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Bill and Chelsea Clinton Might Want to Fact-Check Their Speeches

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January 24, 2008 6:32 PM

Sarah Amos and Z. Bryon Wolf report: Former President Bill Clinton and Chelsea Clinton are the best surrogates Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., could hope for in this election. They are well loved by Democratic voters, know Hillary better than any two people do and believe she has the right ideas to help fix the issues voters care about.

Of course, being good doesn't always mean you are accurate. And as tensions between Sen. Barack Obama and the Clintons rise over every discrepancy and twisted fact, accuracy has become the name of the game.

So perhaps the President and Chelsea need to go back to the record books before they start talking about Sen. Clinton’s record on Darfur.

President Clinton has been touting his wife's commitment to Africa on the campaign trail by telling interested voters that "Hillary was the first U.S. Senator to call Darfur genocide." He used that exact line with voters in Aiken, S.C., yesterday, and it has been pointed out more than once over the course of this campaign.

The usually shy Chelsea also touted her mother's record on Darfur, telling a group at Stanford University earlier this month that she was "really proud that my mom was the first Democratic senator to call it genocide in May of 2004 and put a lot of pressure on the Bush administration to recognize it as genocide."

Problem is, the statements simply aren't true.

Sen. Clinton’s presidential campaign Web site states: "Hillary has been a forceful and consistent advocate for a more robust response to the violence in Darfur since May of 20004." All of which IS true. She was one of the senators who supported the May 6, 2004, legislation condemning the government of Sudan for its actions in Darfur. Her Senate website has an entire page detailing her involvement in the issue.

But being involved in solving genocide and being the first to call it genocide are two very different things. Turns out that the honor President Clinton and Chelsea are bestowing on Hillary actually belongs to Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, and Sam Brownback, R-Kansas.

That legislation -- the one Clinton’s Senate Web site uses as the first marker for involvement -- was actually led by Feingold.

In a floor speech that very day Senator Feingold said "...crimes against humanity have been and continue to be perpetrated in Darfur and the criminals responsible for these atrocities -- the planners directing this horror at the highest levels -- should be brought to justice."

On June 15, 2004, Feingold continued his push at a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing. "There seems to be some disagreement about whether what is happening in Darfur is or is not genocide. Frankly, I believe that to argue over the semantics is to miss the point," Feingold said. It was the first time the argument over whether what was happening in Darfur was genocide was brought up at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The Congressional Record documents that on June 24, 2004, DeWine became the first U.S. Senator to call the situation in Darfur genocide on the actual Senate floor.

In a floor speech on July 22, 2004, Feingold followed DeWine's lead, becoming the first Democratic Senator to use the term genocide, stating "all credible evidence indicates that what is unfolding in Darfur is genocide."

And finally, the first time any legislative action was taken to call the crisis in Darfur genocide was in S. Con Res. 124 -- introduced by Brownback on July 27, 2004. That resolution had 20 cosponsors and Clinton was not one of them.

In fact, Clinton’s first press statement referring to Darfur as "genocide" wasn’t until March 16, 2006. When Clinton’s Senate office was e-mailed to get a clear date for her first use of the term genocide, spokesman Philippe Reines responded, "She has been a leading voice in calling for U.S. leadership in ending the genocide in Darfur."

So yes, Sen. Clinton has been devoted to the situation in Darfur, a fact voters have the right to know. But "first" and "devoted" are two very different things, and some would argue that voters have just as much right to know that as well.

UPDATE: This post originally stated that the first legislative action the Senate took action declaring genocide in Darfur was with S. Con Res. 124 in July of 2004. It was actually S. Con Res 133 that passed in July 2004 with 20 cosponsors. Sen. Clinton supported the legislation, but did not cosponsor it.
S. Con Res 124 also sought to declare genocide in Darfur in July of 2004. It had 31 cosponsors, one of which was Clinton, but did not pass the Senate. Both measures were introduced by Republican Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas.

January 24, 2008 in Bush, George W. | Permalink | User Comments (52)

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This is literally the fifth or more time in less than a month these people have been dishonest - from Obama's Reagan comments, to Bill's "opposition" to the war, to Hillary's driver's license for illegals (switched positions in two minutes). It's unreal. If we run these lying clowns, the moron republicans win, simple as that.

Posted by: Sadipi Tsnui | Jan 24, 2008 10:53:56 PM

"The article states that Sen. Clinton was involved from May 2004, and that no one seemed to call the horrors in Darfur genocide until more than a month later"

Lie, the Bush administration, Powell specifically, was the first to do so. The UN argued with him over it. Carter expressly denied it. Powell was gone before 2004 and said it long before that.

Bush gave more to Africans for HIV and has a more diverse cabinet. The Clintons are lying again, imagine that?

Posted by: Michelle Stover | Jan 24, 2008 10:55:49 PM

Surprised? A Clinton opens their mouth and a lies flies out as sure as oxygen goes in. These people are professional liars.
Hillary comments on Obama helping a slum lord are more audacious than imaginable when she is pulling in cash of over a million bucks from the communist Chinese government through Hsu. Wonder why the Commies want Hillary??

Posted by: Primeminister | Jan 24, 2008 11:06:21 PM

Here's another problem with regard to her stance on genocide... During the Rwandan genocide, the Clinton administration -- despite credible information to the contrary -- refused to call what was happening "genocide." Madeleine Albright steadfastly called it "acts of genocide" and said the US had no strategic interests in sub-Saharan Africa to warrant any involvement. Although the actual killing spree ran 100 days and 800,000 lives, the Clinton administration knew months earlier that preparations were underway for some kind of "event."

With regard to Darfur, I expect her true response will be exactly what the Clinton administration delivered in 1994 -- lies, lip service, mock horror, and cheap apologies accompanied by tacky wooden plaques.

The Clintons were wrong then, and they're all wrong now.

Shame on Americans for being so shortsighted and self-serving as to ever let either Clinton back in the White House.

Posted by: Jade7243 | Jan 24, 2008 11:08:44 PM

It all depends what is is. Is the statement true? Is it a true statement? Yes, it is a true statement, so it is true. Yea right!!

Posted by: Waggdogg | Jan 24, 2008 11:18:38 PM

The Clintons are all thugs. Blunt? Yes, I'm blunt. They're lyin', cheatin' thugs.

Maybe we need to look into what's really in that Barrett report (we could start by asking Mark Goodman at the Washington Times, who seems to know a bit about the subject).

Posted by: Yupdatsme | Jan 24, 2008 11:30:09 PM

I think there is something very admirable in a husband and daughter willing to come out in support of their wife and mother. Congrats to them.

If you wanna do some fact checking, do so on Obama and his speech that there was no difference between him and Bush on Iraq. If it was a slip up the Barack should acknowledge, not apologize, but acknowledge it.

There seems, once again, to be a double standard in the media, mostly television and select reporters. Obama can promise and hope for everything, and the press takes his word on it, even if he did some things that were opposite of what he is preaching now. Specifically TOny Rezko!!! If this guy was tied to the Clintons the press would be running this for days!!!
Fact CHECK Obama and the Tony Rezko connection.

Contest everything and trust nothing, especially the media.

Posted by: Brian | Jan 25, 2008 12:23:35 AM

The Clinton's are liars, have always been liars, and will continue to lie when ever it fits their means. It's time the go back to Arkansas never to be heard from again.

Posted by: Jason | Jan 25, 2008 12:23:51 AM

Another lie from the Clintons. It was easy to ignore in the '90s when they were lined up across from Newt, but it's awfully hard to overlook it when it's directed at a totally decent guy like Obama. My fiancee and I are both hardcore Dems who've never voted Republican in our lives but who will vote for McCain or Bloomberg -- or stay home, if neither is running -- rather than vote for more Clintons.

Posted by: Dave | Jan 25, 2008 1:10:23 AM

The Clintons and Bushes are good friends, both making lots of money on the Clinton-Bush felony war in Iraq. They're not about to let it stop. The public loves to think the parties are different. Their only difference is in their approach to robbing the working citizen to enrich the political class and the international banking-business elite. Consider the huge "Christmas bonuses" the execs at Goldman Sacks get while their CEO is on sabbatical as the Treasury Sec and the dollar plunges and people are forced our of their homes. The Bush-Clinton cronies just add zeros to numbers in their portfolios. Do they want to stay in power? You bet! Will they tell any lie a gullible public will swallow? You bet! The owners of ABC News are part of the gang. It's why they don't want you to know about Ron Paul.

Posted by: Tobey | Jan 25, 2008 2:51:28 AM

One irony of all of this sanctimony from HRC is her husband's role in helping nuture the full-blown HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa in the 1990s. They, we can now recall, actively blocked countries like S Africa from accessing cheap generic drugs for HIV infected patients. (This was - of course - on behalf of their friends in Big Phama.)

These drugs could've prolonged lives; prevented mother-to-child transmission and sexual transmission of the virus; and saved millions of children from growing up as "AIDS orphans."

This is exactly the kind of centrist, Clintonian/DLC, corporate politics that we need to leave behind. (Why is it that no one seems to remember how uninspired these folks are?)

See the quote and link below, and feel free to Google on the topic.
---
"The Clinton/Gore administration has played a role in the ongoing trade sanctions levied against South Africa, and we feel this is inappropriate." By opposing access to cheap AIDS drugs for Africa, says Sawyer, the U.S. government is "engaged in direct genocidal actions."

Posted by: scribbly | Jan 25, 2008 2:53:48 AM

But you all will still vote for them, won't you??? They are beyond shameless and will do anything to be back on the public dole. Disgusting, dysfunctional family.

Posted by: Sarah | Jan 25, 2008 8:12:35 AM

Travelgate. Whitewater. Rose Law Firm billing records. Cattle futures. Gennifer Flowers. Bimbo eruptions. Secret health care meetings. "I did not have sex with that woman". F.B.I files. "No controlling legal authority". Renting the Lincoln Bedroom. Draft dodger. Unexplained time in Moscow. "I loath the military". Monica Lewinsky. Impeachment. Chinagate. Vince Foster. Ron Brown. and on and on and on...........

BACK..... to the future!

Posted by: Robin B | Jan 25, 2008 8:16:25 AM

Hey Brian, I think you are right about there being more to this Tony Rezko business. Go take a look at Drudge today. You might be very surprised.

Posted by: Lisa | Jan 25, 2008 8:17:40 AM

What's a few facts among friends? Hill meant well, that's all that matters, isn't it? And hey, she has a former pee-resident and the product of her loins (now THERE'S a gruesome thought!) telling the sheeple the truth as she wants it known.

Truth? Facts? Reality? All just concepts to Hillary. I'd sooner vote for Kucinich - at least you know where he stands on the issues.

Posted by: Winston O'Boogie | Jan 25, 2008 8:27:59 AM

I remember reading the Vanity Fair article about Chelsea and 9/11. She said she was coming out of the subway with friends, including one who just graduated from Cornell and entering the military. She was trying to talk him out of joining the military, wondering why he would want to waste his life when he could do anything. This article is impossible to find now. Someone should find it, and ask Chelsea if she was raised in a household that told you that rich kids who join the military are idiots.

Posted by: Karen | Jan 25, 2008 9:24:31 AM

Hillary Clinton is the most presidential, knowledgeable in terms of how to get things accomplished. She is not just rhetoric. She can get it done!!! The biggest obstacle is the that the media wants to tell the gullible voters who to vote for and unfortunately they will buy into the rhetoric hook, line and sinker!!

Posted by: Jack K. | Jan 25, 2008 9:43:32 AM

You know what the say: A bird never flies so far but what its tail (tale) catches up with it.

I'm surprised women are fooled by this Clinton. My wife isn't.

If she had to answer questions that the Republican candidates answered, she would not answer and Williams and Russet would allow her to pass. Fair? Not in this world.

Posted by: Richard | Jan 25, 2008 9:56:53 AM

Clinton was 21 months behind Feingold in calling Darfur genocide, yet she claims to be the first. Who can be surprised at the games and lies that she and her campaign are telling and playing. We've had enough!

Stop the madness, lets break out of this Bush and Clinton routine and move beyond the nauseating partisanship that the American people have suffered since 1992.

Posted by: Ken | Jan 25, 2008 10:14:54 AM

So, if I understand the point made by Clinton supporters, the lie doesn't matter. Clinton can claim to be the "first" with a position when she isn't, as long as she has the correct position. Is that right?

Wow. That's a level of cynicism I'm not ready for. I've always suspected that many of Clintons supporters knew she was a liar and just didn't care, but this is the first time I recall actually hearing that voiced (keyboarded) by a few of her supporters.

Finally, Kerry, I agree. Chelsea probably isn't lying. She's probably just repeating stuff she heard from the campaign, or maybe even had written for her by the campaign.

Posted by: Paul | Jan 25, 2008 10:50:55 AM

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