Former president Bill Clinton campaigns for his wife, Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton Thursday, April 10, 2008, at Boonville High School in Boonville, Ind. (AP Photo/Daniel R. Patmore)
Posted on 04/11/2008 10:03:49 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - Former President Clinton has added to the falsehoods surrounding his wife's tale of her trip to Bosnia 12 years ago.
In Indiana on Thursday, Bill Clinton defended his wife's mistake in claiming that she landed under sniper fire in Bosnia, accusing the media of treating her like "she'd robbed a bank" for confusing the facts.
The New York senator had repeatedly described a harrowing scene in Tuzla, Bosnia, in which she and her daughter, Chelsea, had to run for cover as soon as they landed for a visit in 1996. Video footage of the day instead showed a peaceful reception in which an 8-year-old girl greeted the first lady.
Hillary Clinton has acknowledged that she got the facts wrong in retelling the tale. Bill Clinton's inaccuracies don't involve long-ago memories, but misstatements about how his wife has handled the story.
THE SPIN:
"A lot of the way this whole campaign has been covered has amused me," Bill Clinton said in Boonville, Ind. "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.
"Did y'all see all that? Oh, they blew it up," the former president continued. "Let me just tell you. The president of Bosnia and Gen. 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," he said. "And I think she was the first first lady since Eleanor Roosevelt to go into a combat zone. And you would of thought, you know, that she'd robbed a bank the way they all carried on about this. And some of them when they're 60 they'll forget something when they're tired at 11 o'clock at night, too."
THE FACTS:
Bill Clinton has many of the facts wrong.
His wife didn't make the sniper fire claim "one time late at night when she was exhausted." She actually told the story several times, including during prepared remarks on foreign policy delivered the morning of March 17.
It's also not true that she "immediately apologized for it." Clinton has never apologized and only acknowledged that she "misspoke" a week after the March 17 speech, after the video of her peaceful tarmac reception emerged.
It's also not true that she was the "first first lady since Eleanor Roosevelt to go into a combat zone" — a claim that Hillary Clinton has also made when talking about the trip. Pat Nixon traveled to Saigon during the Vietnam war and Barbara Bush went to Saudi Arabia two months before the launching of Desert Storm.
The trip also was not in 1995, but 1996.
Clinton campaign spokesman Phil Singer responded to the former president's remarks Friday by saying, "Senator Clinton appreciates her husband standing up for her, but this was her mistake and she takes responsibility for it."
Former president Bill Clinton campaigns for his wife, Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton Thursday, April 10, 2008, at Boonville High School in Boonville, Ind. (AP Photo/Daniel R. Patmore)
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Democratic presidential candidate Senator Hillary Clinton addresses the audience at the Allegheny County Democratic Committee's Jefferson/Jackson Dinner at Heinz Field, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania April 10 2008. (David DeNoma/Reuters)
It’s 61 degrees here,elsewhere Hell is frozen over.
AP actually lists the Spin then the FACTS. On a CLINTON!!!!
he prefers to keep his zips lipped. ;-P
...but this was her mistake and she takes responsibility for it."
It’s because they are worshipping at the feet of obama
I said something nice about the Clintons, mark the tape...
But is seems so fast,it must have caused whiplash.
ap has put a few of those Spin / Facts pieces out of late.
not sure who they are trying to kiss up too,, but .. ;-)
“Senator Clinton appreciates her husband standing up for her, but ...”
Incoming!
Mr Smooth thinks that pooh poohing outright lies in the political context is a minor transgression.
But we knew that already, didn't we?
“And some of them when they’re 60 they’ll forget something when they’re tired at 11 o’clock at night, too.”
So at 11pm, she’ll be tired and forgetful? I thought she would know what to do at 3am? He thinks she’ll be a zombie before Leno comes on. Does he really want her to be president? Or just forget about what *he’s* doing at 11pm.
Seriously. Are the Klintons capable of telling the truth about ANYTHING?
Kinda makes me expect to see the Four Horsemen of the Apocolypse galloping down my street. These may just be the end times.
Bill & Hillary Clinton are congenital liars. It is astonishing to me that they continue to appear in the Public Square, their inner selves apparently insulated completely from the human attribute of shame (unlike Eliott Spitzer).
And it is absolutely astounding that millions of Americans look to these two immoral, delusionary demoniacs for leadership...
There...now I feel better...
I sent the clinton campaign an email....
So I guess bill is deliberately torpedoing hillary’s campaign..
He said “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.”
LOL. ... thanks bill for bring the subject up again, and by the way, hillary told the story FOUR DIFFERENT TIMES, not once, It wasn’t late at night, and as far as we know she wasn’t “exhausted” on all four occasions. She didn’t “misspeak” she repeatedly told a BOLD FACED LIE, and she didn’t apologize immediately, she tried to LIE her way out of it after she was irrefutably shown to be a LIAR.
Now bill is lying about the lies hillary told about the unnecessary lie she told that started the whole debacle... great work, keep it up.. the people are getting your message LOUD AND CLEAR - You are pathological liars! - which is why I chose “disabilities” as the topic of this message.
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