Inside the Beltway

Quote of the month

“That’s my job. I’m a newsman. That’s what I try to do, is make news. And you try to avoid news. That’s your job.”

— CNN’s Wolf Blitzer’s response to former President Bill Clinton during a recent broadcast of CNN’s “The Situation Room,” after Mr. Clinton accused the popular TV newsman of trying to get him to say something he didn’t intend to say.

All about Hillary

Inside the Beltway has received a nice note from Gregg Birnbaum, political editor of the New York Post, who you might recall reported extensively on Hillary Rodham Clinton’s first Senate campaign in 2000.

Now that the New York Democrat is running for re-election — some speculate as a steppingstone to the White House in 2008 — Mr. Birnbaum is helping Americans track her every move by creating JustHillary.com, comprehensive and up-to-date reports as she hits the campaign trail — from Elmira, N.Y., to beyond.

“It’s all about her,” says Mr. Birnbaum, describing his private venture as “straightforward … favorable, critical and everything in between.”

Family breakdown

Rep. Charles B. Rangel, New York Democrat, says “the destruction of the black family” today can be traced to a single man from England who purposely paid a visit to Virginia during the early 18th century.

“In 1712, British slave owner Willie Lynch was invited to the colony of Virginia to teach his methods of keeping slaves under control to American slave owners,” Mr. Rangel says. “Almost 300 years later, the techniques that he prescribed seem to have not only been successful in controlling slaves, but lasting as a means of weakening and destroying the black family.”

Mr. Rangel explains that in slavery, “families were purposely divided, with husband and wives separated from each other and their children. Black males were humiliated and whipped in front of their wives and children. Stripped of their power and pride, black men were seen as weak, and black women had to be the strength of the household, distorting the traditional family structure.”

‘Absolutely fake’

Story Continues →