When Hillary Met Nixon

When Watergate staffer-turned-first lady Hillary Clinton met Richard Nixon for the first time in 1993, she actually praised the nearly impeached ex-president for being "light years" ahead of his time.

No, Mrs. Clinton wasn't so prescient as to have seen Nixon's past in her future. She was referring to the 37th president's never-passed health care plan, which, according to one-time Nixon aide Monica Crowley, Hillary praised as a "blueprint" for her own soon-to-fail plan.

Wednesday's New York Post's Page Six previewed the upcoming issue of Avenue magazine, where Crowley, now a WABC Radio host and Fox News commentator, reveals that the ex-president wrote to Bill Clinton in 1992 to congratulate him on "a very well-run campaign."

After three months waiting for Clinton to reply, Nixon told Crowley: "What do you expect? They're Arkansas dogpatch."

But the very next year, Crowley recalls, the Clintons invited Nixon to the White House.

He accepted, and upon his arrival at the White House he was greeted by Hillary, who blurted out, "Your health care reform legislation in 1973-74 was so good that we are using it as a blueprint for our own package."

Then, without a hint of irony, Hillary added, "Had you survived in office, you would have been light years ahead of your time."

Crowley remembers Nixon later fuming: "Had I survived in office! Maybe I could have if she hadn't been working to impeach me."

Editor's note: