What they’re saying about Hillary Clinton – 04/18/10
Every week I’m taking a look at some of the more interesting and sometimes off-beat comments the world media has to say about Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Here are a few choice excerpts for this week’s report –
Red flag for a sinking Obama: Americans now prefer Hillary Clinton
By Andrew Malcom
It turns out, there is another Democrat — another former senator, in fact — hanging around now free of political tussles with an enhanced resume burnished on the world stage, thanks to Obama himself. And a new CNN/Opinion Research Poll has just revealed that even today Americans like that other Democrat more and dislike that other Democrat less than they do the incumbent Democratic president.
That other Democrat is, of course, Hillary Clinton, who fought and scratched her way mightily but unsuccessfully through those bitter, belligerent Democratic primaries and caucuses of 2008. The former first lady and current secretary of State professes no intra-mural interest in challenging her White House boss, as she must as long as she’s an administration team member.
LA Times 04/14/10
Bill Clinton: Hillary and I are too old to be appointed to the Supreme Court
Bill and Hillary Clinton have both held big jobs in their lives, but the ex-president said Sunday that Supreme Court justice shouldn’t be among them – they’re too old.
“She would be good at it,” Clinton said of his wife, 62, adding that at “one point in her life, she might [have] been interested. But she’s like me, you know, we’re kind of doers,” Clinton said. “I think if she were asked, she would advise the President to appoint some 10, 15 years younger.”
New York Daily News 04/18/10
Nearly Two Decades Later, Clinton Wins on Healthcare
By Jessica Rettig
It’s taken nearly two decades, but Hillary Clinton is finally making a difference on healthcare. Clinton, who as first lady tried but failed to win congressional and public approval of national healthcare, is hitting home runs on the issue as President Obama’s secretary of state. But instead of working domestically, where Obama finally did win on healthcare, Clinton is working on the global stage helping women find better access to care.
This week, she received credit for her efforts from Women’s Policy Inc. and the Congressional Caucus on Women’s Issues. At a breakfast sponsored by Women’s Policy, Rachel Vogelstein, State’s senior policy adviser for the Office of Global Women’s Issues, said that Clinton has played a fundamental role in the implementation of her department’s recently-launched global health initiative. The plan will dedicate $63 billion over six years to its mission, with a focus on the well-being and empowerment of girls and women in particular, who generally provide the care-giving roles in third-world households.
US News – Washington Whispers 04/16/10
Cinton Calls Out Armey And Gingrich For Reprising Roles, Reusing Lines
By Sam Stein
Speaking on Friday about the parallels between the fiery national mood during his presidency and the domestic unrest that grips the country today, former President Bill Clinton hit on a somewhat salient point: the political characters remain the same.
“I love seeing that picture in the [Washington] Post today, with that outline of [Former Majority Leader Dick] Armey with the cowboy hat on,” Clinton said. “I remember when he called Hillary a ‘socialist.’ I remember when Newt Gingrich, shortly after becoming Speaker Elect, said that Hillary and I were the ‘enemies of normal.’ It didn’t bother me a bit. I was planning to get in and mix it up. But what we learned from [the] Oklahoma City [bombing] is not that we should gag each other…. but that the words we use really do matter, because there is this vast echo chamber and they go across space and they fall on the serious and the delirious alike.”
The Huffington Post 04/16/10
The secret to loosening up Hillary Clinton is revealed and no it isn’t Bill.
Who knew that Hillary Clinton could be such a lush. For those of you who ever wondered what it takes to actually loosen up Hillary Clinton, the answer is a few glasses of Jack Daniels. It must be nice to be able to get wasted on the tax payer’s dime and not have to worry about being fired for it, thus the life of a liberal elitist. Did you all know that the State Department spent $300,000 dollars last year on alcohol purchases? I wish I could give a rational explanation on why the State Department needs to spend tax dollars on alcohol, but I can’t think of one I’m sober. This type of waste is why the Tea Party exists and are ticked off. How many books and computers can $300,000 buy for inner city schools and recreation centers? Forgot about the citizens money going up in smoke. It’s more like it’s going “down the hatch” cheers.
Wake up Black America 04/16/10
Hillary Clinton will not accept Supreme Court position.
Already there is speculation that Hillary Clinton is being considered by President Obama to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Stevens. This morning Republican Senator Orrin Hatch fanned the flames by noting that he had heard Hillary’s name come up as a potential nominee:
“I even heard the name Hillary Clinton today, and that would be an interesting person in the mix,” Hatch said on NBC’s Today Show. “I happen to like Hillary Clinton, I think she’s done agood job for the Democrats — Secretary of State’s position,” Hatch said, “and I have high respect for her, and think a great deal of her.”
The receptivity to a Clinton nomination is predictably mixed. Juli Weiner, writing on the Vanity Fair web site, noted several enthusiastic endorsements of Hillary -
Slate’s Emily Bazelon wrote that “Clinton has all the makings of a full-throated, strong-minded liberal stalwart on the bench.” The Daily Beast’s Mark McKinnon agrees: “Stripping away the drama, the politics and psychobabble, she’d be a great choice for Obama and the Democrats. She’s as smart and as qualified as any prospect her party could nominate.” Seventy-one percent of NPR.com readers also say they would welcome a Clinton nomination.
In my report yesterday I included a comment from Outside the Beltway’s James Joyner that Hillary is too old for the Supreme Court:
Speculating on Supreme Court appointments is a great parlor game and throwing the “pick a politician” wildcard into the game is especially fun. Hillary would be confirmed easily, I’d think. The 1990s are over and the controversies surrounding her have long since died down. She was, by all accounts, a hard worker and excellent colleague in the Senate and she sailed to confirmation as Secretary of State.
But, even assuming Obama decides to bypass the recent trend of picking law professors and appeals court justices — preferably those with little history of taking controversial positions — I don’t think Hillary is the gal. She’s too old. Stevens was appointed by Gerald Ford 35 years ago. He served the entirety of the presidencies of Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush plus the first half of Barack Obama’s first term. That sort of longevity is the goal.
The bottom line, of course, is whether or not Hillary Clinton even wants to be nominated. The short answer is, “No, she doesn’t.”
If the hasn’t already expressed that position to Obama “with the greatest respect,” she will quickly do so if the rumors continue. Although all the positive reasons for seeing Hillary on the the Supreme Court are valid in my opinion, such a position does not fit into the lifelong paradigm of Hillary’s activist history. Sitting on the Court would push her into the darkness where she would no longer be the outspoken, out-front advocate that she has been her entire life.
Hillary is not too old for the Supreme Court. But she is too valuable a player in our political life to be stashed away in a black robe writing legal opinions, and she knows it.
What they’re saying about Hillary Clinton – 04/11/10
Every week I’m taking a look at some of the more interesting and sometimes off-beat comments the world media has to say about Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Here are a few choice excerpts for this week’s report –
Hillary’s Disproportionate Response
by Jack L. Schwartzwald
Hillary’s demand that Israel cease all housing construction in the eastern portion of Jerusalem will prove a bitter — if not fatal — pill for the Netanyahu government to swallow. More importantly, however, the Secretary of State’s Orwellian approach to diplomacy will make it difficult for Israel to place stock in American assurances the next time Hillary publicly calls upon the Jewish state to take patently dangerous risks for peace. Indeed, it may be her own shrinking stock rather than Israel’s construction planning that has exposed the ominous “daylight” about which she expressed such concern to AIPAC.
American Thinker 04/08/2010
Clinton helps Islamic terror supporter enter U.S.
by Jim Kouri
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signed an order allowing a radical Islamic man with terrorist ties to tour cities in the United States in spite of a six-year ban, according to a report obtained by the National Association of Chiefs of Police’s Terrorism Committee.
Secretary Clinton consented to have Tariq Ramadan, an extremist Muslim who supports Islamic terrorism, visit New York City — the city attacked by 19 Islamic terrorists on September 11, 2001 — to begin a U.S. tour that includes New Jersey, Chicago, Detroit and Washington.
Clinton’s decision — ignored by the mainstream news media — is part of the president’s mission of creating a “new and improved relationship” with Muslims around the world. The State Department had for years denied the two scholars visas because they were deemed to pose a national security threat in the United States.
Manchester Examiner 04/09/2010
Hillary Clinton is Worse than Joe McCarthy
Like Joseph McCarthy, Hillary is a second rate politician who is using fear of a foreign enemy to advance her career. The sad thing is that McCarthy at least had a real enemy to rail against and a semblance of real power to use against his enemies. Hillary has nothing but the gullibility and laziness of America’s media and intellectuals to rely upon. Indeed in comparison to Hillary Clinton, Joseph McCarthy sounds quite sane and reasonable.
The hysteria Hillary Clinton is preying upon, on the other hand is entirely artificial. McCarthy could at least point to a powerful Soviet Union that had achieved significant military victories over Nazi Germany as a threat. Hillary is saying that a regime that can’t control the streets of its own capitol; the Iranian Islamic Republic, is a threat to the United States.
How long I wonder will the American people and President Obama put up with Hillary? I hope it isn’t for much longer because the woman is in a position to do some real damage.
AllVoices 04/08/2010
Hillary Clinton Too Old for Supreme Court
by James Joyner
Speculating on Supreme Court appointments is a great parlor game and throwing the “pick a politician” wildcard into the game is especially fun. Hillary would be confirmed easily, I’d think. The 1990s are over and the controversies surrounding her have long since died down. She was, by all accounts, a hard worker and excellent colleague in the Senate and she sailed to confirmation as Secretary of State.
But, even assuming Obama decides to bypass the recent trend of picking law professors and appeals court justices — preferably those with little history of taking controversial positions — I don’t think Hillary is the gal.
She’s too old.
Stevens was appointed by Gerald Ford 35 years ago. He served the entirety of the presidencies of Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush plus the first half of Barack Obama’s first term. That sort of longevity is the goal.
Does Hillary Clinton have another 35 good years in her? Through age 97? Well, let us hope. But, were I a betting man, I’d prefer to put my money on a younger horse.
Outside the Beltway 04/10/2010
