Hillary Clinton “didn’t stand outside the gates to David Geffen‘s mansion [last night], singing the Jennifer Hudson protest anthem ‘And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going,'” writes N.Y. Times columnist Maureen Dowd. “But she’s not exactly Little Miss Sunshine, either.

“Hillary loyalists have hissed at defecting donors to remember the good old days of jumping on the Lincoln Bedroom bed. ‘Hillary is livid that [Barack] Obama‘s getting the first big fund-raiser here,’ one friend said.

“Who can pay attention to the Oscar battle between The Queen and Dreamgirls when you’ve got a political battle between a Queen and a Dreamboy?

Dowd spoke to Geffen for her column, and the quotes are fantastic.

“I don’t think anybody believes that in the last six years, all of a sudden Bill Clinton has become a different person,” Geffen tells her, “adding that if Republicans are digging up dirt, they’ll wait until Hillary’s the nominee to use it. ‘I think they believe she’s the easiest to defeat,’ he says.

Hilary “is overproduced and overscripted. ‘It’s not a very big thing to say, `I made a mistake’ on the war, and typical of Hillary Clinton that she can’t,’ . Geffen says. ‘She’s so advised by so many smart advisers who are covering every base. I think that America was better served when the candidates were chosen in smoke-filled rooms.”

The babble here is not about Babel; it’s about the battle of the billionaires. Not only have Ron Burkle and David Geffen been vying to buy the Los Angeles Times — they have been vying to raise money for competing candidates. Burkle, a supermarket magnate, is close to the Clintons, and is helping Hillary parry Barry Obama by arranging a fund-raiser for her in March, with a contribution from Steven Spielberg.

“Did Spielberg get in trouble with the Clintons for helping Senator Obama? “Yes,” Mr. Geffen replies, slyly. Can Obambi stand up to Clinton Inc.? “I hope so,” he says, “because that machine is going to be very unpleasant and unattrac- tive and effective.”

“Obama is inspirational, and he’s not from the Bush royal family or the Clinton royal family. Americans are dying every day in Iraq. And I’m tired of hearing James Carville on television.”