Hillary Clinton's political shift to the right reached new territory this week as she warmly praised US President George W. Bush at a speech in Washington and defended her decision to let Rupert Murdoch sponsor a fundraising event on her behalf.
On the day that a New York Times poll found Bush's approval ratings at an all-time low of 31 percent, the leading contender for the Democratic party's 2008 presidential nomination praised the US president's "charm and charisma."
Asked to name a good thing about Bush, Clinton, a New York senator, said she had been "very grateful to him for his support for New York" after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Though the two had had "many disagreements" he had been "very willing to talk."
Clinton's re-fashioning is fast rendering her unrecognizable from the first lady who, eight years ago, accused a "vast rightwing conspiracy" of plotting against her husband, Bill Clinton.
Murdoch's Fox News channel has long been one of her most strident critics, but she said on Wednesday of the media mogul: "He's my constituent, and I'm very gratified that he thinks I'm doing a good job."
The fundraising will ostensibly be for Clinton's senate re-election campaign, but she is so far ahead in that contest as not to need the support of the only Murdoch forum that could make much of a difference, the tabloid the New York Post.
Her courting of Murdoch is part of a grander strategy, mirrored by statements designed to portray her as no less pugilistic on terrorism than Bush.
"This shows her to be a consensus-builder, someone who's not polarizing," Hank Sheinkopf, a Democratic party consultant, said.
"The rightwing take on her has always been that she's polarizing. Certainly, there will be people on the left that may not like this relationship [with Murdoch] but the fact that she could forge it speaks well of her ability to build consensus ... To be president, you've got to win."
"They don't tolerate shrieking and they don't tolerate polarizers," he said.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday vowed to “accelerate” his libertarian reforms after a crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections. The 54-year-old economist has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023. He acknowledged his party’s “clear defeat” by the center-left Peronist movement in the elections to the legislature of Buenos Aires province, the country’s economic powerhouse. A deflated-sounding Milei admitted to unspecified “mistakes” which he vowed to “correct,” but said he would not be swayed “one millimeter” from his reform agenda. “We will deepen and accelerate it,” he
‘HYANGDO’: A South Korean lawmaker said there was no credible evidence to support rumors that Kim Jong-un has a son with a disability or who is studying abroad South Korea’s spy agency yesterday said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, who last week accompanied him on a high-profile visit to Beijing, is understood to be his recognized successor. The teenager drew global attention when she made her first official overseas trip with her father, as he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Analysts have long seen her as Kim’s likely successor, although some have suggested she has an older brother who is being secretly groomed as the next leader. The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) “assesses that she [Kim Ju-ae]
RSS