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Jarheads

March 25, 2008 12:55 PM

In light of Tuzla-gate (catchy, no?), reporters are going over past statements by Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, (and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois) to see if others don't stand more rigorous examination.

One that may get renewed scrutiny is a story she told “Women in Military Service” in 1994 -- that shortly after the end of the Vietnam war, she looked into joining the Marines.

In June 1994, Clinton told an organization trying to build a memorial for women who had served in the armed forces, that while living in Fayetteville, Arkansas, in 1975, “I decided that I was very interested in having some experience in serving in some capacity in the military. So I walked into our local recruiting office...”

Clinton recalled that she didn’t know if she wanted to be active duty, reserves, or National Guard. She was already a lawyer; surely there was a role she could perform. The Marine recruiter looked at her, she recalled, and asked how old she was. Twenty-seven, she said.

“He looked at me, and in those days that was before I learned how to wear contact lenses," Clinton said. "I had these really thick glasses on. He said, ‘How bad's your eyesight?' I said, ‘It's pretty bad.' …Finally said to me, he said, 'You're too old. You can't see. And you're a woman.…But maybe the dogs would take you.'”

("Dogs” would be a pejorative reference to the Army.)

Clinton continued, “I said, ‘This is not a very encouraging conversation, so maybe I'll look for another way to serve my country.’”

That seems an odd pronouncement for the recruiter to have made, considering that at the time, according to A History of the Women Marines, female Marines who became pregnant were permitted to remain on active service, as this photograph attests.  And I believe the military had a few recruiting problems back in the 1970s -- hence their abject rejection of a brainy lawyer wouldn't make much sense. (Then again, ask a soldier how often Pentagon rules "make sense.")

At the time Clinton told the story, the New York Times’ Maureen Dowd seemed to wonder about it, pointing out that Hillary and Bill Clinton were married on Oct. 11, 1975 in Fayetteville.

“So, if she was talking to a Marine recruiter in 1975 before the marriage, was she briefly considering joining the few, the proud and the brave of the corps as an alternative to life with Mr. Clinton, who was already being widely touted as a sure thing for Arkansas Attorney General?

“Neal Lattimore, Mrs. Clinton's spokesman, said her visit to the recruiter had to be seen in the context of her dedication to public service. ‘I'm never surprised when Mrs. Clinton is doing something service oriented,’ he said. ‘She was just taking in all her options, saying “This is where I am in my life, this is what fits into my life right now.”’”

The Washington Post looked into the story at the time as well. No one could find any records or anything other than vague memories. "All I can remember is that she looked into it," Clinton’s late friend Diane Blair told the newspaper.

Another Arkansas friend, Ann Henry said she "vaguely" recalled the episode “in the context of frequent discussions they used to have about women's access to supposedly open career paths. Frequently, the equal opportunity that was promised was not a reality - and sometimes female faculty members went out to conduct ‘tests,’ Henry said. 'If Hillary Rodham had asked about the Marines as a way of testing whether the corps actually welcomed women, ‘it would have been consistent with what was going on with us at the time,’ Henry said. ’Is it possible she was testing?’ Blair asked. ‘I don't remember if she was seriously exploring a career, or was moved by curiosity, or patriotism or feminism. I wish I had kept notes.’”

It’s a story that I don't believe Clinton has repeated since 1994.  Why not?

- jpt

March 25, 2008 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (61)

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Posted by: tzmrwg kwyex | May 13, 2008 9:34:35 AM

Clinton will say anything to anyone in any regional or ethnic accent to get elected.

I just hope she stays in the race all the way to the convention. Maybe if we're lucky, she'll run as an independent!

Dems attacking Dems, political correctness against uber political correctness is a beautiful thing.

Posted by: Peter Wilt | Apr 8, 2008 11:46:34 AM

Hillary has "Forrest Gump" syndrome.

She's been everywhere, done everything, and she's the hero of every story she tells.

The only difference is that when Tom Hanks went home to his wife and kids, he knew the difference between real life and fantasy.

Posted by: Lisa | Apr 8, 2008 2:05:08 AM

There is an Obama protection shield out there in the media. I used to watch Countdown with Keith Olbermann nightly until he started the pro Obama and anti Clinton campaign. The piece he and Sheuster made up to link the passport breach to the Clintons was the last straw for me.

Sadly, I don't have a news show to watch anymore (started to watch Dobbs).

Keith Obamamann - the world person in the world!!!!!

Yes, call him the real name - Obamamann.

Posted by: leester64 | Mar 29, 2008 1:09:13 PM

News Cat: The reason people make comments about how ridiculous liberals thinking is...is because it is ridiculous. No sensible, liberty loving person would espouse such socialistic, self-destructive, down-with-America nonsense.
Why do Senator Clinton's comments draw such fire? Because she is known for telling tall tales. She consistently tells blatant lies, and then lies about telling them. How can anyone believe even a single word out of her mouth? The only thing one can know about a person who lies, is that anything and everything they say is likely a lie.
It's about time Americans finally tell her and her disciples that lying is NOT okay. Isn't that what even little children are supposed to know?

Posted by: San Diego Man | Mar 28, 2008 12:57:47 AM

Who knew Hillary Clinton would have more war stories than John McCain.

Posted by: Zoey | Mar 27, 2008 1:07:17 PM

I heard Hillary was responsible for single-handedly winning World War II.

I suppose, the next thing they'll be saying, is that she was once a man, as well.

Posted by: wolf | Mar 27, 2008 12:57:27 AM

I served a tour on recruiting for the Marines in the late 80s and early 90s. At that time, and I assume it's probably still true today, the max age for an initial enlistment is 27 years old. Once you turn 28, unless you're an iron man competitor, the chance to be a Marine is nil. I wonder how close Mrs. Clinton was to that age cut-off? If she was intent on joining the recruiter knew that she would have to ship to either boot camp or officer candidate school pretty quickly. The quotas for female MOSs back in the 70's was probably very limited and required someone to committ to a boot camp report date that matched the time line of the final MOS. It is almost the universal experience that folks who are classified as "office traffic" (walk-ins)are the most difficult to recruit. The slang term for these OTs is "office trash." They often have serious medical, moral or mental disqualifications. There is also a sub-group that shows up "pre-sold" on what they want to do when they serve, in fact they are literally shopping for services. These are often older mid-20s types, bright and going no where fast. After you've popped their ballon and informed them that the Marines; 1. Kill people and 2. Won't train you to be brain surgeon, these OTs loose interest really quick when the hard reality of what serving actually means.

Posted by: Mike Fay | Mar 27, 2008 12:05:06 AM

"Peasants" NewsCat? Sorry your Lordship us rabble will try to edjimicate ourselves and then maybe we can see your brilliance.
Putz.

Posted by: Don Carne | Mar 26, 2008 6:30:51 PM

God these comments are dumb. "Librul media" "Clinton News Network" "lies and liars" "their naked lust for power" Bark, bark, bark. Culture war conspiracy.

If it's a "democrat" it must be a) deceitful , b) obviously supported by 'librul' media and c) somehow worse than any all other politicians that currently serve, not to mention likely mentally deranged.

The amount of sheer conspiracy-minded thinking that is in any one of these posts makes me afraid that people use this same kind of "logical thinking" to apply to their vote.

Too many people can't even imagine anyone they oppose political can have a rationale human behavior. Instead it's all conspiracy-speak and turning normal behaviors into deviancies. (Geeze "naked lust for power?" why because a politician wants to get elected...and runs a campaign? A campaign where they extoles their virtures? Gosh, Katey, BAR THE DOOR.)

These posts are mostly the thinking of peasants who don't understand how the world works. Everything they don't understand gets attributed to either magical thinking or godlike powers.

For the record, would there *be* any record if someone just, on a whim, decided to walk into a recruiting office and the recruiter said "go away." Like that isn't even REMOTELY believable that people do things on a whim. Hell I've had an afternoon where I've imagined myself joining the military, that doesn't mean 10 years later I can "prove" (with documentary evidence) that I had such thoughts.

For god's sake, why can't something like "i thought about it" ever just be taken for face value?

Posted by: NewsCat | Mar 26, 2008 3:52:01 PM

Don't you remember her at Iwo Jima?

Posted by: roldo bartimole | Mar 26, 2008 3:44:25 PM

Well, perhaps this will all pale by comparison when the major networks give the American people some sample "sermons" of the Rev. Moon, the Unification Church cult leader who heavily finances conservative causes.

We sure don't hear much about his "monarch of America" religion, even though he funnels multiple millions into conservative coffers and is rather close to the Bush family.

Posted by: Kevin | Mar 26, 2008 2:40:54 PM

This whole Dem Primary is cracking me up - you have CNN, the Clinton News Network in the tank for the Hillabeast and NBC/MSNBC in the can for the Obamasiah. Meanwhile, various Dems are finally finding out what it is like to have the MSM (or at least a part of it) working against them, sometimes fairly, sometimes not. I don't care for Obama's positions on most issues, but he comes across as at least relatively honest for a politician, and I do not get the feeling that he hates everyone who diagrees with him - obviously I'd never want to vote for him, but could imagine having a spirited debate over a couple of beers and being able to shake hands at the end. Hillary is frankly more towards the centre, but she is just such an atrocious escuse for a human being I wouldn't want to be in the same room with her. The MSM is finally exposing just a few of her serial lies and she is stunned that her loyal reporter footsoldiers a straying out of line. The Clintons' naked lust for power (and yes, they do come as a team, just as Bill promised back in '92) is just so incredibly repulsive. I don't doubt she's smart, but her lack of real values and worship of power should give pause to anyone concerned with individual liberties.

Posted by: holdfast | Mar 26, 2008 2:38:28 PM

This makes me so bitter and angry when I read this. Hillary should know by now that it is the far left members of the Democratic Part -- people like me who read firedoglake and are secure in their gender identity -- that will have the ultimate say on who gets the nomination. If the angry, bitter leftists continue to use the Internet to let our reality based community speaks its mind, then there is surely the chance we may be heard instead of readily dismissed as fringe members of society.

Posted by: twin_peaks_nikki | Mar 26, 2008 2:33:15 PM

Wow..and still nothing about McCain allegedly breaking his own sponsored campaign finance laws? And I thought McCain, at least according to people supporting the Bush campaign in 2000, had been a major collaborater with the North Vietnamese? And we don't even get to see clips of sermons from McCain's multiple ministers about his admitted adultery?

Why doesn't ABC just endorse the Republican candidate and get it over with. . .

Posted by: Kevin | Mar 26, 2008 2:26:04 PM

So?? They were all volunteers....oops sorry, wrong thread.

Posted by: Clint | Mar 26, 2008 1:51:42 PM

I would have left my husband if he CHEATED on me for over 20 years too!!

Posted by: checkbook | Mar 26, 2008 1:41:08 PM

They are looking at other statements? How about everything that has ever come out of her mouth for starters?

Posted by: J Noble | Mar 26, 2008 1:23:57 PM

Ahh---get real. Another exaggerated rhetoric to gain votes. What stopped Hillary from enlisting? Certainly no physical problems---nor age was a factor. EVERY stop on Hillary's campaign consists of a story to appease the voters-----mostly LIES until she's caught.

Posted by: Greg | Mar 26, 2008 12:43:57 PM

My son is a Marine currently serving with the 3/2 in Iraq. I am so tired of all these liberals and lying politians trying to grab headlines at the expense of our military and the honorable people whom serve. Shame on them, and they would be well served to ask forgiveness from God (if they believe) and the Marines!!!!!!

Posted by: al ruigrok | Mar 26, 2008 9:59:24 AM

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