2007 Boldface Lies: No. 1

I have been a fan of the Clinton technique of lying in plain view ever since the whoppers about the spelling of her name was influenced by the great climb of Sir Edmund Hillary, which was a few years after Hillary's birth. I also like the one Bill told about reading about black churches being burned in his state as a boy and being disturbed. Within days of that whopper, the state historian went public to say no church had been burned.

Today, we have her position on Iraq which spells out for sure she was against the war before she voted for it. Her new position will, of course, be repeated by the major media without so much as comment, thus providing further protection of the Clintons in the never-ending double-standard regarding double-talk. The problem is, this time, other Democrats will refresh the electorates RAM about her lie.

Recall, as a primary axiom:

Clinton votes YES on House Joint Resolution 114, "to authorize the use of United States Armed Forces against Iraq." The measure passes the Senate 77-23. Oct., 2002

Below are her wonderfully creative words and those of the Guardian, hardly a right-wing paper, and of a Hate-Bush- Now group called Codepink. (Is that onomatopoeia?)

Clinton Promises to End War if Elected (2/2/07)

By NEDRA PICKLER

WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday she would not have attacked Iraq if she were president in 2002 and would end the war if elected, as she tried to blunt rivals like John Edwards who are stoking anti-war passions in the Democratic Party.

Clinton, raising her voice at one point to be heard above anti-war hecklers, suggested that calls from Edwards and others to cut off funding for President Bush's troop increase are unlikely to win approval in a narrowly divided Senate.

"Believe me, I understand the frustration and the outrage," Clinton said in a speech to the Democratic National Committee meeting that brought the party's nine White House hopefuls together for the first time. "You have to have 60 votes to cap troops, to limit funding to do anything. If we in Congress don't end this war before January 2009, as president, I will."

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At least, the Guardian writer remembers what he read a few years ago:

Ewen MacAskill in Washington
Thursday January 18, 2007
The Guardian

Hillary Clinton risked being outflanked in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination yesterday when she revised her stance on the Iraq war but failed to go far enough to satisfy anti-war critics.

Mrs Clinton, who voted for the war in 2002 and has so far refused to repudiate that, took to television and radio studios for a media blitz yesterday morning to set out a new position after a visit to Iraq and Afghanistan last week.....

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Here is a Codepink's view of Ms. Clinton's flip-flop, which was not floppy enough:

Hillary Clinton's Senate Record on the War in Iraq:

January 2007: Hillary says that it was President Bush’s “decision to go to war with an ill-conceived plan and an incompetently executed strategy." She adds, “We expect him to extricate our country from this before he leaves office,” e.g., before 2009, but she hedges when asked if this means troop withdrawal by then. In short, Hillary once again makes it clear that her ever-changing positions on the war are tied completely to her domestic political calculations January 2007: Hillary places the blame for the situation on the Iraqis themselves: "I don't think we should continue to fund the protection for the Iraqi government leaders or for the training and equipping of their army unless they meet certain conditions…." She opposes Bush's "troop surge" and calls for a "cap" on troop levels, but refuses to call for withdrawal or to support Senate measures that would restrict funding for the war. December 2006: Hillary still doesn't join John Kerry and John Edwards in apologizing for the war authorization vote, but she does say: "Obviously, if we knew then what we know now, there wouldn't have been a vote and I certainly wouldn't have voted that way." October 2006: Hillary calls for the firing of Donald Rumsfeld. "If we could get some adult supervision right now in the administration with respect to their war strategy, this could be handled," she said. She's not against the war-she just thinks it's being managed badly. September 2006: Clinton votes NO on Senate Amendment 4882 sponsored by Diane Feinstein that would ban the sale of cluster munitions for the use in heavily populated civilian areas. The amendment is defeated 70-30. June 2006: Clinton votes NO on Senate Amendment 4442 sponsored by John Kerry that would require the redeployment of United States Armed Forces from Iraq in order to further a political solution in Iraq. The amendment is defeated 86-13. November 2005: A few days after Representative John Murtha bravely calls for the redeployment of troops currently in Iraq, Hillary offers this response: an immediate U.S. withdrawal from Iraq would be "a big mistake." February 2005: Hillary makes the somewhat dubious statements that much of Iraq is functioning well, that elections there have succeeded and that the insurgency is failing. Hillary says the US should not set a deadline for troop withdrawal because it will "play into the hands of the insurgents." April 2004: Hillary says she is not sorry she voted for a resolution authorizing the president to take military action in Iraq, but she does regret "the way the president used the authority." October 2002: Clinton votes YES on House Joint Resolution 114, "to authorize the use of United States Armed Forces against Iraq." The measure passes the Senate 77-23. All voting records from www.vote-smart.org