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Clinton-Backing Senator Compares Her to Gore Regarding 'Liar Caricature'
April 11, 2008 3:18 PM
Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., a strong supporter of Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, today defended the former First Couple in this most recent controversy about her false story about flying into Bosnia -- and his false defense of it -- with a rather unfortunate comparison to former Vice President Al Gore.
"I think it was safe to say it was not a calculated political decision," Bayh said on MSNBC today, to Andrea Mitchell. "I mean, he loves her and he was trying to defend his wife from what he thinks is in some ways an unfair attack and I do think it’s fair to point out that all candidates -- myself included from time to time -- misspeak and all the other presidential candidates have done the same and sometimes these things take on a life of their own."
Bayh said, "I’m reminded of the 2000 campaign, when Al Gore every little statement was kinda of dissected and by the end of that you would have thought he was a serial liar of some kind. Inventing the internet, Love Story all those kinds of things."
"And he lost," pointed out Mitchell. "It had its impact."
"But now we know that's not true, that was a caricature that was kind of stitched together," Bayh said, "and it's the same thing with Hillary Clinton, she misspoke...and we need to move on."
The Gore analogy is likely not one the Clinton campaign would embrace. It's also likely not one that Gore would embrace. Because Gore in some ways got a bum rap on all that (most notoriously with the "Love Canal" flap.)
For the young'uns among my readers, then-VP Gore in 1999 told CNN that "during my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet." Experts acknowledged that was an overstatement, but that Gore deserved some credit. Said Vinton Cerf, the Stanford researcher who sketched out a design for the Internet in 1973, "It is entirely fitting that the vice president take some credit for helping to create an environment in which Internet could thrive."
As for "Love Story," Gore, during an off-the-record chat, had said that the character of Oliver Barrett in Erich Segal's "Love Story" was based on him. The media laughed, but Segal has said that Barrett is an amalgam of both Gore and his Harvard roommate, actor Tommy Lee Jones.
But was it an altogether unfair meme? Even Gore's own staffers would acknowledge their boss's reputation for "puffery."
Either way, it enabled the Republicans to paint him as unhinged.
In October 2000, Dick Cheney referred to Gore as having a "compulsion to embellish his arguments or, as I mentioned the other day, his resume…(H)e seems to have this uncontrollable desire periodically to add to his reputation, to his record, things that aren't true. That's worrisome. And I think it is appropriate to point that out."
It can be argued that some of Clinton's comments lend themselves far more easily to be used as paint for use in such a caricature.
Says a GOP strategist: "The foundation on Hillary Clinton is already set in concrete as opposed to Gore where it took some time to shape public perception. She has problems with the truth and is not viewed as honest or trustworthy by the American people. That will be next to impossible to change. ... If Bayh thinks the primary’s been rough, then he may want to sit out the general.”
-- jpt
April 11, 2008 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (46)
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JC
If we counted up all the lies that Obama has told, it would take pages to cover, and we don't have that much time. How ridiculous to pick one item, such as Bosnia, and say she lied. You are an idiot if you would decide anything about this election on such a small matter. What you should be concerned about is Mr. Obama's lack of experience, lack of expertise, lack of good judgement (Wright), and lack of a strong resume. This man is not ready to be President of the United States. He will not do well in the general election if he is the nominee. Thank God there are people out there who still have their thinking caps on. Hillary 08.
Posted by: beachnan | Apr 11, 2008 4:43:47 PM
Amen Vickie
if the hope guy makes it to the GE he will be demolished by the Right wing 527's.
Posted by: toby | Apr 11, 2008 4:41:55 PM
One of the HRC campaign's lies (Rendell...) is that Hillary ALREADY has been vetted, while Obama hasn't been.
What we have seen during the primaries is that she is BEING vetted, just like other candidates, and that she has suffered most in the process.
And let's not forget that Obama and McCain haven't been tough on her at all so far. What did Obama do with the gross Tuzla lie? He just left it for what it was and had the media play it out.
The GOP, during the GE, would destroy Clinton as a pathological liar and a hysterical woman, no doubt about it. They got all the audio and video material to back their attacks up. The hysteria, they''ll say, is in Clinton's cackle in response to tough questions, in her 'multiple personality' disorder, her fits of anger, her tearing up... These GOP attacks would be horrible, I'm sure.
I think Hillary should be glad that she will not have to go through all that. She has NOT been vetted yet. The process has only just begun.
Posted by: gregory | Apr 11, 2008 4:41:15 PM
Obama is so entrenched in lies, how can anyone trust him?
Rezko-I hardly know the man... well that's pretty sad considering the man donated over $250,000.00 to his campaign.
Wright-I never heard him talk like that... but then I did hear him, and then I didn't hear him. Make up your mind Obama. You can't tell me you sat in that church for over 20 years and never heard anything like that?
Oil-I have never taken money from the Oil Companies, JUST THEIR CEO'S AND WIVES. Enough said.
NAFTA- we didn't talk to Canada, and then oh yea, we did, but they missinterpreted what we said. You talked to Canada about NAFTA.
Public Financing- It was a great idea, until he found out he could raise so much money-definitely went back on his word on that one.
My legislation was passed on Nuclear Energy (the bill died in the Senate)
I want all the votes to count: Why didn't you want a revote in Michigan and Florida.
I'm the uniter, I want to bring everybody together.
Hell of a job so far!!!
With such a thin resume, and an inability to tell the truth, why is this man still in the race?
Outspending your opponent by 5-1 and you can't close the deal. But that's okay-keep giving away those Dave Matthews tickets, so they will vote for you. Maybe, like Oprah, you can give everyone a new car.
My vote cannot be bought. I look at resumes, and yours Mr. Obama is sorely lacking.
Posted by: beachnan | Apr 11, 2008 4:37:11 PM
Obama needs to drop out!. He is making
a fool of himself!
Posted by: ralphmax | Apr 11, 2008 4:35:13 PM
This issue WestCoast Messanger is a killer assumption for any political campaign. Gore said he invited the internet and he is gone, Hill has to face the same destiny. God bless America and God bless bama.OBAMA08.
Posted by: BKMC | Apr 11, 2008 4:31:52 PM
See, even I'm doing it. Can you imagine if Hillary bowled 37 like Obama? (Hey, where did I put my coolaid?)
Posted by: WestCoastMessenger | Apr 11, 2008 4:22:40 PM
Gore didn't lose in 2000 - the Supreme Court stole the election from him.
and, if Nader supporters and independents could take back their votes, it would be a different world today.
I strongly supported Gore in 2000 - his hyperbole didn't bother me at all. By the way, one of the big reasons for supporting him was his association with the Clinton administration. - Remember that time, people felt good about the country and life was good!
Posted by: morningside | Apr 11, 2008 4:21:15 PM
Bayh is absolutely correct.
For example, can you imagine if Hillary bowled 37 like Hillary? We would be seeing clips of it every night on the nightly news, and all the comedy channels. It would be used as her "jumped the shark" legacy. Every little nit is magnified by 10,000.
Obama, on the other hand, gets a complete pass on all matters because the press has granted him the golden ticket. There will be no vetting of Obama until the general election if he gets the nomination.
In that scenario, he and his band of Obama zombies will be crushed like cockroaches once the press opens Pandora box. They will show no mercy at that time. It's all about selling ads which is what buys the tickets from the press for these dogfights.
By the way, I heard that Obama disclosed today that he attended shool in Pakistan. Oh wait, I forgot for a moment, he has a goldent ticket.
========================================
Hillary stands up for all voters!
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Posted by: WestCoastMessenger | Apr 11, 2008 4:19:22 PM
If Bill Clinton and Evan Bayh ant this issue to go away why don't they just shut up. Neither one of them said anything helpful. Heck, at this point Hillary should just send Bill and all here surrogates home, clean out her bloated campaign headquarters and just speak for herself. Who knows, it might actually work. And if not, she will at least go out with some class instead if totally wretched spectacle her campaign has become.
Posted by: DMR | Apr 11, 2008 4:13:38 PM
I am sorry but saying she misspoke, I am just not buying. If I had flown into Bosnia, I would remember if someone had been shooting at me, misspoke my @$$.
No I am not 20 something or even 30 something, I am 5 years younger then she is.
Bottomline, she lied (again)
Posted by: jc | Apr 11, 2008 4:09:07 PM
Hillary claims she's against the Colombian Trade Deal, but the $800,000 the Colombians gave to Bill actually went into a JOINT account for Bill and Hillary....and Hillary has never denounced and rejected that money.
What's more, she used it to put into her campaign! WINK WINK!
Posted by: maggie | Apr 11, 2008 4:06:10 PM
Hillary can fight McCain much easier than she can Mr. Hope. If she says one thing bad about Mr. Hope, the MSM and his campaign spin it into something "racial." Just yesterday a talking head tried to make an "issue" out of Bill Clinton's "stealing cars" comment, but decided it really wasn't meant that way (NO KIDDING!)....like only black people steal cars? WTH?
I've never seen anything like this. Mr. Hope can say and do anything...Racist Rev. Wright, connections to Farrakan, questionable loan from Rezko, William Ayers, Michelle hates America, "America is mean", Michelle won't support Hillary if she wins, they called Bill and Hill racists (2 people who have spent their lives fighting for Civil Rights) and on and on and on it goes. The MSM won't touch him, yet everything that comes out of Hillary's and Bill's mouth is scrutinized with a microscope and spun into something it's not. It's crap. PURE CRAP.
She can easily fight the Bush supporting McCain, but she can't fight Mr. Hope and HIS MSM because she'll be called a racist. They/you want Mr. Hope to be the candidate so they/you can throw out all the garbage they/you have on him and get their guy McCain elected.
Posted by: Vickie | Apr 11, 2008 3:58:35 PM
RF-
I totally agree with you...it's clear that McCain is gaining strength. Hillary needs to end this. Only problem is, she's not thinking about anyone but herself.
Today she went even further and accused the Republican Party of being better than her own party.
Posted by: corral | Apr 11, 2008 3:58:06 PM
Did you guys read about how Hillary attacked the Democratic Party?
This woman destroys everything she touches! Why would we ever want her to get her hands on our future?
Posted by: maggie | Apr 11, 2008 3:56:19 PM
The more crap that comes from the Clinton camp and the longer this goes on, the harder it is going to be to defeat McCain. Seriously. We all need to get on the same page like yesterday.
Posted by: RF | Apr 11, 2008 3:56:11 PM
The story might sound familiar to you but Hillary and Gore couldn't be less alike..
The exaggerating Gore meme was developed by the media and soon everybody believed it.
Hillary's problem with telling the truth has been set in our minds for a while now, and only recently has the media actually dared to point it out.
Posted by: Andy E | Apr 11, 2008 3:53:44 PM
When the Clintons stand on a foundation built out of lies...eventually the lies begins to crack the foundation and the truth seeps through and rises!
Posted by: TRUTHPREVAILS | Apr 11, 2008 3:52:14 PM
The Clintons existance is a lie at its foundation.
Their marriage is based on a lie for pure political gain...that is why Hillary couldn't leave him...she wanted to remain First Lady and eventually become President. Everything these two have done is based on a lie!
This is not about the American People, it's about the monarchy called the CLINTONS!
Posted by: maureen | Apr 11, 2008 3:49:42 PM
I guess the worst thing he has done is used AA .
Posted by: Bishop | Apr 11, 2008 3:49:22 PM
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