Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton mocked GOP rival Rudy Giuliani last night for his newfound status as a Red Sox rooter, telling a crowd of thousands at a 60th-birthday bash that she isn’t “looking to curry favor” with anyone.
The comments – Clinton’s sharpest over the Yankees-rabid ex-mayor’s declaration that he’s rooting for the Sox in the World Series – came as the Democratic White House front-runner was feted by comic Billy Crystal and rockers Jakob Dylan and Elvis Costello, who invoked Marilyn Monroe’s famous moment by singing, “Happy Birthday, Mrs. President.”
When Clinton took the stage at the Beacon Theatre on the Upper West Side, she said, “I have been a fan and remain a fan of the New York Yankees – no changes, no looking to curry favor with anybody else.”
The remarks from Clinton – whom Giuliani has repeatedly roasted on the campaign trail as a faux Yankees fan – came just days after the ex-mayor and Republican White House front-runner announced while stumping in Boston that he’s rooting for the Sox.
“Now he’s a Red Sox fan, I think he made the decision when he was in Boston,” Crystal said.
“That’s like Ann Coulter saying she’s keeping kosher – it’s his worst decision since the comb-over.”
Crystal returned after the Wallflowers, performed, and joked, “Giuliani just retracted the Red Sox thing, so now he’s gonna vote for Cleveland.”
An upbeat director Ron Howard said as he exited the theater that Crystal “wasn’t vicious,” but that the crowd was “happy to have” the joke.
Bill Clinton said his wife is “still . . . beautiful” at 60 and quipped, “She was 23 when we first met – poor child didn’t know any better.”
The event – where tickets ranged from $250 to $2,300 – raised $1.5 million, aides said.