Major Garrett reports that Hillary is set to dump her current campaign team and bring in some old Bill Clinton campaign folks: James Carville and Paul Begala. Actually, the campaign won’t fire anyone, but current campaing manager Patty Solis Doyle and chief strategist Mark Penn will likely be taking behind-the-scenes orders from these campaign heavyweights. One glitch: Mr. Garrett received an email from Mr. Begala catagorically denying that he will be part of the campaign at all. The story is at Bourbonroom.
Despite the denial, CNN, MSNBC, Yahoo News, etc. are carrying the rumor. We’ll see what happens after what is expected to be another Hillary loss in New Hampshire tonite.
If you remember, Begala is the one who was speared by O’Reilly for the following remark in December: “Hillary Clinton in some Republican areas is unpopular. George W. Bush across America, he polled behind several different forms of venereal disease in most of this country.” I think O’Reilly called him a “pinhead.”
There is also some blogging hubub that Hillary is now getting low on cash. I’ll believe that one when I see it…..
On other fronts, I found the following “Facts Check” on Hillary’s camapign site:
Sen. Obama Falsely Claims Hillary Called For A ‘Reality Check’ On What the Nation Could Accomplish
Fact Check: Sen. Obama’s Bill Allows Lobbyists To Wine and Dine Members of Congress, As Long As They Are Standing Up
Obama Falsely Attributes AP Reporting To Hillary Surrogate
Sen. Obama Debates Himself on Health Care
The Chair of Obama’s New Hampshire Campaign Is A Lobbyist For The Pharmaceutical Industry
Hmmm… I think that Hillary is feeling the heat from the Obama campaign. Some of these “facts checks” sound as shrill as her Iowa “concession” speech.
And to see why Mark Penn may be in some trouble, the Hillary site hasn’t updated since Iowa – I think her web developer needs to make some changes on their suggested talking points:
Mark Penn: Hillary’s Lead (Poll Junkies Beware of the Fine Print)
Iowa continues to be a competitive race while Hillary is maintaining meaningful leads in all the other states and in the national polls that are representative of her Feb 5th strength.Mark Penn: Clinton Grows Stronger As Obama & Edwards Attack
The post-debate polls coming out this weekend show Hillary Clinton remaining strong in the general election, maintaining her leads in the primaries and in the key issues confronting the country.
I love, “Iowa continues to be a competitive race.” Tonite will be interesting!
January 8th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Hey MBT!
Her issues with Obama are lame to say the least. At least 2 of her issues do not make any sense.
Oh well. This is a really good post. I was not aware that the campaign of “change” was going to have her campaign run by 2 ionic figures from the 1990’s. Way to go Hill! Would you mind if my live blogging is moved to the top from 8 to 11 tonight?
January 8th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
MDeFl – your live blogging is of most importance tonite – please move to the “head of the class!”
As for Hillary, Obama can now really hammer her on “more of the same…” We’ll see how this all plays out and if “the Maj” has this one right…..
January 8th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Does anyone find it ironic that our first legitimate female presidential candidate is getting viewed as the old crony establishment candidate, while a man is getting viewed as an exciting catalyst for change? Oh my, what the media can do to a candidate!
January 8th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
I wish I could find the picture now so I could remember who all was in it, but a day or two ago, I saw a photo taken in Iowa with Hillary addressing some group of nitwits, and in the background stood Madeleine Albright, Wesley Clark, and a few other relics from the Clinton 1 administration.
I almost fell out of my chair laughing when it suddenly occurred to me that they looked like a bunch of old folks standing on the railway platform watching the train they just missed roll off into the distance.
Wishful thinking? Maybe. Futuristic vision? Hopefully.
BTW – Did any of you guys pick up the story about Hillary insanely crediting Lindon Johnson for civil rights legislation getting passed during his term? That story has legs.
January 8th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Just Me, to what do you attribute the passing of civil rights legislation? LBJ does get some credit for that.
January 8th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
If you look deeper into that situation, back in 1957, when the Eisenhower Administration introduced the first “real” civil rights bill, then Majority Leader Senator LBJ and his cronies worked it over pretty good to satisfy the home folks. Thats hardly reason to hail him as some sort of civil rights champion.
January 8th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Just me,
Good observation. That is a part of history that we tend to forget. Don’t forget also that Nixon created the EPA and proposed the first national health care bill. I love to rub that into the libs faces not that I agree with either position.
I do agree that the Civil Rights bill was necessary. Thank God the GOP had enough senators to overcome Robert “KKK” Byrd’s obstructionism.
January 8th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Oh I know, but sometimes you have to recognize a president for doing the right thing even if he doesn’t want to do it. Motivations aren’t relevant when one is measuring results. After all, one of the only useful things that Bill Clinton ever did was sign the welfare reform bill. Not his cup of tea, but he could have easily vetoed it. He gets credit for doing the right thing in the end and so does LBJ.
January 8th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
It wasn’t my intention to hi-jack this thread, but I feel compelled to make just a few more observations about Johnson’s role in the civil rights arena.
To give LBJ credit for civil rights legislation is on par with crediting King James for writing the Bible. As for motivations not being relevant when one is measuring results; in all due respect, thats pure nonsense.
LBJ’s first speech in the Senate back in 1949 was an attack on Harry Truman’s proposed civil rights bill that would have given blacks the ability to vote, and provided protection against little injustices like lynching and discrimination in the workplace.
Johnson argued that Truman’s proposals were a call “for depriving one minority of its rights in order to extend rights to other minorities�. You’re smart enough folks to figure that one out for yourselves.
Then he got in the way of Eisenhower’s plan as mentioned in a previous comment. Do you see a pattern here? The man devoted at least 16 years of his 20 in Washington oppressing the black population in the US.
Only God knows for sure why LBJ had a change of heart in 1965 when he signed Civil Rights Act. Oddly enough, he told someone that was present at the signing that he was “signing away the south for 50 yearsâ€?, so his heart wasn’t in it. I suspect that he was a President in search of a legacy. Sounds familiar doesn’t it?
Anyway, I believe that Hillary’s decision to use LBJ’s sketchy record to downplay the role MLK played in the civil rights arena is going to prove to be her biggest mistake of the race thus far. Maybe her new team of political sorcerers can conger up a potion for success, but I think shes done and we can look forward to the upcoming Obama/Edwards not so dynamic duo in the general election.
January 8th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
Just Me, let me remind you that an obsession with form over results is a decidedly liberal trait. Motivations are not relevant when measuring the beneficial result of human action. The benefit of action is all that matters, otherwise you fall into the liberals’ trap of answering important questions with non sequitur answers like “Haliburton” and “Guantanamo.”
January 9th, 2008 at 3:48 am
Just me – welcome! Your observations on LBJ were really interesting. I really disliked that man and was happy that he decided not to run again so I wouldn’t have to listen to him drone all the time. I was very young, but I clearly remember his droning speeches…. At least they were droning to me as a child!
January 9th, 2008 at 11:16 am
McCain – the point I was trying to make was that Hillary should have played her hand a little smarter when Obama decided throw his MLK card on the table, and I was attempting to explain why from a historical perspective, and all of the above was a feeble attempt to explain what went through my mind when I originally heard Hillary’s quote.
MBT – Again, I apologize for getting so far off course form the original direction you were taking the story.
January 9th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Just me – no apologies needed – we often get off course around here – probably because our readers have more interesting stuff than we do!
Welcome back any time!
January 11th, 2008 at 7:36 am
It should be noted that the entire story about Paul Begalla joining the Clinton team turned out to be completely false. It was Major Garrett who broke the story at Fox News.
Fox News is the same outfit that Steve Doocy works for. Mr. Doocy reported a year ago on the Fox & Friends show that Barack Obama attended a Madrassas school when he was a child in Indonesia. That was also completely false.
Obama attended a school that was predominately Muslim, as would be virtually every school in a nation that is 90% Muslim.
I think Fox needs to get their PR department to work on a new slogan. “We report, you decide” doesn’t quite capture the real essence.
How about, “We lie, you believe it”.