Could Hillary’s Howler Cost Her An Election?

Pundits everywhere have shot Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s claim that she was attacked in Bosnia into Swiss cheese.

Clinton claimed that on a 1996 trip to the conflict-ridden area, she and her daughter Chelsea landed in their plane while under attack.

In a St. Patrick’s Day campaign speech, the senator said the following, as transcribed on her Web site: I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base.”

The nation’s collective eyebrows began to raise when comedian Sinbad, whom it turned out was with the Clintons on the trip, publicly announced that no such thing occurred.

She has since retracted her statement, telling a Pennsylvania newspaper reporter she was “sleep-deprived” when she made the original claim four times.

Pundits are comparing her gaffe to that of fellow candidate Barack Obama, who initially said he wasn’t aware of his former reverend’s unpatriotic stance. That cost him days of having to explain himself and distance himself from his reverend of many years.

Late-night talk show hosts are also remembering previous times in which her husband, President Bill Clinton, was “economical” with the truth while he was in office.

The faux pas has drawn the most scathing criticism from current and former members of the U.S. military, who are insulted that Clinton alluded that they would allow the First Lady and her daughter to land in such unsafe conditions. She has since said that the military took excellent care of her and Chelsea while they were on their trip. Oh, and she also believes that ” last week, you know, for the first time in 12 or so years I misspoke.”

Whoops.

Candice Yacono

(photo credit: sskennel)

April 8th, 2009 by admin | Posted in National Politics | (0)