Get in the Ring
Today's article in the NY Times about a Hillary - Jeanine Pirro match-up has a quote I find amusing:
Bill Clinton: A two-term president who won handily, widely considered to be the most popular Democrat in the party. His approval ratings jumped up 10% to 73% after he was impeached in 1998, and his recent approval ratings remain high. He commands anywhere from $125,000 to $250,000 for public speaking engagements.
Albert J. Pirro Jr.: Tried and convicted in 200 for income tax fraud, spent 11 months in prison. Widely rumored to have ties to organized-crime figures.
These disparate "husband issues", coupled with Clinton's high approval ratings, might put a slight kink in Pirro's plans. I don't personally think she has a chance. Then again, in politics, things can turn on a dime., so let's wait and see.
Ms. Pirro also settled on the Senate race only after concluding that the legal problems of her husband, Albert J. Pirro Jr., would not derail her; he was convicted of income tax fraud in 2000 and spent 11 months in prison in a case that involved tax returns that Ms. Pirro signed. Democrats have suggested that the Pirros' finances could be fair game, raising the possibility that the two candidates' husbands could become proxy issues in the political warfare. Yet Ms. Pirro's advisers also believe that in a Senate race, the candidates' husband issues could cancel each other out.So maybe if we compared these "husband issues", we could see if they really "cancel each other out":
Bill Clinton: A two-term president who won handily, widely considered to be the most popular Democrat in the party. His approval ratings jumped up 10% to 73% after he was impeached in 1998, and his recent approval ratings remain high. He commands anywhere from $125,000 to $250,000 for public speaking engagements.
Albert J. Pirro Jr.: Tried and convicted in 200 for income tax fraud, spent 11 months in prison. Widely rumored to have ties to organized-crime figures.
These disparate "husband issues", coupled with Clinton's high approval ratings, might put a slight kink in Pirro's plans. I don't personally think she has a chance. Then again, in politics, things can turn on a dime., so let's wait and see.
posted by orthomom at 3:11 PM
8 Comments:
Pirro is doing it to pay GOP dues for a future run at something. The GOP needs someone articulate (and a women, preferably), to throw some egg on Hillary's face well in advance of her run for the presidency. The hope is, whatever tag the GOP wishes to brand Hillary with for her presidential run will already be in place by 2007. In filling this role, Pirro is doing a great service for the GOP.
I agree. They can only hope to damage Hillary's 2008 value as a candidate - certainly they have no hope in the senate race.
Just curious. Should Ms. Pirro be treated any differently than Ms. Ferraro in 1984? Gerry got smacked around big time on "criminal husband connected to mafia" issue.
I could say many nasty things about Clinton and Pirro, but the fact is that NY voters set the bar pretty low for their senators. Aside from Moynihan, I can't think of of another honorable senator from there (regardless of the party).
Clinton was disbarred in Arkansas, wasn't he?
Getting a relatively liberal Republican might be a ploy to push Hillary to the left and force her to say things that might hurt her nationally.
Yeah, that's the key point here. Because Pirro is not going to unseat this very popular senator, imho. Interestingly, Gil, many people posit that Pataki stepped out of the gubernatorial race precisely for that reason. He would have had to move too far to the left on certain issues in order to win the more liberal NY vote, and that would damage him with the conservatives in the GOP.
No, Cliton' wasn't disbarred in AK. He was suspended there for 5 years along with $25K fine. He was disbarred by SCOTUS.
you forgot to mention Clintons philandering. I would say that is a big thing to leave out.
" you forgot to mention Clintons philandering"
I didn't forget, trust me. That is included in the impeachment scandal. That being said, Al Pirro has had his own problems in that arena - he defendd himself against a paternity suit recently.
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