Eleanor Clift

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Image:Eleanor Clift.jpg Eleanor Clift is an American columnist, political commentator, pundit and author.

She is currently a contributing editor for Newsweek magazine. Her column, "Capitol Letter" is posted each week on Newsweek.com and MSNBC. She is a regular political panelist on the nationally syndicated show The McLaughlin Group, which she has compared to "a televised food fight" [1]. She is also a political contributor for the Fox News Network.

She began her broadcast career on The Diane Rehm Show on WAMU-FM, Washington DC, as a week in review panelist. She became well known to listeners for her good natured acceptance of ribbing from other panelists and callers to the program.

Her views are generally regarded as being politically liberal. During the Clinton Administration, she was kiddingly referred to as Eleanor "Rodham" Clift, because of her fierce defense of Hillary Rodham Clinton. Clift has made some memorable comments on The McLaughlin Group:

"The GAO will finally issue its report on the White House -- the vandalizing of the White House in between the Clinton-Gore administration -- Clinton and Bush administrations. (Laughter.) Well, it should have been the Gore administration." February 23 2002 [2]

"But I think what we're coming to grips with is the fact that we actually have a mercenary Army, and it doesn't have a nice ring to it. We call it 'volunteers', but we're basically paying people to serve their country. And if you're going to pay people and have a mercenary Army, you're going to have to pay the market rate. And so the bounties are going up - more money for tuition, higher enlistment bonuses - and I think it's appropriate." August 27, 2005 [3]

She married Tom Brazaitis, Washington columnist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer in September of 1989. They remained together until his death of kidney cancer on March 30, 2005. [4] [5]

She has had bit parts in a few movies.

A mostly unknown but interesting tidbit: Clift's first marriage was to William Brooks Clift, brother of the influential actor Montgomery Clift. They had three children together: Edward Montgomery Clift, Woodbury Blair Clift, and Robert Anderson Clift.

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Bibliography

War Without Bloodshed: The Art of Politics (Simon & Schuster, June, 1996). Hardcover ISBN 0684800845
Madam President: Shattering the Last Glass Ceiling (Simon & Schuster, August, 2000). Hardcover ISBN 0684856190
Madam President: Women Blazing the Leadership Trail (Revised Edition) (Routledge, March, 2003). Paperback ISBN 041593432X
Founding Sisters and the Nineteenth Amendment (Turning Points in History) (John Wiley & Sons Inc, October, 2003). Paperback ISBN 0471426121
Election 2004: How Bush Won and What You Can Expect in the Future (Perseus Books Group, January, 2005). Paperback ISBN 1586482939