NATO Peacekeepers For Truth

One of our favorite things in politics these days is to debunk heroic claims, especially if they involve alleged courage under fire. John Kerry faced baseless accusations from right-wing 527 groups like Swiftboat Veterans for Truth during the 2004 election. Here is a real live one for 2008:

Hillary Clinton has been trying to present herself as a foreign policy expert by touting her tourist trips to various countries while her husband was the President. She got to watch a lot of people with actual power make foreign policy decisions, but so did everyone else who has a television or a computer. Front row season tickets to your favorite NBA team doesn’t make you a good ball player.

But even though the entire basis for her claims is flawed, people buy it. In fact, she recently got so carried away peddling these stories of her international tourism that she went a little too far, claiming that when she visited Bosnia in 1996, her group “ran with our heads down” from the plane to avoid sniper fire at the Tuzla Air Base, Bosnia-Herzegovina. She drummed up the story saying that they had to cancel the arrival ceremony because of the danger and just had to proceed right to the base. You can watch the video of her arrival in Bosnia here. There is no sniper fire, and no running; they do, however, go on to an arrival ceremony and it looks like a beautiful day in Bosnia. This CNN video is especially amusing because it juxtaposes Clinton’s campaign claims with the actual footage of the event that she is describing.

The Washington Post’s Fact Checker Blog has a good comprehensive analysis of the two conflicting stories: fiction and non-fiction.  It’s called Hillary’s Balkan Adventures, Part II.

Some might call this a misunderstanding. Others might explain that she mispoke (that is in fact what her campaign is saying). But it seems beyond doubt that this is a complete lie. She made this story sound heroic and dangerous because for some reason, that kind of thing resonates with voters and they could potentially think that if she once had to duck under sniper fire, then she would have the judgement to command the world’s most powerful military. This is a frustrating story on the first level because of her bold-faced lie, but it becomes even more so because of the underlying idea that being a First Lady and going on goodwill trips and photo ops makes a person more able to be President.

So, who wants to join the new 527 “NATO Peacekeepers for Truth?”