Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Serpentine! Serpentine!


There's a great scene in the hugely underrated movie "The In-Laws" (please rent the original, not the remake) in which characters played by Peter Falk and Alan Arkin are waylaid by snipers in a South American country. As they run toward a car to escape, Falk's character, a CIA agent, tells Arkin's character, a dentist, to run in a serpentine fashion to avoid getting shot. Maybe Hillary Clinton saw that movie and got that scene confused with reality when she recently claimed to have scrambled across the tarmac to escape sniper fire when, as first lady, she visited Bosnia in 1996. When the evidence mounted that Clinton's story and the truth were not one in the same, the Democratic presidential candidate initially stonewalled. But CBS News trotted out video showing Mrs. Clinton and daughter Chelsea getting off their airplane without a care in the world and being greeted by local officials and a young girl who read them a poem, above left. Faced with irrefutable footage, Hillary decided that she "misspoke." In her book "Living History," Mrs. Clinton never brought up the tale about running from sniper fire. Maybe she should re-read the book so that in future remarks about her foreign policy experience, she can accurately recall her own life.

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8 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I remember that 1963 day in Dallas when the bullets whizzed right by my ear as I stood with my back to the grassy knoll. Oh wait ... I was 14 and in Jr. High. But that's the way I remember it. Vote for me!

March 26, 2008 at 4:48 PM  
Blogger PRIguy said...

I'm not the least bit surprised Clinton "misspoke." The Clintons' version of history and real history are light years apart.

What amazes me most about this video clip is the remarkable transformation of Chelsea Clinton. For the longest time, I considered Joan Rivers and rapper Ice-T's wife Coco to be poster children for plastic surgery, but Chelsea ought to wear a shirt emblazoned with the name of her plastic surgeon to promote his work. The change is nothing short of incredible. Sort of like the difference between Hillary's story and the real story of what happened in Bosnia.

March 27, 2008 at 6:31 AM  
Blogger Roger said...

Did Sen. Clinton really think that her rendition of what happened would not be outed? This is yet one more case of a politician making statements that are wrong, and then making stupid statements in an effort to cover. With all the speaking these folks are doing during the campaign, the stress on them from the heavy schedules, and with all the history in their background, I can understand somebody making a mistake in recollection. But, when confronted with the evidence that she was wrong, she continued to insist her rendition was right, and then further, to make cover with "a joke," "sleep deprived," and "lighten up a bit." This is where she demonstrated her character in handling the matter. Did she convey a message that she is ready to answer the phone at 3:00 a.m.? Did she convey a message that she is ready to deal with other world leaders? No. But, are her actions unexpected? No. But, how different is she than any other high level politician? Is this as good as it gets? Is this what the American public deserve?

The issue is not the single incident at Bosnia. The issue is a pattern at high levels of politics.

March 27, 2008 at 9:39 AM  
Blogger Brant said...

Roger, you are correct about all of the candidates embellishing their records, but it typically involves inflating their role in the fight for a certain cause or the passage of a piece of legislation. No one has a cloudy recollection about being under sniper fire. You either were or your weren't. I think her lie - Oh, should I say she "misspoke"? - is the biggest fabrication of the entire election season, and that's saying something. I think Mrs. Clinton was trying to overcompensate for the fact that most people are skeptical about her claims of vast foreign policy experience. In reality, she mostly engaged in the same goodwill trips that all other first ladies of recent vintage did. Listening to a poem by an 8-year-old at an airport in Bosnia doesn't really translate to answering the "red phone" at 3 a.m. Of course, she could always roll over and ask Bill what to do.

March 27, 2008 at 10:04 AM  
Blogger Greg said...

I'm going to have to jump in here and defend Chelsea Clinton. Do you really think she had plastic surgery? Sure she wasn't the greatest looking pre-teen/teenager but neither was I. Lucky for her that she became more attractive as she grew up. Unlucky for me that I didn't. I'm going to say that this was a natural process and not a surgical one.

March 27, 2008 at 2:01 PM  
Blogger Amanda Gillooly said...

Newman for VP?

March 27, 2008 at 3:25 PM  
Blogger PRIguy said...

Newman for VP? He has my vote. I agree with Roger. She is no different than any other high-level politician...or really any politician in my book. The arrogant attempts she made to support her statement smack of the nonsense that killed Dan Rather's career. Sure, these folks speak thousands of words each day and there are bound to be some missteps. It happens to everyone.

As for this woman leading the free world, that is frightening. Wasn't it a few weeks ago that she started crying, and then blamed it on the pressure of the campaign trail? If she thinks it's tough now, what will happen if that red phone does actually ring in the middle of the night? Telling people to lighten up in an attempt to put behind her an obvious gaffe tells me that she is a thin-skinned whiner and certainly not emotionally fit to run this country. (I'll skip the rant about her lack of ethics for everyone's sake.)

As much as I dislike Hillary, I can't say that Obama or McCain are going to be any better as president. None of them strikes me as a leader, and I don't have even the slightest "good feeling" about the entire crew.

I really do think that Chelsea had some considerable work done. She has a chin now. The shape of her face has changed. Maybe I ought to confess that I think the revised version is pretty damn hot.

March 27, 2008 at 5:12 PM  
Blogger Moe said...

About Chelsea: She is looking pretty hot these days. Look at this these pics. Really makes you wonder if she had work done. But hey, if I could afford it, I'd do it. I kinda feel for this girl. Not only was she an ugly kid but the other day she was campaigning for mom and some idiot had to bring up Monica. In my eyes that is just wrong! Leave those type of questions to her parents or just drop it.

March 28, 2008 at 8:23 AM  

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