Hillary really is a religious person -- the New York Times says so

If you were wondering what Hillary is up to with her sudden increase in speeches referencing God, religion, and her ability to feel the pain of those opposing abortion, you can rest assured that everything is OK. In a recent NY Times article, the columnist, while noting the suspicion conservatives cast on her motives, hastens to assure us, with innumerable quotations, that Hillary does indeed walk with God:

Conservatives have long caricatured Hillary Rodham Clinton, New York's junior senator, as the sort of Democrat whose positions on social issues are out of step with Americans deeply concerned about religious and moral values. But while Mrs. Clinton has been strongly identified with polarizing issues like abortion rights, the picture that conservative Republicans paint of her is at odds with a side of herself she has lately displayed as she enters a new phase of her public life. In a recent series of public appearances, Mrs. Clinton has generated considerable attention - and, in some cases, scorn - by imbuing her remarks with mentions of God, faith, prayer and the need to be more tolerant of people who are opposed to abortion and gay marriage because of their beliefs.

After that promising start, the reporter notes with wide-eyed wonder that

By design or not, Mrs. Clinton has displayed remarkable timing. Her comments come against the backdrop of the Democratic Party's efforts to shed its secular image after suffering major electoral defeats in November at the hands of Republicans, who emphasized Christian values in their campaigns.

Wow, there really is someone out there who thinks that Hillary does anything spontaneously. Isn't it nice to have someone with such fresh-face naivite working for the paper of record? The reporter, after asking the tough questions, indicates that he thinks the professions of faith and moderation must be true, because Hillary doesn't usually talk about stuff like that (but, then again, neither did the "private" John Kerry until he realized the White House was at stake):

Are they a calculated effort to court religious traditionalists as she positions herself to run for the presidency, as her critics maintain? Or do they reflect the true convictions of a woman who has sought to give a fuller picture of herself since leaving the White House and who, associates say, has been deeply and openly religious her entire life? Putting those questions aside, the comments are also striking because they come from a highly reserved, and even guarded, woman who in the past has invoked a zone of privacy in declining to talk about intimate matters. Recently, for example, Mrs. Clinton drew attention to her own spirituality as she discussed the major role that values played in the November elections. "I have spent a lot of time over the course of my lifetime wrestling with and dealing with questions of my faith," she told an audience at Tufts University in November.

I have to say that, at some level, I really admire Hillary. She's incredibly bright and she has a spectacular ability to figure out which way the wind is blowing and to position herself to move forward with that wind at her back. It's just that, this same ability renders her deeply untrustworthy in my mind. Who knows what this woman actually stands for? Her past record has been very liberal -- as mine was -- but her changes don't seem to reflect a deep intellectual turnaround (as mine did). Instead, she just seems to read the polls better than anyone else. If I'm going to elect someone, I'd like to have a sense of what they're actually going to do in the White House and, even when she blows conservative, I don't believe her. UPDATE: For an interesting analysis contrasting what Hillary actually says with the way in which the MSM presents that information, check out this interest Pajama Hadin post.