The New York Times ran an interesting item the other day about some of the wealthy far-right players, who woke up every morning in the 1990s trying to figure out how to destroy the Clintons, who are looking at the 2008 race. Apparently, some of them are feeling a little burnt out and can’t quite remember why they were so filled with hate in the first place.
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.”
Ruddy told the NYT, “Clinton wasn’t such a bad president, In fact, he was a pretty good president in a lot of ways, and [Scaife] feels that way today.” He added, “The level of intensity and anger toward Hillary is not getting to the level that it was toward Bill Clinton when he was president.”
Cliff Jackson, a Little Rock attorney who helped orchestrate many of the ’90s smears, said plainly, “I think the country is burned out on it.”
There are several interesting angles to all of this. First, several of Hillary Clinton’s Democratic detractors say they don’t want to see her get the nomination because they don’t want to see the Scaife machine start up the smear campaigns all over again. This suggests that may not happen. Second, as Digby noted in a terrific post, it’s convenient that the NYT is willing to take an almost-nostalgic look back at the 90s’ manufactured scandals, without noting its own role in the fiasco.
And third, as the LAT explained a day before the NYT piece ran, the old Scaife machine may not be motivated for a new fight, but it’s been replaced by a new machine that’s anxious to pick up the Clinton smear where the old guard left off.
Just weeks after she joined the Democratic Party’s flock of presidential contenders, Clinton is being targeted by conservative and Republican-allied activists intent on derailing her campaign before the start of next year’s primaries.
They have surfaced with a flurry of planned projects: a Michael Moore-style documentary film, book-length exposes, and websites such as StopHerNow.com and StopHillaryPAC.com.
Conservative admirers of the Swift Vets and POWs for Truth media blitz that helped torpedo Democratic Sen. John F. Kerry’s presidential candidacy in 2004 are now agitating to “Swift-boat” Clinton.
“People are doing what they’re doing because they want to defeat her before she has a chance to win. You can’t hold off your silver bullet to the end,” said veteran Republican operative David N. Bossie, who is involved in the film project with Dick Morris, a former advisor to Bill Clinton.
“Those Swift Boat Veterans for Truth were the real heroes of the 2004 election,” one of the new right-wing ventures boasts on its website. “We at the StopHillaryPAC want to do the same thing to Hillary.” The LAT noted that this political action committee, headed by former Rep. John LeBoutillier (R-N.Y.), “collected enough early funding to launch a round of negative television ads on Iowa stations timed to Clinton’s visit there in late January.”
In this sense, the NYT story about Scaife & Co. sitting this one out is largely irrelevant. Meet the new right-wing smear machine; same as the old right-wing smear machine.
As direct mail guru Richard Viguerie said, “The vast right-wing conspiracy lives,” he said.
Will Dems be ready? I’m cautiously optimistic.