"I Refuse to Join any Club That Would Have Me as a Member"

I've been as outspoken as anyone over the last week in pointing out Hillary Clinton's dishonesty, but theWall Street Journal's glee over Clinton's emerging reputation as a serial exaggerator is incredibly disturbing :

Hillary Clinton's been all the news this week, after she "misspoke" about Whitewater, Travelgate, missing files, suspicious pardons, Johnny Chung and cattle futures. Oh wait, after she "misspoke" about Bosnia. Oh wait, same thing.

That's one way to make sense of the unrelenting, unforgiving, 24/7 news coverage of Mrs. Clinton's fictional telling of Bosnian sniper fire and the subsequent debunking of her every word. In a nasty primary battle that has already featured racial slurs and Chicago slum lords, missing tax documents, and a "monster," you might expect this slip-up to have been yet another blip in the media cycle.

But that would have been to deny the press, the pundits, Democrats, and even Barack Obama, the catharsis of finally -- finally! -- getting a chance to confront the Clintons' questionable mores. Hillary's and Bill's scandals have been the elephant in the primary room ever since she first signaled a run. Yet up to now everyone has been too scared, or too loyal, or too weary to touch the ugly past. Her Bosnia misspeak is now serving as proxy for all the truths about the Clintons' non-truths, allowing even liberals to break free from their Clinton dependence.

I take no pleasure in pointing out the hypocrisy of the Clinton campaign. In fact, I've even found myself invoking a Democratic version of Reagan's 11th Commandment, biting my tongue instead of leveling criticism, lest I find myself in a situation in November in which I support a candidate that I've spent months slamming. As an Obama supporter who has written multiple posts highlighting Hillary Clinton's dishonesty, let me go on the record as saying the characterization above is absolutely false.

There's a big, big difference between the criticism that Clinton is receiving now and the nasty, prurient, partisan muck of the 90s. The fact that there are people who have been breathlessly waiting for a return to the days of the Whitewater, Travelgate, and the Lewinsky scandals is a de facto admission of sleazy and trivial journalistic instincts that are better suited to write Penthouse Letters than grace the op-ed pages of the most influential media outlets in our nation. Indeed, the threat of a return to this gossipy media landscape is one of the reasons I feared a return to the Clinton years in the first place.

Having said that, with Clinton's recent embarrassment regarding Tuzla, NAFTA, and others, she's simply being hoisted by her own petard. Put aside the biggest difference (that these new charges are true and the older ones are almost universally false), the fact is that Hillary Clinton has based her own campaign around her (a) toughness and (b) experience. That her campaign is now being tripped up by the latest string of revelations is a good indicator that both claims are hollow.

Taking the "toughness" claim first, Hillary has spoken endlessly on the campaign trail about how she's been sent through the ringer by the right-wing noise machine and that she questions whether or not Barack Obama is tough enough to win a general election. While this is undeniably true (see above), the implication is that Clinton isn't easily tripped up by personal attacks. Yet here we are seven months before the general election and Clinton has been making one demonstrably untrue statement after another on the campaign trail. Considering how well documented her life has been since 1992, lying about her accomplishments is incredibly stupid. These are the kinds of mistakes you'd expect of a political rookie, not someone who claims 35 years of experience.

That "experience", upon which she's built her entire campaign, is the trait she's used to take out her Democratic rivals, so when it's revealed that she's been lying on her resume, it's the kind of hypocrisy that's fair game, especially in the no holds barred style of politics in which Clinton excels. The experience candidate lying about her experience is every bit as relevant as an anti-gay crusader trying to get laid in an airport men's room or a straight-talkin' campaign reform maverick letting lobbyists run their business from his campaign bus. Clinton's lies aren't merely embarrassing. They contradict the core reason for her candidacy.

So going back to the WSJ piece, let me once again "reject and denounce" (to quote Obama) the implication that the world has been waiting to relive the mainstream media, scandal-of-the-week circlejerk of the Clinton years :

Reporters have dug up every last person who accompanied her on the sedate trip to pour a little more salt in the wound. "The Audacity of Hoax," yelled a blog posting in the liberal Nation magazine, which innocently asked: "What else is she fibbing about?" Bill Burton, Barack Obama's spokesman, gleefully noted that Mrs. Clinton's recent attacks on his candidate were designed to deflect attention away from her "made up" Bosnia story. Heavy emphasis on the "made up" part. No need to mention Vince Foster, Red Bone, Marc Rich or Webster Hubbell. All this will do.

Ummmm...no. I know you guys have been waiting for the opportunity to return to the tabloid-a-go-go 90s, but you and your army of Maureen Dowds will have to find some one else to gossip with. Don't use the "enemy of my enemy" trick to draft Obama supporters into your vast right wing conspiracy. As much as I dislike the Clinton campaign now, it's nothing compared to the seething contempt I have for the pseudo-journalistic scum who dragged this nation through the mud in the 90's.

Comments

[Gma11]

This is also a major concern of mine. As well as another depressing possibility. And it is such a scurrilous concern, no one wants to mention it but so many, many people are asking about it in quiet discussions. Good Dems who want to win this November. Has Bill kept his zipper zipped since 1997? And, if not, what might we be faced with this fall? I've absolutely had it with all the news about senators, governors, etc., etc. I DO NOT want this to be an issue in the fall. It would destroy the Dem's chances. Now maybe (hopefully!!) there is no realistic cause for concern.

[trevor01]

You keep throwing manure, eventually some particle or another will stick. Who in the world could withstand such relentless attack? We already have our answer. Hillary knows the game and she knows the score and she believes, because she believes in people, eventually the truth is revealed.

[DemandTruth]

Yeah. That's his whole point. The truth WAS revealed. By Sinbad, then by video. It revealed that Hillary Clinton is an unabahsed LIAR.

[larry278]

No one who say that they have any interest in campaign '08 can be taken seriously unless they are covered head to foot in manure & reek of manure from 1/2 mile away. This may not be the dirtiest campaign for President yet but we have a ways to go before every vote cast on the 1st Tue of Nov '08 is counted & POTUS #44 is sworn in.

[LoRiseAntlers]

Unfortunatel for Hillary,the truth is finally being revealed.I have a feeling that by teh time this camoaign is over,she'll be forced to retire from the Senate,so much truth will finally be reavealed.

[grendl]

She believes in people. Real and fictional.

She believes in people shooting at her on that Bosnian tarmac. Didn't exist. That truth was revealed and it just has to hurt a little bit, doesn't it?

She didn't misremember that incident, she falsified the facts to bolster the already debunked claim she's more qualified to lead this nation. She had no security clearance while at the White House.

I know you Hillary lovers can't believe this is happening to your candidate. You'd love to deflect it back to some overzealous pastor, or the fact that Mr. Obama hasn't spent decades in that cesspool Washington D.C. with the people who have sunk our democracy to sewer levels, but those are just balloons you float before the electorate hoping they'll take off. Sorry to pop them.

She lied. Barack didn't. She endorsed McCain, Barack didn't. She'll lose the nomination, Barack won't.

[fun2bfree]

This post and this article are lacking in truth...she did lie about Travelgate-and Whitewater records, etc (read Carl Bernstein's book or his last post on the HUFFPOST last week)---there are so many examples of Hillary lying that is far from just some lucky particle sticking...
Phony questions planted in audiences-
Lies and misleading supporters about Obama's record on choice in NH
Lies about Obama's statements re: Reagan in SC
Lies about NAFTA
Lies about Ireland
Lies about Bosnia
Lies about SCHIP
LIes about position on MI/FL
Lies about release of tax records
....Again--this is nothing new--it is a central part of her "character" amply documented in Bernstein's inexpicably sympathetic biography (inexplicable because he forgives such an inveterate liar whereas I happen to place a higher import on INTEGRITY)

[mcnairbo]

Didn't they already try this one on Al Gore? The press painted him as a "serial exaggerator" and it stuck. Now look at Gore. You all only wish you could vote for him again rather than throwing your votes away on Ralph Nader like you did in 2000.

[fun2bfree]

sorry I left out she lied about sleep deprivation causing her to lie about Bosnia-when she in fact said this in her prepared remarks and has said it on multiple occasions... and when Sinbad contradicted her she dismissed him as the liar when in fact she was the liar....

[ChrisS13]

First off she didn't lie about Reagon comments. You can't somehow applaud Reagon for having ideas without the presumption that you agreed with his ideas. It doesn't work that way, it was a lame attempt to get Reagon Democrats and he got called on it.

lied about NAFTA, not once but twice
lied in Mailors about HRC's comments on NAFTA
Lied multiple times about Rev. Wright.
lied about his relationship with Rezco
lied multiple times on how much money Rezco raised
lied about his fathers link to Kennedy.
lied on the survey saying that an aid filled it out,
lied on the questionaire about funding the general
lied about his ties to Oil and Nuclear companies
lied about his legislature records
like about his illinios records
lied about his 16 month plan on IRaq.

HRC didn't lie about IReland unless you only want to hear one side of the story. She did embellish Bosnia and slightly SCHIP, but it doesn't change the fact that she worked on Schipp and that she entered a war zone in Bosnia. She also hasn't lied about NAFTA, but you dolts again only listen to the side of the story that fits your lame agenda. And when did she lie about her tax returns??? She said they would be released on April 15th, I'm sorry if that doesn't fit into Obamas time table, but she doesn't work for Obama or his drones.