Calculating Hillary

A coldly calculating Hillary is making nice with Drudge to undermine her rivals. But all her press is not good these last few days.

More unlikely donors to Hillary's campaign, in New York's Chinatown. Not the New York Times, even though it should be their beat, but the LA Times broke the story, with more coverage by the Washington Times. Newsbusters follows up:

Both Bill and Hillary Clinton have a history of fund-raising from shadowy Asian donors. Bill was connected with such donors in a scandal that was never fully investigated due to most of the targets fleeing to their native countries. Now the Los Angeles Times is reporting that Hillary also is gaining money from Asian sources that would seem to merit some investigation. [snip]

The Times examined the cases of more than 150 donors who provided checks to Clinton after fundraising events geared to the Chinese community. One-third of those donors could not be found using property, telephone or business records. Most have not registered to vote, according to public records.

And several dozen were described in financial reports as holding jobs -- including dishwasher, server or chef -- that would normally make it difficult to donate amounts ranging from $500 to the legal maximum of $2,300 per election.

The long knives are coming out from Hillary's rivals for the Dem nomination, finally bringing up the sordid Clinton past, and questioning her electability. Tribune:

"I think there's no doubt that she carries some significant baggage," said David Axelrod, Obama's chief strategist, adding that her high negative ratings would only get worse in a general election. "I guess water sometimes runs upstream, but the history of presidential politics is not that people go in and reduce their unfavorables. That's not the way it works."

Maureen Dowd is back in fine Clinton-hating form (the only time she's worth reading)--hey, we'll take it:

In her acid flashback of a new book, “For Love of Politics,” Sally Bedell Smith describes how First Lady Hillary routinely unmanned Bill and his aides, and engaged in sharp spurts of temper that sparked his temper.

“Hillary’s anger was bound up in the intricacies of her marital bargain, which engendered rivalry and resentment along with mutual dependence,” Ms. Smith writes. Political power was her reward for his marital infidelity.

When Bill explains why Hillary should be president, his subtext is clear: We owe it to her for all she put up with from me.

Bossy Hillary started her campaign by wearing pink and pearls to soften that power pantsuit. Now she's talking some Mom talk. Peggy Noonan:

She is trying every day to change her image, and I suspect it's working. One senses not that she has become more authentic, but that she has gone beyond her own discomfort at her lack of authenticity. I am not saying she has learned to be herself. I think after a year on the trail she's learned how to not be herself, how to comfortably adopt a skin and play a part.

Her real self is a person who wants to run things, to assert authority, to create systems and have people conform to them.

Taking lessons from Bill. For him, it was natural to be a total phony. (If elected, would the robotic Hillary really be the first woman president?)

The question, actually, is not whether America is "ready" for a woman. It's whether it's ready for Hillary. And surely as savvy a campaign vet as Mrs. Clinton knows this.

Who, of all the powerful women in American politics right now, has inspired the unease, dismay and frank dislike that she has?

Will women go for her latest persona? Maybe, maybe not. It's those independent, swing voter women she needs to go after, and her career is not a sterling example of independence, it's been built on Bill's.

UPDATE: A snippet from the Republican debate, going after Hillary:

"In case you missed it, a few days ago, Sen. Clinton tried to spend $1 million on the Woodstock Concert Museum," said McCain.

"Now, my friends, I wasn't there. I'm sure it was a cultural and pharmaceutical event. I was tied up at the time," added McCain, noting his time as a prisoner of war.

UPDATE: In case you missed this. Should she be on "Cat Fancy's most wanted list?":

Once the presidency was over, there was no room for Socks anymore. After years of loyal service at the White House, the black and white cat was dumped on Betty Currie, Bill Clinton’s personal secretary, who also had an embarrassing clean-up role in the saga of his relationship with intern Monica Lewinsky.

Some believe the abandoned pet could now come between Hillary Clinton and her ambition to return to the White House as America’s first female president.

Clinton has been boosting her prospects in the past week with some homespun references to her gender as part of a series of events with the theme Women Changing America, during which she chatted girlfriend-to-girlfriend and mom-to-mom with female voters.

P.S. Welcome back Chris Muir. More on Socks (with a smile)

UPDATE: Wilmette blog on Dick Morris' local appearance and remarks on Hillary.

Related posts: Snicker Scenario on President Hillary, Hillary Wants YOU, Clintons in the News, HillaryCare: Death by Fiat, Winning Women in 2008