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Viewing Category: Bill Clinton
Clinton Offers Regrets for Spouse’s Remarks...In a question-and-answer session after her speech at the State of the Black Union event, Mrs. Clinton was asked by Tavis Smiley, the host of the event, how she felt about “what some termed racial comments” by Mr. Clinton. “I think there are enough of you here today who know him personally and know his heart,” she said, then stopped for a long pause. “If anyone was offended about anything that was said, whether it was meant or not, whether it was misinterpreted or not, then obviously I regret that.”Permalink [Category: Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Race]Last month, Mr. Clinton was criticized widely for comparing Senator Barack Obama’s victory in South Carolina to Jesse Jackson’s primary wins there, which depended heavily on demographics and Mr. Jackson’s African-American support. “Jesse Jackson won South Carolina in ‘84 and ‘88,” Mr. Clinton told an audience in Columbia, S.C. “Jackson ran a good campaign. And Obama ran a good campaign here.”
Bill Clinton stays out of the headlinesAs the vote was counted in last month's South Carolina primary, Bill Clinton's outsize personality and controversial statements were looking more and more like a liability.Permalink [Category: Bill Clinton, Clinton, Hillary Clinton]The former president is still working hard on the campaign but -- at least for a spell -- he has slipped out of the news.
According to the Project for Excellence in Journalism, Hillary Rodham Clinton's hubby "registered as a significant or dominant newsmaker" in only 2% of stories Feb. 4 to Feb. 10, compared with 18% when South Carolina was in play in late January.
In Endorsing Obama, Kennedy Anoints a Prince and Tells Clintons To Cool ItDemocrats don't come much more traditional than Teddy Kennedy, the grand man of the Democratic Party. So his endorsement of Barack Obama--implicitly an anti-endorsement of Hillary Clinton--has punch. Endorsements routinely don't matter much in presidential campaigns--with a few exceptions. A politician who controls a machine--say, a governor--can come in quite handy on Election Day. In this case, Kennedy brings two piping hot dishes to the Obama potluck.Permalink [Category: Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Obama]By awarding him the Kennedy Seal of Approval--with Caroline Kennedy (daughter of John) and Representative Patrick Kennedy (son of Ted) chiming in--Kennedy makes it official: Obama is the Next Generation leader of the Democratic Party and, in that role, has a lock on the vision thing. And by pledging to campaign arduously for Obama in the coming days, Kennedy will be assisting Obama's efforts to reach out to traditional Democratic voters: working-class Dems. Clinton has been faring better among that core demographic chunk of the Democratic electorate. Kennedy is no white knight who will rescue Obama on this front. But if Kennedy pulls a few votes here and there, it could be significant--only if Obama on his own can close the gap between him and Clinton on blue-collar Democrats and Latinos. It is too late for any candidate--or any set of endorsements--to change the fundamentals of the presidential race in time for Supersaturated Tuesday on February 5. And Ted Kennedy on the campaign trail is no match for Hillary Clinton's hit man: her husband. Yet any bit of Kennedy magic dust the Massachusetts senator sprinkles for Obama can only help.
Bill Clinton, Get Out of the Way"There may be a better salesman than I am," Bill Clinton said, smiled, then paused as chuckles rippled through the audience. A better salesman? On what planet? This was classic, postpresidential Clinton, able to riff on his well-earned reputation as a mythic slinger of bullpucky. I should add that the topic in question was nuclear nonproliferation. He had the audience hanging on his every word about ... nuclear nonproliferation. The Bush Administration wanted to develop two new nuclear weapons, he said, while it was trying to persuade the Iranians to stop enriching uranium. "There may be a better salesman than I am," he said, "but that's a tough sale. We're telling the Iranians, You can't have any of something we want two more of.'"Permalink [Category: Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton Archive]His voice was hoarse. His cheeks were splotched with wine-red daubs of what looked like clown rouge. He seemed a bit disheveled, wearing a light gray-green suit and a garish yellow tie, a costume more fitting for a used-car salesman than a former President. An aide told me that Clinton had pulled a Clinton the night before. Unwilling to stop campaigning after his last event, he had gone to the cafeteria at the University of South Carolina. About 15 kids were there, and they started texting their friends. Pretty soon several hundred kids had gathered, and Clinton held forth for two hours, answering their questions.
It should be no surprise that the Clintons are playing the race card.How can one equal Bill Clinton for thuggery and opportunism when it comes to the so-called "race card"? And where does one even start with the breathtaking nastiness of his own conduct, and that of his supporters, in the last week? Barack Obama carries South Carolina having made no sectarian appeal to any specific kind of voter, and the best Clinton can say is that this is no better than Jesse Jackson managed to do. Really? Did Jackson come south having already got himself elected the senator from Illinois? And, come to think of it, was Jackson so much to be despised and sneered at when he was needed as Clinton's "confessor," along with Billy Graham, during the squalor of impeachment?Permalink [Category: Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton Archive, Race]This calculated willingness to shop on both sides of the street of racial politics was actually analyzed quite shrewdly by Dick Morris, the former consigliere of the gruesome twosome, in conversation with Sean Hannity last week. The Clintons, he thought, would be quite happy to lose big to the "black vote" in South Carolina. It would enable them to signal that they were the ones to stem the flow of the color tide. Morris' host protested that this seemed a touch cynical. Morris jovially assured him that he knew the people he was talking about.
The Clinton Race GambitAsked by a reporter why it took "two" Clintons to beat Mr. Obama, Mr. Clinton replied that "Jesse Jackson won South Carolina" in 1984 and 1988. And he added that both Rev. Jackson and Mr. Obama had run "a good campaign here." Hmmm. The reporter hadn't mentioned Jesse Jackson, but Mr. Clinton somehow felt it apposite to refer to him anyway. He thus associated Mr. Obama's landslide victory with that of a black candidate who never did win the Democratic nomination, much less the Presidency, and who had run overtly as an African-American candidate in contrast to Mr. Obama's explicit campaign theme of transcending race.Permalink [Category: Bill Clinton, Clinton, Hillary Clinton Archive, Race, South Carolina Primary]
Anyone who thinks this was accidental has spent too much time with Sid Blumenthal. While Mr. Obama won a respectable 24% of white voters, according to Saturday's exit polls, Mrs. Clinton still won 36% and John Edwards 39% of the white vote. Mr. Obama won 78% of the black vote.The Clintons are now eager to make Mr. Obama into a Rev. Jackson-style "black candidate" as they contest primaries with a larger share of white and Hispanic voters than there were in South Carolina. The Clintons want to portray Mr. Obama as a candidate with a narrowly racial appeal, both to undermine his larger and inspirational message of "unity," and also to play to whatever doubts still exist about an African-American candidate among Democratic voters.
Slick Willie Rides AgainThe Clintons play dirty when they feel threatened. But we knew that, didn't we?Permalink [Category: Bill Clinton, Clinton, Hillary Clinton Archive]The recent roughing-up of Barack Obama was in the trademark style of the Clinton years in the White House. High-minded and self-important on the surface, smarmily duplicitous underneath, meanwhile jabbing hard to the groin area. They are a slippery pair and come as a package. The nation is at fair risk of getting them back in the White House for four more years. The thought makes me queasy.
Some fear the other Clinton's behavior may hurt DemocratsCOLUMBIA, S.C. -- He's scrapping with reporters. Pushing his wife's candidacy. Lashing out at her top rival in the Democratic presidential race.Permalink [Category: Bill Clinton]Former President Clinton's recent aggressive tactics in the 2008 campaign have propelled him squarely to center stage -- to the dismay of some prominent Democrats who fear he may be damaging the party's prospects for November.
The vocal role he is carving out also may be a preview, should Hillary Rodham Clinton win in the fall, of how the White House would operate under the unprecedented scenario of a president being married to an ex-president.
Clinton’s Campaign Sees Value in Keeping Former President in Attack ModeANDERSON, S.C. — Advisers to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton say they have concluded that Bill Clinton’s aggressive politicking against Senator Barack Obama is resonating with voters, and they intend to keep him on the campaign trail in a major role after the South Carolina primary.Permalink [Category: Bill Clinton, Clinton, Hillary Clinton Archive]The benefits of having Mr. Clinton challenge Mr. Obama so forcefully, over Iraq and Mr. Obama’s record and statements, they say, are worth the trade-offs of potentially overshadowing Mrs. Clinton at times, undermining his reputation as a statesman and raising the question among voters about whether they are putting him in the White House as much as her.
After three weeks of nearly nonstop campaigning, set off by Mrs. Clinton’s third-place finish in the Iowa caucuses, Mr. Clinton has shown as much ability as his wife — or even more — to stir public and news media skepticism about Mr. Obama’s position on Iraq and his message of nonpartisan leadership, Clinton advisers say.
The Magic Is Back!The Bill Clinton we all know finally arrives on the stump.Permalink [Category: Bill Clinton]Bill Clinton began his Thursday afternoon in an auditorium in Walterboro. It looked like the type of small structure a rural high school might have built in the 1960s, with thick green velvet drapes closed halfway across the stage and about 325 seats. When Clinton took the stage, the room was barely two-thirds full.
Two interesting things happened over the course of Clinton's four appearances on Thursday: At each stop, the crowds grew smaller and Clinton's speeches grew longer. He began the morning speaking for only 15 minutes before taking questions. By the end of the day, his opening remarks clocked in at 40 minutes.
Is Former President Clinton Stealing the Spotlight?The former president has been tirelessly campaigning on behalf of his wife since he arrived in South Carolina yesterday. He attended three different events, ending the last one around 11:30 p.m., almost 12 hours after he landed in the state.Permalink [Category: Bill Clinton, Clinton, Hillary Clinton Archive]After little sleep (rumor has it that he was playing cards until 3:30 a.m.) he started again this morning at 8:30 a.m. Though he looked tired, he didn't miss a beat.
At a campaign event this morning, Clinton defended his wife's six-year tenure on Wal-Mart's board of directors, saying that she advocated for more environmentally friendly practices, as well as more American-based production
The Clintons Double-Team ObamaAt one point in Monday evening's contentious Democratic debate, Barack Obama complained, "I can't tell who I'm running against sometimes" — Hillary or Bill Clinton. The Illinois senator may have simply been trying to make a rhetorical point about the former President's role in recent weeks as his wife's attack dog, but his criticism soon seemed much more valid. Later that night Hillary Clinton announced plans to spend the next few days campaigning in Super Tuesday delegate-rich states such as California and Arizona, leaving South Carolina — which holds its Democratic primary Saturday — in her husband's hands.Permalink [Category: Bill Clinton, Clinton, Hillary Clinton Archive, Obama Archive]
Clinton’s No. 1 Surrogate Clashes With No. 1 RivalGREENVILLE, S.C. — With Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton campaigning more than 2,500 miles away, her fight against Senator Barack Obama in South Carolina’s Democratic presidential primary emerged here Tuesday as a head-to-head match between him and her husband.Former President Bill Clinton, reprising his role of campaigner in a state he won in the 1992 primary, sought to tone down the feuding that exploded between the two candidates in a televised debate Monday night. Mr. Clinton said he was not standing in the way of Mr. Obama’s becoming the first black president, adding that he hoped he could vote for him one day, just not this year.
“No one has a right to be president,” Mr. Clinton said, “including Hillary.”
Permalink [Category: Bill Clinton, Clinton, Hillary Clinton Archive, Obama Archive]
Obama confronts Clinton attacksSen. Barack Obama shot back at Bill Clinton yesterday, charging the former president's combative advocacy of his wife's presidential bid has reached troubling levels and warning that he would "directly confront" him if he continues to hurl false accusations at his candidacy.
Mr. Obama said Mr. Clinton "continues to make statements that are not supported by the facts — whether it's about my record of opposition to the war in Iraq or our approach to organizing in Las Vegas."
"This has become a habit, and one of the things that we're going to have to do is to directly confront Bill Clinton when he's making statements that are not factually accurate," the Illinois Democrat said on ABC's "Good Morning America."
Permalink [Category: Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton Archive, Obama Archive] Bill Clinton, Stumping and SimmeringHillary Rodham Clinton may be the spouse running for office, but it is more Bill Clinton who appears to be feeling the heat.Permalink [Category: Bill Clinton, Clinton, Hillary Clinton Archive]After weeks of complaining publicly about Barack Obama’s record, the news media’s coverage of the Democratic presidential race, or both, Mr. Clinton on Wednesday ripped into a television reporter who had asked him about a Nevada lawsuit concerning participation in the state’s caucuses this Saturday. Mr. Clinton believed the question had seemed sympathetic to Mr. Obama’s stakes in the suit, Clinton campaign officials said.
Boo-frickety-hoo!IN THE HOURS BEFORE Hillary Clinton's Iowa comeuppance, standout blogger Tom Maguire aptly described the future of the Clinton campaign: "Whether Obama wins by a little or a lot, Hilary will be the Terminator candidate. She can't be bargained with. She can't be reasoned with. She doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And she absolutely will not stop, ever." At least we all thought it was apt at the time. And then yesterday Hillary went all mushy on us. Inquiring minds must wonder, What has happened to turn the Terminator into a weepy, self-confessional Opraholic?Permalink [Category: Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton Archive]The Clintons have led a charmed political life. Up until now kismet has especially kissed Hillary's fate, whose career rests almost entirely on the foundation of her husbands' successes. And for all of his undeniable talents, Bill Clinton's electoral victories are directly attributable to him being the luckiest politician of the last half century.
Had Gary Hart not already defined deviancy down for Oval Office aspirants in 1987, Clinton's 1992 run for the White House would have been a non-starter.
In New Hampshire, Bill Clinton Finds Less SparkDURHAM, N.H. — Is this what it would have been like had Elvis been reduced to playing Reno?Permalink [Category: Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton Archive]Former President Bill Clinton has been drawing sleepy and sometimes smallish crowds at big venues in the state that revived his presidential campaign in 1992. He entered to polite applause and rows of empty seats at the University of New Hampshire on Friday. Several people filed out midspeech, and the room was largely quiet as he spoke, with few interruptions for laughter or applause. He talked about his administration, his foundation work and some about his wife.
“Hillary’s got good plans,” Mr. Clinton kept saying as he worked through a hoarse-voiced litany of why his wife, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, is a “world-class change agent.” He urged his audience to “caucus” on Tuesday for Mrs. Clinton, before correcting himself (“vote”). He took questions, quickly worked a rope line and left.
Both Clintons' legacies may rest on N.H.People always state the obvious: That Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) is not the politician her husband is.Permalink [Category: Bill Clinton, Clinton, Hillary Clinton Archive, New Hampshire Primary]They tend to overlook the less obvious: She has never been forced to be that kind of politician.
Until now.
The essence of Bill Clinton’s political skill was a fearsome — and usually fear-driven — instinct for survival. Time and again, he summoned an almost mystical ability to connect with voters at the very moment he was confronting disaster. And the first place that astonishing talent sprang to national notice was the very place the 2008 campaign has arrived at now: New Hampshire.
Romney Takes Swipe at Clinton WH YearsWASHINGTON (AP) -- Republican Mitt Romney said Wednesday that if elected president he and his wife will not embarrass the nation by their conduct in the White House as happened in ''the Clinton years.''Permalink [Category: Bill Clinton, Clinton, Hillary Clinton Archive, Romney Archive]In an interview on CNN, Romney was asked about comments he made at recent house parties in Iowa that he and his wife, Ann, would not embarrass the nation in the White House. He is campaigning for Thursday's Republican presidential caucuses in Iowa, while Hillary Rodham Clinton is campaigning on the Democratic side.
''We'll try and represent ourselves and our nation well also to our kids because I think, I think kids watch the White House and there have been failures in the past in the White House -- if you go back to the Clinton years and recognize that -- that I think had an enormous impact on the culture of our country,'' Romney said. ''And we'll do our very best, our whole family will to -- well, if we can't be perfect, we'll do our best to uphold and to be a good example for the kinds of values I think people expect from our leaders.''
Rivals Say Huckabee Another Bill ClintonDAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) -- To hear Mitt Romney tell it, Republican Mike Huckabee shares more with Democrat Bill Clinton than a hometown in Hope, Ark., and a stint as Arkansas governor.Permalink [Category: Bill Clinton, Huckabee]Both men, Romney suggests, have left-leaning governing philosophies, particularly on taxes and spending.
''Governor Huckabee's record is more liberal than our nation needs right now,'' the former Massachusetts governor said in Iowa last week, seeking to link his GOP presidential rival to the former Democratic president who is loathed by many Republican loyalists.
Retorted Huckabee: ''This nonsense about being a liberal is pure nonsense.''
The Magic & Bill Show, Providing The Charisma AssistWATERLOO, Iowa -- Moments before Bill Clinton and Magic Johnson, the former president and the former point guard, are supposed to take the stage here in the small, no-frills gymnasium of the local Boys & Girls Club, you see it from behind a purple curtain. It's a pouf of white hair bouncing up and down, up and down. Whether it's a hop or a jump is beside the point. What it is, is this: Bill Clinton getting revved up to stump for his wife. It's Bill Clinton . . . getting pumped.Permalink [Category: Bill Clinton, Clinton, Hillary Clinton Archive, Media]"Oh yeah, he was getting ready," Johnson, who led the Los Angeles Lakers to five NBA championships, explains later. "He was just getting fired up. We both got fired up. He was just jumping, getting ready."
In the frantic rush to the Jan. 3 caucuses in Iowa, the Surrogate-in-Chief has not been making headlines for being psyched up. No, the buzz is that he's meddling, annoyed and angry as the sheen of inevitability has worn off Hillary Clinton's campaign, with everyone bracing for a bare-knuckles contest whose fate might not be decided until the final hours. There have been reports of Bill Clinton, who once joked easily with "The Daily Show's" Jon Stewart about a limited role in the campaign and presidency, seizing control from top campaign advisers and aides. During a recent appearance on "Charlie Rose," he lashed out at the media for not examining Barack Obama's campaign with the same attention to detail they've given his wife's. Sitting in the darkness of the set, Clinton seemed, well, bitter.
In ’08 Race, the Other Clinton Steps Up PubliclyDUNLAP, Iowa — When Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign advisers laid out their new political strategy in a private conference call with allies last Tuesday, Bill Clinton was not on the line. He did not need to be. The message being delivered was his.A day earlier, Mr. Clinton had unveiled the campaign’s new talking points at rallies in Iowa. His wife was “a change agent,” “a proven agent of positive change” and “a lifetime advocate of a change agenda.”
The “change, change, change” phrase, as some advisers call it, was coined by Mr. Clinton after he told campaign officials that the old strategy of running like an incumbent front-runner was not enough, advisers said. The Clintons had to wrest the message of change from Senator Barack Obama.
Permalink [Category: Bill Clinton, Clinton, Hillary Clinton Archive]
Former President Clinton Campaigns in SCCHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) -- Former President Bill Clinton promoted his wife's health care plan on Saturday in South Carolina, a state where nearly 700,000 people lack health insurance.Permalink [Category: Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton Archive, South Carolina Primary]''There is not a place in America that needs Hillary's health care plan as much as South Carolina,'' Bill Clinton told about 100 members of a graduate chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha, the nation's oldest black sorority.
The visit came the same weekend that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's chief rival, Barack Obama, planned a series of appearances with talk show host Oprah Winfrey -- in Iowa on Saturday and South Carolina and New Hampshire on Sunday.
''We've got some big challenges,'' said Bill Clinton. ''One is persistent inequalities in income, health care and education.''
Gennifer Flowers May Vote for ClintonLAS VEGAS, Dec. 6 (AP) — A onetime other woman in Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s life has said she is considering voting for the former first lady.Permalink [Category: Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton Archive]“I can’t help but want to support my own gender, and she’s as experienced as any of the others — except maybe Joe Biden,” the woman, Gennifer Flowers, said in a recent telephone interview from her home here.
Ms. Flowers said that she was undecided, but that she backed abortion rights and had long wanted to see a female president. “I would love to see a woman president,” Ms. Flowers said. “I just didn’t think it would be her.”
Bill Clinton: Don't Focus on Horse RaceKEENE, N.H. (AP) -- (AP) -- Bill Clinton said Tuesday the public would benefit from more attention to the records of the presidential candidates -- like his wife's -- and less to daily skirmishes that ''won't amount to a hill of beans.''Permalink [Category: Bill Clinton, Election Process Archive]The former president, known as a keen strategist himself, lamented that the campaign has become too much about the horse race at the expense of policy and experience.
''Sixty-seven percent of the coverage is pure politics,'' he said, citing a study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism. ''That stuff has a half-life of about 15 seconds. It won't matter tomorrow. It is very vulnerable to being slanted and rude. And it won't affect your life.''
Campaigning in New Hampshire, he said Hillary Rodham Clinton's work in the Senate proves she can accomplish change and ''I would pick her and be here if we weren't married.''
Bill Clinton Backtracks in Iowa, Says 'I Opposed Iraq' from Start....On Iraq, he told the crowd that wealthy people like he and his wife should pay more taxes in times of war. "Even though I approved of Afghanistan and opposed Iraq from the beginning, I still resent that I was not asked or given the opportunity to support those soldiers," Clinton said.Permalink [Category: Bill Clinton, Iraq]He has not clearly opposed the war from the start. Like his wife, the former president has been critical of the Iraq war in recent months, but at one time he gave President Bush the benefit of the doubt. "I supported the president when he asked for authority to stand up against weapons of mass destruction in Iraq," he said in May 2003, the same year he was quoted praising Bush's handling of the war.
Sen. Clinton voted to authorize the war in Iraq, and has not apologized for her decision despite attacks from war opponents Sen. Barack Obama and John Edwards, according to a report in the Washington Post.
A Clinton Friend’s Role Sets Off Intense Criticism of CNN and a Re-examinationSenator Hillary Rodham Clinton prepared for a battle with her Democratic rivals at the CNN-sponsored debate on Thursday night. She did not have much to fear from the postdebate round table.Among the experts trotted out by CNN to comment was James Carville, a Democratic strategist and CNN commentator who is also a close friend of Mrs. Clinton and a contributor to her campaign.
Mr. Carville’s presence aroused the fury of rivals and bloggers. They called it a conflict of interest and criticized CNN.
Permalink [Category: Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton Archive]
Bill Sweats It Out for Hil in New Web AdWASHINGTON (AP) -- Get that man an Actors' Equity card. Bill Clinton is developing a side line as top performer on his wife's comic Web videos.First was ''The Sopranos'' send-up with the former president lamenting the lack of onion rings at the hometown diner. Now comes a video for new Iowa caucus-goers reassuring them that participating on behalf of Hillary Rodham Clinton on Jan. 3 is simple.
It opens with Clinton huffing on a treadmill envisioning a double cheeseburger. Can you say typecasting?
Clinton rebukes rivals for 'gang up' on HillaryNORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — Former President Bill Clinton told voters in South Carolina yesterday that the "boys" have been ganging up on his wife in recent weeks but that she can take it.Permalink [Category: Bill Clinton, Clinton, Hillary Clinton Archive]"She's been doing this on her own for a long time now," said Mr. Clinton during a visit to a hair salon and day spa on a daylong trip through this decidedly red state on behalf of the presidential campaign of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, New York Democrat.
"She knows that personal attacks are a part of politics," Mr. Clinton told reporters as he greeted the women getting their hair relaxed and curled at Anjea's Hair Studio and Spa. In recent weeks, other Democratic candidates, particularly Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois and former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, have sharpened their criticism of the former first lady, the front-runner for the nomination.
Clinton: Blame Me for Health FailureGLENWOOD, Iowa (AP) -- Former President Clinton said Thursday that he is to blame for his administration's failed health care plan, not his wife, who spearheaded the effort.Permalink [Category: Bill Clinton, Clinton, Health Care, Hillary Clinton Archive]Clinton was asked about the plan during a campaign event, where he spoke to about 600 people crowded into a YMCA gymnasium. The health care effort was led by then-first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, now a New York senator and candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination.
''She has taken the rap for some of the problems we had with health care the last time that were far more my fault than hers,'' the former president said.
He said part of the problem was a lack of money to finance the health care expansion. Money could be available this time to pay for expanded health care, such as the universal health care plan Hillary Clinton has proposed.
Clinton Says Debate Made Dems VulnerableCHICAGO (AP) -- Former President Clinton said Wednesday that all the Democratic presidential candidates could be open to a ''swift boat kind of ad'' if they try to give quick responses to complicated issues like driver's licenses for illegal immigrants.Permalink [Category: Bill Clinton, Clinton, Debates, Hillary Clinton Archive]A day after being criticized for defending his wife, the former president tried to explain his comments linking criticism of Hillary Rodham Clinton to the swift boat campaign against John Kerry's military record in the 2004 campaign. Bill Clinton made the comparison Monday during a speech in Las Vegas.
Sen. Chris Dodd said it was ''way over the top.'' Sen. Barack Obama said he was stunned to hear the former president make such a comparison.
At the end of a Democratic presidential debate last week, Hillary Clinton hedged when asked whether she supported a plan by her home state governor to issue licenses to illegal immigrants. Dodd, Obama and others have accused her of trying to have it both ways on the issue.
Hillary Clinton Rivals Take on BillWASHINGTON (AP) -- Bill Clinton was hit with caustic criticism Tuesday from his wife's Democratic rivals, who accused the popular former president of falsely comparing questions about her candor to smears of past campaigns.Permalink [Category: Bill Clinton, Clinton, Hillary Clinton Archive]In a presidential nomination fight growing more intense by the day, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama also criticized the former first lady for having voted in the Senate against incentives for ethanol production and higher fuel efficiency standards. And 2004 vice presidential nominee John Edwards challenged her to spell out what she would do about Iraq.
The week after Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign accused her rivals of ''piling on,'' those foes showed no sign of easing up. They even went so far as to criticize the former president, a strategy that comes with risks in a party filled with voters who admire him for resurrecting the party in the 1990s.
On Monday, in defense of his wife against political critics, Bill Clinton cited the ''swift boat'' television ads of the 2004 presidential campaign that questioned John Kerry's patriotism and the campaign commercials in 2002 that suggested Sen. Max Cleland of Georgia was soft on terrorism.
Giuliani Impersonates Hillary, Says Bill Clinton Had Head in the SandSpeaking at a town hall in Berlin, New Hampshire, Giuliani first set his sights on Hillary Clinton and used humor to answer a question about Clinton's much analyzed debate response on whether she supported a plan to grant driver's licenses to illegal aliens in New York state.Permalink [Category: Bill Clinton, Clinton, Giuliani Archive, Hillary Clinton Archive]"Oh gee I can't figure out what to think," said Giuliani satirizing Clinton.
"Don't pick on me by asking that question. That's a gotcha question. Do not pick on me for asking that question. Now let me see what I think…. Let me see… First put up your hands and tell me what you think. Then I'll tell you what I think. Are you for it or against it? Ok, you're not gonna tell me. So I'm for it, for it. I am against it. I'm for it and against it. And I wanna be your president."
In His Wife's Campaign, Bill Clinton Is a Free AgentLITTLE ROCK -- In the complex transformation of Bill Clinton from former president to candidate's spouse, last week was typical.Permalink [Category: Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton Archive]One night in New York, he showered affection on his wife during her 60th-birthday-party-slash-fundraiser, joking that when a 23-year-old Hillary Rodham met him at law school decades earlier, "the poor child didn't know any better" than to talk to him. Another day, the two appeared together in Harlem.
But at other points in the week Clinton did not share a stage with his wife, the junior senator from New York. During an expansive speech at his presidential library here, he pivoted from issue to issue, touching on subjects including social inequality, the Nobel Prize and his recent appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show."
In more than 45 minutes, Clinton failed to mention one timely topic: his wife's presidential campaign. Another day, in Minneapolis, he paid tribute to a prominent donor to her campaign without invoking Hillary's name at all.
Clinton Calls Clinton Best SuccessorNEW YORK (AP) -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton was hailed by her husband Saturday as the best Democratic choice for the White House at a rally just uptown from his Harlem office where they were greeted by the sweet sounds of the Abyssinian Baptist Church choir and the handclaps of its congregation.Permalink [Category: Bill Clinton, Clinton, Hillary Clinton Archive]''I would be campaigning for Hillary even if I was not married to her,'' former President Clinton said from the altar of the historic church on West 138th Street. ''I believe she is the best qualified, best suited non-incumbent ever.''
The Clintons appeared before the near-capacity crowd with the senator walking out first, followed by her husband. The church echoed with cheers as Bill Clinton saluted the crowd, which responded with chants of ''Hillary! Hillary!''
In Latest Poll, Good News for Both ClintonsFormer president Bill Clinton has emerged as a clear asset in his wife's campaign for the White House, with Americans offering high ratings to his eight years in office and a solid majority saying they would be comfortable with him as first spouse, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.But Americans said they would not regard the election of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) as simply the resumption of her husband's presidency. Instead, two-thirds said she would take her presidency in a different direction, and half of all Americans said they believed that would be a good development. About half of those who said it would be a resumption described that as positive.
The survey also showed Hillary Clinton with an early advantage in a matchup of the party front-runners. A majority of those polled support her over former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, who has reveled in taking swipes at Clinton in recent weeks and yesterday offered an unflattering comparison of her to 1972 Democratic nominee George S. McGovern.
Permalink [Category: Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton Archive]
Bill Clinton Questions Obama’s ExperienceFormer President Bill Clinton showed his singular ability to diminish his wife’s presidential rivals when, in a television interview, he said that Senator Barack Obama had about as much experience as Mr. Clinton did in 1988 — the year Mr. Clinton decided not to run for the presidency.Permalink [Category: Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton Archive, Obama Archive]“I was, in terms of experience, was closer to Senator Obama, I suppose, in 1988 when I came within a day of announcing,” Mr. Clinton said in a interview on “Political Capital with Al Hunt” that was scheduled to be broadcast tonight on Bloomberg television and again this weekend.
Mr. Clinton did not run that year, he added, because “I really didn’t think I knew enough, and had served enough and done enough to run.”
Bloomberg at Home With Bill ClintonNEW YORK (AP) -- Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been a Republican and he's now an independent. But on Thursday he cozied up to the Democrats' biggest star.Permalink [Category: Bill Clinton, Bloomberg]Bloomberg joined former President Clinton at the Clinton Global Initiative conference at a session billed as a BBC debate over global warming.
Instead, the pair were in constant agreement, leaving the host, Zeinab Badawi, playing the role of devil's advocate.
Clinton campaign kills negative storyEarly this summer, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign for president learned that the men’s magazine GQ was working on a story the campaign was sure to hate: an account of infighting in Hillaryland.Permalink [Category: Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton Archive]So Clinton’s aides pulled a page from the book of Hollywood publicists and offered GQ a stark choice: Kill the piece, or lose access to planned celebrity coverboy Bill Clinton.
Despite internal protests, GQ editor Jim Nelson met the Clinton campaign’s demands, which had been delivered by Bill Clinton’s spokesman, Jay Carson, several sources familiar with the conversations said.
Sen. Clinton: Bill and I are differentNEW YORK --A second President Clinton might occupy a little less space than the first.Permalink [Category: Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton Archive]Asked how her governing style might differ from her husband's, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton noted Wednesday that the former president has "a bigger-than-life presence."
"He's like a force of nature. ... I don't even pretend to be that. That's not who I am," she said of Bill Clinton.
Saying the "cumbersome" rules of the nation's capital often prevent radical shifts, the Democratic presidential candidate painted herself as a measured politician pragmatically focused on accomplishing change bit by bit.
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