Unmasking Hillary

Hillary Clinton's record.... she boasts of "35 years of experience" ....includes most importantly her claims to have played a pivotal role in decision-making and foreign policy during Bill's presidency.

We'll put aside the fact that she had no top security clearances, and her just-released White House schedule reads more like redacted tea-pouring events. Let's weigh her experience, her judgement, her character, and her claims against the actual record:

Dangerous foreign trips. Last week, during a written speech at George Washington University, Hillary said if "a country was too small, too poor,or too dangerous the president couldn't go, so send the First Lady."

To prove her point, she described a trip to Yugoslavia in 1996 where she said the plane had to land "corkscrew"-style to avoid surface-to-air threats and "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."

Good story. But, this week firsthand reports.... and video tapes of her visit contradicting her account.... continued to surface. (YouTube)

Others on the trip said there was no "corkscrew landing," no "sniper fire," and video clips show Hillary walking across the tarmac, greeting a Bosnian girl and well-wishers.... no run "with heads down" to get into vehicles.

U.S. Air Force journalist, Don Jackson, who was on the tarmac when she arrived, said "there was no enemy fire, and no imminent danger."

This oft told story.... in dramatic fashion at her campaign rallies.... always includes "sniper fire."

Hillary now says she just "misspoke." In a recent interview with the Philadelphia Daily News she dismissed it as a "minor blip." Brings back memories of "what is, is." She learned how to fog from the master. But, she isn't the master, and her words and deeds are coming back to haunt her.

NAFTA. In a January 2004 news conference, Hillary said she thought Bill Clinton's NAFTA legislation "on balance has been good for New York and good for America." But, needing to win primary states stomped on by NAFTA.... Ohio and upcoming Pennsylvania and Indiana.... she now says that she has "long been a critic of the shortcomings of NAFTA"

No Child Left Behind. Hillary voted in favor of The Decider's 2002 education bill hailing it as "a major step forward." Now, with student performance plummeting and teachers raging against the limitations the bill places on their ability to perform, she now attacks the law as a "test, test, test" approach.

War in Iraq. Hillary voted for the war, and defended that vote until her last debate when cornered by moderator Tim Russert.

Ending the war in Iraq. In June 2006 Hillary restated her long standing opposition to a timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops in Iraq.

Now.... faced with the continuing unpopularity of the war and Barack Obama's promise to withdraw troops in a responsible way she's trying to catch up with his Iraq stance. She now says she'll "start withdrawing" troops within 60 days of her inauguration, bring out "one or two brigades a month" and have "nearly all of the troops out" by the end of 2009.

Drivers licenses for illegal aliens. In a campaign statement in October 2007, Hillary initially expressed support for New York governor Eliot Spitzer's plan to offer limited drivers licenses to illegals. Yet, in a presidential debate two weeks later, after first trying to defend her stand, she finally said "No" when asked if she approved of the unpopular drivers license idea.

Florida and Michigan delegates. In September 2007, the Clinton campaign formally pledged not to participate in primary or caucus elections staged before February 5, 2008 in defiance of DNC rules. She now says delegates from those states should be seated at the Democratic convention, flaunting the rules that all the major Democratic candidates endorsed.

Foreign policy. "There is no doubt that I played a major role in many of the foreign policy decisions." Hillary interview with NPR, March 13, 2008. (WaPo)

Northern Ireland. Hillary claimed to be "intimately involved" in the Northern Ireland peace process although the chief negotiator, George Michael, said that Clinton was "not involved directly" in the diplomatic negotiations, and a former northern Ireland chief minister, David Trimble, described Hillary as more of a "cheerleader" than a "principal player."

Macedonia and Kosovo. Hillary claimed that she had "negotiated" with the Macedonian government to persuade it to re-open its border with Kosovo during the NATO air war against Yugoslavia in May 1999. Actually, the border was re-opened the day before she arrived in Macedonia. She did press the Macedonia president to keep the borders open. But she didn't "negotiate" to open them.

Hillary's "35 years of experience"-resume reminds me of a New Yorker cartoon where the applicant being interviewed for a job was told: "I'm afraid your M.B.A. loses some of its lustre in light of the fact that you were home-schooled."

As Bill and Hill pursue their scorched-earth campaign tactics.... "the audacity of hopelessness".... Hillary's overinflated resume is being exposed for what it is. Truly, she's a legend in her own mind.

CW, Superdelegates and Divides

Conventional wisdom.... what we fall back on to fortify our arguments, to prop up our misconceptions, to put the coup de grace to dissent.

Forget some CW in this 2008 election season, as Ellen Goodman points out, "Conventional wisdom fails to explain anything about Election 2008." (Post-Gazette)

"It'll Be All Over by February 6." Not according to Mike Huckabee. And only in Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama's dreams.

"Kennedys are Kingmakers." Why then didn't Obama carry Massachusetts, or California? Maybe kingmakers if they can deliver the majority of the worst idea the Democratic Party ever had, superdelegates. That remains to be seen.

"Southern White Men Won't Vote for a Black President." Well.... Georgia white men voted 48 percent for Obama. But then, as Goodman pointed out, perhaps it just proves that "Southern white men still won't vote for a woman."

"Evangelicals Vote in Lockstep." This time they scattered to GOP candidates Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney and John McCain.

"Money Uber Alles." After spending $35 million of his own money, the departing Romney begs to differ. Nice to know, though, that the presidency isn't for sale to the highest bidder.

"Dittoheads Rule." Far right talking heads savaged McCain and Republicans yawned.

"The Death of the Nominating Convention." Get your popcorn ready, with the Democrats it looks like a nominating fight to the finish.

When it comes to the delegate dead heat between Clinton and Obama that is hurtling headlong toward a nominating convention, Tad Devine advises "Superdelegates, Back Off." (NYTimes)

He admonishes these superdelegates "to stop pledging themselves to either Mrs. Clinton or Mr. Obama.... If the superdelegates determine the party's nominee before primary and caucus voters have rendered a clear verdict, Democrats risk losing the trust" of the voters.

Actually, they risk a rebellion and the disaffection of the many blacks and women who see this as their moment. Luckily, there is The Decider's monstrous record, and the specter of more with his ideological replacement McCain, to provide the unifying glue. But, will this be enough?

Frank Rich thinks until then, "Next Up for the Democrats: Civil War." (NYTimes)

Reporting on Hillary Clinton's paid-for hour in the run-up to Super Tuesday on the Hallmark Channel, plus satellite TV hookups for assemblies of coast-to-coast supporters, Rich said he was given a "naked preview of how nastily the Clintons will fight, whatever the collateral damage to the Democratic Party, in the endgame to come."

He points out that after over-playing their hand trying to scare off white voters by framing Obama as the "ghettoized-cocaine-user" and Jesse Jackson redux.... and in the process alienating many black voters.... they abandoned black America and redoubled efforts to pander to the Hispanic population, especially in delegate-rich California.

The makeup of the Hallmark audience.... few blacks.... with many Hispanic canned-question askers.... no blacks.... brought this forcefully home. Leaving no Hispanic stone unturned, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa of LA had a cameo, and one of the satellite meetings was held in the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque.

Earlier, in an attempt to divide the voters and reinforce their racial game plan, Clinton's pollster told The New Yorker that Hispanic voters have "not shown a lot of willingness or affinity to support black candidates,".... followed by Hillary telling Tim Russert in a debate that her pollster was "making a historical statement."

As Rich points out, this "wasn't an accurate statement, historical or otherwise. It was a lie, and a bigoted lie at that....." For example, all three black members of congress from the LA area won in heavily Latino districts. And in the 1990s, Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk received more than 70 percent of the Hispanic vote.

Now comes Texas.... what despicable racial ploys will the Clintons unleash in that heavily Hispanic state before the March 4 primary contest?

And, is the Democratic Party in free-fall toward for a race-tinged brawl and superdelegate bullying at their convention some nine weeks before Election Day?.... a non-"Hallmark moment?"

Democratic voters will demand a just and representative convention, where superdelegates vote their constitutents' preferences.... that's CW you can take to the polls.

The Clintons Backward Glance

Is this a diva trill?...... me, me, me, ME, me, me, me. No, it's the theme of Bill Clinton's remarks in New Hampshire while supposedly campaigning for Hillary. What he actually said last night is: "We can't be a new story, I'm sorry. I can't make her younger, taller, male. There are a lot of things I can't do." MSNBC

Here we thought opponent Barack Obama was Hillary Clinton's worst nightmare. No. Her worst nightmare is Bill.

As the polls show Obama steadily outpacing Hillary, the egocentric message coming from Bill amounts to.... "it's not my fault."

But, maybe it is.

Bill is yesterday, making Hillary and her "experience" yesterday. The voters sent a loud message in Iowa.... they want tomorrow. The polls agree.... it's all about tomorrow.

Like a robin on a June bug, Drudge pounced on the odor of desperation coming from the Clinton campaign in their flash today "from one top campaign insider.... Facing a double-digit defeat in New Hampshire, a sudden collapse in national polls and an expected fund-raising drought, Senator Hillary Clinton is preparing for a tough decision: Does she get out of the race? And when?!"

They also reported that John Edwards confided to a senior staffer that he is staying in the race because Hillary "could soon be out."

Rumors of a campaign meltdown are rife. A Clinton adviser told the Politico, "we're going to lose South Carolina." While Nevada is definitely pulling back as her endorsement by the powerful culinary union is in limbo, evidently awaiting the NH results.

On MSNBC's "Morning Joe" show this morning, Andrea Mitchell reported that many of Hillary's supporters at her rallies in New Hampshire are from Long Island and Upstate New York. NBC Washington bureau chief Tim Russert confirmed this, adding that at a rally he attended at Nashua High School over the weekend he was stunned to find the school's parking lot filled with cars bearing Massachusetts plates.

It's beginning to look like the perfect storm.... a dropping barometer of expectations, the gathering thunderheads of the Obama whirlwind, and her yesterday-sailor Bill heading for the lifeboats. If Hillary stays the course, it's going to be a dark ride.