Hillary accepted this endorsement? (updated)

By Thomas Lifson

My jaw dropped when I read the latest example of strange political bedfellowship. Hillary Clinton received a big wet kiss from Richard Mellon Scaife, erstwhile leader of the vast right wing conspiracy's media food chain. The man who hired investigative reporter Christopher Ruddy, a specialist in the Clintons, to work at his Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

I had long ago heard of Hillary's ability to be charming in face-to-face groups at business, political and other gatherings. Her humor, in particular a certain self-deprecating irony, is undoubtedly more powerful in person than over television. She walked into the lion's den at the Tribune-Review's editorial board meeting room and wowed RMS:

Hillary Clinton walked into a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review conference room last Tuesday to meet with some of the newspaper's editors and reporters and declared, "It was so counterintuitive, I just thought it would be fun to do."

The room erupted in laughter. Her remark defused what could have been a confrontational meeting.

Scaife finds her courage admirable and her views thoughtful. They both want troops out of Iraq.

Hillary has a way of sounding like she agrees with you when she wants to win you over. Both Clintons are masters of slippery phraseology. She got caught in a presidential debate on the issue of drivers' licenses agreeing with contrary positions. But when the cameras aren't on and when her listeners are experiencing her version of charm, she can get away with a lot.

Evidently.

Update -- Steve Gilbert cites the relevant passages in her ghost-written book Living History:

According to [David] Brock, the success of the trooper article inspired Richard Mellon Scaife, an ultraconservative billionaire from Pittsburgh, to fund similar stories through a clandestine enterprise called "the Arkansas Project." Through an educational foundation, Scaife also pumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into the Spectator to support its anti-Clinton vendetta.

The plot described by Brock and others is convoluted and the cast of characters preposterous. But it is important for Americans to know what was taking place behind the scenes to understand fully the meaning of Troopergate, the tabloid scandals that preceded it and those that would follow. This was all-out political war. [....]

These activities ... were a very early hint of how far the political right would go in the coming decade to try to destroy the Clintons."

All is forgiven. What a great, kind-hearted woman!