Is it time we start asking who negotiated for the Nevada State Democratic Party re: the Fox-sponsored Democratic Presidential Primary debate? Was this mediated by Clinton partisans?
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.
For her part, Clinton hasn't been to Hayman Island yet, but she did lunch with Murdoch--a man who did as much as anyone to drive the sex scandal that almost undid her husband--at his company's Midtown tower, according to one person who was at the meeting. "Senator Clinton respects [Murdoch] and thinks he is smart and effective," Reines said last summer. Personal diplomacy, however, is the true calling of the senator's husband, who has done everything from touring the Post's newsroom to recording a birthday tribute to Fox News chief Roger Ailes. He also recruited Murdoch as one of the small handful of business executives participating in his "Global Initiative," a sui generis foreign policy conference in New York in September. Seated in a set of low white armchairs, the former president interviewed Murdoch, along with Sony's Sir Howard Stringer and Time Warner's Richard Parsons, about the future of global media. After the panel ended (late, of course), Clinton and Murdoch chatted in a corner, one's hand on the other's arm, while admirers, including a largely ignored Brad Pitt, tried to get close to the two men.
Will Rupert Murdoch host fundraisers for the rest of the candidates in the Democratic field? (from May of last year)
Conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch will host a fundraiser for liberal New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, the Financial Times reports.
The mating ritual of the unlikely allies has been under way for months. Clinton set political tongues to wagging last month by attending a Washington party celebrating the 10th anniversary of Fox News, the cable news channel owned by Murdoch.
So what's next? Will Hillary cozy up to the Reverend Moon and his lackeys at the Washington Times?
Crazy?
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."