Sunday, March 30, 2008

Duck and Cover

Frank Rich's column in the New York Times today talks about Hillary Clinton's fantastical claim during a speech last week that after landing at an airstrip in Bosnia during a visit in 1996 when she was first lady, she had to run to her awaiting vehicle under sniper fire. Didn't happen, as CBS News tapes showed, and YouTube put out there for zillions more to see. Aside from the foolhardy chutzpah--or is it just some really lousy memory?--of telling this easily and graphically refutable whopper, what possible gain could she have counted on from this? Rich, alluding to the Clinton campaign's utter ignorance of the Internet, tells us that tape of Hillary and Chelsea smiling and pressing flesh upon arrival in Bosnia has far surpassed the Reverend Wright--he's certainly not wrong--in his bully pulpit. (This of course will not go away. The Republicans are certain to milk this for all it's worth all the way till November.) The real point is that Ms Clinton has managed in one fell swoop to blunt the sole issue that 's provided any traction against Obama and substitute an embarrassing fairy tale that's now chawing her ankles like a frenzied little yipper with needle teeth that won't stop. Her pathetic attempts to explain why she uttered this tale and why she continued to maintain its veracity for several days--sleep deprivation!--are even more embarrassing. Talk about your sniper fire. Hillary's campaign is now under steady mortar, rocket, and heavy artillery fire that shows no sign of slackening.

It's been a rollicking little race so far. Stick around!

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