Associated Press: Hillary's Flight of Fancy

[loveangelc]

WASHINGTON - Why wasn't the truth good enough for Hillary Rodham Clinton?

That's a question worth considering as the former first lady tries to contain damage to her credibility after getting caught exaggerating the danger of her 1996 trip to Bosnia. Two others: Is there a pattern of embellishment? And is she held to a higher standard than her rival, Barack Obama?

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But during a speech last week on Iraq, Clinton stretched the truth to the breaking point. "I certainly do remember that trip to Bosnia and ... 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. That's where we went. I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base."

Hogwash. The truth is:

There was no sniper fire.

Nobody ducked for cover.

Bad weather, not security concerns, kept her husband from making the same trip a few months earlier.

Clinton and her aides stood behind the story � which she has told more than once until video surfaced showing the former first lady, her daughter, Chelsea, and their entourage strolling off the plane and walking calmly across the tarmac.

"I made a mistake," she said Tuesday. "That happens. It proves I'm human, which you know, for some people, is a revelation."

To be sure, Clinton is not the first American to pad a resume. She's not even the only candidate for president to do so.

Obama has exaggerated his role in reaching a compromise in the Senate on immigration as well as his authorship of a bill to address the housing crisis. Voters need to weigh such distortions when they consider whether the freshman senator from Illinois truly is a new breed of politician.

What makes Clinton's situation unique and the Bosnia embellishments so damaging is the fact that the New York senator has built her candidacy on the illusion of experience. Any attack on her credentials is a potential Achilles heel.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap_campaignplus/20080325/ap_ca/on_deadline_bosnia;_ylt=AgVby27byL04VvOUoFEFekSs0NUE?