GORE - It's McAuliffe who's been planting stories about his weight???

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American Spectator Online Prowler

Weighty Matters

Pounding Away

The New York press has been having fun belittling Al Gore for the extra pounds he's gained in his current state of post-political depression. "He hasn't gained all that much, certainly not 30 or 40 pounds like they have been writing about," counters a Gore friend in Washington. "They took pictures with him wearing sweater vests, and those things make you look bigger than you really are."

But Gore -- or Tipper -- must have been concerned nonetheless. Gore has hired a personal trainer to help him get into fighting trim, most likely to take on nemesis DNC chair Terry McAuliffe, who has had the DNC staff whispering about Gore's weight and other flaws to the press in hopes of making him completely inconsequential to the party. "If Gore isn't taken seriously in the eyes of the broader public, then we can basically ignore him. That's the theory," says a DNC staffer.

-- Anonymous, April 30, 2001

Answers

It's interesting that McAuliffe has turned anti-Gore. They are both part of the discredited Clinton gang. Any idea why?

-- Anonymous, April 30, 2001

My only thought is it's because Gore failed to win the election and is, therefore, a nonentity. There may be other reasons but I can't remember any offhand. I'm beginning to think McCauley is going to bring down the Democratic party even further if he persists in his current course, an example of which is the ad of the child asking for more arsenic in her water.

-- Anonymous, April 30, 2001

McAuliffe is a Clinton camp follower -- in *every* sense of the phrase: washing dirty laundry, carrying water, compromising his virtue (to be old-fashioned about it). The Clintons see Gore as a failure, unable to continue "the legacy." Clinton installed McAuliffe as DNC chair to pave the way for Hillary's Presidential bid in 2004. Reducing Gore -- the presumptive '04 nominee at this point -- to irrelevance is just part of the strategy.

And pay no attention whatsoever to Hillary's protestations that she has no intention of seeking the Presidency. She is already laying the groundwork for an '04 bid by getting all her dirty linen out in the open and behind her. She and Bill already have separate homes, and the preliminary leaks have begun in the supermarket tabloids and elsewhere about her sexual preference. I figure in another 8 to 16 months she and Bill will formally part company and she will make a public "coming out" that will land her on the covers of all three news magazines.

-- Anonymous, April 30, 2001


I agree with your opinion on Hillary's presidential aspirations, CW. I give you four reasons:

1. The trip to Ireland taken by the Clintons right before the end of their presidency, where Hilary was photographed in warm embrace with Republican killers.

2. Clinton's trip to India, where he toured earthquake-ravaged villages and promised some sort of help.

3. Clintons' trip to S. Africa, where he spent much time with Nelson Mandela.

4. The Clintons' vacation in the Dominican Republic.

New York's melting pot is composed heavily of people who identify with those four ethnic groups. Well, maybe not so much the Indians but, as was pointed out in an article pasted here a couple of weeks ago, they have lots of campaign dollars to contribute. You could add in the speech he made to the Jewish reform synagogue (article pasted here today) as well.

I'm not convinced that they'll break up; they don't think like we do.

-- Anonymous, April 30, 2001


Coast Watcher, your characterization of McAuliffe is dead-on accurate.

About Hillary's plans, the Clintons certainly do think differently than ordinary sensible people. On the other hand, any thought of her running for President seems so off the wall that, rightly or wrongly, I can't bring myself to believe it. Having an office in NYC that's a damn palace (peach colored marble), that's just nutty from the standpoint of her political future.

-- Anonymous, May 01, 2001



I've just had the most horrible thought. If Hillary IS elected, she'll be worse for this country than Blair has been for Britain. I shudder to think. In fact, I don't think I CAN think about it any more at the moment.

-- Anonymous, May 01, 2001

I say if she starts running, we chase her. Preferably towards a cliff...

-- Anonymous, May 01, 2001

St. Petersburg Times (Florida)

Evolving Sen. Clinton turns chatty

The senator, with a new jovial attitude, seems ready to kick into second gear.

By MARY JACOBY

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 1, 2001

WASHINGTON -- Faced with a pack of reporters in the Capitol last week, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton didn't grimace and duck into the nearest "Senators Only" elevator.

No, that would be the old Sen. Clinton.

The new Sen. Clinton stopped, grinned and talked exuberantly about her "fabulous" Easter vacation in Costa Rica walking on the beach and playing cards with her husband, the former president.

"You know what was great about it? . . . It was the first vacation I've had in 10 years (without press coverage). You guys got to have fun, I got to have fun, and there were no pictures of me in my bathing suit," she said.

It was a breakthrough of sorts for Clinton, whose loathing of the press is legendary and who has avoided, as much as she could, the national spotlight since being sworn in four months ago as New York's junior senator.

But suddenly, here she was, doing what normal senators do: chatting and making jokes with the gaggle of reporters that stake out their regular Tuesday luncheons.

What gives?

"Like everyone else, she feels more comfortable after settling in," said Minority Whip Harry Reid, D-Nev. "This is not the White House. She'd only been here a few times before. She didn't know her way around physically. It takes a while to get your sea legs, so to speak."

But Clinton's unexpected chattiness coincides with a recent raising of her public profile in the Senate. Taken together, the two events seem to suggest that she is ready to kick her nascent Senate career into second gear.

Until now, the former first lady has made a point of keeping her head down, in large part to avoid upstaging her fellow Democrats before she had gotten to know them.

Her relatively low profile also has been her way of trying to shake off the latest smelly bits of scandal sticking to the Clintons' shoes.

But now that the uproar over Bill Clinton's last-minute pardons and the couple's departure from the White House with expensive gifts from political supporters has faded, the always evolving Hillary Clinton is clearly changing again:

She waited six weeks after her January swearing-in to make her first Senate floor speech. Now, Clinton grabs the microphone to speak out on everything from education reform to health care.

In January, she told reporters seeking her reaction to John Ashcroft's confirmation as attorney general to "check my Web site" for her statement. Now, she stops in Capitol hallways to answer questions.

She used to slip out of meetings the back way to avoid the television cameras and reporters. Now, she regularly appears at press conferences.

Clinton said she agrees with Reid's assessment that she's simply getting her sea legs.

"I think that's got a lot to do with it," she said, hurrying down a Senate corridor as a New York Times photographer snapped her picture. "There's a big learning curve to any new job. Every day that goes by, I feel better and better."

She waved off further questions as her Secret Service detail ushered her into an elevator. She was late for a press conference with Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., to condemn the entertainment industry's marketing of violent films and TV programs to children.

Though she doesn't say it, Clinton has also clearly moved into what might be called "Phase II" of her strategic plan for transforming herself into a senator. In "Phase I," she worked quietly behind the scenes to win over senators of both parties.

She had bridges to repair with Democrats who were privately disgusted with the Clintons' behavior; she had bridges to build with Republicans who voted to convict her husband of perjury and obstruction of justice in his February 1999 impeachment trial.

And so, Clinton joined a Wednesday morning Senate prayer group frequented by conservative Republicans. Now, she kneels in prayer with Assistant Majority Leader Don Nickles of Oklahoma and other ideological foes.

She goes out of her way to be nice to Republican women. On Thursday, for example, she appeared at a "Take Your Daughters to Work Day" event organized by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas.

Speaking of the 13 women senators, Clinton told the daughters of Senate staffers, "We have lunch together every week . . . and talk about the things that matter, like where to get a good haircut." Hutchison laughed and patted Clinton on the shoulder.

As for Democrats, she traveled recently to Nevada to publicize the issue of environmental contamination there. It was a favor to Reid, who is the second-ranking member of the Senate Democratic leadership.

And Clinton sent a package of food and flowers to the home of Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., when she was recovering from surgery in February.

"It was so nice, because I had just gotten home and didn't want to cook," Landrieu said. "It showed she's not too busy for the little things, and that's what's important in the Senate."

In fact, the "little things" have become her main focus, at least as far as her adopted home state is concerned. Of the approximately 20 bills and amendments she has introduced, most have been aimed at improving the ailing upstate New York economy through various government grants and programs.

On Wednesday night, though, Clinton debuted in another new role: Washington hostess. While her husband traveled in Africa, addressing the topic of AIDS at a conference in Nigeria, Hillary Clinton opened up their $2.85-million Georgian-style mansion near Embassy Row for a fundraiser for Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.

The next day, Clinton came to work with telltale puffy bags under her eyes. Did she stay up late entertaining Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, Mo., and other Democratic Party big wigs?

"Oh, I always stay up late," she said. "I did have a lot of fun, though. We had a great crowd."

It was not an answer that provided any great insight into the evening. But at least it was an answer. And so it seems that Clinton, after eight protected years in the White House, is finally becoming more comfortable outside her cocoon. Perhaps in time she'll even come to like the free-wheeling nature of the Senate.

Maybe she just needs a few more years of paparazzi-free vacations.

-- Anonymous, May 01, 2001


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