Clinton:GOP policies will alienate GOP voters

Clinton Says G.O.P. Policies Will Alienate G.O.P. Voters - New York Times Clinton Says G.O.P. Policies Will Alienate G.O.P. Voters By PATRICK HEALY and JONATHAN P. HICKS Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton asserted yesterday that the Bush administration’s failings in foreign and domestic policy were so great that Republican and independent voters would help Democrats win control of Congress in the Nov. 7 elections. At an appearance in Manhattan, Mrs. Clinton also endorsed the Democratic candidate for attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo, and took a jab at his opponent — and her own onetime rival — Jeanine F. Pirro(R- Can't remember her lines) Mr. Cuomo and Ms. Pirro continued battling in the intermission between their debates Sunday and today. Mrs. Clinton, speaking to several hundred women at the fall lunch of the Eleanor Roosevelt Legacy Committee at a Midtown hotel, said that Republicans and independents have been steadily telling her that they want to support Democrats because of what she called the “extremist right-wing” tilt of the party. “They didn’t sign up for an Iraq war that has been beset by strategic blunders and mistake after mistake,” Mrs. Clinton said. “They didn’t sign up for the Taliban and Al Qaeda resurging in Afghanistan.” She also said that the Bush administration had stumbled in dealing with Iran and in preventing nuclear proliferation in North Korea. She drew a standing ovation when she said that a Democratic takeover of Congress would help ensure that “the president and the vice president are not above the law, where we hold them to a standard that we expect the rest of the world to follow and set an example.” In recent weeks, former President Bill Clinton, too, has been offering similar talking points to Democrats about Iraq and foreign policy, and encouraging the sort of confident and rousing campaign performances that Mrs. Clinton turned in yesterday. During a campaign visit to Iowa on Saturday, Mr. Clinton also said that the Republican Party had moved away from its roots by embracing an “extreme” and “right-wing” agenda. But Mrs. Clinton’s Republican challenger, John Spencer(R-Going to lose badly), the former mayor of Yonkers, said yesterday that her remarks were hypocritical and offensive. “Hillary Clinton and her husband have a nasty habit of rewriting history,” Mr. Spencer said. “They must be held accountable for the rise of the Taliban, the spread of Islamic fascism, and the specter of nuclear arms in North Korea.” In her speech, she contended that Democrats were gaining ground in “every single” tight race for the United States Senate. Widely seen as a possible candidate for president in 2008, Mrs. Clinton also described the stakes on Nov. 7 as “nothing short of whether or not we take back our country, whether we have in Washington again people who will put principle ahead of party.” Before the luncheon, Mrs. Clinton appeared with Mr. Cuomo at a mini-rally with abortion rights leaders, who used the opportunity to assail Ms. Pirro for opposing a procedure that its opponents call partial-birth abortion, a shift from her earlier position. They called that shift a betrayal of the abortion rights movement; Mrs. Clinton, who faced a challenge last year by Ms. Pirro in the Senate race, nodded approvingly. Speaking to reporters, Mrs. Clinton characterized Ms. Pirro’s performance in the Sunday debate with Mr. Cuomo as “a pretty steady drumbeat of attacks.” She also gave Mr. Cuomo high marks for his poise in the debate. “I was very impressed with how cool Andrew was, how focused he was on the issues, how he didn’t get diverted, he didn’t take the bait, he didn’t respond,” said Mrs. Clinton, who added that she still needed to “get organized” for her own debates against Mr. Spencer this weekend. A new Siena New York Poll yesterday indicated that the race for attorney general had tightened somewhat, though Mr. Cuomo still maintained a double-digit lead. Ms. Pirro said she was not surprised by the poll. “Yes, it shows we are moving up,” she said. “It’s a reflection of the fact that New Yorkers are now paying attention to this race. This is the most competitive race in the state. And we’re going to win this election.” She repeated her call for Mr. Cuomo to agree to more debates before the election, saying that two face-to-face meetings were insufficient. “I want Andrew Cuomo to debate me throughout this state,” she said. “Two debates are not enough. But I don’t blame him. He doesn’t have the experience or the qualifications to go toe-to-toe with me.” Ms. Pirro also told reporters yesterday that she had not read an article in this week’s New York magazine that focused on troubles in her marriage and included critical remarks by her husband, Albert J. Pirro Jr. “Never read it,” she said, responding to a reporter’s question after her endorsement by the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 9 in Manhattan. “I’ve been busy campaigning, you know.” Separately yesterday, State Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi, a Democrat running for re-election, made a rare public appearance after weeks of criticism over his misuse of a state worker to chauffeur his wife. He spoke to students at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., about corporate corruption, focusing on the misdeeds of Enron and WorldCom executives. His aides did not notify reporters about the speech or announce it, even though it was open to the public. According to a reporter with The Cornell Daily Sun who listened to the speech, Mr. Hevesi did not talk directly about his own political problems. But the reporter, David Wittenberg, said that after the speech, Mr. Hevesi told him, “All you know is what’s been said in a newspaper.” According to Mr. Wittenberg, Mr. Hevesi then added, “Don’t believe everything you hear.” It seems Mr.Spencer is having trouble with reality here, North Korea didn't have any nuclear bombs under Clinton's term they got and tested one under the smirking monkey watch. As for the Tailban Mr. Spencer you do know that they visited GW in Texas and thanks to his piss poor planning in Afganstan the Tailban are coming back into power. For any lame Republican trying to pin Bush's failures on Clinton shows how scare they are about the up coming election.