Pull the other one, Hillary. Vetting the Theft of Valor story from Bosnia.

You probably recall from last week that this doesn't sit well with me. I'm prone to taking the high road, my role model is Barack Obama, but I just can't not comment on the flagrant, disingenuous responses Senator Clinton has advanced to try to disavow her "mis-speaking" with regard to the risks from sniper fire when she went to Tuzla, Bosnia with her daughter.

There was no sniper fire. There was no mis-speaking, either. This was not an oops, slip of the tongue moment, this went on over numerous, well-documented speeches and in response to direct questions. I am chagrined that I had considered her a potentially good President at one point. Senator Clinton's finesse with ear-marks is an endearing quality to her present constituency, I'm certain, but her theft of valor is not something I can condone in a (potential) Commander-in-Chief.

That's why I wrote about Tammi Hetherington, the Army vet who bravely spoke out because she was present that day in Bosnia. I've discussed it with friends during the intervening days. I've followed the story. I've blogged about positive things in the meanwhile, too, such as the amazing engagement of High School students in the south Bronx, who are talking about race and politics, and paying attention...

But today, once of my favorite Obama supporters took the plunge and started blogging at Daily Kos with this very same topic, and that story is so much better presented than my own that I invite you to read Kiku Botura's take on why it matters if somebody claims risks that aren't real. Nevermind, that Senator Clinton's boasting calls into question the judgment of the pilot who set her down and let her deplane, or dismisses the competence and efforts of those tasked with providing her security that day on the ground - that's not the point. The point is that good people do, in fact, act heroically on their oaths under mortal risk in defense of this country.

So go read, please, about Marine Captain John McKenna of Brooklyn, NY, born that very day Hillary and Chelsea had their excellent adventure in Bosnia, and tell Kiku I said hi.

The same old divisive, say-anything to get elected politics doesn't work any more. It doesn't get things done, it doesn't solve our problems, and it doesn't lead us to the future our children deserve.

Hill & Chel's Excellent Bosnian Adventure

Look, the whole ducking evidence of what seemed politically expedient back in the day on NAFTA isn't a big deal, really, although it would make sense for Senator Clinton to simply say she changed her mind rather than live in fear of the flip-flop label it might earn her.

And the taxes? Well, she's busy. I get it. She's the campaigner.

Never mind that there are pictures of Bill with Jeremiah Wright, or both of them with Rezko, I get it, politicians are often sought out by guys like Rezko, and for years everybody thought Wright was a patriotic, Christian ex-Marine, after all. Hell, most still do once they hear his comments in context. (Quick links to the "America's chickens are coming home to roost" story and the use of "Nigger" in comparing Clinton and Obama's background - which pretty much silence all but the most pig-headed of critics.)

But this depraved line she held to about the risks in Bosnia? Is that what we want on Day One in the Oval Office? Is the pre-requisite for a Commander In Chief handling calls at 3 a.m. the willingness to lie for personal aggrandizement and political points? Seriously - do we take our daughters into life-threatening situations? Watch the harrowing arrival in Bosnia, then you make the call.

How did all those reporters miss the sniper fire? Somebody here has just made a serious career-limiting mistake.

Obama's letter to Fed Chrmn Bernanke about the sub-prime lending crisis

On Thursday, March 22nd, U.S. Senator Barack Obama's campaign released his letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Paulson urging them to immediately convene a homeownership preservation summit with key stakeholders to fight foreclosures driven by growth in the subprime mortgage market.

It was overshadowed in the mainstream media by continuing dissection of the Phildelphia speech on values and race from Monday, and in the blogosphere by Hillary Clinton's Bosnia hyperbole,

...or did she simply mis-speak? Well, it got everybody to stop talking about her tax returns. But while Senator Clinton wrestles with what may be a career-limiting memory lapse, it's worth noting that Obama hasn't lost sight of the impact this is having all across the U.S. despite the time-consuming nature of campaigning.

DIGG it!

Will Hillary's Bosnia Lie Be Reported By The Media?

Last year in July, I was on CNN's "Roland Martin Debates" and said that YouTube's greatest contribution to politics was that a candidate had to be authentic. That the person had to make statements that were consistent.

I then used the example of presidential candidate, Senator Hillary Clinton, who attacked he rival Senator Barack Obama for stating that he would talk to and meet with our enemies, when just a few months earlier, Senator Clinton herself said she would do the same thing and the evidence of this is captured on YouTube.

Well, it seems that Senator Clinton learned nothing at all from my statements or the fact that YouTube itself exists as a powerful force for recording what people do and say now, and in our history. Senator Clinton's just made a huge error in judgement that could and should be the final flip-flop that damages her campaign.

In a speech held just one day after Senator Obama's historic "A More Perfect Union" presentation, Senator Clinton clamed that she landed in Tulza, Bosnia under "sniper fire," adding: "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." Clinton said.



But this YouTube video shows just the opposite: We see first that several newspapers have identified Senator Clinton's lie in what happened. Senator Clinton says in the video that they landed under heavy sniper fire and that there was no ceremony. The video then presents footage showing just the opposite, with Clinton walking with her daughter Chelsea and with a large group of people and being greeted by Bosnian heads of state.

The video says that the movie was created by Clinton campaign strategist Mark Penn. The question is will the mainstream media pick up the story.

The answer on the newspaper level is "yes". The Washington Post presented this story on Sunday March 22, entitled "Sniper Fire and Holes In Clinton's Recollection" and reports that "Far from running to an airport building with their heads down, Clinton and her party were greeted on the tarmac by smiling U.S. and Bosnian officials. An 8-year-old Muslim girl, Emina Bicakcic, read a poem in English. An Associated Press photograph of the greeting ceremony, below, shows a smiling Clinton bending down to receive a kiss."

Sinbad First Points To Clinton Lie The great comedian Sinbad was the first one to report that Senator Clinton was lying months ago, when he said "I think the only 'red phone' moment was 'Do we eat here or at the next place?' "

The Washington Post ends the story by giving Senator Clinton "Four Pinocchios."

I've not as of this writing seen this story reported on CNN or Fox or MSNBC, but what's clear to me this year is that the television news system in America is in shambles and has been taken over by entertainers who are influnced by advertisers and PR hacks.

There's no news anymore.

There are just attempts at influencing American public opinion for the purpose of helping some institution advance in power. The only check and balance system that exists is the online news media.

CNN's still presenting the Rev. Wright sound bites again and again. There's nothing -- and has not been to date -- about this news. And this news is about the person running for President and not someone who never thought of running for president and retired from preaching in the church.

It has to be asked why doesn't CNN or Fox explain who it backs for President, just as newspapers do? At least Americans would know and be able to make an informed choice about where they get their news.

Right now, it's a circus out there and there's no reason to consider television news to be a credible source on matters of business and politics. The only service they seem to "get right" is in the reporting of disasters, where having an "on the scene" person and camera gives those of us who are not there vital information about what's happening.

This was certainly true during 9-11. But disasters happen once in a while; business and politics is an everyday thing.

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