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Bill Clinton defends wife's Bosnia remarks
Politico ^ | 4/11/08 | MIKE ALLEN

Posted on 04/11/2008 5:25:11 AM PDT by COUNTrecount

Former President Bill Clinton gave a passionate defense Thursday of his wife’s claim about “landing under sniper fire” – just as the damaging controversy was dying down.

Bill Clinton said the news media treated her like she’d “robbed a bank” and claimed she was experiencing end-of-day fatigue, even though she had made the claim in morning speeches.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) acknowledged two weeks ago that she “misspoke” and “made a mistake” in her overly vivid account of the 1996 landing in Tuzla, Bosnia, during a goodwill mission as first lady.

Video of a tranquil arrival ceremony refuted the claim, and her comments hurt her struggling campaign by reviving questions about her candor.

Now, her husband has revived the issue by claiming the comments were true during a “Solutions for America” campaign event in at Boonville High School in Boonville, Ind. Here are his comments, recorded by networks and reported by CBS News:

"You know, I got tickled the other day. A lot of the way this whole campaign has been covered has amused me. But there was a lot of fulminating because Hillary, one time late at night when she was exhausted, misstated — and immediately apologized for it — what happened to her in Bosnia in 1995 [sic]. Did y'all see all that? Oh, they blew it up.

"Let me just tell you. The president of Bosnia and General Wesley Clark – who was there making peace where we'd lost three peacekeepers, who had to ride on a dangerous mountain road because it was too dangerous to go the regular, safe way – both defended her because they pointed out that when her plane landed in Bosnia, she had to go up to the bulletproof part of the plane, in the front. Everybody else had to put their flak jackets underneath the seat in case they got shot at. And everywhere they went, they were covered by Apache helicopters. So they just abbreviated the arrival ceremony.

"Now I say that because, what really has mattered is that even then she was interested in our troops. And I think she was the first first lady since Eleanor Roosevelt to go into a combat zone. And you woulda thought, you know, that she'd robbed a bank the way they carried on about this. And some of them, when they're 60, they'll forget something when they're tired at 11 at night, too.”

CBS News producer Ryan Corsaro, who covers Senator Clinton, reports she made the claim in mid-morning on St. Patrick’s Day.

CBS also has aired videotape of the senator making the claim on at least two other occasions. The Eleanor Roosevelt claim also has been questioned, since Pat Nixon traveled to Vietnam in 1969. Indiana holds its Democratic primary on May 6.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bosnialie; clinton
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1 posted on 04/11/2008 5:25:11 AM PDT by COUNTrecount
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To: COUNTrecount

Bill is a worse liar than Hillary. But nevertheless “uncommonly good” at it.


2 posted on 04/11/2008 5:26:40 AM PDT by Brilliant
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To: COUNTrecount

Wow, these folks ARE self destructive. Just as the controversy was dying down, BJ steps up and brings it back up.

I know what it is. It’s not stupidity, it’s ARROGANCE.

Pretty much “HOW DARE YOU QUESTION US!”

Even though it was a blatant lie, BJ is stepping forward defending their RIGHT TO LIE.


3 posted on 04/11/2008 5:27:40 AM PDT by MrB (You can't reason people out of a position that they didn't use reason to get into in the first place)
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To: Brilliant

“Bill is a worse liar than Hillary. But nevertheless “uncommonly good” at it.”

That’s because he always points his finger when he lies.


4 posted on 04/11/2008 5:27:45 AM PDT by Daveinyork
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To: Brilliant

Well, she has “robbed a bank” the blank minds of her following probably still believe her dribble.


5 posted on 04/11/2008 5:28:20 AM PDT by DooDahhhh (AMEN)
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To: COUNTrecount

A lie is a lie is a lie....


6 posted on 04/11/2008 5:28:41 AM PDT by Knute (Tell me again ONE good reason I'm living here in Wisconsin??)
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To: Brilliant

Just when the msm had dropped the subject of her lying about her Bosnian landing, he brings it up again. Doesn’t he know that there are at least three videos of her telling this same whopper and “fatigue” won’t fly as an excuse for her lying?
Watching his performance on her campaign trail, one would almost suspect he is trying to sabotage her.


7 posted on 04/11/2008 5:30:34 AM PDT by kittymyrib
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To: COUNTrecount
Speaking of the DIRTPOTUS.....

Taxpayers fund Bill Clinton spending [His $420,000 phone bill and $3.2 million office rent...]

8 posted on 04/11/2008 5:30:37 AM PDT by mewzilla (In politics the middle way is none at all. John Adams)
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To: COUNTrecount

9 posted on 04/11/2008 5:30:40 AM PDT by TornadoAlley3 (Everytime McCain reaches out to conservatives, conservatives get poked in the eye.)
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To: DooDahhhh

This is probably the “word of the day” that you’re intending:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/drivel
instead of
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/dribble


10 posted on 04/11/2008 5:31:02 AM PDT by MrB (You can't reason people out of a position that they didn't use reason to get into in the first place)
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To: COUNTrecount

> Former President Bill Clinton gave a passionate defense Thursday of his wife’s claim about “landing under sniper fire” – just as the damaging controversy was dying down.

Classic! Go Billy! Keep the pot boiling, mate! The world had just about forgotten about your wife’s lies — thanks for reminding everyone, ay!


11 posted on 04/11/2008 5:31:13 AM PDT by DieHard the Hunter (Is mise an ceann-cinnidh. Cha ghéill mi do dhuine. Fàg am bealach.)
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To: kittymyrib
Watching his performance on her campaign trail, one would almost suspect he is trying to sabotage her.

Heh heh heh.

Remind me of a couple of scorpions is a bottle, those two do.

12 posted on 04/11/2008 5:31:41 AM PDT by mewzilla (In politics the middle way is none at all. John Adams)
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To: kittymyrib

My take is that it isn’t sabotage, it’s an insistence that they have a right to lie.


13 posted on 04/11/2008 5:32:01 AM PDT by MrB (You can't reason people out of a position that they didn't use reason to get into in the first place)
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To: MrB
I agree 100%, this is just arrogance.

People actually thought that this man was a political genius. Go figure

14 posted on 04/11/2008 5:33:31 AM PDT by timydnuc (I'll die on my feet before I'll live on my knees.)
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To: kittymyrib

Yep. I hope that the Chinese don’t nuke us late in the day. She’d probably just turn on CBS so that she could watch it on the news.


15 posted on 04/11/2008 5:33:34 AM PDT by Brilliant
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To: MrB

I stand corrected!


16 posted on 04/11/2008 5:33:57 AM PDT by DooDahhhh (AMEN)
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To: Brilliant
Everybody else had to put their flak jackets underneath the seat in case they got shot at.

OH PUUHHHLEEEEEAAASSSEEE!

What MORON sits on his flak jacket? Like you need to protect the fleshy part of your a## more then your torso? What, rounds come STRAIGHT up from the ground? These idiots need to stop using "Apocalypse Now" as their only reference.
17 posted on 04/11/2008 5:36:11 AM PDT by Kozak (Anti Shahada: There is no god named Allah, and Muhammed is a false prophet)
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To: Brilliant

The controversey was just about over til this. He just can’t keep his mouth shut.

Keep yakkin Bill...

LOL


18 posted on 04/11/2008 5:37:59 AM PDT by Adder (hialb)
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To: COUNTrecount
And some of them, when they're 60, they'll forget something when they're tired at 11 at night, too.”

How about at 3 AM, Bill?

19 posted on 04/11/2008 5:39:36 AM PDT by Izzy Dunne (Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
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To: COUNTrecount

She didn’t misspeak, she didn’t distort the truth, she didn’t just get the facts wrong.

She told an outright lie that she fabricated herself.


20 posted on 04/11/2008 5:40:13 AM PDT by umgud
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