Hillarity Under Fire

Hillariy is under fire for possibly misoverestimating the hazards she faced on her character-building trip to Bosnia in 1996.  The WaPo gives her Four Pinocchios but Matt Yglesias has studied the video more carefully:

I don't recall that sniper incident, but I was only fifteen or so at the time, and now video has surfaced showing contemporary news coverage of the sniper attack on Clinton, and even capturing a portion of that harrowing dash -- including a moment when Clinton uses her body to shield a little girl from danger...

Very impressive.

And one of Matt's comenters reminds us that Obama has told some whoppers on the trail this year:

Comments

[kim]

Take me back to Tuzla, I'm too wrong to vote for.
================================

[clarice]

Man, this is a fun week:
Clinton adviser to plead guilty to N.H. drunken driving charge
Email|Print|Single Page| Text size – + March 22, 2008
NASHUA, N.H.—A senior adviser to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton has agreed to plead guilty to drunken driving and will lose his right to drive for 16 months, police said.

more stories like thisSidney Blumenthal of Washington was arrested Jan. 7, the day before the New Hampshire primary, and charged with aggravated drunken driving. Police said Blumenthal was traveling 70 mph in a 30 mph zone.

The case had been set for trial last week, but Blumenthal has agreed to plead guilty to a reduced driving while intoxicated charge, said Nashua police Capt. Peter Segal. In addition to the suspended license, police will recommend a fine of $750 when Blumenthal is sentenced April 18.

Blumenthal also will be required to undergo an alcohol intervention program, Segal said.

Blumenthal, 59, is a journalist and former White House adviser to President Bill Clinton who is now serving as an unpaid adviser on Hillary Clinton's campaign.

------

Sid walks for 16 months

[clarice]

Ahem
Sid

[PeterUK]

You don't have to drink to work for Hillary Rodham Clinton,but it helps.

[Foo Bar]

And one of Matt's comenters reminds us that Obama has told some whoppers on the trail this year

On a more serious note, so has McCain- specifically, a whopper that got "Four Pinocchios" from WaPo business columnist Steven Pearlstein:

Chicago, Ill.: John McCain was recently quoted in the New York Times as claiming "every time in history we have raised taxes it has cut revenues". Is it fair to say that this goes beyond the usual half-truths that candidates often utter and achieves the status of an egregious falsehood?

Steven Pearlstein: That's a four pinochio lie, as the Post's one-man truth squad, Michael Dobbs, likes to put it.

[jimmyk]

In that AP photo of her on the tramac, apparently bending over to kiss the little girl, she is really ducking to avoid the sniper fire. I'm pretty sure.

[Other Tom]

McCain made a dumb statement contrary to fact. To call it a "lie" is asinine. Hillary, on the other hand, knew perfectly well that what she was saying was materially false at the time she said it.

It is to be deeply regretted that the reptile Blumenthal escaped the mandatory three days in the slammer that would have come with a conviction.

[SteveMG]

That's a four pinochio lie, as the Post's one-man truth squad, Michael Dobbs, likes to put it.

Was it a "lie" or was McCain just wrong?

I.e., did he know the statement was false?

If not - that is, he was mistaken - that may be even worse than him knowingly telling a falsehood.

[Other Tom]

Neither Clinton seems to be remotely aware of such devices as Google and YouTube. They just continue to lead with their chins, trotting out whopper after whopper only to be caught and ridiculed within minutes.

[clarice]

Jane wherever you are (I forgot the thread) Here's what Fox is reporting on Sarah Jane:

LOS ANGELES — Department of Corrections official says former 1970s radical Sara Jane Olson was wrongly released from prison this week because of an "administrative error."

Chief Deputy Secretary Scott Kernan said Saturday an outcry that followed Olson's release spurred a thorough review of her parole and a 2004 miscalculation was discovered that resulted in her release a year too early.

Kernan says Olson was detained at Los Angeles International Airport on Friday night, told her right to leave the state had been rescinded and sent to stay with family in Palmdale.

He says she was taken into custody without incident on Saturday after an arrest warrent was issued.

Kernan says she will be returned to prison and won't be eligible for release until March 17, 2009

[hit and run]

That's a four pinochio lie, as the Post's one-man truth squad, Michael Dobbs, likes to put it.

No relation.

[Jane]

Yeah I saw that.

Believe it or not (and don't tell anyone) I often have a soft spot in my heart for criminals. I recall feeling sorry for her when she was arrested.

I also have a friend whose entire family was murdered in the '80's, and she always reminds me that it is about the victims.

[Cecil Turner]

Well, this certainly sounds like a "resupply on the objective" moment to me:

Sinbad, who joined Mrs. Clinton on the trip, doesn’t remember anything especially dangerous. “I think the only ‘red-phone’ moment was: ‘Do we eat here or at the next place,’” he told the Washington Post.

I'd imagine being caught between a cranky eight-year-old Bosnian girl and a hungry Sinbad might make her a little bit apprehensive. It would me.

[clarice]

Jane, IIRC one of her victims was a pregnant bank clerk who she kicked in the stomach causing a miscarriage.
I really thin the re-arrest must have been very depressing for her, but I. don't. care.
(Sometimes, I am sympathetic to criminals--not with the SLA or Weathermen who always struck me as privileged snots.)

[Jane]

Clarice,

Oh she deserves to be jailed. But if I recall correctly she was a big community person and had done a lot of good in the years she was on the lam.

My first crisis was Jeffrey Dahmer. As I'm sure you know I am a true believer in the "irresistible impulse" school of thought. I saw Dahmer interviewed after his conviction where he said he had these urges his whole life and he couldn't talk to anyone about it because he was the only person in the whole world with those thoughts. (Apparently he's not, there is some statistic about cannibals.) And all I could imagine was if that was me.

I felt sorry for Ken Lay. There are others. I'm a very weird person.

[Rick Ballard]

Dahmer probably would have walked if he'd eaten Lay after the Enron publicity kicked in.

[clarice]

Ken Lay may be exonerated yet,Jane.It may well be that the task force held back a lot of exculpatory evidence in its possession.
I thought Dahmer was insane though perhaps not under the standard legal definition..He really belonged in close quarters for the rest of his life--hospital or jail made no difference to me.

[clarice]

Here's a little fun : Michael Moore truly exploits the working man

[Foo Bar]

Was it a "lie" or was McCain just wrong?

I.e., did he know the statement was false?

Sure, I guess it's possible he was paying no attention to the numbers as he voted on budget bills while revenue steadily increased for several years in a row after the '93 tax hike.

[SteveMG]

I guess it's possible he was paying no attention to the numbers as he voted on budget bills while revenue steadily increased

That's why I said it may be even worse than him knowingly telling a falsehood.

I.e., he believes his fable.

OTOH, he may - this is weak but bear with me - be arguing that the increased revenues after the tax hikes were due to increased economic activity and not the hikes themselves. The hikes stifled economic activity but not sufficiently to lower revenues.

He didn't say that; but it's the best I can do on short notice.

Look, I just vote for them; I don't represent them.

[Porchlight]

I felt sorry for Ken Lay, too, Jane. Also Charles Whitman. And several others.

[Other Tom]

Good God--the hits just keep on coming:

"The State Department investigation into how and why the passport files of three presidential candidates were breached is scrutinizing an employee at a Virginia-based company, which is headed by an adviser to Barack Obama’s campaign.

"The Washington Times, which broke the news Thursday that Obama’s files were improperly accessed, reported Saturday that the State Department inspector general’s internal probe will include polygraph tests of supervisors to determine whether there was a political motive behind the breaches.

"article said a focal point of the probe will be an employee who works for The Analysis Corporation and is still with the company. The firm is headed by John O. Brennan, an Obama adviser, FOX News confirms. The Times reported he advises the Democratic presidential candidate on intelligence and foreign policy matters."

[Other Tom]

"I guess it's possible he was paying no attention to the numbers as he voted on budget bills while revenue steadily increased for several years in a row after the '93 tax hike."

Sheer rubbish. He may very well indeed not have been "paying attention," along with most of the literate population. Or to the extent that he was paying attention, he may not have recalled the data ten years later. Everyone with a modicum of sense would conclude that he was asserting a principle in which he believes, while being unaware that the empirical data don't support that principle in every case.

But there are those who will call such statements "lies," just as there are those who say Bush "lied" about WMD in Iraq. Call it a lie if you wish, Foo Bar, but don't expect to be taken seriously by serious people.

And you may simply want to stop digging...

[hit and run]

Uh huh...

The Analysis Corporation
1501 Farm Credit Drive, Suite 2300
McLean, VA 22102-5000

Not far from Alexandria.

I'm not saying OT was in town "on business". I'm not saying he wasn't. I'm not saying anything.

[Foo Bar]

Sheer rubbish. He may very well indeed not have been "paying attention," along with most of the literate population

I wasn't being sarcastic when I said "I guess it's possible". It is possible, although not likely, that he didn't know that what he was saying was false. That wouldn't reflect particularly well on him, either, though.

"Most of the literate population" are not U.S. Senators whose jobs entail voting on federal goverment budget issues.

Everyone with a modicum of sense would conclude that he was asserting a principle in which he believes, while being unaware that the empirical data don't support that principle in every case

The most recent case, and the only case that occurred while he was a Senator, dramatically contradicts his assertion. I don't know why you'd be so confident that he didn't know that. Maybe he didn't, but that's hardly obvious.

[Bob Greer]

Why all the fuss about passport info? there wasn't this much fuss about 900 FBI files illagally taken by the Clinton Whitehouse.

[boris]

dramatically contradicts his assertion

Except the economy had already turned around and was recovering strongly before the tax increase. It could be argued that the tax increase had little apparent effect on the recovery but was slightly negative wrt recovery growth and moderately positive wrt tax revenue.

The Bush 41 tax increase clearly made the recession worse and had a significant apparent effect. Very negative.

So the recent examples were, strong support followed by weak contradiction.

[Other Tom]

I would be very surprised if half of the sitting Senators could tell you what federal income tax revenues were in 2005, 2006 or 2007.

While it is indeed troubling if McCain didn't know that his assertion was untrue, it is not conceivable that he knew the actual facts but elected to "lie" about them in the belief that he wouldn't be caught.

And a guy who is in error about financial matters can be corrected by an aide in then minutes. A guy who is a liar stays a liar all his life. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you W. J. Clinton.

[clarice]

TM you may want to run this as a sidebar link--Politico is keeping a running tally of the superdelegates

http://www.politico.com/superdelegates/