Originally posted on March 25, 2008.

Hillary ‘Misspoke’ About Being Shot At?

Much like her husband, who didn’t know the meaning of “is,” it appears that Hillary Clinton doesn’t know the meaning of “misspoke.”

While trying to beef up her dismal experience as First Lady, the Democratic presidential candidate, who is currently in second place, told an audience at George Washington University last week about her trip to Bosnia in 1996. But since I don’t want to do any misspeaking let’s have Hillary do it:

“I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base,” she told the audience.

Now, to help Hillary, I’m going to tell her what a “lie” is and what “misspeaking” really means. First, the “lie.”

As her campaign spokesman Howard Wolfson has said, Hillary has written about and spoke about her exit out of the plane before and now she misspoke. Well, the fact is, in the past, Hillary did tell the truth about the landing. There were snipers in the area but not where her plane landed. In fact, funnyman Sinbad, who was with Hillary and her daughter Chelsea, stated it was a relaxing trip.

A CBS report at the time doesn’t mention Hillary running for her life at all and that report can be found on YouTube.

So, she clearly lied about her exiting situation and certainly didn’t misspeak. Misspeaking is saying that she landed on a Tuesday instead of a Monday. Calling her daughter Chelsea “Chestnut” is misspeaking. But saying she ran for her life under sniper fire but was really walking calmly is a lie.

And here’s another lie: “… there was a saying around the White House that if a place was too small, too poor, or too dangerous, the president couldn't go, so send the First Lady.”

Well, I’m sure it’s very tongue-and-cheek because it sounds like it but with Hillary “Ran With Our Heads Down” Clinton, you never know. In that CBS report mentioned above, it states that she was the one who planned the trip to Bosnia and no one sent her.

So, why lie about risking her life at all? Maybe the fact that she’s losing so badly to Sen. Barack Obama and she wanted to really strengthen her weak foreign policy experience. Because let’s face facts: Hillary has only held an electable title of U.S. senator since 2001, while her Democratic presidential rival has been an Illinois State senator from 1996 and then a U.S. senator since 2004. Say what you will about Obama’s lack of experience but he has far more experience as an elected leader than Hillary.

And this is not some oversight on Hillary’s part or even an exaggeration that many politicians seem to enjoy doing. This was an out-and-out lie and a desperate attempt to show the delegates that she has more experience than Obama.

All politicians lie to make themselves look better and Hillary is no different. However, lying about being in danger with your own daughter in tow should leave a bad taste in anyone’s mouth. And if she’s doing this to a fellow Democrat, then we better start wearing a raincoat if she does get her party’s nomination, because then the mud will really start to fly.

(Editor's note: This column originally appeared on the blog Orbital Press on March 25, 2008. It can be read by clicking here.