Hillary Clinton is defending the man who she once considered one of the major players in the "vast right wing conspiracy" that helped engineer her husband's impeachment.
Asked about plans by News Corp.'s chief, Rupert Murdoch, to host a Senate re-election fund raiser on her behalf, Mrs. Clinton told London's Financial Times: "He's my constituent and I'm very gratified that he thinks I'm doing a good job."
Murdoch's backing in 2006 won't necessarily translate into support for a White House run two years from now, the Times said, with one of the event's organizers telling the paper that it reflected his opinion of her as a senator for New York rather than as a presidential candidate.
With New York State expected to go heavily Democratic in this fall's ballot - and even Republican New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg rumored to be considering a Hillary endorsement - Murdoch insiders say he's just protecting his business interests.
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They note that when Tony Blair became Prime Minister of Great Britain, for instance, the conservative press baron crossed the aisle to support his Labour Party.
"That's a smart move for Mr. Murdoch to make," Democratic consultant and frequent Hillary defender Hank Sheinkopf told the Times. "Why not have a friend?"
Sheinkopf acknowledged, however, that "there are some on the left who will feel that [Murdoch's support] is not a good thing" for Mrs. Clinton.
Markos Moulitsas, founder of the influential left-wing blog the Daily Kos, has been blasting Hillary lately for trying to make peace with conservatives by taking ambiguous positions on hot button issues like the Iraq war and abortion.
"She is a leader who fails to lead," he complained in the Washington Post on Sunday, describing Mrs. Clinton's political operation as "a heartless, passionless machine, surrounded by the very people who ground down the activist base in the 1990s and have continued to hold the party's grass roots in utter contempt."
"The last thing we need," Moulitsas insisted, "is yet another Democrat afraid to stand on principle."