Outrages Of The Day

Outrageous! A new feature about the outrages, offensives to dignity, horrible immoralities, and otherwise horrendulosities that keep political partisans up at night.

Outrage number one:

"I am writing because I am very troubled regarding the media's unbalanced reporting on the Presidential election. After days reporting on something Obama's pastor said, you fail to cover an outright lie from Hillary Clinton herself about her trip to Bosnia. See the video link at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOsGo_HWP-c. If it were Obama on video stating he had been under sniper fire and had to run for cover and the welcoming ceremony was cancelled, you not only would be reporting on it aggressively, he'd be out of the race. If you do not report on this as aggressively as you did on Obama's pastor it will prove that you have unbalanced reporting. Please do your job. Thank you.

Just outrageous.

Here's the video:

On a conference call with reporters today, Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson acknowledged that his boss "misspoke."

Outrage number two: Gordon Fischer, former chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party and Obama's Iowa co-chair, called President Clinton's oft-outrageified remarks about Clinton and McCain "a stain on [the former president's] legacy, much worse, much deeper than the one on Monica's blue dress. Fischer apologized today.

Comments

Well I'm outraged with everybody being outraged all the time! I'm sick and tired of hearing both camps whining and bitching.

Don't you people realize that your silliness is distracting from coverage of the NCAA basketball tournament? Did none of you see Davidson whup up on Georgetown yesterday?!

More basketball, less politics!

Posted by Teresa | March 24, 2008 1:55 PM

Outrage is right. This has been ticking me off all weekend. The story ran in Washington Post last week with photo but as far as I can tell it hasn't run in other major print media and it doesn't seem to be covered in MSM broadcast at all. I think both candidates have been guilty of stretching the truth. The WP article and the video expose her sniper fire comments as a blatant LIE that goes beyond stretching the truth. Why is no one picking up on this?

Posted by Keith Hood | March 24, 2008 1:59 PM

Misspoke? The outrage that such an out and out lie can be passed off to the media as merely misspeaking -No sniper fire, no ducking for cover, no cancellation of greeting at the airport - but she just "misspoke." Outrageous!

By the way Hillary is running for President of the United States based upon our trusting her judgment and truthfulness. Fischer is running for nothing. Their outrages don't compare - unless the details of Bill's Oval Office escapades are somehow outrageous in of themselves. And about that-you might be right.

Posted by C.B. Todd | March 24, 2008 1:59 PM

So which outrage is worse?
One candidate completely fabricated an account of a harrowing landing in order to bolster her credentials.
The other case has a campaign employee making a distasteful comment about something that did happen.
I'd argue that the former is worse than the latter.

Posted by John B. | March 24, 2008 2:07 PM

Marc, I'm glad you pointed out the Bosnia thing (finally), but this kind of "evenhandedness", by coupling it with the Obama Iowa co-chair's statement, is depressing. The Bosnia story was a bald lie by the candidate herself, made to trump up her national security credentials and as evidence that she crossed the "commander-in-chief" threshold. The Iowa co-chair's remarks, while unfortunate, were made on a personal blog, and immediately repudiated by the writer and Obama. The two outrages are not even remotely the same.

Posted by Ready for change | March 24, 2008 2:09 PM

UHHH MARC....

The video you show is not the video the user linked to. The link from the email shows the context of her comments (about the landing ceremony), which is where she blatantly lied. It also shows her comments. Your video is a completely different part of the trip.

I guess you're proving the emailer correct yet again that the media has been incredibly biased in not covering this story.

Posted by ElectoPundit | March 24, 2008 2:09 PM

Marc:

Electopundit is absolutely right. You linked to a different video, one that does not juxtapose Senator Clinton's account of the events with the actual facts.

You owe it to your readers to point to the emailer's video, or elaborate on why you chose a different video to embed.

Posted by Ready for change | March 24, 2008 2:19 PM

Marc...

Especially after posting the offensive anti-Obama video on Friday, I think your readers are completely appropriate in asking that you play this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It6JN7ALF7Y

The above Tuzla parody video has gotten over 90,000 views on YouTube.

The anti-Obama one you posted? a bit more than 5,000.

Which is more newsworthy. It's not a matter of misplaced outrage that should be mocked here. A lie is a lie. And Hillary's is a whopper.

Posted by Vermonter | March 24, 2008 2:28 PM

The story got written up in the Washington Post, which delivered four pinnochios to Clinton for it. So it's not fair to say the story isn't out there.

Clinton got caught lying. This is not really news. Her 'honesty' ratings are already below 50%. Most people know that she has a challenged relationship with the truth. Personally, I thought her remarks about the Michigan primary on NPR were far more appalling. But then, she appalls me with her 'challenged' relationship with the truth on a daily basis. In any case, because this is just part of a big picture, it makes sense that it's not getting heavy rotation in the MSM.

The real test will be how long it takes for SNL or the Daily Show to run with this. Cause while it might be old news that Clinton has zero commitment to truth-telling, this is a particularly funny instance of it. If we should be outraged, our outrage should be that this has not become a standing joke in the national conscience yet. But I'm not going to get outraged about that just yet. Cause I think it's funny enough that I expect it will catch on. Just give it time.

Posted by Maggie | March 24, 2008 2:30 PM

As mentioned earlier, I think this is a little bit more than her standard bending and stretching the truth. The Washington Post has updated their info to add the video reference ( http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/ ) And it's also mentioned by CBS news online at

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/03/24/couricandco/entry3962828.shtml?source=search_story AND http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/03/24/politics/horserace/entry3963241.shtml?source=search_story

I still think this should get at least at much play as the Wright video.

Posted by Keith Hood | March 24, 2008 3:00 PM

To equate a comment (since retracted) by a supporter on a blog to an outright lie by the candidate herself?

Outrageous.

Posted by KathyF | March 24, 2008 3:05 PM

Aren't you supposed to be in light blogging mode? I think you still need a vacation.

Posted by evie | March 24, 2008 3:10 PM

NY Times is FINALLY reporting on this http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/24/clinton-misspoke-about-bosnia-trip-campaign-says/

Posted by Keith Hood | March 24, 2008 3:14 PM

Way to go Marc. The NYT copied your use of the other YouTube video that does not juxtapose Hillary's recent, repeated statements with the actual facts.

Very, very disappointing from you, as a long-time reader of this blog.

Posted by ElectoPundit | March 24, 2008 3:20 PM

I like this! Excellent addition.

Posted by heather | March 24, 2008 3:21 PM

Actually, this post displays a significant difference between the two campaigns.

When an Obama surrogate says something conceivably over the line, they apologize (even Wright apologized for his GD America line).

When the Clinton surrogates cross the line, they continue to defend themselves (i.e. Ferraro and Carville).

Posted by john m | March 24, 2008 3:32 PM

Hmmm...Hillary tells an outright lie and then tries to cover it by saying she "misspoke."

Someone related to the Obama campaign says something offensive and apologizes.

Marc-

Why are these two equivalent?

Posted by Tony | March 24, 2008 5:00 PM

So Marc seems to be implying at least one of the following:

1. Fabricating an international incident to burnish your national security credentials isn't outrageous

2. Hillary's account of her landing in Tuzla is close enough to the truth that any disparities are basically not newsworthy.

3. Marc has thoroughly reported this story and further coverage would be redundant.

I don't believe that any of those three things are true--or even arguable, really. Am I taking crazy pills?

Posted by southpaw | March 24, 2008 5:25 PM

I noticed that you didn't post the video that the reader linked you to...Hers showed the welcoming ceremony and yours showed her walking around with soldiers..In this world of spin its a curious change...

Posted by John Allen | March 24, 2008 6:24 PM

Marc,

It doesn't help when you're a snarky prick about this. This outright lie is a real issue for Senator Clinton, someone who's made her experience - especially in foreign policy - a centerpiece of her argument for the White House.

Take your mocking tone and stick it up your ass.

Posted by Scientific | March 24, 2008 7:07 PM

Um, yeah this is called a lie. If you want to tone it down you can say she was resume padding. Either way, the republicans are not going to let this go if she were to face McCain in the general.

Posted by philly dog | March 24, 2008 8:30 PM

Clearly we need a national Rage Out! day. Preferably scheduled when I'm not around.

Actually I think the various FactCheck sites cover this sort of thing:
http://www.dmoz.org/Regional/North_America/United_States/Society_and_Culture/Politics/Candidates_and_Campaigns/Presidential/2008/Fact_Checking/

Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Posted by Tom J | March 24, 2008 10:56 PM

@southpaw: You're not. This was a really fucking stupid post.

Ambinder, I know you think you're all "new media" with your blog site, but honestly, you're kind of more like just a really fast old-timey journalist; and like all but a select handful of those types, it's better when you're not being funny. Or not trying to be funny, rather. Just my thoughts, just my thoughts.

Posted by moff | March 24, 2008 11:02 PM

Remember Sidney Blumenthal, longtime friend and senior advisor to presidential candidate Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, the man who coined the term “vast right-wing conspiracy?” Sidney sped through Greeley Park at speeds in excess of 70-mph., in a 30-mph. zone, and was apprehended by police. In a quirk of irony, maybe that’s why Hillary teared-up and won NH. Sidney failed to walk the walk. He failed the field sobriety test, got arrested - handcuffed. Kind of like Dee Dee Myers does every so often. Sidney was inebriated. Free the Chicago 7, free Bobby Seale; Attica, Attica, screamed Blumenthal, before being tossed into the slammer. Police offered to free Mr. Seale on condition that Mr. Blumenthal take the Breathalyzer, but in the absence of a sworn affidavit or even a pinky-swear from police, Sidney declined the test, and was booked for Aggravated Driving While Intoxicated, DWI. BUT Barack Obama's preacher gets all the press: http://theseedsof9-11.com

Posted by Peggy McGilligan | March 24, 2008 11:19 PM

Wow, its hard to overstate how bad this post makes you look Marc.

Posted by Leo | March 24, 2008 11:46 PM

How fascinating and what a historical cesspool of toxic reportage here by Ambinder, a record for future generations to examine in, sadly, a once great magazine known as The Atlantic. Sad that Ambinder would expend much ink on the trumped up Wright "story," a story built around clips taken out of context from videos, and yet, when his preferred candidate is caught in a blazing, bald-faced lie [Liar! Liar! Yellow Pantsuit on Fire!], a tremendously embarrassing moment for Hillary Clinton and surely enough to sink any other candidate, he paints such incident as a case of false outrage, as though such bald lying in public were nothing extraordinary, nothing unusual. Just the usual stuff, folks, and we can forgive her, because she's middle-aged and a Clinton. Or something.

But believe me, this is the sort of thing that will sink Hillary regardless of whether her minions in the blogosphere decide to have any historical decency or not. It isn't difficult to understand what is at play here. Hillary Clinton was recorded saying something that was so patently, outrageously untrue, and taping it, calmly, smiling broadly as she spoke the lies, and still denying it was a lie . . . well, it doesn't take an idiot in a village to overlook it. I mean, even any old idiot in a village cannot overlook or deny it. The only people who really can overlook it are invertebrates such as Marc Ambinder, who himself engages in a kind of lying by refusing to write with any degree of honesty on this Big Lie by Hillary.

Her public, brazen, memorized and recorded-on-her-website falsehood is so irrational, so bizarre, and such a complete and total fiction, that one could probably write at least three essays on its genesis, and the kind of personality disorder behind the candidate. Only a severe personality disorder could explain her self-destructive tendency to lie again and again, in the open, on tape and on the record.

What makes a candidate a willing public serial liar? The kind of serial liar who smiles while iterating her latest frothy concoction? What deep-rooted neurosis lies in the innermost heart of the public fraud, a fraud who actually seems to enjoy being exposed and then furthers her own denials, extending the lies into an even more convoluted mess of falsehoods?

That ought to be Ambinder's next essay, but rest assured, he will instead blog about meaningless snide asides "insiders" make along the trail, never bothering to investigate his own false positions and biases.

Posted by Another Low Moment | March 24, 2008 11:56 PM

Hillary is the smartest woman in America.
Smart women don't "misspeak"...they marry
up and coming con-men, stay afloat by slashing
a few throats..play the victim...and LIE...
but they're above "misspeaking". If you
don't believe me, ask Gail Sheehy.

Posted by hombre | March 25, 2008 1:05 AM

Miss Hillary:
Miss-speaks
Miss-lays...Rose firm documents
Miss-appropriates....FBI files on "enemies"
Miss-understands what is true character
Miss-directs the media from all of the above
Miss-reads the anger of all but her most adoring.
We'll all miss her and her doting mate soon.

Posted by interferon | March 25, 2008 1:23 AM

'Waah! She lied! Her story wasn't as harrowing as I thought it was!'

Who cares? Where's your outrage against half the things that McCain has said that's been less truthful?

"She LIED" is just another trumped-up reason to hate Clinton because she's Clinton - see the reply directly above this one - rather than any actual positions she holds.

Don't bother with the outrage, commentors, I already knew you were fair-weather friends.

I can't wait until the big media find something against Obama in the general election and see you guys abandon him just as easily as roaches under a spotlight. Me? I'll vote for the Democratic nominee.

Posted by Crissa | March 25, 2008 7:47 PM