Hillary Clinton turned up the heat in the 2008 presidential election by taking a shot at up-and-coming GOP candidate Ron Paul yesterday. Clinton referred to Paul derisively as a "radical pragmatist" when asked for a comment about his odd campaign.
The remark appears to have shifted Clinton out of the sights of many Democratic candidates, who have been going after her in the last week or so. Having solidified her front-runner status, she has increasingly come under fire from challengers such as Barack Obama and John Edwards. Now these candidates are being asked about Ron Paul and this detracts from any effort to go after Clinton.
Political analyst Waldo Scottman said this was actually a canny move on Clinton's part. "She saw that Rudy Giuliani got a bump from attacking Paul during an early GOP debate, so she figured it would work for her and it has."
For his part, Ron Paul said that he considered the "radical pragmatist" label a compliment. Asked about it later, Clinton denied making the remark and said she wasn't even sure who Ron Paul is.
