How Hillary Dishes Obama Dirt

WASHINGTON — Columnist Robert Novak stood by his story Monday that the Clinton campaign is spreading the word that it's holding back on dishing dirt on Barack Obama, and charged the Democratic frontrunner with playing "Nixon tricks."

(Clinton campaign staff meeting, November 13, 2007)

Hillary: Hey, listen to this - the Illinoisan wants to talk. Eh, imagine the nerve of the son of a bitch, eh? Craps out last night, and wants a meetin' today before the Iowa Caucuses.

Tom Haden: What did he say?

Hillary: What did he say - badda-beep, badda-bap, badda-boop, badda-beep - He wants to send Bill here to proposition and the promise is, that the deal is so good, that we can't refuse. Eh.

Tom Haden: What about Eliot Spitzer?

Hillary: That's part of the deal. Spitzer cancels out what they did to my husband.

Tom: Hillary, we ought to hear what they have to say.

Hillary: No, no, no! Not this time, consiglieri. No more meetin's, no more discussions, no more Obama tricks. You give'em one message: I want Obama. If not, it's all out war. We go to the mattresses.

Tom: Some of the other families won't sit still for all-out war.

Hillary: Then they hand me Obama!

Tom: Your husband doesn't want to hear this! This is business, not personal, Hillary!

Hillary: They push polled my husband. That's not business? Your ass.

Tom: Even the push polling of your husband was business, not personal, Hillary.

Hillary: Well, then, business will have to suffer, alright? And listen, do me a favor, Tom, no more advice on how to patch things up. Just help me win, please, alright?

Tom: I found out about this Captain McCluskey who broke Bill's jaw.

Hillary: What about 'im?

Tom: Now he's definitely on Obama's payroll, and for big money. McCluskey has agreed to be the Illinoisan's body guard. You have to understand, Hillary, is that while Obama is being guarded like this, he is invulnerable. Now nobody has ever swift boated a New York police captain. It would be disastrous. All the Five Families would come after you, Hillary. The Clinton Family would be outcasts! Even the old man's political protection would run for cover. So do me a favor, take this into consideration.

Hillary: Alright, we'll wait.

Bill: We can't wait.

Hillary: Huh?

Bill: We can't wait. I don't care what Obama says about a deal, he's gonna swift boat Pop, that's it. That's the key for him. Gotta get Obama.

Carvilleamenza: Hillary's right.

Hillary: Lemme ask you something, Professor, I mean - what about McCluskey? Huh? What do we do with this cop here?

[Bill sitting with his hands on the chair's arms]

Bill: They wanna have a meeting with me, right? It will be me, McCluskey and Obama. Let's set the meeting. Get our informers to find out where it's gonna be held. Now, we insist it's a public place. A bar, a restaurant. Some place where there's people so I feel safe. They're gonna search me when I first meet them, right, so I can't have a poll on me then. But if Carvilleamenza can figure a way to have a poll planted there for me -- then I'll swift boat 'em both.

[Carvilleamenza, Ickes and Hillary laugh. Tom shrugs]

Hillary: Hey, whataya gonna do, nice college boy, eh? Didn't want to get mixed up in the Family business, huh? Now you wanna swift boat a police captain, why, because he slapped ya in the face a little bit? Hah? What do you think this is the Army, where you swift boat'em a mile away? You've gotta get up close like this and bada-bing! you blow their cross-tabs all over your nice Ivy League suit. Come're...

[Kisses Bill's head]

Bill: Hillary . . .

Hillary: You're taking this very personal. Tom, this is business and this man is taking it very, very personal.

Bill: Where does it say that you can't swift boat a cop?

Tom: Come on, Billy.

Bill: Tom, wait a minute. I'm talking about a cop - that's mixed up in drugs. I'm talking about, ah, - ah - a dishonest cop - a crooked cop who got mixed up in the rackets and got what was coming to him. That's a terrific story. And we have newspaper people on the payroll, don't we Tom? And they might like a story like that.

Tom: They might, they just might.