Hey, she's an expert at covering for liars.
HILL TO HEAD KERRY 'TRUTH SQUAD'
By FREDRIC U. DICKER
NY POST
August 23, 2004 -- JOHN KERRY'S presi dential campaign, which slighted Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton during the Democratic convention last month, now wants the former first lady to lead its "truth squad" at next week's GOP convention, The Post has learned.
Party insiders said that aides to Clinton were engaged in "intensive talks" over the weekend with Kerry's representatives about the role she is expected to play.
"It will be high profile; she will be one of the responders at the convention, probably focusing on homeland security issues," said a source familiar with the talks. "I think it's fair to say the Kerry people realize Mrs. Clinton could be very effective."
Another insider said, "It's ironic that after they snubbed her in Boston, they now want to use her in New York."
Some Democrats said granting Clinton too prominent a role in responding to the Republicans could anger New York's senior senator, Charles Schumer, her sometimes rival.
Clinton, one of the most popular — and controversial — Democrats in the nation, was initially denied a speaking role at her party's national convention in Boston last month.
But after a public protest from former New York Democratic Chairman Judith Hope, the party granted her a prime-time appearance — in the role of introducing her husband, former President Bill Clinton.
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One prominent Democratic who won't be participating in any of the threatened anti-Republican protests at the convention is Senate Minority Leader David Paterson of Manhattan.
"My advice to people is to stay away from an antagonistic response, and recognize that they have a right to have their convention, just as we had ours," said Paterson, who delivered an early-evening address at the Democratic National Convention in Boston.
"It's also my opinion that in many ways large protests will just produce more publicity for the Republicans, maybe even more than the convention itself," Paterson continued.
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Little-known Conservative Party U.S. Senate candidate Marilyn O'Grady beat little-known Republican U.S. Senate candidate Howard Mills in their ongoing battle to garner at least some attention from media outlets.
While Mills, an Orange County assemblyman, won modest headlines for a newly unveiled pie-in-the-sky federal tax cut proposal, O'Grady, a Nassau County physician, made international news proposing a "Boycott of the Boss" in retaliation for Bruce Springsteen's musical tour in opposition to President Bush.
"O'Grady was doing talk shows across New York City and all over the state, and Mills was getting barely a ripple," chortled an O'Grady backer.
One sign of Mills' public relations failure was that O'Grady was even identified on a Rochester TV station as the Republican candidate for Senate.
NEW YORK POST |
