The Trail: A Daily Diary of Campaign 2008

Hating Hillary

I read an article from Chicago Tribune

'Hillary Haters' sharpening their knives

Legion of conservatives seeking dirt on candidate

Here is part of what it said:

"Richard Collins, a wealthy Texas philanthropist, businessman and political aficionado, heaps praise on the woman he has set out to destroy, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y. "She looks like a winner," said Collins,"She's run a good campaign, very consistent, no mistakes."

But make no mistake about it: Collins is just one in a vast army of professional "Hillary haters" who are banking on Clinton to become the Democratic nominee. Like the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in the 2004 election who denigrated John Kerry's military service in Vietnam, Collins and others are searching for just the thing that will crystallize the way voters think and feel about Clinton.

This fall, Citizens United, a conservative organization that claims half a million members, will release a documentary film about the life and times of Clinton. It's being made with the help of Dick Morris, the fired former adviser to Bill Clinton who has turned criticizing both Clintons into a crusade.

Clinton says she knows the attacks will come and that she's uniquely qualified in knowing how to fight back. "I've been through it, and I understand their tactics," Clinton told voters last week at a house party in Concord, N.H. "And I have been subjected to them for 15 years, and I have survived them. And there is something to be said for that."

There's been a lot of talk about the "Vast Army of Hillary Haters", I did a little research the last couple of days on who they are:

Richard Collins (who the article is about) has two websites - one is Citizens United and the other is Stophernow. Both are inspired by a hatred for all things Hillary and both solicit contributions to help fund their upcoming movie effort entitled: "Hillary - The Movie" about her "liberal plot to destroy our future".

Citizens United is a conservative, right wing, organization whose current President is David Bossie. Bossie was the chief investigator for the Whitewater hearings during Bill Clinton's presidency. He was fired from his job for leaking transcripts of conversations with Webster Hubbell to the media specifically to create a false impression that Hillary Clinton was involved in billing irregularities at the Rose Law Firm. Citizens United is the organization producing the Anti-Hillary movie.

The film features professional Hillary-Hater Dick Morris. Morris writes a column for the NY Post and is a featured political analyst on Fox News. Morris was hired by Bill Clinton to help him with his reelection campaign in 1996, but was abruptly fired when he allowed a prostitute, whom he had an affair with, to listen to his calls with the President. With an ax to grind, he has made it his mission to bash the Clintons every chance he gets. It is interesting to note that Fox NEWS features him as an "unbiased" (or fair and balanced as they like to say) political analyst for Hannity & Colmes and O'Riley. Morris uses Republican mailing lists to solicit contributions to make the film for Citizens United.

Bob Perry - is the man who funded the swift boat ads against John Kerry. The name of the ad was "Swiftboat Veterans for Truth", but in reality, Bob Perry is the largest single contributor to the Texas Republican party. Perry is a Board Member for The Council for National Policy. This is a group of a few hundred (mostly men) of the most powerful conservatives in the country. Some of their more famous members include: Tom Delay, the late Jerry Falwell, Ralph Reed (Christian Coalition founder), Pat Robertson, Ed Meese, Jack Abramoff, Trent Lott, John Ashcroft (ex member), Ken Blackwell (Secretary of State for Ohio, involved in '04 election scandal when Kerry ran), to name a few. Their website and members list can be found at:

http://www.seekgod.ca/cnp.pe-q.htm

Part of the CNF membership also includes a sizable segment of Christian Reconstructionists, whose goal is to replace the U.S. Constitution with a legal code from the Old Testament.

The National Conservative Campaign Fund (they have many of the same board members as the CNP, plus Ann Coulter and Bay Buchanan), has a website that claims to be about raising money for conservative candidates yet they provide a detailed strategy aimed at stopping Hillary by driving up her unfavorable poll numbers and printing and distributing anti-Hillary materials, newspaper and radio ads.

Another group is The United States Justice Foundation. This is a Christian conservative group owned by Gary Kreep from Escondido, Ca. They solicit contributions to pay for legal fees for those wishing to sue Bill and Hillary Clinton. His latest lawsuit is Paul vs. Hillary Rodham Clinton. He claims to have evidence linking Hillary to a multi-million dollar fraud in connection with her 2000 Senate campaign. In the past, they have also sued Al Gore and Planned Parenthood.

And, just when you think you must have made it through the list - well there's Ed Klein. Ed epitomizes all that is Hillary Hating. His home page on his website StopHillaryNow.com proclaims:

"She's a mother, but she isn't maternal. She's a wife, but she shows no wifely instincts. She's a feminist, but she rode to power on her husband's coattails"....and so on....

Ed wrote a book, released about two years ago at the time of Hillary's Senate reelection campaign. His goal was to "swiftboat Hillary" so that she would not be reelected and would be unable to run for President in 2008. Ed's book is called The Truth About Hillary. Edward Klein was the editor for The New York Times Magazine until he was fired for inaccurate reporting in 1987.

If you want a good laugh, go to the media matters website link below and read the transcript of when Ed visited Al Franken on Air America. Franken basically caught him in one lie after another about Hillary and his book:

http://mediamatters.org/items/200506240007

Oh, did I mention that most of Ed's "sources" for his book are second hand and provided by none other than.....Dick Morris.

So, even though there are so many websites and material dedicated to Hating Hillary, it all comes from this circle of Hillary-Hunters (hunting for anything on Hillary to swiftboat her). Their sole mission is to destroy her. Of course the mouth pieces for these groups are Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, and other pro-hate talk hosts. With the exception of Ann Coulter, the vast majority of these great white hunters - are men. Old, White, Conservative, Men who claim to be "Christians". By the time the election is over, they will have spent hundreds of millions of dollars hunting and hating Hillary. And, the loser in this game is us - we have a whole year of listening to their propaganda.

Some Democrats have questioned whether or not it is wise to have Hillary as our candidate based on all the negativity they see and hear about her, even though she has very high favorable ratings among democrats and she is the most qualified of all the top candidates running.

But I contend that it is really a small number of detractors that exist in this tight-knit circle of conservatives. They have done a good job of getting their message out and raising doubt and fear about Hillary, for sure. But they did this to John Kerry and Al Gore too. ANY candidate that the Democrats nominate will face this Hate Machine. Furthermore, why would we let them tell us who we should and shouldn't vote for?

If ever there was a moment for the Democrats to seize an opportunity - 2008 is it! We will go down in history as electing the First Woman President and finally break through the glass ceiling. If we do not do it this year, then when? And, who? Don't think for one second that if Dianne Feinstein or Barbara Boxer were running they would not be subjected to the same hatred that they have bestowed upon Hillary.

And what message exactly do you want to send to your daughter, granddaughter, and son? That the most qualified person for the job didn't get it because she's a woman?

These right-wing, conservative, wealthy, "Christian" men want to keep the power for their select few. To do this they will stop at nothing to destroy everything they are against: strong, intelligent, effective, women leaders. For them, the end justifies the means. They do not care about the truth, they only care about staying in power. Their campaigns are based on fear and hatred. Their deceptive and hateful methods need to change and the only way to do this is to take their power away.

Richard Collins' website StopHerNow - did not stop her now or then. Hillary was reelected to the Senate in 2006 with an overwhelming majority of 67% of the vote. Her record speaks for itself and it shows what she said to be true - she has a 15 year history of fighting the Hillary Haters - AND WINNING.

These are just a bunch of sissy rich swiftboaters who dont have the balls to stand up to what they claim to be true.

And that's because they are all a bunch of liars.

Mitt Romney is the Republican Howard Dean!!! Read all about it!

After the Iowa debate yesterday Mitt Romney stopped in Marion, Iowa to give a speech at Linn-Mar High School. He said the following:

"And I'm convinced the world will remember as well because you're going to do something which people don't expect, which is give me a victory," Romney said. "And then I'm going to New Hampshire where I'm pretty solidly in the lead in New Hampshire, and I'm gonna be in Nevada, and I'm gonna win Nevada, and I'm gonna be in Wyoming, and I'll win that one and Michigan. And we're gonna do pretty *** well--that's at least what I plan."

.... Yahhh Hip Ha!!!

Everybody is reading all about this now. Mitt Romney is Howard Dean all over again. The media and the Democrats will now play this over and over and over and over.

This is what brought down Howard Dean and now is bringing down Mitt Romney. Republicans don''t need another Howard Dean.

.... Yahhh Hip Ha!!!

Ann Coulter "personally locked horns" with the Clintons? Ann Coulter has never "locked horns" with anybody. She never engages in any straight-up argument. It anybody can point to a single instance of when Coulter made a stright-up, direct reply any any criticism, I would really like to see it. Newt's a smart guy, but not exactly a trustworthy source, except compared to Dick Morris. And Kathleen Willey would not be exactly a good source either. Anyway, it's unlikely that anybody who was leaning Clinton, or even undecided, would go to see the move.

Let me get this straight. A "movie" with sage words from the likes of Ann Coulter is actually going to purport to tell "the truth" about a Democrat??? Sure, there will be an audience for this sort of garbage. It'll be the exact same audience that still thinks Dubya is the greatest president ever. The great majority of Americans will see it as a waste of cinematic space.

gobanana, are you under the impression a candidate other than Sen Clinton will be spared a circus of smear and innuendo from both the GOP and the likes of Anne Kornblut and Dan Balz? What planet have you been living on the last 15 years?

Barack would not bring things like this along with him. As a liberal, the prospect of a Hillary nomination is a depressing affair

As a conservative, all I can say is I hope we are blessed and lucky enough to have Sen Clinton as our next president.

As a liberal, all I can say is anything that keeps Hillary out of the White House is a good thing.

Yes, Bossie is famous with the Citizens United Group. Democrats want to pretend that he has zero power but the ability for Bossie to link up with Dick Morris is a HUGE FACTOR. Morris knows where Hillary's soft underbelly is, and rather than seem weak, Hillary will lunge for the jugular of any opponent. TIME TO TAKE HER OUT NOW and at least let Edwards or Obama be the grown up. Hillary has high negatives and each time she or her husband try to undermine their opponents, it smacks her back right in the butt.

Hey, Democrats!! Hillary is not Bill and will never be Bill no matter how much you want Bill back in the White House. If you elect Hillary, you will see the meanest shrew who is worse than any nasty woman teacher you ever had in your life. Go back and remember her antics when she was in charge of the Healthcare scheme. She had absolute power and used the dreaded phrase, MY WAY OR THE HIGHWAY.

Hillary thinks she is tough, but she is just an mean old woman. No worthy of becoming president no matter how much her husband has to fight her battles or twist arms.

As much as you guys dislike Bush, you should care more about your country than putting THAT WOMAN in the White House.

What kind of person wants to make a true statement and then not take credit for it? Only a bunch of cowards and perhaps liars would want to put out a "truthful" film and then not take the credit. Typical right wing attitudes. We are sick of them. I am not even a Hillary supporter, but I can see this is bunk.

Interesting.
Bossie is famous?
Investigations which were all fruitless.
No quotes from Clinton's people.
A link to a bunch of nutcases on the Washington Post web site?

The real story: Wingnut makers of baseless anti-Clinton smear job manage to garner neutral coverage, complete with link, on the Washington Post's web site!

This might actually be a good movie but some people don't want it advertised. With elections coming up this film coul greatly affect the voters opinions. It seems as if the movie is against Hilary Clinton and if enough people would watch this film and change their minds about Hilary Clinton then...Barack Obama would probably when the elcetions. Now wouldn't we all want that.