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Hillary rival fires assault

BY GLENN THRUSH | WASHINGTON BUREAU; This story was supplemented with a wire report.

February 14, 2006

WASHINGTON - GOP Senate hopeful John Spencer made his harshest attack to date on Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday, saying the senator's recent criticism of Bush administration war and anti-terrorism policies "aids and abets" enemies of the United States.

"We must remove this woman," the former Yonkers mayor said during a fiery speech to state Conservative party members in Albany yesterday.

Spencer, who trails Clinton by a 2-to-1 margin in recent polls - and by a 20-to-1 margin in fundraising - also targeted Bill Clinton, mocking the former president for failing to kill Osama bin Laden when he had the chance.

"I wish we had an administration in Washington that wasn't an appeasing, liberal, whining administration in the '90s that allowed the terrorists to build up the way they built up," said Spencer, who is trying to create a national fundraising base of anti-Hillary donors.

Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson declined to comment.

The former first lady has drawn fire from national Republicans for attacks on President George W. Bush, including a speech last week in which she ridiculed him for failing to capture or kill "the tallest man in Afghanistan."

Clinton has rejected some Democrats' calls for a quick withdrawal from Iraq while sharply rebuking Bush for waging war without a plan.

Of that stance, Spencer said, "You shouldn't do it with such divisive and blame-America-first methodology, and that's what she does, which aids and abets our enemies."

This story was supplemented with a wire report.