Americans Away From Home

What do NAFTA, Northern Ireland, and Bosnia have in common? Each one's part of Hillary Clinton's claim to having foreign policy experience.  When Hillary brags, "I've been vetted," it's like the Thanksgiving turkey you think's completely cooked, until inspection shows it's still not ready.

"I have been a critic of NAFTA from the very beginning." Hillary campaigns making this claim.

According to The Nation, "Her statement is, to be precise, a lie." (The Nation article here). This buries Hillary's credibility on trade policy.

"I helped to bring peace to Northern Ireland." Hillary campaigns, making this claim.

Yet according to according to Lord Trimble of Lisnagarvey, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and former First Minister of the province, Hillary Clinton had no direct role in bringing peace to Northern Ireland. He calls Hillary a "wee bit silly" for exaggerating the part she played. (Telegraph story here).

In Counterpunch, Eamonn McCann calls it a deft distortion. (Counterpunch story here).  It's not a good sign when a candidate's claims about helping a country make her a laughingstock there.

“I remember landing under sniper fire." Hillary campaigns, making this claim March 17, 2008, in a speech at George Washington University. “I certainly do remember that trip to Bosnia,” Hillary recalled.

First, her claim was mocked by the comedian Sinbad, who traveled on the trip with her. (Washington Post story here).

Next, Hillary's claim was fact-checked by The Washington Post. A video showing Hillary's arrival in Bosnia, confirming her claim's a lie, has had 133,000 views on YouTube. (YouTube video here).

"Simply not credible" is the Washington Post's conclusion.

The newspaper gave Hillary's claim The Pinocchio Test, where they give one to four Pinocchios. You get one if you shade the facts, but no outright falsehoods. You get two for significant omissions and/or exaggerations. You get three for significant factual error and/or obvious contradictions.

Hillary's claim was awarded 4 Pinocchios. They give that for Whoppers. (Washington Post story here).

Even Hillary's own campaign acknowledges she lied. Oh, they gave it a new word: "misspoke."

"The Clinton campaign says Senator Hillary Clinton may have “misspoke” recently when she said she had to evade sniper fire when she was visiting Bosnia in 1996 as first lady." (NY Times story here).

There's even an update: William Nash, Commander of U.S. troops in Bosnia, was at the Tuzla airport with Hillary. Today Helene Cooper, the Times' diplomatic correspondent, said she spoke with him. He said there was no threat of sniper fire at the airport during Hillary's visit, and that she never had her head down (as she claimed).

Writing about Hillary's lies isn't easy. Every time I've tried to finish, more articles about her lies appear. (CBS News story here)

When Richard Nixon ran for President, a famous poster asked, "Would you buy a used car from this man?"

Seriously. If this is what Hillary does when she's only a candidate, what's she likely to do with the power of the executive office at her disposal?

Oh, say can you see the writing on the wall?

Carole