Bernstein: Hillary Clinton: Truth or Consequences
Hillary Clinton has many admirable qualities, but candor and openness and transparency and a commitment to well-established fact have not been notable among them. The indisputable elements of her Bosnian adventure affirm (again) the reluctant conclusion I reached in the final chapter of A Woman In Charge, my biography of her published last June:
“Since her Arkansas years [I wrote], Hillary Rodham Clinton has always had a difficult relationship with the truth... [J]udged against the facts, she has often chosen to obfuscate, omit, and avoid. It is an understatement by now that she has been known to apprehend truths about herself and the events of her life that others do not exactly share. " [italics added]
As I noted:
“Almost always, something holds her back from telling the whole story, as if she doesn’t trust the reader, listener, friend, interviewer, constituent—or perhaps herself—to understand the true significance of events…”
The Bosnian episode is a watershed event, because it indelibly brings to mind so many examples of this tendency– from the White House years and, worse, from Hillary Clinton’s take-no-prisoners presidential campaign. Her record as a public person is replete with “misstatements” and elisions and retracted and redacted and revoked assertions...
When the facts surrounding such characteristic episodes finally get sorted out - usually long after they have been challenged - the mysteries and contradictions are often dealt with by Hillary Clinton and her apparat in a blizzard of footnotes, addenda, revision, and disingenuous re-explanation: as occurred in regard to the draconian secrecy she imposed on her health-care task force (and its failed efforts in 1993-94); explanations of what could have been dutifully acknowledged, and deserved to be dismissed as a minor conflict of interest - once and for all - in Whitewater; or her recent Michigan-Florida migration from acceptance of the DNC’s refusal to recognize those states’ convention delegations (when it looked like she had the nomination sewn up) to her re-evaluation of the matter as a grave denial of basic human rights, after she fell impossibly behind in the delegate count.The latest episode - the sniper fire she so vividly remembered and described in chilling detail to buttress her claims of foreign policy “experience” - like the peace she didn’t bring to Northern Ireland, recalls another famous instance of faulty recollection during a crucial period in her odyssey.On January 15, 1995, she had just published her book, It Takes a Village, intended to herald a redemptive “come back” after the ravages of health care; Whitewater; the Travel Office firings she had ordered (but denied ordering); the disastrous staffing of the White House by the First Lady, not the President - all among the egregious errors that had led to the election of the Newt Gingrich Congress in 1994.On her book tour, she was asked on National Public Radio about the re-emergence of dormant Whitewater questions that week, when the so-called “missing billing records” had been found. Hillary stated with unequivocal certainty that she had consistently made public all the relevant documents related to Whitewater, including “every document we had,” to the editors of the New York Times before the newspaper’s original Whitewater story ran during Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign.
Even her closest aides - as in the case of the Bosnian episode18 years later - could not imagine what possessed her to say such a thing. It was simply not true, as her lawyers and the editors of the Times (like CBS in the latest instance) recognized, leading to huge stories about her latest twisting of the facts. “Oh my God, we didn’t,” said Susan Thomasas, Hillary’s great friend, who was left to explain to the White House lawyers exactly how Hillary’s aides had carefully cherry-picked documents accessed for the Times in the presidential campaign. The White House was forced - once again - to acknowledge the first lady had been ‘mistaken;” her book tour was overwhelmed by the matter, and Times’ columnist Bill Safire that month coined the memorable characterization of Hillary Clinton as “a congenital liar.”
“Hillary values context; she does see the big picture. Hers, in fact, is not the mind of a conventional politician,” I wrote in A Woman In Charge. “But when it comes to herself, she sees with something less than candor and lucidity. She sees, like so many others, what she wants to see.”
The book concludes with this paragraph:
“As Hillary has continued to speak from the protective shell of her own making, and packaged herself for the widest possible consumption, she has misrepresented not just facts but often her essential self. Great politicians have always been marked by the consistency of their core beliefs, their strength of character in advocacy, and the self-knowledge that informs bold leadership. Almost always, Hillary has stood for good things. Yet there is a disconnect between her convictions and her words and actions. This is where Hillary disappoints. But the jury remains out. She still has time to prove her case, to effectuate those things that make her special, not fear them or camouflage them. We would all be the better for it, because what lies within may have the potential to change the world, if only a little.”
The jury - armed with definitive evidence like the CBS tape of Hillary Clinton’s Bosnian adventure - seems on the verge of returning a negative verdict on her candidacy.
– Carl Bernstein, 360° Contributor Editor's note: Read other blogs from the 360° team of contributors at cnn.com/360
On Twitter
Oh yeah! Go Hillary! If you believe her lies and spins at this stage, you are as delusional as the Clintons.
You are all so unfair to Hillary,
Why didn't you write such a negative artical on Obama and his Paster? Myabe you should check Obama's trash bag more carefully,.I am sure you will find more trash on Obama and make sure you will report them and don't close your eyes on them.
Mary, NJ
Interesting to se the comments from Mrs. Clinton's pastor. Is she now going to repudiate those statements and leave her church? Just goes to show how ridiculous this whole drama is. She needs to stick to truth and real issues and enough with the games.
I find Hilary Clinton to be totally untrustworthy and arrogant. She expects that reporters and the American public would just let her do and say whatever she wants whether it is true or not. It's sad, but it is frightening what she will do and say if she were to become President. Imagine the President of the United States being characterised as a 'congenital liar'. She is completely unscrupulous and dishonest – all the qualities you DON'T want in an American President.
Ask Clinton about her latest statement "she said she speaks a million words a day" In a 24 hou day with no sleep she would have to speak almost 700 words a minute.
She needs to tell the truth
I'd like to respond to Cindy's post, if I may. The inherit problem with Hillary Clinton 'embellishing' her roles, stances, and, hell, even her own memory, is that when the premise of a candidate's platform for presidency, such as her own, is completely constructed from her assertions that she is 'ready from day one' and has 'passed the commander-in-chief test', it calls into serious question whether her qualifications are flat out lies.
Obama, like many politicians, is selling himself on his roles on a variety of issues. But when Clinton accidently-on-purpose LIES about what she has done to try and distance herself as the most qualified candidate, it's not misstatements, it's called lying. Even 5 year olds know that. She would have been a lot safer has she stuck to what she has done, SLIGHT exaggerations as expected to be included. THIS IS THE ISSUE! She had my respect, but watching these desperate, maniacal tactics is revolting and really has me and ALOT of Americans wondering to what extent she would lie as President and how far her desperation for a Clinton dynasty would bring us closer to transition into ANOTHER failed Republican presidency.
GO. OBAMA.
Humpty Dumpty – When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more no less.
Alice – The question is, whether you can make words mean so many different things.
Humpty Dumpty – The question is: which is to be master. – that's all.
Let's see . . . eight years of Hillary, then eight years of Jeb, then Chelsea will be old enough to run . . .
Get off her back and start examining the REAL problem, that being the ideologies that Barrack Obama embraces. How can this Country be so naieve to think this man is going to be the " Great Unifer". He embraces left wing ideas that will force an even deeper chasm in this Country. Why does the media continously Praise his every word as though he was some type of " Messiah" THIS MAN IS NO MESSIAH"
I found this article fascinating and the responses equally fascinating.
For the Cindy whom says it doesn't matter: It does to many of us.
Clinton makes claims that she has all this alleged foreign policy experience and then lies to exaggerate as in this story as well as in all of them on factcheck.org. I don't think anyone wants to have a politician whom bases her entire candidacy on experience and when it shows up that she has none that were truly relevant here, we should take that into account.
As for allxdreamer. This has nothing to do with not wanting a woman in the whitehouse. We just want the right woman whom holds herself up with dignity and respect. In my mind I wish Nancy Pelosi would run. I love the way she carries herself and does not endorse anyone, and only makes comments when she finds someones facts to be incorrect. AS a woman I would love to see a woman in the whitehouse, but I would rather have the right candidate in then just making sure a woman wins.
To those that have issues with CNN and their reporting: They publish all the negative aspects about Obama as well including a huge coverage on his pastor. Plus this is a blog that seems to be an opinion article. Why would you blast CNN for an opinion made by one of their writers. This is Anderson Cooper's Blog, not the political ticker.
It's time for Hillary and the Clintons to do what they have never done before, and that's put the interests of the people ahead of their own interests. It would take a miracle for her to catch Obama in the delegate count and if she ends up stealing it away from him based on superdelegates, or by any other means, it will not only cause the democrats the white house by splitting the party, but WILL also ruin the party for years to come. She needs to do the HONORABLE thing and step down.
She lied about Bosnia.
She lied about Kosovo.
She lied about Northern Ireland.
She lied about NAFTA.
Even if one dismisses these are mere exagerations, there is a pattern here and complete lack of self-awareness that should be disturbing. The very things she says make her ready on day one aren't true.
"Hillary Clinton has many admirable qualities"
And what exactly are they?
. . . .For those who continue to choose to be disenlighted, There are
a lot of white people who attend Rev. Wright's church. I happen to be one
of them.
Obama 08.
It is time for the super delegates who are leaders of the Democratic Party to act like leaders and put an end to this campaign. We have had 16 years of divisiveness. We don't need four or eight more. Clinton does not care about the consequences of her comments, so long as they advance her cause. That is not the kind of leader America needs.
The people of Arkansas who want to see the facts have long known that those two will do anything.....ANYTHING....to be elected. They have been on the public dole their entire married life. They are not to be trusted...either one of them. And Bill is actually the more believable. That should tell you something.
Greg Craig, a foreign policy adviser to Barack Obama who served in President Bill Clinton's administration at the time of the talks, said the "inflated" claim called into question Mrs Clinton's judgement.
“But the Clinton White House, while supportive of the idea of expanding children's health, fought the first SCHIP effort, spearheaded by Senators Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, and Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah, because of fears that it would derail a bigger budget bill. And several
current and former lawmakers and staff said Hillary Clinton had no role in helping to write the congressional legislation, which grew out of a similar program approved in Massachusetts in 1996."
“As Hillary has continued to speak from the protective shell of her own making, and packaged herself for the widest possible consumption, she has misrepresented not just facts but often her essential self."
JUST WORDS!!!!!!!... NO ACTION HERE. She is a lying hypocrite.
She doesnt deserve to even be working on either end of Pennsylvania Ave. If she were in court, she would have been convicted of purgery a dozen times!!!
Just a thought. Yes, she "misspoke," she shouldn't have done it and should have owned it that she did it. That had to be extremely embarrassing to have to admit to embellishment. I see why she defended it. It was too embarrassing to admit you got it wrong.
However, yesterday I listened to one of the Colonels that was on the ground in Bosnia during that time. He was very indignant about her comments and stated they had 4000 troops, etc. there to see to her safety. If the security were truly that tight and extreme, then maybe Bosnia was not such the walk in the park that the media and everyone says it is.
Again, I agree she shouldn't have done this but maybe we need to really look at the security measures that were put in place before she and Chelsea landed. I know with so many people hating the Clintons, there can never be any justification for her story, but maybe, just maybe, she had reason to feel the danger.
Also, where are the security briefings that were made to the military during that time? The press is so quick to disprove her but not one press outlet has verified the security measures, not even the Sainted Carl Bernstein. Again, I know everyone is going to say it's another cover-up by the Clintons but as many people in the press and military that hate the Clintons, surely there is something that gives an accurate description of what measures were taken to ensure their safety. It should give us a better perspective on the actual conditions of Bosnia at the time. True there were no snipers but maybe there was a reason she felt concerned.
Oh and if you think I am a Clinton supporter - No. I’m a registered Independent and cannot stand any of the three. I am just sick of the bashing.
Kris: Do you know how ridiculous it is for you to find Barack Obama to be racist. You do understand that he is half-white correct? So if he were racist, he would have to be prejudice against himself (or half of him self at least), his mother, his grandparents, etc.
It is laughable when people say Barack has injected race into this campaign and that he is racist. It does not benefit him in any shape, form, or fashion to bring up race. It does, however, benefit his opponent to bring up race because by painting him as a racial candidate, his opponent can pander to a large segment of society who has issues with blacks in positions of power. If you listened to his speech in Philadelphia, and actually listened to the words and what the message was, it is clear that he is not about race and racial politics, he is about elevating our dialogue and debate. If anyone has any grounds to talk about race it is Barack, based on his life story and experience. No other politician could have or would have even attempted to do such a thing. Open your eyes.
Hillary for President!!!!!!!!!!!100% vote for her.. GO HILLARY
So, Messiah Barack is a saint now?
They are all politicians.
I think Hillary has created somewhat of a bubble around herself as protection from the media. Its not like they haven't beat her up almost continually for 16 yrs.
She got my vote in Texas at the primary, as well as at the Obamanista turned scam of a caucus. (Over 3000 complaints made to Tx Dem Party of major irregularities and rule-breaking).
GO HILLARY!
She is a LIAR!
Hillary claims that she had been vetted and "crucified" over her life – now the gremlins are coming out. Never one to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but, she has made her principle of telling part of the truth and the rest is what suits her best then. This is the personality that people are supposed to support? The Clintons, from AK through the WH and up to now have shown us that they have no moral fibre; go back to whitewater, firing of travel staff, Paula, Gennifer, Monica, Foster and others, and you see the path of destruction in their wake. They are now intent on doing the same to Obama and many of us are allowing them to suceed. We should find the better part of ourselves, all of us, and stop this destructive couple before we find ourselves in their destructive wake.
Carl, face it......you've been making the talk show circuit for at least six months trotting out all your anti Hillary theories and venom. This is just more of the same, and, from the looks of your boring narrative, it's about time you sacked it up and headed for the old folks home.
There's a name for folks trying to do what you're doing Carl. It's called "Washed up Has Been"
'Bye Carl.
am so disappointed in Hillary a woman contender and how her campaign will be remembered in history. She is 1st woman as a presidential candidate and somehow the way her campaign is run, the way she conducts herself is not what exemplifies womanhood for me (of course this is only my opinion). Her behavior appears unbalanced, and like some spoiled, bullying child. When she is challenged on her years in the white house, it is either none of our business, oh you can never understand (high and mighty) or give me a break (get off my back). **It is not the American publics fault that what was done by her or her husband in the white house is our business, and we will continue to ask**. Whenever she is confronted with her own issues, her response is never to address them but to blame anyone other than herself or husband. Then next immediately she attacks the other candidates as if to say look over here. Well she and no other woman can be proud of this since history is being made. She has brought even the role of a presidential candidate down to some stereotypes woman have strived to overcome for ages. Those stereotype are the witch, the shrew, the gold digger, and the snappish, uptight ticking bomb. Me myself, I would have even preferred the blonde bombshell.
We should not have to deal with half truths and misspeak. NAFT, Bosnia, White Water, Monica, Tax Returns, It never ends. Wake up
Mrs Clinton's supprters' efforts to underplay her untruths as irrelevant
to the real issues facing our country are disingenuous,to say the least.
In particular, I do enjoy the good old bait and switch-deflect attention
from her defects by bashing Obama. However, this one is really awful
when one considers the context. We have now reached the grisly total
of 4000 young Americans dead in Iraq and who knows how many
dead and maimed Iraqis.To have Mrs Clinton falsely laying claim to heroism under fire in Kosovo is deeply dishonourable and an insult
to those who really risk their lives to help others.I hope the Democratic party leaders will soon reward her with a dishonourable discharge and I'm not being facetious here.
As Cindy and others continue to miss the point, A presidential race is supposed to get the the Moral Core of a candidate.
In this Clinton utterly and completely fails.
Lawrence from Beverly Hills
Hiliary is dangerous – The White House by any means necessary.
I will go around you; over you or thru you to be President.
Wow. The women are really worked up. First of all, the facts now show unequivocally that Barack Obama told the truth when he said he wasn't present when the sermons circulating on YouTube were given.
Second, a lie is a lie. We know that Bill is prepared to lie to the world ("I did not have sexual relations with that woman.") Anybody who looks at the video and the statements by Hillary Clinton can see the lie, like so many others of hers ("I didn't support NAFTA when I was in the White House.") I always taught my children that if you lie once, a lesson must be learned. But if you lie twice, nobody can trust you. Apparently Hillary never learned this lesson.
It seems that Clinton's supporters – like Clinton herself – prefer to cacoon themselves in their own fantacies about this candidate.
WE have had to deal with one lier in the White House for 8 years – and now, these so called Democrats are eager to send another lier to the Whitehouse.
Could it be that the Clinton Democrats are really Rush Limbaugh disciples in disguise?
I wonder if Sen. Obama ever embellished anything?
Probably not. He is sooooo perfect.
Lots of luck Obama fans
Hillary is making comments about Reverend Wright now, because two months from now the story will unfold about her unsavory religious affiliation with an elitist Capitol Hill bible study group called The Fellowship, also knows as The Family. A former member of this group has written an expose to be released May 20, 2008 and published by Harper Collins. The Author's name is Sharlet. Should be a very interesting read.
I never thought that democrats would be behave so ugly and pathetic. Maybe you should go look at what foxnews bloggers are blogging about the democrats. A recent polls show democrats voting for Mc Cain if there representive dosen't win. Those are not true democrats and that why this party is headed towards destruction. I have always supported the Clintons but it is pathetic that Hillary is still in this race and she does not realistically have a chance to win but I tell you this much I don't support her anymore because the Clintons true colors have shown. They would rather fight till the end and lead the party to destruction. Real democrats please vote for Obama to end this unesscary drama, so we can get those damn republicans out of office!!!
Asbestos or not, her pant-suit DOES seem to be on fire...
Hillary made a mistake or better said exagerated her comments. One thing is true – she has a lot more expereince then Barak ever will! Nuff said..
To call her "a congenital liar" is inadequate. She does not know the difference between a lie and the truth, and she is totally unprincipled.
How could anyone vote for someone like her?
To the person who wrote, "We all at some point or another tell lies," I want to respond, "No, we don't." Some of us tell the truth. Perhaps (as another writer said) we remember situations from individual perspectives, but most of us try to tell the truth all the time. It seems to me impossible to believe that one would say one had faced sniper fire when one had not. This is not a mis-remembering; this is clearly outright myth-making. Only you can't make a myth when there is video to contradict the story.
Besides this, one of the most pressing and depressing problems in this country is the question of health care for those who are uninsured - and even for those who are. Hillary Clinton had a shot at this once and failed completely. I don't believe she can do it on a second try either.
For these reasons - and because he is a brilliant and inspiring person who will make wise choices for our country - I will vote for Barack Obama in the primary. If he does not receive the nomination, I plan to vote for McCain.
CNN is biased towards Obama? You have to be kidding! It has not been dubbed the "Clinton News Network" for nothing. Outside of Cafferty, this is the first time I've seen them acknowledge the obvious fact of her campaign: that it based on mis-representing the truth. Most egregious is the idea that it's somehow in the interests of democracy for her to perpetuate a hopeless & increasingly desperate quest when it is apparent that she can not secure the nomination without violating the will of the majority of voters & irreparably damaging her own party.
Cindy,
What does it matter that she "embellished"? First, it wasn't an embellishment, it was a flat out lie. A vividly expressed, matter of fact, forcefully delivered lie. In and of itself it wouldn't be such a big issue except for two MAJOR points:
1) Her whole campaing against Sen. Obama has been that she has more experience and is more prepared to serve on day 1. Her examples of this included Northern Ireland and Bosnia. Both have now been proven to be lies. The foundation of her campaign is based on lies.
2) This is becoming a pattern. Northern Ireland, Bosnia, NAFTA, etc... We just had a President take us into war based on lies. Can we afford to elect the next president who has such a tremendous record of dishonesty? Mr. Bernstein's article and book points out the history and record of dishonesty.
A mistake is...
...locking your keys in your car.
...leaving a light on.
...burning your toast.
...leaving the milk out on your kitchen counter.
These are all examples of mistakes. You chose to embellish your trip to Bosnia by claiming you were under sniper fire and then blamed it on sleep deprivation...probably staying up for too many 3 AM phone calls.
I think I'd remember pretty clearly if I ever had anyone shooting at me.
Your foreign policy experience? Would that be Bosnia (a lie)? Ireland (a lie)? China (a lie)? Iraq (you voted for W's policy)?
The democrats are going to lose big this coming election. McCain is far from the perfect guy to be the next president especially on his war stance, but he will easily beat either Clinton or Obama. These two have LOSER written all over them. The democrats really need to re-evaluate themselves if they ever plan on winning the white house again. It's really sad because I would surely prefer to vote for a democrat over a republican, but there is just NO way I can pull the lever for either of these two!
Once again we have Billary lying to the public, the media, herself.....indeed to everyone.
Hillary even manages to lie when the truth would serve her better, a trait shared with one of America's great Presidents, Richard M. Nixon.
Unfortunately, HIllary has not the intellect, the daring, the certainty, and the poise that Mr. Nixon did – qualities for which one could overlook a collection of faults.
Hillary's rabid paranoia is another issue – and very much splashed over the pages of the DSM – and worries me far more than her tendency to lie about facts large and small. This woman will bring the world to war because some leader or another will tell her to jam it – and her tiny little ego will not be able to stand the strain.
Worried? More like scared spitless when it comes to Hillary "leading," America. She's dangerous, boys and girls. Take note.
How does the Bosnia exaggeration even compare to the bold and deceiptful lies that Obama has told.
He has lied directly to your network when first interviewd about the Pastors words and if he had heard them.
This should have been and outrage and covered by the headline here but was ignored .
Obama has lied numerous time when understating the Rezko campaign money given to him ,the nafta meeting he completly denied took place.
Focus on the real bold and deceiptful lies that Obama has fooled many with.
As all the rest of you idiots know by now the difference between Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton on issues is microscopic. For all of you crying about issues get this: THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY NOMINATION IS NOT ABOUT ISSUES THIS TIME! It is purely and only about leadership and ability to effect change. Dennis Kuchinich (sp?) nearly always gets the issues right, but would never get elected and might be a truly lousy president. IT AIN'T THE ISSUES ITS WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT THEM!
And let me tell you, liars have no credibility.
But don't worry, the only one who does not know that Hillary cannot win is Hillary.... but there's no "news" in a race that's over
HILLARY WAKE UP – THE GAME IS OVER
Just another showing of Hillary's scary lack of trustworthiness.
It's sad that her devious and flat-out evil nature has actually made me hate her. I can guarantee you this: if she wins the nomination (which she can only do by cheating at this point), Ralph Nader will get my vote. I refuse to be a part of Hillary becoming president, when she is clearly incapable of telling the truth or keeping her own family in check.
As the article says Hillary Clinton is a congenital liar and everyone who votes for her should know that.
If she becomes the President, the U.S. will go down the hill as it had never done before.
For the democrats, Obama is the best choice.
Does anyone remember that will Bill Clinton was running for office, he asked for and secured the endorsement of Rev. Wright? Just something to think about.
How could she be so naive to think the press would have overlooked an attack on the First Lady when it actually happened?
Could you imagine the coverage it would have gotten if she actually had come under attack?
Hillary is a liar and will continue to lie, scratch and steal to get to that coveted top seat. Now how can you remember being ushered down a runway with snipers everywhere when nothing could be further from the truth unless you are a big fat liar who doesn't know the truth from your own BS.
Hillary - do us all a favor and get the heck out NOW!!! You are no different from Bush - a liar and a cheat !!!!!!!!