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Sunday, Nov 22, 2009
The Senate majority leader tries to make sure an anti-Semitic slur allegedly uttered 26 years ago by Hillary Clinton remains a political issue.
Jul 19, 2000 | When future academics study Campaign 2000, they will find fertile ground in this week's flap surrounding an anti-Semitic slur Hillary Rodham Clinton is alleged to have made 26 years ago to someone who's not even Jewish. When this history is written, the pivotal but obscure role of Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., should be duly noted.
To recap: Bill Clinton's 1974 congressional campaign manager, Paul Fray, claims the candidate's then-girlfriend, Hillary Rodham, called him a "fucking Jew bastard" after Bill's electoral defeat. Fray has both an axe to grind against Clinton and a medical problem that his wife says has resulted in memory loss. He made the rounds this past week repeating the 26-year-old claims. They are backed up by another campaign staffer and recorded in a forthcoming HarperCollins book by a former National Enquirer writer.
The story then received play in the Drudge Report, the New York Post, the New York Daily News and on Fox News Channel. That HarperCollins, the Post and Fox News Channel are all owned by News Corp., the media conglomerate of conservative Rupert Murdoch, has led some, including Salon's Joe Conason, to note the right-leaning Aussie's fingerprints all over the story's procession through the media food chain.
But it wasn't until Clinton called a hasty press conference on Sunday in which she vehemently denied the charge that the story got play everywhere. And according to a Clinton advisor, that decision wasn't made until two things took place: First, the New York Daily News picked up the story on Saturday, so that it was no longer just conservative media covering it. And second, Lott appeared on "Fox News Sunday" and added fuel to the fire.
Noting that "Clinton is now accused of having uttered anti-Semitic imprecations along the line," "Fox News Sunday" host Tony Snow asked the Senate majority leader, "What's going to happen in that New York Senate race?"
Lott replied that he hoped Clinton's opponent, Rep. Rick Lazio, R-N.Y., wins the race. "I think he's making a great candidate," Lott said, praising Lazio's enthusiasm and New York roots.
"He's got them all confused," Lott went on. "I mean, he's even getting, what is it, a substantial support of the Jewish vote in New York. And I think that's one of the reasons why Hillary is uttering these anti-Semitic comments, if in fact, she is. So I'm pulling for Rick. Rick's getting support from all over the country." (Emphasis added.)
Lott's answer made it sound as if Clinton's alleged comment was made last week and as a direct result of her inability to break 60 percent among likely Jewish voters in New York. It was only then, the New York Times reported on Tuesday, that Hillary's aides advised their boss to hold a press conference to refute the charge.
When asked about Lott's role in this latest scandal, his spokesman John Czwartacki downplayed Lott's answer. "Lott didn't say if the remarks were true or not," Czwartacki notes. "He was obviously not aware of this very specific allegation."
That Lott was unaware of the particulars of the charge didn't mean that he wouldn't take Snow at his word, however. "He wasn't going to say, 'Tony, you're a liar,' just because he hadn't heard the allegation independently," Czwartacki says. "The statement was a tease to the question 'What's up with New York?' All his information was embedded in the question at the time."
Moreover, Czwartacki said that Lott's office was amused that anything the boss said or did would affect Clinton's campaign strategy. "We're pleased that Mrs. Clinton's campaign is apparently so skittish that it's making knee-jerk decisions based on a single question Lott answered during the most crowded Sunday news hole in ages," he said.
