Monday, March 31, 2008

We love you, Hillary

In one of the most interesting turns the Democratic primary has taken, Hillary Clinton has been praised by her hated nemesis, Richard Scaife, the Chicago tycoon who went out of his way to lead the "vast right-wing conspiracy" against the Clintons in the 1990s. After she did an interview with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, a newspaper Scaife owns, he wrote that she “exhibited an impressive command of many of today’s most pressing domestic and international issues" and that her answers to reporter questions “were thoughtful, well-stated and often dead on.”
Could this be the ultimate dirty trick? Scaife's support of Clinton could turn off those who remember his salacious and scandalous attacks against Bill Clinton. He was a major backer of the American Spectator Magazine's so-called "Arkansas Project," which first brought Paula Jones' charges to the public attention and also charged that the Clinton's had murdered their top aide Vince Foster, who committed suicide in 1993.
One senses that Scaife is just eccentric enough for this not to be a ploy, in which case Hillary is now surrounded by opponents who are killing her with kindness. Obama has cleverly said recently he does not wish her to drop out of the race. But I trust politicians--and tycoons--more when they're taking potshots at each other. Killing with kindness is not their natural inclination....

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