LAT: Senator Clinton Is Cultivating an Image as a Centrist

[DeepModem Mom]

Clinton Is Cultivating an Image as a Centrist
The partisan label she acquired as first lady is being remade in New York and the Senate.
By Janet Hook, Times Staff Writer

....her twin worlds of local and national politics have something in common. In New York, where she is running for reelection in 2006, and in the Senate, where she is shaping her national persona, Clinton is moving to shed the partisan image she acquired as first lady.

She has taken up causes such as economic development and military overhaul that are nonpartisan or more centrist than her work in championing a national healthcare plan while her husband was president. She is teaming with local Republican officials and with some of the Senate's most conservative members.

Those efforts are beginning to pay off in New York. Her approval ratings have jumped significantly since she was elected in 2000 — even among Republicans. It is a sign that Clinton, one of the most polarizing political figures in America, has found a way to get a second look from New York voters.

"I hated her with a passion," said John Perri, a Long Island businessman who heard Clinton speak last week at a country club in Woodbury, N.Y. "But I've come to respect her. She's a lot more moderate now."

The question for Clinton now is whether she can get a second look from skeptics in the rest of the nation. In a presidential race, she would be courting swing voters in the South and other regions who are far more conservative than the moderate Republicans and independents of New York. But if she lurched too conspicuously to the center, some strategists say, Clinton might feed a suspicion harbored even by some Democrats: that she is an ambitious opportunist who tailors her views for political purposes....

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-hillary8aug08,0,2976866.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[jonnyblitz]

1. they make it sound like she is faking it to fool people.

I sense this "yeah right :eyes:" tone.

[mpendragon]

2. while she's been a centrist for some time

I've seen republicans ditching the Whitehouse and moving back to the center in the past several weeks.

Frist - Stem Cells
Santorum - Intelligent Design in schools (something he supported until recently)

I'm sure there are a lot of other examples. She isn't flip flopping or moving very much but these guys are making huge leaps and contradicting themselves to appear more electable.

[jonnyblitz]

3. I wasn't aware of Santorum changing on the stem cell issue.

That is suprising to me in spite of electibility issues.

It anmoys me that the MSM always alludes to Hillary being a radical lefty and that she is now "appearing" to be centrist and that it is all a ploy. I wish she actually WAS a lefty. :shrug:

[GracieM]

4. How much did we know about Hillary

before her Senate run? I'm not asking those who follow politics closely, but the general public. Healthcare, healthcare, healthcare. She was damn near labeled a socialist because she advocated socialized medicine. Now as people learn about her other stances, they are realizing that they rushed to conclusions...

[jonnyblitz]

7. I know what socialists think/want, Hillary is no socialist.

but you and I know that...and the healthcare plan she advocated was hardly socialized medicine, none of the socialists I knew liked it..

[GracieM]

9. I think the public is finally starting to see her

for the first time. She might be an even stronger candidate than people think.

Let the truth be told...

[Larkspur]

5. What will HIllary say to Cindy Sheehan?

Cindy and other victims of Bush's war are also holding Dems, like Hillary, responsible for the immoral war in Iraq. And Hillary wants to increase the size of the Army, which is down 40-50% in recruiting. How many Cindy Sheehans does Hillary want to create?

[GreenArrow]

10. What will Hillary say to Cindy Sheehan?"

"Cindy, live in the real world!"

[McCamy Taylor]

6. Anything she does is because Big Bill tells her to. She is no dummy

and she has the world best pr strategist living with her. If you dont like what she is doing, complain to her husband.

[Norquist Nemesis]

8. She's not more Moderate!

Dammit! I wish the media would at least be HONEST!

The only reason she's getting news stories like this is because they know she is a serious contender. They're not exactly certain what she'll do in terms of a run for the WH and they're playing up the speculation game because it rates an 8 of 10 on the interest scale.

The TRUTH is that she was a "far Lefty" and "Liberal" when they were cherry picking her statements with a biased view! Now that they're paying some real attention to what she says, they're re-writing and re-editorializing Hillary to make it appear SHE has changed. :grr:

[opihimoimoi]

11. Bush has cultivated an Image of a Leader when he truly is NOT

He leads in a counter productive way... for that he is a Flip Flopper

Promises to do good for America but flips to do shit for us,,,

Check out his results.....unilateral war based on lies and deception...

A Separator instead of an Uniter...very Devisive fella he is...

Huge Spending Spree.....while a war is going on, he cuts Taxes?

example after example of POOR LEADERSHIP....

If Hillary runs, she gets my vote over Jeb any day in the week...

New York should be PROUD of her...