Posted on 01/01/2008 6:15:12 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton was praised in the wake of the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto for demonstrating her command of the players and the issues at stake in Pakistan, even as another candidate, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, was criticized for stumbling over details.
But in two confident television appearances, on CNN and ABC, Clinton made an elementary error about Pakistani politics: She described President Pervez Musharraf as a "candidate" who would be "on the ballot."
In fact, Musharraf was reelected to the presidency in October. The upcoming elections are for parliament, and while Musharraf's party will be facing off against opposition parties, the president himself is not a candidate.
"He will NOT be on the ballot," said a Pakistan scholar at Columbia University, Philip Oldenburg, in an e-mail. "These are parliamentary elections, where the contests are for a seat in the national assembly. The prime ministerial candidate typically fights for victory in a local constituency, as well as lead[ing] the party in a national campaign."
A spokesman for Clinton, Howard Wolfson, said Clinton was referring to Musharraf's party, not the president himself.
And Oldenburg said that "how well the PML-Q, the so-called 'King's Party,' does would in effect be a referendum on Musharraf."
But Clinton's words appear unambiguously to describe Musharraf himself as a candidate.
"If President Musharraf wishes to stand for election, then he should abide by the same rules that every other candidate will have to follow," she told CNN's Wolf Blitzer (.pdf) Dec. 28.
"He could be the only person on the ballot. I don't think that's a real election," she told ABC's George Stephanopolous December 30.
Her error was first noted by a conservative American commentator, Thomas Houlahan.
I challenge the smartest woman in the world to a calculus competition.
On national TV.
The MSM doesn’t care. They just want her elected no matter what. They will cover for her every mistake right up to the next devastating terrorist attack in this country.
Keep yappin’, Hillie....
Liars
Liars
Liars
"He could be the only person on the ballot. I don't think that's a real election," she told ABC's George Stephanopolous December 30.
The problem is that Blitzer and Stephanopolous are political pimps, not news reporters. They haven't the faintest idea what they are talking about. They ask hillary questions about Bhutto and Pakistan because that's the latest cause celebre, but I doubt whether they even noticed that hillary mispoke. They probably know even less about it than she does, although they're standing there like pompous experts interviewing her.
So, what are they going to say now? That she was wrong and they are stupid? I don't think so.
Not good that her ignorance was twice expressed in her own incontrovertible words.
As with the Red Queen of C.S. Lewis' Alice, "words mean what I mean when I say them".
Hillary and Huckabee sung to the tune of Ebony and Ivory
Neither could find Pakistan with a hundred-Mountie search party.
Doesn’t say much for Hillary’s ‘smarts’ when someone has to do clean-up after every other speech she makes now, lol.
Nah.....everybody's got it all wrong!
The senator from NY never makes a mistake!
Either her statement was taken totally out of context or the rest of the world is wrong!!!! . (at least that is how it will be spun).
.
I'm sure it has not escaped your attention that the entire disgusting team is back. Wolfson, Ikes (how appropriate), Blumenthal, Carville, Begala, Anne Lewis. We are about to be plunged into the world of soap opera and sleaze and corruption all over again.
The Hildebeast has no need of correct facts, no need for honesty, no need for integrity. She is, after all, the Hildebeast, and she will lead us to Socialist Enlightenment.
Gawd, this woman makes me want to puke. And, the lemmings following her unto the sea need to be treated for their peculiar mental illness.
And when that occurs, it will still be blamed on Bush.
Just on Pakistan? Is that all?
Forever. Or at least until the next Republican President. I asked my cousin (a lefty) when was the last time he actually read anything good about any Republican in the news or heard anything good on the TV? He couldn’t remember anything positive at all. At least it made him think about the bias.
What a stuning intellect!
And Oldenburg said that "how well the PML-Q, the so-called 'King's Party,' does would in effect be a referendum on Musharraf."
But Clinton's words appear unambiguously to describe Musharraf himself as a candidate.
"If President Musharraf wishes to stand for election, then he should abide by the same rules that every other candidate will have to follow," she told CNN's Wolf Blitzer (.pdf) Dec. 28.
O what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.
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