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.
An American scientist convicted of lying to US authorities about payments from China while he was at Harvard University has rebuilt his research lab in Shenzhen, China, to pursue technology the Chinese government has identified as a national priority: embedding electronics into the human brain. Charles Lieber, 67, is among the world’s leading researchers in brain-computer interfaces. The technology has shown promise in treating conditions such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and restoring movement in paralyzed people. It also has potential military applications: Scientists at the Chinese People’s Liberation Army have investigated brain interfaces as a way to engineer super soldiers by boosting
Indonesian police have arrested 13 people after shocking images of alleged abuse against small children at a daycare center went viral, sparking outrage across the nation, officials said on Monday. Police on Friday last week raided Little Aresha, a daycare center in Yogyakarta on Java island, following a report from a former employee. CCTV footage circulating on social media showed children, most younger than two, lying on the floor wearing only diapers, their hands and feet bound with rags. The police have confirmed that the footage is authentic. Police said they also found 20 children crammed into a room just 3m by 3m. “So
Jailed media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai (黎智英) has been awarded Deutsche Welle’s (DW) freedom of speech award for his contribution to Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement. The German public broadcaster on Thursday said Lai would be presented in absentia with the 12th iteration of the award on June 23 at the DW Global Media Forum in Bonn. Deutsche Welle director-general Barbara Massing praised the 78-year-old founder of the now-shuttered news outlet Apple Daily for standing “unwaveringly for press freedom in Hong Kong at great personal risk.” “With Apple Daily, he gave journalists a platform for free reporting and a voice to the democracy movement in
PHILIPPINE COMMITTEE: The head of the committee that made the decision said: ‘If there is nothing to hide, there is no reason to hide, there is no reason to obstruct’ A Philippine congressional committee on Wednesday ruled that there was “probable cause” to impeach Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte after hearing allegations of unexplained wealth, misuse of state funds and threats to have the president assassinated. The unanimous decision of the 53-member committee in the Philippine House of Representatives sends the two impeachment complaints to deliberations and voting by the entire lower chamber, which has more than 300 lawmakers. The complaints centered on Duterte’s alleged illegal use and mishandling of intelligence funds from the vice president’s office, and from her time as education secretary under Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Duterte and the
RSS