Scaife & Ruddy: Clintons not so bad after all
New York Times - February 19, 2007 http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/19/us/politics/19clinton.html
As Clinton Runs, Some Old Foes Stay on Sideline By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 =97 Back when Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton was =
first lady, no one better embodied what she once called the “vast =
right-wing conspiracy” than Richard Mellon Scaife.
Mr. Scaife, reclusive heir to the Mellon banking fortune, spent more =
than $2 million investigating and publicizing accusations about the =
supposed involvement of Mrs. Clinton and former President Bill =
Clinton in corrupt land deals, sexual affairs, drug running and murder.
But now, as Mrs. Clinton is running for the Democratic presidential =
nomination, Mr. Scaife’s checkbook is staying in his pocket.
Christopher Ruddy, who once worked full-time for Mr. Scaife =
investigating the Clintons and now runs a conservative online =
publication he co-owns with Mr. Scaife, said, “Both of us have had a =
rethinking.”
“Clinton wasn’t such a bad president,” Mr. Ruddy said. “In fact, he =
was a pretty good president in a lot of ways, and Dick feels that way =
today.”
As for the conservative response to Mrs. Clinton’s campaign, Mr. =
Ruddy said, “The level of intensity and anger toward Hillary is not =
getting to the level that it was toward Bill Clinton when he was =
president.” He added, “She has moderated and developed a separate =
image.”
H. Yale Gutnick, a longtime lawyer for Mr. Scaife, said his client =
was unavailable for comment.
To judge by conservative talk radio, Mrs. Clinton appears to be the =
most reviled politician in the country. But others in the =
conservative movement say it is easy to be deceived by what is on the =
airwaves and by the marketing of anti-Clinton paraphernalia, books =
and movies. (Among items on sale at conservative Web sites: “No Way =
in Hellary” barbecue aprons; “Hillary Scares Me” baby onesies; and =
buttons that say simply “Hillary Hater.”)
For every conservative who says Mrs. Clinton will feel the wrath of =
the movement’s grass-roots organizers later in the campaign, =
particularly if she becomes her party’s nominee, another expresses =
doubt that Clinton foes can ever be revved up as they once were.
Some of her former antagonists say that terrorism and war have made =
the political battles of her husband’s administration =97 gay men and =
lesbians in the military, the White House travel office, Monica =
Lewinsky =97 seem remote, if not trivial.
“I think the country is burned out on it,” said Cliff Jackson, a =
lawyer in Little Rock, Ark., who helped set in motion several =
scandals involving accusations of philandering by Mr. Clinton. Mr. =
Jackson said he had no plans to oppose Mrs. Clinton’s candidacy, and =
in a personal blog he recently praised her husband’s post- =
presidential efforts to fight AIDS in Africa.
The level of animosity that a Clinton candidacy could arouse is a =
pivotal question in the 2008 campaign.
Mrs. Clinton has made the anticipated attacks against her a staple of =
her fund-raising appeals, saying she will need money to fight back. =
But that expected onslaught is also a linchpin of other Democrats’ =
arguments that she is too polarizing to win.
Many Republicans, meanwhile, say her candidacy is the best hope to =
reunify their party at a time when many conservatives are unhappy =
with the ideological credentials of the front-runners for the =
Republican nomination.
And for conservative organizers, publishers and merchandise-makers, =
her nomination would be an opportunity to revive what once seemed =
like the anti-Clinton industry.
“She is the designated devil,” said David A. Keene, chairman of the =
American Conservative Union, whose Conservative Political Action =
Conference next month in Washington will showcase assorted anti- =
Clinton T-shirts and gear.
But Mr. Keene and many other conservative fund-raisers and organizers =
acknowledge that the grass-roots hatred for Mrs. Clinton and her =
husband has subsided substantially since they left the White House.
National efforts to raise money to stop Mrs. Clinton’s Senate =
campaigns in New York in 2000 and 2006 never got off the ground. Nor =
did plans to raise money for a “counter-Clinton” library in Little =
Rock. And conservatives note to their consternation that at the =
moment the woman they treat as the incarnation of 1960s liberalism =
appears to be campaigning as the least liberal of the Democratic =
front-runners.
Still, Mr. Keene said, “Her image as the wicked witch of the left was =
burned in the minds of conservatives and the larger public before she =
tried to moderate her image.” He noted that polls consistently give =
her the highest unfavorable ratings among the front-runners, =
typically more than a third of the public. (Her favorable ratings are =
also unusually high.)
Howard Wolfson, a spokesman for Mrs. Clinton, said any nominee would =
face a barrage from the right. “I think that history demonstrates =
that whoever the nominee is is going to engender opposition from the =
right, and we will certainly be prepared,” Mr. Wolfson said.
Mrs. Clinton’s campaign has attracted some new enemies. John =
LeBoutillier, a former Republican congressman from New York and =
conservative commentator, said he started a Stop Hillary political =
action committee in part because he thought her opponents “gave her a =
free pass” in her two Senate races.
“I started by trying to figure out what it is about her that bugs the =
heck out of people,” Mr. LeBoutillier said, mainly by looking at =
public polls. He said his organization recently spent $20,000 to run =
television commercials in Iowa featuring footage of a handful of =
potential Democratic caucus-goers saying that they distrusted Mrs. =
Clinton as a power-hungry opportunist.
Still, he acknowledged that his group had struggled for money.
Richard H. Collins, a Dallas investor, has taken over an unrelated =
group that was conceived by the Republican consultant Arthur J. =
Finkelstein to oppose Mrs. Clinton. Mr. Collins, who redirected the =
group toward the presidential race, said he had put in about $200,000 =
in “seed money” to start a Web site, www.stophernow.com. It plays =
cartoons of Mrs. Clinton as the host of a late-night talk show who is =
in the habit of batting guests over the head with a hammer.
“The idea is to present Hillary Clinton as she is and not as the =
person she is pretending to be,” using humor, Mr. Collins said.
David N. Bossie, the president of the conservative group Citizens =
United who played a pivotal role in publicizing accusations about the =
Clintons during their White House years, has announced plans to =
collaborate on a documentary film attacking Mrs. Clinton with Dick =
Morris, the Clintons’ estranged political adviser. Mr. Morris has =
made a career out of criticizing the Clintons in books and a =
syndicated column. Mr. Bossie has moved on to write books criticizing =
the last two Democratic presidential nominees and to produce four =
conservative political films.
Many conservatives still consider Mrs. Clinton the Helen of Troy of =
direct mail, the face who can launch a thousand donations. Richard =
Viguerie, a direct mail pioneer who worked on former Mayor Rudolph W. =
Giuliani’s short-lived Senate campaign against Mrs. Clinton in 1999, =
said he had not had such success in four decades of fund-raising.
“We couldn’t mail enough,” Mr. Viguerie said. “The money was just =
coming in in bucketloads from all over the country.”
But by the time the Clintons had left the White House in 2000, Morton =
Blackwell, another veteran conservative, found mailings for his =
Emergency Committee to Stop Hillary Rodham Clinton had little =
success. “The experience with the initial solicitation persuaded me =
not to do any more,” Mr. Blackwell said.
As a senator from New York, Mrs. Clinton has built an alliance with =
some former critics like Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News =
Corporation. He has raised money for her, and his New York Post has =
grown respectful in its coverage.
Still Mr. Viguerie, speaking by phone from a meeting at the office of =
a founding father of the conservative movement, Paul Weyrich, said =
they would attack Mrs. Clinton with everything they had. “The vast =
right-wing conspiracy lives,” he said.