said he thought the biggest security issue was Iraq and national missile defense,' Clinton remarked. 'I told him that in my opinion, the biggest security problem was Osama bin Laden.' Clinton maintained that his inability to budge Bush was 'one of the two or three of the biggest disappointments that I had.' It is news to the White House. This is the second such story to run. The first was that Clinton knew all about Tony Blairs heart trouble. Ten Downing street is scratching their heads on that one. (10/30/2003)

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