Hillary Gump

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There are lies that are so blatant and so blindingly obvious that even attempting to rationalize them makes a liar look like an even bigger fool.

Apparently no one has clued Hillary Clinton in on that little piece of information.

Fellow Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has attacked the former first lady for exaggerating her foreign policy experience. Clinton has been getting voters' attention with this gripping yarn: During a 1996 trip to Bosnia, she landed under sniper fire at the airport and had to be rushed to safety.

Wow! So you have to throw your support behind the candidate who was willing to take a bullet for her country, right?

But CBS News decided to dust off the footage they shot of Clinton's March 1996 Bosnia trip and compare it side by side with her accounting of events.

Here's Clinton's account in her own words: "I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base."

Now, let's go to the tape: The CBS footage shows a smiling Hillary casually striding with her entourage across the tarmac -- on her way to a greeting ceremony at the airport .

She visited two U.S. Army outposts, posed for photos with the troops and flitted back to the base to sing in a U.S.O. show featuring comedian Sinbad and singer Sheryl Crowe. Not one single bullet came within miles of hitting her.

From an entertainment perspective, it's almost a shame her lie was exposed so swiftly. Had it not, we might have been treated to even more lavishly embellished stories -- of Clinton diving into enemy foxholes, machine gun blazing, with a knife clenched in her teeth. Maybe she could've made the cover of Combat magazine!

Listening to her recount these brushes with enemy gunfire is reminiscent of Tom Hank's character and his storytelling in the movie Forrest Gump . Of course, the problem with that comparison is that, at least within the context of the movie, Forrest's account of events actually happened .

Clinton has the absolute nerve to say that her stark untruths merely mark a "minor blip" among the "millions of words" she utters every day.

What poppycock. A minor blip would be, say, coming up a bit fuzzy when describing the clothes she was wearing that day. But sniper fire? Ask anyone who has really been on the receiving end of sniper fire. That wouldn't be something you just kind of misremember.

What Clinton uttered is a clear-cut, willful lie, and everybody knows it -- though many diehard Democrats are loath to admit it.

Surprisingly, one spot-on assessment of Clinton's occasional works of fiction comes from journalist Carl Bernstein, not exactly a conservative himself. He correctly cites Clinton's "difficult relationship with the truth."

And if she can't stick to the truth when describing just one trip abroad 12 years ago, how can Americans expect to believe anything else that comes out of her mouth?

Comments

christian134

Both Clinton and Obama clearly have some issues that should alter people's perception of either one of these to have the opportunity to hold the highest office of the land. The saying "Truth, justice and the American Way" have no true meaning for either of these canidates.

wildman

Clinton-Dumb Obama-Dumber

JohnCarllStrauss

Just wait. There are people who will defend Clinton, yet with no evidence will still insist that Bush lied.

christian134

justus4 slow down tiger.... both Clinton and Obama are good at skirting the truth.....Neither one is fit to hold office not even animal control...:-)

patriciathomas

There's nothing new about a Clinton lie. We were shown for eight straight years that if a Clinton lip was moving a lie was being told. Nothing's changed. Her comments still fall well within the standards her party requires. The networks, the ones that even noticed the gaff, have passed it over already. The party faithful didn't even notice it.

LiLBrown

Wake up African America, Obama is not going to change the world for you , you are still gonna have to work, no repreations are goin to come if he is elected. Life will proceed just as before. So you can jump up and down and cheer victory just like you did when OJ got away with murder, but Uncle Tom (Obama) is not going to make much difference. Just a puppet for all the ignorant people.

dani

This is what the "typical" liar does. They start adding small bits and pieces until they themselves forget what actually happened. The woman probably believes she told the truth. Why didn't her daughter correct her, after all she was with her mother in Bosnia and is well aware of what took place.

Bizarro

Well it becomes obvious now the only real Dem contender is John McCain. Hee, hee.

toppergem

Lil Brown, African Americans are not the only ones that need to wake up. So do you and your kind. Why is it that you have to spout racial mess each and every day. Many black folk work, only a few are talking about reparations, because there are none for the black man or the red man. Call it manifest destiny...take what you want when you want. So get off of the tired horse you keep trying to beat to death. Mass weapons of distruction...a Bush lie, I never had sex with the woman...a Clinton lie, we were never friends with Osama Bin Laden...another Bush lie, my party ran from the tarmack covering our heads from sniper fire...another Clinton lie, McCain had sex with a black woman that is why he has a black child...another Bush lie and it goes on and on....LIES, LIES, LIES, LIES..I guess Obama is not alone is he?

LiLBrown

Only the strong survive. Its the way of the wild and its the way of the world. Black man and red man. Get over it. Its the way things were back then. Thank god we have grown as people. But stop all the crying and complaining about things that happend so long ago. You as a people are a hundred times better off than 98% of the rest of the world. but still you complain. Look at Rev. Wright, He hates America. "God Damed America" He says. But he aint looking to leave. Nobody is making him stay. You know why, he has it made in America. He is black and he can get away with anything he wants and get rich doing it.

johnsmith

synergy, Bizarro, patty, all right on this morning. I hate it when you don't leave me anything to say :)

WHATDIDIDO

I wonder how some of you know it all would handle the pressure of being in the spot light every second of your life. Having some idiot out there threatening you and all your loved ones, because they do not agree with your way of thinking.

WHATDIDIDO

LIL BRROWN, what in the hell are you talking about? " Wake up African-Americans". Did you jump up and down when Robert Blake got away with murder? What an idiot. This is the backward way of thinking that the majority of people are trying to get away from.

WHATDIDIDO

So do some of you think that at the time she was visiting Bosnia, that it was comparable to a trip to Disney Land? How many of you are willing to go there today for a vacation?

double_standard

Lil Brown we may have it better than 98% of the rest of the world. But I know poor white folks in trailors wouldn't trade places with me and I got a college degree.

stillamazed

WOW, more lies from a Clinton, are we supposed to be surprised by this? Not surprising that the ICE QUEEN would blow it off as if it was an honest mistake.

grouse

It is certainly bizarre and disappointing, but at least her lie didn't start a war. Oh, and the economy is good.

convertedsoutherner

hypo... look at what happens when a conservative does something wrong. they immediately are asked to resign their office and conservatives want their heads. when a liberal does something wrong, they are supported and remain in office with excuses made for them. examples: walker who had 140+ counts against him is defended; marion williams caused continuous problems for Augusta and continued to be voted into office; kennedy drives off bridge and kills girl and remains in office; congressman has illegal money in his refrigerator and is defended, remains in office. these are just some liberal examples. if a conservative did these things, they would be gone.

Johnny Chimpo

there was a good article in the NYT yesterday about Obama. Basically asking, how can he become this huge uniter of American's that he talks about when his political views are so far left. If we want a true uniter, we need someone like McCain, who is more middle than left or right!

dashiel

Maybe we'd be better off with Sen. McCain's memory. When he visited Iraq shortly after the "surge" began, he announced that he had just enjoyed a morning stroll down to the Baghdad kasbah; everything was so peaceful and orderly, he had no fears for his personal safety. This "Straight Talker" neglected to mention that strolling alongside him were 100 armed troops and hovering overhead were four Black Hawk helicopters. This inconvenient truth emerged only hours after the Senator's cakewalk, not 12 YEARS later. I don't recall the Chronicle getting its panties in a wad over this bit of truthiness.

constitutionnow

Hey hypocrites, I work in a prison and yes I've been threatened and had the lives of my family threatened but I don't go around making up stories about when I was in the 'nam to make myself look like a better and tougher correctional worker. Sheesh! In the words of Bugs Bunny "What a maroon!"

constitutionnow

They're all a bunch of morons! Vote third party! :o)

dani

Hillary should have thought before speaking, the plane had several reporters along,(lots of brave folks) and if something of that nature had occurred, it would have made headlines. The wife and daughter of the president of the U.S and we didn't know. I don't think so.

KSL

Hillary's lies are always stupid and unnecessary. She makes up stuff that didn't happen and can easily be proved to be false. It makes me question her integrity, her judgment, and even her mental stability.

Dan White

I think Hillary is on the verge of a breakdown. She excused herself for making this lie by saying she was "sleep deprived." So, if she is in the White House and the phone rings at 3am, will she be able to make sound judgment? I don't think so. That's what she gets for playing hard ball with the men. Hypocrite - if you can't handle the spotlight now, she sure won't be able to handle it in the Oval Office.

Dan White

You're right, LilBrown, the black race needs to wake up and realize that they would not be where they are without the whites. A white President emancipated them. A white Union army freed them. A white nation gave the black male the right to vote before it gave the white woman the right to vote. A white Congress passed the voting rights act, and a white President signed the voting rights act. And let's see, a white President nominated a black for Supreme Court Justice and a white Senate approved it. A white President appointed the black, Colin Powell, for Sec. of State, and then again appointed another black, Condi Rice, to take his place. Why in the world today's blacks continue to have a chip on their shoulder like Rev. Wright and his two disciples, Rev. Otis Moss III, and Barak Obama, does is beyond me.

RichmondCountyResident1

Some of you are on one site defending a liar, and on this site talking down a liar. I guess it all depend on how you feel about the liar. ACE, just say vote for McCain and get it over with. No way, would I even consider voting for McCain in a million years, no matter what you say.

Dan White

Ah, come on RCR, you know if your man, Obama, doesn't win the nomination and is cheated out of this by the lying Clinton's you will hold your nose and vote McCain! :) And you know the AC is a right leaning, Republican loving, Republican endorsing, and Democratic bashing paper.

CoastalDawg

In the recent presidential primary one could tell who was going to win in that poll because of who came out to vote - there were people who had not even registered who wanted to register and vote right then, there were people who hadn't voted in years, some of them so long ago that they had been dropped from the electors list. Those of you who think that race isn't playing a very large part in this election must have the ostrich syndrome. This back and forth between Clinton and Obama is an indication that the Democratic party is pretty well split along racial lines. Oprah Winfrey has tried to boost her candidate, apparently unwaware that he couldn't decide over a period of twenty years that he disagreed with a pastor who was spewing racial epithets - do you want HIM trying to run the government? Hillary has the usual Clinton "misspoke" syndrome, lacking memory that her visit to Bosnia was taped and shown on TV and now deciding that she came under enemy fire during her deplaning. So whom will you choose, one whose memory is so short or one who can't make a decision within twenty years? I think the analogy to Hillary Gump was well made. "Run, Hillary, run".

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