Letters to the Editor
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Stop the ranting
As to Hillary: I think she was remembering her emotions when she landed, which is usually what we remember and the case of most mis-remembering. Our emotions create a narrative which we overlay on to our actions.
But as to Salon: I really don't care who wins the vote, since Hillary and Obama both have essentially the same platform; one will provide a model of a black leader and other a leadership model for women. I think the US wins on either accounts. But I'm really kind of tired of the lame way Salon keeps ranting on incessantly with the obvious Obama bias. A couple of meagre observations about Obama don't count for actual balanced journalistic investigation. The negative articles and opinions about Hillary are not even investigative, they're barely even rhetorical . . . in fact sometimes it's just pure vitriol. I'm getting kind of sick of it. It's weak writing and lame politics.
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Much To Do About Nothing
I believe there are too many news reports and eyewitness accounts supporting Senator Clinton's remembrance of the Bosnia trip to discount. The cable news shows and Obama supporting journalists have found a way to do just that. This is thier own version of the superdelegate fight. If they tell the American people something long enough, they feel they can sway the election. And the poll numbers support this supposition. There are long lists of Obama's outright lying about being involved with legislation (his own surrogate, Chris Dodd, outed him on one of his lies), and yet the media just lets that information fade away. The real victim here is the American people. Obama can't win conservative white vote. He's too liberal and has the taint of being anti-american. If he is nominated, McCain will win. And the media will bear most of the responsibility for that.
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@krisellyn
krisellyn: "I believe there are too many news reports and eyewitness accounts supporting Senator Clinton's remembrance of the Bosnia trip to discount."
Name one news report or eyewitness account that supports Clinton's description of events -- just one. Did you not see the video of the arrival?
Since you seem confused about the story, here are the basic facts:
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LIST OF KNOWN INSTANCES OF HILLARY TELLING THE BOSNIA 'SNIPER FIRE' STORY
December 29 (30?), 2007: Hillary Clinton at an event in Dubuque, Iowa: "You know, going to places that often times were, you know, not necessarily a place that a president could go. We used to say in the White House that if a place was too dangerous, too small or too poor, send the first lady. So, I had the time of my life. I was the first, you know, high-profile American to go into Bosnia after the peace accords were signed because we wanted to show that the United States was 100 percent behind the agreement. ... So, we landed in one of those corkscrew landings and ran out because they said there might be sniper fire. I don't remember anybody offering me tea on the tarmac." (CNN broadcast from January 1, 2008)
February 29, 2008: Hillary Clinton speaking in Waco, TX, as reported by the New York Times -- "Contrasting that with her own experience, she evoked foreign battlefields, recalling a trip to Bosnia as first lady, when the welcoming ceremony 'had to be moved inside because of sniper fire.'" Full quote: "I remember particularly a trip to Bosnia where the welcoming ceremony had to be moved inside because of sniper fire." (article published March 1, 2008) Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzDkTUtTGXU
March 17, 2008: Hillary Clinton's campaign speech -- "I certainly do remember that trip to Bosnia, and as Togo said, there was a saying around the White House that if a place was too small, too poor, or too dangerous, the president couldn't go, so send the First Lady. That's where we went. 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." Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_Z5_LAfQ9Y
March 17, 2008: Hillary Clinton at George Washington University, questioned about the story -- "Everyone was told to sit on their bulletproof vests. ... And we came in, in an evasive maneuver. ... There was no greeting ceremony, and we basically were told to run to our cars. Now, that is what happened." C-Span video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOsGo_HWP-c
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OTHER INTERESTING LINKS
CBS News report contrasting Clinton's speech with their footage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_Z5_LAfQ9Y
Hillary Clinton, March 25: "I misspoke ... that was sleep deprivation or something." Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lsffxWZbXs
Good Washington Post summary of Hillary's Bosnia story and its fallout: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/25/AR2008032502446.html?hpid=sec-politics
Interesting -- Air Force pilot who flew Clinton to Bosnia tells story: http://www.breitbart.tv/html/68124.html
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LIST OF "MISSTATEMENTS"
According to the pilot and others present:
(1) -- Clinton says "If a place is too...dangerous, the president couldn't go, so send the First Lady." Clinton also says, "I was the first....high-profile American to go into Bosnia after the peace accords were signed." Turns out that Bill Clinton was there after the peace accords were signed, and so was the Sec'y of Defense.
(2) -- According to everybody else interviewed about the matter, there was no discussion of any possible sniper fire. If there had been, the pilot says he would not have even landed. The areas surrounding the airport had all been thoroughly cleared, with helicopters patrolling the perimeter for ground movement, and there was no major fighting in the area.
(3) -- It was not a corkscrew landing, according to the pilot. Nor was it an "evasive maneuver" (evading what?). The location of the runway was such that all cargo planes had to make steep landings. This landing was not out of the ordinary.
(4) -- Clinton said, "We ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles." The video shows that Clinton did not run at all, did not duck her head down, and was in no hurry to get into her vehicle. Clinton also says, "We were told to run to our cars." The pilot says that nobody in the plane gave such an order.
(5) -- Clinton said, "everyone was told to sit on their bulletproof vests." According to the pilot, nobody is ever told to sit on bulletproof vests in any plane he's been in for his entire career, and he's never heard of any situation where that would have occurred. (This is a detail, however, from a scene in "Apocalypse Now").
(6) -- "There was no greeting ceremony." Video conclusively shows that there was some sort of a greeting event, if not a fancy ceremony.
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HILLARY CLINTON'S EXACT STATEMENTS ON "SNIPER FIRE"
Dec. 29, 2007: "they said there might be sniper fire" [claim based on what she heard]
Feb. 29, 2008: "the welcoming ceremony had to be moved inside because of sniper fire" [claim restated as a general fact]
March 17, 2008 (1): "I remember landing under sniper fire" [claim restated as fact, almost as if observed]
March 17, 2008 (2): When questioned, Clinton restates other false claims but avoids mentioning the sniper-fire claim.
March 25, 2008: "I misspoke....that was sleep-deprivation or something"
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