Hillary Clinton shares a very scary trait displayed by George Bush over these last 7 years. The ability to ignore reality and maintain his own version of the facts despite the whole world contradicting him is a characteristic of the George Bush Presidency, and one which also describes the Hillary Clinton campaign.
When George Bush says that he will listen to his Generals on the ground and then asks for the resignation of any General that does not agree with him is something that does not disturb Bush’s sense of correctness at all.
He can say year after year that this or that marks a turning point in Iraq without any sense of shame or the intellectual honesty that would force him to admit that he had been wrong on previous occasions.
Nor does George Bush experience any cognitive dissonance when he says that the surge will be viewed as effective if Iraq meets certain benchmarks, but when all but a few of the benchmarks are unmet, still claims that the surge has been a success.
There are many occasions that you can see the smirk on George Bush's face and know that he knows that what he is saying is pure spin and hype. There are other occasions that make you wonder what he truly believes.
It is not the fact that George Bush lies that is scary, but that he can often persuade himself that the lie is the truth.
Hillary Clinton has shown that same propensity, and it is frightening. George Bush says that the surge is working despite last year being the bloodiest year of the war and the Sunni "Sons of Iraq" keeping the peace only because they are being paid to not attack American soldiers.
Hillary can see that she has little hope of winning the Democratic nomination, but tells herself, and everyone else, that she has a "clear path to the nomination". This sounds like George Bush’s "clear path to victory" in Iraq.
There is a point where one has to question Hillary, "Do you know that you have no chance, or are you self-deceived by your own rhetoric?"
I would much rather have a liar in the White House than someone completely out of touch with reality like the current occupant.
When Hillary talked about Bosnia, it is well-documented that she did so on multiple occasions, from prepared remarks, and during the daytime, not late at night. Yet, she continued to blame sleep-deprivation for her inability to get her facts straight.
Then, Hillary took a step further and admitted in last night’s debate that she lied. Here is an excerpt from the transcript in response from a voter named Tom, questioning her about the Bosnia sniper fire:
SENATOR CLINTON:" Well, Tom, I can tell you that I may be a lot of things, but I'm not dumb. And I wrote about going to Bosnia in my book in 2004. I laid it all out there. And you're right. On a couple of occasions in the last weeks I just said some things that weren't in keeping with what I knew to be the case and what I had written about in my book.
And, you know, I'm embarrassed by it. I have apologized for it. I've said it was a mistake. And it is, I hope, something that you can look over, because clearly I am proud that I went to Bosnia. It was a war zone."
I heard these remarks with some relief. "Okay, I said. She is a liar, but she is not delusional. She will admit that she did not tell the truth and will apologize for it. Good for her and good for her campaign!"
Then, a chill crept down my spine as she made the following statements:
"So I know that it is something that some people have said, 'Wait a minute. What happened here?' But I have talked about this and written about it. And then, unfortunately, on a few occasions I was not as accurate as I have been in the past."
"But I know too that, you know, being able to rely on my experience of having gone to Bosnia, gone to more than 80 countries, having represented the United States in so many different settings gives me a tremendous advantage going into this campaign, particularly against Senator McCain."
I said, "Oh, no! She lied about Bosnia, but she still wants foreign policy credit for having gone there with Sheryl Crowe, Sinbad, and her daughter, Chelsea."
Does Hillary not understand the difference between visiting a country as a national leader versus doing a benefit for the support of the troops?
Then, after claiming "street cred" for having visited 80 countries (not that anyone has verified that figure), she admitted again that she lied, but stated that we all lie, so that it is no big deal.
"So I will either try to get more sleep, Tom, or, you know, have somebody who, you know, is there as a reminder to me. You know, you can go back for the past 15 months. We both have said things that, you know, turned out not to be accurate. You know, that happens when you're talking as much as we have talked.
"But you know, I'm very sorry that I said it. And I have said that, you know, it just didn't jibe with what I had written about and knew to be the truth."
How can Hillary claim sleep deprivation if sleep loss was not an issue on the four occasions that she made her Bosnia remarks? How can she say she is ready from day one, if she says that she needs someone there to remind her about what is truthful or not?
And then she contradicts the sleep deprivation excuse herself, and says that she made statements that did not "jibe" with what she "knew to be the truth". Now we are back to lying, but not without an uneasy feeling that she is indeed delusional also.
George Bush said that he would stay the course in Iraq, even if everyone opposed him except for his wife and his dog Barney. That is just stubborness in pretending that if he wants something to be true, and does not give ground, then it will become true somehow. George Bush does not even recognize that this is in complete contradiction with him saying that he makes his decisions by listening to the Generals on the ground.
Persistent belief, despite reality and the facts contradicting that belief, is the mark of a delusional person. These are not exactly the qualities desirable in a world leader.
Hillary maintains that she can win the nomination. This is delusional. Perhaps she has, as some suggest, the willingness to damage Barack Obama enough that John McCain would win the November election. That would allow her to run again in only four years.
I cannot believe that she is that calculating and do not believe that she wants John McCain to win. She wants to win at all costs, and persists in a belief that she is somehow entitled to the nomination.
Whether Hillary is a liar, delusional, or both, it does not matter. We need a distinct break from leaders of the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld variety that profess something to be true and ignore the facts that contradict their beliefs.
Hillary, whether she believes it or not, is already not only unelectable, but in danger of losing her Senate seat and her entire political career over her total lack of integrity, honesty, and her brand of scorched earth politics.