[kcvl]

The suspicions about Clinton’s patriotism might have doomed Clinton’s election, except that Spencer Oliver, then chief counsel on the Democratic-controlled House International Affairs Committee, suspected a dirty trick, checking out Clinton's passport file and Moscow trip

Mlada Fronta Dnes reported that during the 1992 campaign, the FBIS gave the Republicans internal data about Clinton’s Moscow-Prague trips and supplied background material about Clinton’s “connections” inside Czechoslovakia.

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I think we have heard this somewhere before...

Clinton (in debate with George H.W. Bush): “You have questioned my patriotism,” “When Joe McCarthy went around this country attacking people’s patriotism, he was wrong. He was wrong, and a senator from Connecticut stood up to him, named Prescott Bush. Your father was right to stand up to Joe McCarthy. You were wrong to attack my patriotism.”

[kcvl]

With his patriotism challenged, Clinton saw his once-formidable lead shrink. Quickly, a panicked Clinton campaign sought help from a seasoned political hand, R. Spencer Oliver, who was then chief counsel on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.