Thinking Out Loud - Hillary Clinton

You know what amazes me about the American people? Not only are we strong, independent, rugged and innovative, but we also tend to have short term memories. Or maybe its just our collective use of selective amnesia.

Here we are in 2008, in the midst of a Presidential campaign, finding ourselves in a brouhaha concerning whether or not Hillary Clinton is an honest person. There are polls galore asking if they find the candidates honest. In one such poll during the North Carolina / Indiana Democratic Primaries, 54% of people questioned Hillary's honesty. All because of a comment she made about a sniper incident in Bosnia in 1996. It was explained by her campaign and supporters as her simply "misremembering" the event. And if this wasn't enough, she reported on a young woman who died because she didn't have health insurance; which was later discovered to be erroneous. But she explained this away as well by saying someone had told her the story wrong.

Now, for our part as Americans with selective memory. This isn't the first time this woman has been caught in a lie or exaggeration or a "misremembering." She has been doing it for well over a decade.

TravelGate, the first scandal to hit the Bill Clinton administration. Hillary played a central role in the firings and then made false statements about her involvement. Independent counsel Robert Ray concluded that she had made factually false statements, but there wasn't enough to prosecute.

Whitewater. Remember that little scandal back in the early days of the Clinton Presidency? Documents that were willed to the Library of Congress by Sam Dash (ethics counsel for Kenneth Starr), who passed away in 2004, show that Hillary had lied about her involvement as legal counsel for the Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan Association; as well as the money she made doing so. Prosecutors also determined that she had lied, under oath, about her legal involvement in another real estate venture (Castle Grande).

Health Care Program during the Clinton years. Hillary has always stated that she was pivotal in writing the health care reform bills during her husband's term. Not true, it was Orrin Hatch and Ted Kennedy. She claimed to have been in many meetings that the records show she never attended.

Two words. Vince Foster. The only thing that you can say for certainty is that this long time friend and aide to the Clinton's is dead, and that his body was found in a park. There are lots of conspiracy theories involving his death, from his committing suicide in a place embarrassing to the Clinton's but moved to the park, to his having an affair with Hillary that resulted in his death. Throughout the investigation and public scrutiny of his case, it is excruciatingly obvious that Hillary (and Bill) held information back and were less than truthful.

It just seems to me that after over a decade of her honesty being called into question, even if you think she has been vilified by those who just don't like her and Bill, you have to think of the saying "where there's smoke, there's fire."

(And is it just a coincidence that after I mention this on a national radio talk show, suddenly other radio hosts and the NY Times are talking about it? I think not.)

You can say I'm being mean. You can say there is some ring of truth to all this. You can even say "sticks and stones . . ." No matter. This is just me, thinking out loud.

Have yourself a great day!