Pals: Look who's talking
Rangel rushes to Hillary's side in cutting swipe at foe
BY HELEN KENNEDY
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Sen. Hillary Clinton's pals rushed to her defense yesterday, blasting John Spencer's comments about her appearance and suggesting that maybe - just maybe - he shouldn't be throwing any stones.
"Before he made those comments, I never knew who the hell Spencer was. So at least he got his name in the paper," Rep. Charles Rangel (D-Harlem) said of the leathery former Yonkers mayor running to unseat Clinton.
"He could take the plastic surgery," Rangel added. "She is a good-looking gal; she doesn't need it."
Clinton, meanwhile, continued to laugh off Spencer's speculation that she's had work done on her face.
"I've earned every one of these lines and wrinkles - and I'm going to keep them," she said emphatically as she picked up some key endorsements from police unions on Long Island.
Spencer's ill-considered personal comments to a Daily News political columnist have garnered him more attention in the last two days than any attempt he ever made to discuss issues. He's been on national TV more in those 48 hours than in his entire prior career.
And the state Democratic Party kept the flap going by releasing a series of comments by prominent New York Democratic women trashing Spencer.
"John Spencer's comments about Sen. Clinton are an embarrassment to New Yorkers of every party," said former Rep.Geraldine Ferraro (D-Queens), who battled political sexism when she ran for veep in 1984.
"Does anyone think if John Spencer were running against a man he would be making comments about her appearance?" Ferraro asked. "I think New Yorkers know the answer."
"These were desperate statements from someone who is losing," Assemblywoman Annette Robinson (D-Brooklyn) said. "These personal attacks on her are beneath the dignity of a Senate race."
Meanwhile, Spencer spokesman Rob Ryan appeared to want to keep the story alive, too.
While Spencer initially said the story was "fabricated," Ryan tried a new tack, suggested that saying someone had "work" done could just mean hair and makeup.
