Clinton Anger Update 13 February 2006

Mehlman Apologizes (Sort Of ) For Saying Hillary Clinton Angry

McCain Letter and Cheney Shooting Has RNC Head Backing Off - For Now - Harsh Rhetoric

Maybe the cover of snow obscured the sight of pigs flying in the nation's capital yesterday.

Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman said that, while not backing off his comments that Hillary Clinton was "angry", he did admit that "we have a few angry folks on our side of the fence as well."

Last week, on the ABC news program, "This Week", Mehlman said that Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, a potential presidential contender in 2008, "seems to have a lot of anger."

"I don't think the American people, if you look historically, elect angry candidates. And whether it's the comments about the plantation or the worst administration in history, Hillary Clinton seems to have a lot of anger."

That was before, however, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) took to letter writing and Vice President Dick Cheney decided to go hunting.

"I stand by my comments about Hillary," said Mehlman, when contacted by The Garlic. "She angry … She's mad … She's as mad as a wet hen, that's just so obvious. What I could have said at the time, was that we had some angry people as well. The difference is that our people have a right to be angry, they're not grandstanding, or trying to score political points."

"Senator McCain," added Mehlman, "was well within his rights to go after Senator Obama (D-IL), for turning his back on bipartisanship solutions. As to the Vice President, I'm not sure what happened down there. Something must have ticked him off."

Last week, McCain fired off a harsh letter to Obama, hammering him for his alleged turn-around on the legislation to reform lobbying, saying in the letter "I concluded your professed concern for the institution and the public interest was genuine and admirable. Thank you for disabusing me of such notions."

Obama had wrote to McCain that he would be endorsing the Democratic plan for reform, that called for direct legislation, and not the task force that McCain was proposing.

The anger escalating between the two senators after Obama won a Grammy Award last week, in the Spoken Word Category, for his recording of his autobiography, "Dreams From My Father."

McCain quickly announced that he was heading to the studio, to record former Attorney General John Ashcroft's "When Eagles Soar" in an effort to one-up Obama.

Obama's office would not comment, directly, on McCain, but did indicate that Obama was considering issuing new recordings of
The Edwin Star classic, "War, What Is It Good For" and Gil Scott Heron's "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised"

Cheney Shooting Deemed Accident

With details sketchy, it's not clear if anger was involved in Vice President Dick Cheney's shooting of his hunting companion, Austin, Texas millionaire lawyer, Harry Whittington, 78, at a private ranch.

The White House waited over 20-hours to release news of the shooting, indicating they were deferring to the owner of the ranch, Anne Armstrong.

Armstrong, the wife of the late Tobin Armstrong, a major financial backer of the Bush-Cheney team, was a former counselor to President Nixon, has served on the board of the Halliburton Corp., where Cheney was chief executive before becoming vice president.

According to reports, Cheney was using a 28-gauge shotgun and both men were wearing orange vests. Whittington was said to have come up behind the Vice President, as he was shooting at a flock of quail, and was hit with birdshot, from his cheek, down to his chest.

"I know that the Vice President is pretty steamed up," said Mehlman, "about the criticism leveled at himself, and the President, over their lawful and legal use of torture and wiretapping to defend this country. I don't know, at this point, if that anger was carried into the ranch, or in the hunting party."

The White House quickly denied that the Vice President's shooting had anything to do with administration policies.

"We have no new agenda's," offered Scott McClellan, White House Press Secretary. "We have no proposals for "Clean Hunting" or "No Hunter Left Behind" legislation.

McClellan also stressed that there is no connection between the shooting, and the White House's new study on protecting polar bears.

"As best as we know," said McClellan, "the Vice President enjoys hunting birds … Duck and Quail. We're not aware of any interest on his part in hunting bear."

Wayne LaPierre, President of the National Rifle Association, where Cheney, a longtime hunter, delivered the keynote address in 2004, defended the Vice President's right to hunt and added.

"I only wish this happened in Florida. We could use a high-profile case there."

LaPierre was referencing the "Stand Your Ground" law, signed by Governor Jeb Bush last year. Critics had dubbed it the "Shoot First" law, as it allows the use of weapons in self-defense, for people to shoot anyone who breaks into a home, occupied vehicle, or place of business.