Monday, February 19, 2007

Scaife won't oppose Clinton

As someone said elsewhere about this article "How things change."

A New York Times article contains some pretty interesting information.

As Clinton Runs, Some Old Foes Stay on Sideline

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.


As the article makes clear, it's hardly like Clinton won't be swiftboated by some Right-wingers, but the simple fact that Scaife won't fund anti-Clinton campaigns is pretty major news. Scaife of course, is one of the major funders of right-wing causes.

Personally, I have always found the right-wingers hatred of both Clintons rather hard to understand. They are both political centrists, by US standards, and have always been more about concensus building than forcing their ideas through. Given the number of Republicians with sex scandals in their past, I can't see why this should lead to such hatred (and the hatred was there, long before the entire Lewinksy thing).
I guess it's an "either you get it, or you don't" type of thing.

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