Clinton's Bosnia Lie: Why Padding Your 3 am Ready Resume Is a Bad Idea

Posted by Pam Spaulding, Pam's House Blend at 5:04 AM on March 25, 2008.

What is wrong with Hillary Clinton and her advisers? In an effort to promote her foreign policy experience -- and thus draw a contrast between the NY senator and Barack Obama, she boldly claimed on March 17 that she went on a harrowing, brave trip to Bosnia in 1996 as First Lady.

"I certainly do remember that trip to Bosnia... we came in in an evasive maneuver... I remember landing under sniper fire... there was no greeting ceremony... we ran with our heads down, we basically were told to run to our cars... there was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, we basically were told to run to our cars, that is what happened."

Now as First Lady, she and her crack team of high-paid consultants should have known that there were not only reporters on the trip (and video) to blow away this account. But no, they stuck to their story, and the end result is that the video evidence has surfaced, making her look like a prevaricating resume padder.

And the Washington Post has a blow-by-blow account of the fibbing and the facts, including her 1996 traveling companion on that trip, the comedian Sinbad, who has no idea where Clinton's account came from.

Harrowing? Not that Sinbad recalls. He just remembers it being a USO tour to buck up the troops amid a much worse situation than he had imagined between the Bosnians and Serbs.

..."I never felt that I was in a dangerous position. I never felt being in a sense of peril, or 'Oh, God, I hope I'm going to be OK when I get out of this helicopter or when I get out of his tank.'"Now help me out here -- why lie about this? It doesn't make any sense, and only allows for this nonsense to be raised in the general election if she were to be the Dem nominee. I know pols can be professional prevaricators, but usually it's to their benefit, not their embarrassment.

If you think the above is bad, a media conference call today with the Clinton team managed to make things worse. Howard Wolfson actually said that Hillary "misspoke" about the Bosnia daredevil trip. It's pretty hard watching that video and seeing a mere slip of the tongue. Come on, people. You don't tout experience that you don't have. Though based on the campaigning so far, it's less about whether something is true or not, it's whether you can do damage to your opponent, which the GOP does so well. Swift Boating works, regardless of who's doing it. That's what they pay the big bucks to the consultants for.

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Tagged as: clinton, obama, bosnia, sinbad

Pam Spaulding blogs at Pam's House Blend.