Obama Backers Attack Clinton for Exaggerating Dangers of Bosnia Trip
WASHINGTON — Hillary Rodham Clinton had the Democratic presidential campaign trail to herself, but the camp of vacationing rival Barack Obama challenged the former first lady on her claim to have landed in Bosnia 12 years ago under sniper fire.
Clinton characterized the episode as a “misstatement” and a “minor blip.” Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor said in a written statement Monday that her story “joins a growing list of instances in which Senator Clinton has exaggerated her role in foreign and domestic policy-making.”
Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson countered that the Obama campaign was only raising the issue because “they have nothing positive to say about their candidate.”
Obama’s campaign machinery refused to allow the former first lady’s Bosnia story pass without getting in a dig.
During a speech about Iraq last Monday, she said of the March 1996 Bosnia trip: “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.”
According to an AP story at the time, Clinton was placed under no extraordinary risks on that trip. One of her companions, the comedian Sinbad, told The Washington Post he had no recollection either of the threat or reality of gunfire.
The Obama campaign statement carried Internet links to a CBS news video taken from the Bosnia trip and posted on YouTube. It showed Clinton and her daughter, Chelsea, walking across the tarmac from a large cargo plane, smiling and waving, and stopping to shake hands with Bosnia’s acting president and greet an 8-year-old girl.
When asked Monday about the New York senator’s recounting of those events, Wolfson recalled Clinton’s book, “Living History,” in which she described a shortened welcoming ceremony at Tuzla Air Base, Bosnia-Herzegovina.
“Due to reports of snipers in the hills around the airstrip, we were forced to cut short an event on the tarmac with local children, though we did have time to meet them and their teachers and to learn how hard they had worked during the war to continue classes in any safe spot they could find,” she wrote.
Wolfson said: “That is what she wrote in her book. That is what she has said many, many times and on one occasion she misspoke.”
Asked about the issue during a meeting with the Philadelphia Daily News’ editorial board on Monday, Clinton said she “misspoke.”
“I went to 80 countries, you know. I gave contemporaneous accounts, I wrote about a lot of this in my book. You know, I think that, a minor blip, you know, if I said something that, you know, I say a lot of things — millions of words a day — so if I misspoke, that was just a misstatement,” she said.
Clinton often cites the goodwill trip she took with her daughter and several celebrities as a part of her foreign policy experience, which she claims gives her an advantage over Obama.
Vietor questioned whether Clinton misspoke, saying her comments came in what appeared to be prepared remarks for the Iraq speech. His statement for the Obama campaign included a link to the speech on Clinton’s campaign Web site with her account of running to the cars. Clinton’s campaign said what is on the Web site is not the prepared text, but a transcript of her remarks, including comments before the speech in which she talked about the trip to Bosnia.
While Obama took time off in St. Thomas, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Clinton spoke to invited guests at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and called on the Bush administration to name an emergency working group on home mortgage foreclosures to find new ways to solve the U.S. housing crisis.
The campaign of Obama, who leads Clinton in pledged delegates, state primary contests won and popular vote, announced a six-day “Road to Change” bus tour across Pennsylvania, which holds the next presidential primary contest on April 22. The tour was to begin on Friday. Polls show Clinton with a substantial lead there.
The intense interest in the race has been reflected in a surge in Democratic Party enrollment past the 4 million mark setting a state record for either party, according to state election officials. Both the Obama and Clinton campaigns had been pushing to sign up new Democratic voters by Monday, the last day Pennsylvanians had to register to vote in the primary.
While Democratic enrollment was up by more than 4 percent, Republican enrollment declined by about 1 percent to 3.2 million statewide.
Hillary Clinton lies often….
I remember when she lied about Chelasea being in danger during 9/11 because she was jogging around the WTC and “heard the planes hit” when she “ducked into a coffee shop. That saved her life.” Chelsea later said that she was asleep at her friend’s apartment more than 4 blocks away and that her friend turned on the tv and woke her up to see what was going on. Hillary did that because her rival at the time, Schumer’s daughter was actually in danger because she was at school which is located directly next to the WTC. Hillary knew that story would resonate with supporters and had to find a way to garner emotions by placing her daughter there as well. Once again, the Clinton’s are “pimping Chelsea out” without debriefing her at the lies they plan to tell first. CHECKMATE!
Can’t we just call a lie a lie? Misspoke? Please!!! War vets remember well coming under sniper fire or not. I would certainly think if it were true it would have been all over the media at the time. Sounds to me like she thinks she needs a bit of spice on the campaign trail. Last time I heard, when you tell something that didn’t happen to be as if it did, you call that a good old fashioned lie Hillary.
Who needs a professional embelisher for a President? John McCain has some exciting stories to tell about his wartime experiences and his are true. Can you say Hanoi Hilton, Hillary? That’s foriegn policy experience at it’s best! She’s totally clueless.
When you are underfire or not, it is sealed in your memory, perhaps its early Alzheimer’s? The other alternative it is an “untruth” commonly known as a LIE!
Hey where’s my comment from this morning…..
Anyway, I bet her lie isn’t as bad as…..”We know they have WMD”
I think quite a few others have her beat!!!
I really don’t care. GO HILLARY or GO MCCAIN…..NEVER EVER BARACK HUSSIEN!!!!
Of course the message is somewhat out of reality. But then a woman who can’t remember much of what has happened in the past - She did have a severe memory loss, under oath, in court, and stated 56 times; ” I just don’t remember, I can’t recall.” Can hardly be expected to remember every detail of her harrowing experience bringing peace to a war torn country can she?
Break out the Hillary cheerleading squad and sing her praises as the smartest, most benevolent woman to have ever lived! When “Day One” comes, she will be there - for you, for me, for all the unwashed masses that can’t make it without her brilliance.
OBAMA ‘08
What is the big deal about Hillary exaggerating her experiences? Yesterday, CBS news reported that Obama also embellished his Senate record.
They are both liars who will lose anyway. At least Hillary does not wear a halo and pretend to be so honest.
Is “misspoke” now the politically correct word for “lied”?
I applaud the comments from Kevin, who was actually there when Hillary made her token appearance. As I’ve said before, merely being the wife of the President does no more make her an expert on foreign policy than being the spouse of a brain surgeon makes her a doctor. What other misspoken comments can we count on if she’s elected President? Will these come in the crucial times, like that 3 AM telephone call she’s so qualified to answer? When will the American public wake up and realize that she is a consumate liar, who’s unworthy to hold any office, let alone that of the Commander in Chief?