The Clinton Campaign Finds New Allies: Richard Mellon Scaife And Fox News

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This is incredible. It shows just how low the Clintons are stooping as they battle to return to the throne they think belongs to them.

Hillary chooses to do an interview with the Pittsburgh Tribune Review. This paper has a lot of influence over Reagan Democrats in Western Pennsylvania -- so that seems like a reasonable choice, if you want to churn up opposition to an African-American with a shot at the presidency.

But this paper is owned by far-right mogul Richard Mellon Scaife. He was present at the interview, and he wrote a column supporting Hillary after the interview. That's what happened.

Now Scaife was one of the main sources of funding for the vast right wing conspiracy against the Clintons back in the day. He supported efforts to show that the Clintons arranged for the murder of Vince Foster -- remember that? And that's just one example.

Never mind. Hillary's happy to suck up to him now. This is really incredible. As a measure of desperate ambition, it's off the charts.

Then there's Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell on Fox praising them for providing the most objective coverage of the Democratic primary. That's a minor exhibition of shamelessness compared to the Scaife story -- but it suggests a really damning possibility. This may be an organized effort to use the classic Republican "southern strategy" with working class Democrats in Pennsylvania, who may be vulnerable to it still. If that's right, this makes Big Bill's racial innuendo tactic in South Carolina look innocent by comparison -- and they were far from innocent. But, giving him the benefit of the doubt, it might have been off the cuff. If we get one more Clinton Fox/Scaife moment in Pennsylvania we will know: it's a plan.

Comments

[MPeter]

The Clintons were always Republicans. They have been at the center of the divisions and polarization of this country for decades. Heck, their family prospered under Bush II and in fact, Bill became such a regular at the Bush home, they called him another Bush. I do not know why it took Democrats so long to figure out their game. The Republicans zeroed in on the Clinton Con. If we do not stop them now, they will destroy Obama and all the Democratic chances for the WH. Just watch them burn everyone.

[feelfree]

Good for Mrs. Clinton. I had never been a fan of Fox News, however I find them fairer to Mrs. Clinton than MSNBC. If Scaiffe has softened his position about Mrs. Clinton, good for him. Evidently meeting her personally and finding her informed and intelligent was probably refreshing for a man who is a Republican. She is searching for voters to replace those who are against her. If that means she can bring Reagan democrats back into the fold, I'm all for it. I find I have more in common with them in that I would like to see a problem solver rather than an inspirational speaker in the White House.

[efranklin]

Scaife knows what every other Republican operative knows: the only way the GOP can wrestle victory from the Democrats in 2008, is if Hillary is the nominee.

[ChimpmasterDJ]

She has finally met the enemy, and decided she liked him better than the Democratic Party.

[Plowboy]

Let it go on! The longer she stays in the race, the clearer it becomes that Obama is best.
They used to say "birds of a feather" -- and if that has any validity with people now, let them consider Hillary and her new found best friends, those excellent Democrats, Richard Mellon Scaife and Rupert Murdock!
Some of us have been calling her another Bush. These big supporters make it obvious that she is another Bush. And she lies like Bush. The only questions I have for those still supporting her is: do you think she can be as bad as Bush, and is that really what you want?

[slow2]

Plowboy, maybe Billary will sink in the mire of their own making.

To have supported this couple, back in the really nasty days when every other person was moaning about their lack of morality, and see them today, revealed in all their turn-coat obsession is disgusting. Times were economically better then than now, so we could always play the prosperity card in their defense.

Today we have the spectacle of the former president personally cozying up to Scaife last year -- obviously preparing for this campaign -- after Scaife and his Arkansas Project contributed to the Clintons' defamation. It is very hard to understand how Billary could suck it up and seek Scaife's favor.

So, Bill and Hillary's realtime fawning activity with Scaife, their once mortal enemy, may bring voters to a better understanding of the Clintons' obsession. However, blind loyalty isn't always amenable to reason and reality; ask Taylor.

[Gibbons]

Clinton will walk away with Pennsylvania people there have been living on "hope" for years and find it does little to put food on the table.

[SLone08]

Bill moved our party to the Right. Hillary is trying to keep it there and now she's sucking up to FOX news. It's disgusting. Wolfson and co. alienated the legit press by trying to intimidate them. Now, she has to ASK for interviews.

People will see this for what it is, another act of desperation from a failing campaign.

[jfor]

This is what America gets when it takes two families, places them on pedastals, idolizes and worships them and then every four to eight years alternates the political parties but not the policies both families represent and support. The only good thing about this method of governence is how easy it is for the electorate to remember the last name of thier current president. So a safe prediction would be George W Bush, Hillary Clinton, George P Bush, Chelsea Clinton, Jenna Bush and then some other offspring from one or the other, all we can hope for is that these two families never combine and procreate or America is all done.

Enjoy your day.

[sociocanuck]

That last post of mine was clearly intended as a reply to Countess. Dunno why it wouldn't let me do it that way.

[sociocanuck]

Your first sentence just a tad unfair. Hillary has as much in common with the current Right Wing as the traditional Republicans of Lincoln's day do. She is, however, clearly firmly entrenched in the Center-Right. It's a safe place to be... just conservative enough to win over swing voters in conservative states, while still being able to sit in the Democratic party - which seems to have a much wider range than the Republicans as of late (a few rare dissenting voices excepted).

Even so, like you, it makes me wonder why there are so many people who identify themselves as "liberals" are on her bandwagon. It is, as far as I can figure, the same reason why nobody questions the fact that the Liberal Party of Canada hasn't had a true liberal voice in several decades.

[vbond]

"If we get one more Clinton Fox/Scaife moment in Pennsylvania we will know: it's a plan."

Why in the world do we need "one more"?

We know now.

[wwsword]

Using people who once made your life a living hell is a bad thing?

[wwsword]

Just because white working class voters are more likely to vote for Clinton when given information doesn't necessarily make them racist.

Given the political media today, people consume information from sources they find ideologically satisfying. Aware of its ideologically-segmented character, Clinton is smartly exploiting today's media structure.

Part of Clinton's strategy is to reach the working class voters who were pulled to the right after being driven from the Democratic Party by a politics that sacrificed class consciousness for identity. People don't like anomic situations, and without a meaningful and genuinely unifying political standpoint on the left, many working class voters sought meaningful certainty on the right. Now the same people who drove white working people out of the party - namely, affluent college-educated liberals - are the same people leading the party into a blunder of historic proportions.

I understand why a lot of you don't want these "bigoted" white working class voters to participate, but that only points out the tragic state of party today. You're the reason John McCain will likely be the next president. If this party were a healthy party, John Edwards would already by the party's nominee. As it stands, Clinton is our only best hope.

As for you people calling Clinton "Billary," no person who self-identifies as a Democrat who uses the mocking terminology of the hate-fill right wing has any business criticizing Clinton for exploiting right-wing media to deliver information to working class whites.

[coolaid]

Nope, just a typical Clinton tact, win at all costs.

[Mesaywar]

It depends on what you are using them for.
In Senator Clinton's case, she is using Scaife's paper to reach the audience in Pennsylvania that would be most appreciative of her racist, revamped "southern strategy" campaign, aptly named "the Clinton Firewall." Read David Sirota's HuufPost blog in the politics section, and you will understand why she spend so much time with what has been described as "Scaife's money-losing fringe paper." She is simply trying to gin up the bigot vote in Pennsylvania, while pretending not to be racist.

Take a minute and read the following from Sirota.

http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3597/the_clinton_firewall/

[wwsword]

The article you cited has it wrong, Mesayer. This attack on Clinton is part of the racial strategy Obama has been pursuing all along. He had to separate the black vote from the Clintons and pull college-educated liberals into his campaign. To accomplish this, he exploited identity politics. He understood that a man running for president who happened to be black would not do well given how little substance there is to his politics and experience; however, emphasis on racial identity would give meaning to his change meme. See Sean Wilentz's writings on the subject, as well as mine (search my user name). While this strategy has been successful during the primary, it will have the opposite effect in the general election, and the long-term damage it will inflict on the Democratic Party is incalculable.

[FogBelter]

Beggars can't be choosers Mr. de Zengotita.

[BadChristian]

Tastes Great!
vs
Less Filling!

And it's cut-throat... Man...

Choose a side and start waving a broken bottle.

[JohnFromCensornati]

Meanwhile, just about everyone (including the candidates) says that Clinton and Obama have very similar policy positions...

[akhinaten]

you think too much Zengotita, relax.

don't give power to them (Reagen democrats, or ugly-whites ) relax Hillary is going to win by 10-5% margin and Obama is going to win Indiana and NC by 10-15%

[PioneerKing]

Its true Sen. Clinton has finally revealed her "true voice." Once a Goldwater Girl always a Goldwater Girl.
Sen. Clinton has even been running her campaign like the republicans have managed the economy and the war. She's stiffing the little folks - vendors and getting stiffed all over the place and she shows lots of debt, all while paying the likes of Marc Penn millions.
The ineptness in which her campaign has been run is a great reflection upon which to judge how her presidency would be run.

[cuvo]

The Clintons now INTEND to split the party.

This is the conclusion supported by the facts, of which this article contains only the latest examples. It is hard to believe such a thing because we are conditioned to expect candidates to put the party first before personal ambition.

The Clintons and their minions have essentially declared war on anyone who would deny them the nomination, which they see as theirs, right and proper, along with the Democratic thrones, his and hers.

I predict an escalation in smears against Sen. Obama, with anti-Semitism and being anti-Israel leading the charges.

Winning in November is not their primary goal. Witness all the praise they heap on McCain, almost every day. The Clintons' priority is to destroy the upstart Barack Obama, and consolidate their power. They are content with a McCain win, if necessary.

[LoRiseAntlers]

You're right on the money there.It should surprise no one that the Clintons are using the right to take down Obama.They''ve been in bed with them for years.Bill helped them end welfare for all intents and purposes,even though he knew it would be tha disaster it's turned out to be.Ditto for NAFTA.

[Countess]

Hillary Clinton is emerging as the new leader of the vast right wing conspiracy. She has finally found her true calling. I hope the remaining so called moderates or progressives that somehow still support her will finally realize how destructive and regressive she really is.