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Hillary backs Bill after Fox tirade

BY GLENN THRUSH AND CAROL EISENBERG | Newsday Washington Bureau

September 26, 2006

WASHINGTON - Bill Clinton's fire-breathing defense of his administration's effort to kill Osama bin Laden is getting a thumbs-up from his wife, who says she's tired of Democrats being pushed around on national security issues.

"I just think that my husband did a great job in demonstrating that Democrats are not going to take this," Hillary Rodham Clinton said yesterday.

On Sunday, the former president accused the Bush administration of slacking off in pursuit of the terrorist mastermind in the months leading up to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, saying, "They had eight months to try - they did not try."

The senator agreed, adding, "All you have to do is read the 9/11 commission [report]. I thought all he did was state what had been repeatedly found in the various studies that have taken place."

Bill Clinton's tirade gave Fox News Sunday its best ratings in three years, according to the network. Conservatives have stepped up criticism of Clinton, arguing he did little to pursue bin Laden aside from authorizing a failed 1998 missile attack in Afghanistan. Yesterday, White House Homeland Security Adviser Frances Townsend accused the Clinton administration of cutting funding to terrorist hunters during his final years in office.

Townsend, who worked for Clinton's Justice Department, downplayed the former president's remarks as "not terribly productive at this point."

Still, even conservatives like Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol see political benefits in Bill Clinton's counterattack, saying the Democrats need a defender on the terror issue.

The ex-president - who pioneered the use of rapid-response "truth squads" to counter negative attacks during his presidential campaigns - has been critical of John Kerry for failing to defend himself against attacks by the Swift Boat veterans.