Hillary's "Conservative Leanings"?
October 7, 2005
Hillary's "Conservative
Leanings"?
"It would be nave to think that Clinton doesn't have a national campaign very
much in mind as she stacks up one centrist credential after another.As first
lady, it was Clinton's job to placate the party's base, even if that meant
obscuring some of her more socially conservative instincts.Assuming that
Clinton is serious about a 2008 campaign, it's never too early to begin
redefining her image in the minds of independent and conservative voters. And
the thinking among her closest advisers holds that unlike other prospective
candidates with conservative leanings, like Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana or Gov.
Mark Warner of Virginia, Clinton doesn't have to worry about winning over more
liberal base voters."
- Contributing writer Matt Bai, October 2. Hillary Clinton received a
rating of 9 out of 100 in the American Conservative Union ratings, 95 out of 100
from the liberal Americans for Democratic Action.
If the Times Says So, It Must Be
True
"Ms. [Harriet] Miers is undoubtedly a conservative."
- White House reporter Richard Stevenson on Bush's Supreme Court
nominee, October 4.
Sure Sounds "Nonpartisan" to Us
"Cathie Adams, president of the Texas Eagle Forum, a conservative group in
Dallas, speaks glowingly of Justice [Nathan] Hecht as 'a brilliant legal
scholar.' Alex Winslow, executive director of Texas Watch, a nonpartisan
consumer advocacy group in Austin puts it differently, saying, 'Hecht is the
godfather of the conservative judicial movement in Texas.' He added: 'Extremist
would be an appropriate description. He's the philosophical leader of the
right-wing fringe.'"
- Simon Romero and Edward Wyatt on Judge Nathan Hecht, confidante of
Harriet Miers, October 5. "Nonpartisan" Winslow spent five years as chief of
staff for Democratic Texas state Rep. Barry Telford.
The "Budget-Slashing,"
"Bombastic" Mayor
"The story starts just weeks before the election, with the campaign of Mr.
Lonegan, whose budget-slashing conservatism and bombastic style as mayor
polarized the once tight-knit town of about 8,000."
- October 4 story by Josh Benson on a documentary about Steve Lonegan,
mayor of Bogota, New Jersey.
Getting to the Left of William
Weld
"Why would you want to privatize zoos? What if the new owners tried to
maximize profits by allowing visitors to hunt game on the premises?"
"But surely I don't have to remind you that the private sector cannot be trusted
to act in the interests of society as a whole, which is why government exists.
What do you think is the purpose of government?"
- Two of Deborah Solomon's questions to former Mass. Gov. William Weld in
the October 2 Magazine.
Where Have All the Liberal Labels
Gone?
"The crowd also heard from old lions of the antiwar movement, like the Rev.
Jesse Jackson, the actress Jessica Lange, Ralph Nader and former Attorney
General Ramsey Clark, who has endorsed impeaching Mr. Bush."
- Michael Janofsky reporting on the D.C. anti-war rally, September 25.
Ronnie Earle, "an Institution and
Endangered Species"
"[Ronnie] Earle, 63, an institution and endangered species - a Texas Democrat
- now in his eighth elected four-year term, said he was ignoring the attacks by
Mr. DeLay and his supporters after Mr. DeLay, the powerful Texas Republican and
House majority leader, was charged with conspiring to violate Texas election law
by contributing corporate money to candidates for the Texas Legislature in
2002."
- Ralph Blumenthal on the Democratic prosecutor going after House
Majority Leader Tom DeLay, September 29.
