Architect Of Vast Right Wing Conspiracy "Reassesses" Hillary

"To Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton, Richard Mellon Scaife qualifies as a charter member of the 'vast right-wing conspiracy,'" the New York Times notes, "having bankrolled an elaborate multimillion-dollar campaign throughout the 1990s to unearth damaging information about the couple."

But in a striking about-face, Mr. Scaife now says he has changed his mind -- at least about one half of the duo.

"I have a very different impression of Hillary Clinton today," he wrote in an opinion article published Sunday, amid her campaign for president. "And it's a very favorable one indeed."

His sudden conversion from fervid Clinton basher to lukewarm Clinton fan occurred after Mrs. Clinton, a Democratic senator from New York, sat down for a 90-minute interview with reporters and editors of The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, a newspaper owned by Mr. Scaife, the billionaire heir to the Mellon banking fortune.

Here's a taste of Scaife's op-ed:

Walking into our conference room, not knowing what to expect (or even, perhaps, expecting the worst), took courage and confidence. Not many politicians have political or personal courage today, so it was refreshing to see her exhibit both.

Sen. Clinton also exhibited an impressive command of many of today's most pressing domestic and international issues. Her answers were thoughtful, well-stated, and often dead-on.

Particularly regarding foreign policy, she identified what we consider to be the most important challenges and dangers that the next president must confront and resolve in order to guarantee our nation's security. Those include an increasingly hostile Russia, an increasingly powerful China and increasing instability in Pakistan and South America.

Like me, she believes we must pull our troops out of Iraq, because it is time for Iraqis to handle their own destiny -- and, more important, because it is past time to end the toll on our soldiers there, to begin rebuilding our military, and to refocus our attention on other threats, starting with Afghanistan.

On domestic policy, Sen. Clinton and I might find more areas on which we disagree. Yet we also agree on others. Asked about the utter failure of federal efforts to rebuild New Orleans since the Katrina disaster, for example, she called it just what it has been -- "not just a national disgrace (but) an international embarrassment."

Comments

[simplify]

EEEEEk she is slimy

[Hagrid]

Here we go.
How is Hillary going to repay this endorsement?

Quid Quo Pro at it's most insidiousness.

[colette]

She has also cozied up to Rupert Murdoch in the past. She had a few yucks recently with Karl Rove on Fox. I don't like "guilt by association" arguments, but it's getting outrageous­....do you remember when Newton Gingrich insulted you Chelsea, and the Clintons invited him over to dinner at the White House is response? I guess the strategize is to "neutralize" their enemies. But you lie down with dogs.....

[NoahVail]

Hey, when he was criticizing her and Bill they were middle-class. Now that they are millionaires he has a different opinion. Opportunists are always looking for opportunities, eh?

[hugs4u]

As time goes on more and more people like him and Ann Coulter are endorsing hillary. Like hair that is dyed, after time, the hair at the roots show the truth. Her roots from when she was a Goldwater girl is starting to show.

[Nicolaus]

Is this not 'Anybody but Obama'?

[Hagrid]

Yup. Old White people are scared of 'them coloreds'

Can you imagine that dang Snoop Dogg in the Lincoln Bedroom, with his hos???

[papatag]

It sure as heck is ..........­...... the far right don't change over night.
This guy owns the media, he knows how to play it.
Anybody but Obama.

[MikeMidCity]

Hillary is the fallback fascist candidate.

[AnninCA]

So how will Obama unite people if he's not the one to bridge?

*haha*

His slogan is sure falling apart fast.

[debwarot]

And to think some of us laughed when she was compared to Senator McCain or called a Republican!l

[Plowboy]

Politics makes strange bedfellows!

But desperate times call for desperate measures.

Schaife has his agenda; you know what it is because he has had his way recently. If you like what he supported before, you should like what he supports now.

[noamjunior]

Little Dick Scaife is the Con's Paris Hilton- A spoiled brat who's biggest accomplishment in life was being born. Scaffe has lost more money on that type-on-to­ilet-paper he calls theTribune than most honest people earn in a lifetime- a truly reprehesible person. Here's hoping money can buy happiness because it sure hasn't helped scafie buy any intelligence, class,compassion, insight, relevance or even respectability.

[kettletop]

Hillary clinton is an impressive person. When I first heard her speak on NPR about the re-release of her book It takes a village, I cried because I was so fed up with inarticulate W and was so happy to hear a politician who could extemporaneously speak with such intelliegence and insight.
That is the hillary Clinton that I would have voted for. That is the Hillary Clinton that I thought we were getting.
But then I heard Barack Obama. At the same time, the Hillary that I though I knew started to become the Hillary that we see now--sarcastic, divisive, disingenous and dillusioned.
The Hillary Clinton that I like is the one that speaks so enthusiastically of her healthcare ideas, not the one that tries to lift her own boat by trying to sink her fellow Democrats.
If only Hillary had dropped out when it first became clear that she was not going to be the nominee, then she could continue to look her fellow senators in the eye and never know that they would have had to choose Obama. She could continue to work for us intstead of against us. Now she had drawn a line in the sand and her husband has his stick out trying to cajole people to cross it to her side.
Sad.
What a waste.

[AurigaRa]

It's good to have Scaife on your side, Hillary - IF YOU'RE A FREAKIN' REPUBLICAN!

You're toast babe.

[nazgul]

As Peggy Noonan said, if you don't get what's wrong about HRC now, you never will.

Hillary has won the praise of Richard Mellon Scaife. She went to this guy to disseminate Wright White Fright among the voters of PA.

[PenguinInBondage]

How hearwarming! Now Scaiffe AND Murdoch are Hillary supporters!

Who says a leopard can't change it's spots?

The only question that remains is which one of the 3 is the leopard?

[Aleka]

LOL. That would be my question.

[TomInJax]

Now this is scary.

[1dogs2]

Oy.