Lord David Trimble vs. Hillary Clinton -- some background.

[Dogmudgeon]

Edited to correct misspelling of Trimble's name in subject line.

Recently, Nobel Prize Winner Lord David Trimble has been widely quoted as belittling the role of Hillary Clinton in brokering peace in Ireland, much to the joy of critics of Senator Clinton as well as some supporters of Barack Obama. He referred to her as a "cheerleader," and that her statements about working on behalf of the women of Ireland were "silly".

Q: Why would David Trimble want to belittle Hillary's role?

Well, he's a Conservative lord busily currying favo(u)r with two sets of Tories (Irish and Home (i.e., London)).

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6561353.stm">Set to become a Tory (Conservative) Peer.

http://www.4ni.co.uk/northern_ireland_news.asp?id=61082">Ex-First Minister Trimble to join Tory party

http://conservativesni.wordpress.com/2007/04/17/trimble-and-conservatism-james-ofees-view/">Trimble and Conservatism (James O’Fee)

He's a staunch Thatcherite, too:

Lord Trimble of His Own Arsehole will soon have television viewers across the UK checking the colour settings on their TV, as he gets strangely embarrassed over the slightest question for his new party, the Conservatives.

...

Trimble has been feted by the Conservative Party for years as a statesman and a kind of genius politician who rescued Northern Ireland from the abyss. While he did play his part in our wonderful new politics, people often tend to forget the image and event that got him elected on a hardline ticket as UUP leader, the march down the Garvaghy Road with Big Ian. As leader, he copied that most beloved Conservative, Margaret Thatcher, by developing and sticking to a policy that spelled out electoral suicide for his party.

http://belfastblogger.com/17/curran/begone-peasants-trimbles-message-to-previous-electors/">Belfast Blogger - Begone, Peasants!

Here you can read http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/mp.php?mpn=Lord_Trimble&mpc=Lords">Lord Trimble`s recent record as an MP. (Compiled by http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/">The Public Whip advocacy group. So now we Yanks have no excuse for our ignorance of Commonwealth politics.)

Here's just one detailed page:

http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/mp.php?mpn=David_Trimble&mpc=Upper+Bann&dmp=826&display=motions">29.2% rating on "Homosexuality - Equal rights". He voted "absent" 14 times and "against" (gay rights) twice -- out of 48 votes. "Absent" counted as "agree".

Okay, he's a cut above what passes for "conservative" in the States, but he's not exactly the very model of a modern social progressive.

--p!

[Medusa]

1. Attacking the source eh?

That's a time-honored Clinton tactic. :eyes:

[babylonsister]

2. Kind of a lame-assed attempt to smear a critic of Clinton? Say

it isn't so! Shoot the messenger!

[LeftishBrit]

4. Lame-assed?

He's a critic of Clinton from the right, not the left. And probably wants to minimize the American, especially liberal American, contribution to the peace agreement in general.

I don't have a horse in the American primary race, except anyone-but-McInsane; but when people quote Trimble uncritically, I feel a bit the way you might feel if a left-wing British forum were quoting Sam Brownback uncritically.

[babylonsister]

6. Perhaps he's just telling the truth. I didn't hear him diminish

Bill Clinton's role. Sometimes a statement is just a statement. And sometimes people try to earn political advantage from events they paint to be other than what they actually were.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-experiencemar07,0,51719.story

But her involvement in the Northern Ireland peace process was primarily to encourage activism among women's groups there, a contribution that the lead U.S. negotiator described as "helpful" but that an Irish historian who has written extensively about the conflict dismissed as "ancillary" to the peace process.

The Macedonian government opened its border to refugees the day before Clinton arrived to meet with government leaders. And her mission to Bosnia was a one-day visit in which she was accompanied by performers Sheryl Crow and Sinbad, as well as her daughter, Chelsea, according to the commanding general who hosted her.

Whatever her private conversations with the president may have been, key foreign policy officials say that a U.S. military intervention in Rwanda was never considered in the Clinton administration's policy deliberations. Despite lengthy memoirs by both Clintons and former Secretary of State and UN Ambassador Madeleine Albright, any advice she gave on Rwanda had not been mentioned until her presidential campaign.

[QC]

8. Maybe he has evolved, just like Andrew Sullivan. n/t

[LeftishBrit]

10. I see few signs of it.

I do have some respect for his courage in joining the peace process. It ended his career as an MP, and doubtless put him at significant risk of assassination. But he is still a right-winger. I don't think he's telling lies; I think he's telling the truth as he sees it. But he's not unbiased.

If Bill Clinton or George Mitchell was running for president, and the issue came up with them, he'd probably diss their role too. And he'd believe what he was saying.

ETA: I am no fan of Andrew Sullivan, whose views on economic issues are diametrically opposed to mine. But at least he's relatively liberal on social issues. Trimble isn't liberal on anything.

[QC]

9. People have been quoting lots of right wing knuckledraggers on this forum lately.

The new rule seems to be that anyone critical of Clinton is The Voice of Wisdom. So we have seen the likes of Charles Krauthammer, David Brooks, Peggy Noonan, and even Andrew Sullivan treated as Delphic Oracles in the past few weeks here.

[Dogmudgeon]

5. I'll keep that in mind.

Thanks for pointing it out.

By the way, did you check his record?

--p!

[babylonsister]

7. Do you concede Clinton has exaggerated her experience?

And whatever made her think people wouldn't be looking into it?

[LeftishBrit]

3. Thanks! I've been trying to point out some of this elsewhere!

Trimble is not someone whom DU-ers should be quoting at all uncritically. He started out as a very hard-line Irish Protestant leader (pal of Ian Paisley). He got the Nobel Prize with others because he did end up supporting the peace agreeement, but that doesn't make him left-wing or liberal.

Apart from his Paisleyite background, he's a Tory Lord, a longstanding member of the Henry Jackson Society, and probably wants the Republicans to win the elections in America.