Republicans blast Sen. Clinton on Bush attack
She had compared him to Alfred E. Neuman
Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-New York. RELATED YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS New York Senate George W. Bush Hillary Rodham Clinton or or Create Your Own
ALBANY, New York (AP) -- Republicans took aim at Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday for a speech comparing President Bush to Mad magazine's freckle-faced, "What, me worry?" kid, Alfred E. Neuman.
A Republican National Committee official said the former first lady was "part of today's angry and adrift Democrat Party," while a spokesman for one of her potential 2006 Senate rivals said she was guilty of "insulting the president."
"At a time when President Bush and most elected officials are focused on the security of our nation, Mrs. Clinton seems focused on taking partisan jabs and promoting her presidential campaign," added New York's GOP chairman, Stephen Minarik. "Her priorities are clearly out of whack."
Clinton's attack on the president came Sunday during a speech in Colorado.
"I sometimes feel that Alfred E. Neuman is in charge in Washington," Clinton said during the inaugural Aspen Ideas Festival, organized by the Aspen Institute, a non-partisan think tank.
The former first lady drew a laugh from the crowd when she described Bush's attitude toward tough issues with Neuman's catch phrase: "What, me worry?"
It wasn't the first time that Clinton had likened Bush to the Mad kid. In April, she told New York Daily News reporters and editors, "We're in a very dangerous fiscal situation, and this administration is Alfred E. Neuman -- what, me worry?"
As Clinton gears up for a Senate re-election race in New York next year and a possible White House presidential bid in 2008, her attacks on Bush have become sharper.
In her speech Sunday, she accused the president of damaging the economy by overspending while giving tax cuts to the rich, depriving U.S. soldiers of equipment needed to fight the war in Iraq and cutting funds for scientific research.
"Hillary Clinton's opportunistic attempt to market herself as a centrist is like a wolf dressing up in sheep's clothing," said RNC spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt. "Such thinly veiled rhetoric doesn't change the fact she is part of today's angry and adrift Democrat Party."
Thomas Basile, a spokesman for potential Senate challenger Edward Cox, a son-in-law of the late President Nixon, said while Clinton was "busy insulting the president across the country, she is failing to produce the homeland security and transportation funding" the state needs.
Clinton has been accusing the Bush administration of providing inadequate funding for New York's security needs.
While national polls show the former first lady to be leading the pack among potential 2008 Democratic presidential contenders, Clinton has said she is too wrapped up in her Senate work and re-election effort to think about that.
According to an ''AP'' report,  United States Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) stated during the inaugural of the Aspen Ideas Festival, "I sometimes feel that Alfred E. Neuman is in charge in Washington."  The event was organized by the , a think tank unaffiliated with any particular political party.

She claimed that Bush's attitudes towards many major issues are in line with the '''' character's philosophical catch line: "What, me worry?"  Republican groups denounced the comment, saying that Sen. Clinton was merely making a partisan attack for political gain at a time when the nation should be focusing on national security issues.  spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt called Senator Clinton "part of today's angry and adrift Democrat Party."

Many have speculated that the former first lady and current New York senator will make a presidential bid in the 2008 election, but the Associated Press related Sen. Clinton's words as that she is "too wrapped up in her Senate work and re-election effort to think about that."