"A Head of State Should Have a Head"....

[RazBerryBeret]

last week when asked to tell her favorite joke, Hillary responded:

"Here's a good one," she said. "Helen Clark, former prime minister of New Zealand: her opponents have observed that in the event of a nuclear war, the two things that will emerge from the rubble are the cockroaches and Helen Clark." While only barely qualifying as a joke--usually these are funny--Clinton's quip did pass muster as something slightly less mirthful: a diplomatic gaffe. It wasn't so much comparing a former prime minister to an indestructible arthropod that sent the New Zealand press into a tizzy after Karen's interview appeared in this week's mag. It was the fact that Helen Clark is still, you know, the prime minister of New Zealand. LOL. OOPS!!!

It's not the first time Clinton's stand-up has bombed on the international stage. At an event in Hampton, N.H. on Jan. 7, she mocked George W. Bush's famous line about "looking into Putin's" soul with a sparkling zinger of her own: "He was a KGB agent. By definition he doesn't have a soul." (Insert rimshot here.) Unfortunately, Putin wasn't pleased. "At a minimum," he later said, "a head of state should have a head." So much for our Russian relations! BIG OOPS!! To make matters worse, Clinton was just getting over gravely offending another key leader: Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, whom she twice suggested may have ordered Benazir Bhutto's assassination. "We... expect that responsible leaders and public figures in the US would refrain from making statements that are likely to be distorted and misused and could further upset the people, who are still in a state of shock," said Pakistan's Foreign Ministry at the time; the New York senator quickly followed up with an elementary error about Pakistani politics. Since then, she's stumbled when asked the name of Putin's successor, Demetri Medvedev ("Meh, um, Me-ned-vadah. Whatever."); embarrassed British Prime Minister Gordon Brown by wrongly praising him for boycotting the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics; and, um, threatened to "obliterate" Iran. As Politico's Ben Smith puts it, "Clinton, despite her image as a steady hand on foreign policy, leads the field on actual foreign policy blunders this cycle."

Of course, Clinton hasn't suffered much damage for her slips because they contradict (rather than reinforce) the media's preferred narrative; such a list probably WOULD'VE SUNK BARACK OBAMA, who's still struggling to overcome perceptions of inexperience. That said, something tells me the international community will have concerns other than bowling scores and arugula come next January. Like, say, diplomacy

http://www.blog.newsweek.com/blogs/stumper/archive/2008/04/25/no-laughing-matter.aspx

[flor de jasmim]

1. Arugula is big in Europe (great with freshly sliced parmesan!)

The appalling thing about these gaffes is that they come from the mouth of a person who claims vast foreign experience (she has been to 80 countries, doncha know...at least, as far as we know!). Any one of these statements would have killed the career of a diplomatic officer.

[EmilyAnne]

3. Arugula is eaten by a lot of very working class Italian-American people.

[Cha]

8. And it's eaten by me.. I

love it. My friend is growing it especially for me this season, for the first time, 'cause she knows I like it so much.:9

[crankychatter]

2. I'm not touchin' THAT straight line

not for love nor money

[bigbrother05]

4. Foreign Policy and Hillary don't mix

[Cha]

5. hilary's an idiot and the sooner the world

realizes that the better. She's doing a bang up job of getting the word out.

[cliffordu]

7. That's right, she ain't no Bill, but then, neither is he, lately....

[Cha]

10. I spent 0 $s

on gasoline last year. :)

[cliffordu]

13. Nice!! I had to borrow my sisters car for a trip or I would have been -

zero bucks for last year.

I'm on track for zero dollars this year for sure...

:hi:

[Cha]

14. I'm in a fortunate

position to get around..how do you get around?

[cliffordu]

15. Bicycle Only

I have an Xtracycle and haul everything with that.

[Cha]

16. Good on you...

Be extra careful! I live 3 blocks from work in a small town promting me to get rid of my car about 3 years ago. I love it..I never want to deal with those money pits again.

[cliffordu]

17. Me either - I live 5 miles outside of a small town and have a

bike path that runs all but 500 yards right to my door. Nice ride.

[SunsetDreams]

6. Well, that's just great, way to have diplomacy Hillary

Let's just insult several countries while you're at it!:eyes:

[grantcart]

9. Clinton's senior adviser on China resigned last week

For Hillary Clinton, the Pennsylvania primary is a do-or-die battle. But right at this crucial moment, her China adviser quit because of his dissatisfaction with Clinton's anti-China policy. The consultant said that Clinton’s China accusation is downright misleading.

It was quoted by Phoenix TV (Hong Kong) on the 23rd from the well-known American political news website that Hillary Clinton's recent attack on China made her senior Chinese adviser Rick Baum (Bao Ruijia in Chinese) very unhappy. Rick Baum is a senior China Studies Professor at UCLA as well as a famous China expert all over America. In January, he was hired as Senior Adviser to Clinton.

Recently, in an inferior position in the presidential campaign, Clinton started playing the China card. She condemned China's human rights violation as well as wanton accusations on China’s monetary policy. She once even publicly asked President Bush to boycott the opening ceremony of the Beijing Summer Olympics in August.

In his email to the press, Baum said that his team of consultants had suggested that Hillary Clinton not to be too keen to criticize the Chinese over the past three months. However, she did not heed their suggestions.

In Baum’s opinion, Clinton’s accusation of China, such as blaming the U.S. economic problem on China, is wrong. He regretted that his candidate used this kind of “low-level strategy” in order to win her nomination for presidency. He thought that the U.S. economic problem is attributable mainly to higher spending, deficit spending and selective protectionism in international trade. It has little to do with China. Regarding human rights issues, Baum held that putting forward “constructive views” would be easier and more helpful for the US to communicate with Beijing. Constant criticism, or even humiliation, would not be responded to favorably.

Hilary Clinton's side has not yet expressed their views on Baum’s withdrawal.

[Aloha Spirit]

11. D'oh, that's right. thanks for the reminder.

[Aloha Spirit]

12. Hey grantcart you seem to know everything. One question

I'm thinking of making a completely biased timeline of this ridiculous campaign season. Do you think people would be into that? Or into helping out?

[cliffordu]

18. Maybe this should be it's own OP, Grantcart.....