I should have posted this in the Humor section
Saturday, Feb. 12, 2005 10:15 a.m. EST
Poll Shocker: NY'ers Call Hillary Honest
Though she barely escaped prosecution just a few years ago for making false statements to federal investigators, New Yorkers now believe that Sen. Hillary Clinton is a truthful person.
Nearly two-thirds of Empire Staters - 64 percent - told a Quinnipiac University survey last week that the former first lady was "honest and trustworthy." Thirty percent disagreed. Even among Republicans, 38 percent gave Hillary high marks for honesty. Among Democrats, the figure was a sky-high 85 percent.
Quinnipaic's polling director Maurice Carroll said Hillary's new honesty numbers were a big improvement from the old days.
"When Clinton took office four years ago, her husband had just pardoned Marc Rich and the Clintons were accused of looting White House furniture," he noted. Sounding somewhat bewildered, Carroll mused, "Now? Two-thirds of New Yorkers say she's a good - and honest - Senator."
'Honest' Hillary's new image also has to come as a shock to former independent counsel Robert Ray, who nearly indicted her for lying in the Travelgate scandal.
"Mrs. Clinton . . . played a role in the decision to fire the [travel office] employees and thus, her statement to the contrary under oath to this office is factually false," Ray said in his final report on the imbroglio.
Despite the scathing conclusion, the top lawman gave the first lady the benefit of the doubt and didn't file charges, saying he couldn't prove she knew her testimony was false.
Ray's predecessor, Ken Starr, also came perilously close to fling charges against Hillary for her Whitewater fibs.
In their book "Truth at any Cost," reporters Susan Schmidt and Michael Weisskopf detailed a 1998 meeting between Starr's lead prosecutor Hickman Ewing and his legal team in Little Rock, where they weighed indicting Hillary:
"[Ewing] paced the room for more than three hours, recalling facts from memory," Schmidt and Weisskopf reported. "He spoke passionately, laying out a case that the first lady had obstructed government investigators and made false statements about her legal work for [Jim] McDougal's S&L, particularly the thrift's notorious multimillion-dollar Castle Grande real estate project."
However, Ewing's case against Mrs. Clinton had been severely weakened by the fact that Mr. McDougal had died a month before.
"Without him, prosecutors would have a hard time describing the S&L dealings they suspected Hillary Clinton had lied about," Schmidt and Weisskopf said.
Another person sure to be shocked by Hillary's new reputation for honesty is media mogul Steven Brill, who accused her of falsely claiming she helped 9/11 victim families while he was writing his 2003 book, "After."
Brill told WABC Radio that her staff had provided him with "an elaborate story, with an elaborate subtext of memos and phone calls - a long, long story" detailing Hillary's meetings with 9/11 relatives.
But after checking with the families themselves, Brill said, "None of it turned out to be true . . . They gave me documents and phone calls and things like that which just plain never happened."
Editor's note:
Your Success Depends on How You Speak Find out the power of "Success Talk" Click Here Now
Condi Rice for president? Find out the details Click Here Now
Dick Morris Reveals Hillarys 2008 Plans Click Here Now
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Sen. Hillary Clinton
108-108-10
Saturday, Feb. 12, 2005 10:15 a.m. EST
Poll Shocker: NY'ers Call Hillary Honest
Though she barely escaped prosecution just a few years ago for making false statements to federal investigators, New Yorkers now believe that Sen. Hillary Clinton is a truthful person.
Nearly two-thirds of Empire Staters - 64 percent - told a Quinnipiac University survey last week that the former first lady was "honest and trustworthy." Thirty percent disagreed. Even among Republicans, 38 percent gave Hillary high marks for honesty. Among Democrats, the figure was a sky-high 85 percent.
Quinnipaic's polling director Maurice Carroll said Hillary's new honesty numbers were a big improvement from the old days.
"When Clinton took office four years ago, her husband had just pardoned Marc Rich and the Clintons were accused of looting White House furniture," he noted. Sounding somewhat bewildered, Carroll mused, "Now? Two-thirds of New Yorkers say she's a good - and honest - Senator."
'Honest' Hillary's new image also has to come as a shock to former independent counsel Robert Ray, who nearly indicted her for lying in the Travelgate scandal.
"Mrs. Clinton . . . played a role in the decision to fire the [travel office] employees and thus, her statement to the contrary under oath to this office is factually false," Ray said in his final report on the imbroglio.
Despite the scathing conclusion, the top lawman gave the first lady the benefit of the doubt and didn't file charges, saying he couldn't prove she knew her testimony was false.
Ray's predecessor, Ken Starr, also came perilously close to fling charges against Hillary for her Whitewater fibs.
In their book "Truth at any Cost," reporters Susan Schmidt and Michael Weisskopf detailed a 1998 meeting between Starr's lead prosecutor Hickman Ewing and his legal team in Little Rock, where they weighed indicting Hillary:
"[Ewing] paced the room for more than three hours, recalling facts from memory," Schmidt and Weisskopf reported. "He spoke passionately, laying out a case that the first lady had obstructed government investigators and made false statements about her legal work for [Jim] McDougal's S&L, particularly the thrift's notorious multimillion-dollar Castle Grande real estate project."
However, Ewing's case against Mrs. Clinton had been severely weakened by the fact that Mr. McDougal had died a month before.
"Without him, prosecutors would have a hard time describing the S&L dealings they suspected Hillary Clinton had lied about," Schmidt and Weisskopf said.
Another person sure to be shocked by Hillary's new reputation for honesty is media mogul Steven Brill, who accused her of falsely claiming she helped 9/11 victim families while he was writing his 2003 book, "After."
Brill told WABC Radio that her staff had provided him with "an elaborate story, with an elaborate subtext of memos and phone calls - a long, long story" detailing Hillary's meetings with 9/11 relatives.
But after checking with the families themselves, Brill said, "None of it turned out to be true . . . They gave me documents and phone calls and things like that which just plain never happened."
Editor's note:
Your Success Depends on How You Speak Find out the power of "Success Talk" Click Here Now
Condi Rice for president? Find out the details Click Here Now
Dick Morris Reveals Hillarys 2008 Plans Click Here Now
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Sen. Hillary Clinton
108-108-10
