Probably even that "never drove drunk" candidate from 2000... He lied on important issues, like the economy, throughout the campaign, got away with it, and based much of his subsequent decisions on either lying to or misinforming the public - people disagree which.

We should learn from that and be skeptical of anyone whose memory embellishes things to this degree, or who just feels they can stretch things to fit the moment.

I was watching Morning Joe this morning and saw right-winger Scarborough defending her, saying it was part of "gotcha" politics. Pretty ridiculous defense given that she was the one who made her alleged foreign policy experience a centerpiece of her campaign and then invoked the episode as an example of said experience. If that's not fair game, what is?

Given that it was so easy to disprove her story and that she continued to stick with it even after Sinbad blew holes in it a couple of weeks ago, I think she honestly remembered it that way. I bet she's been telling the story for years and none of the lackeys on her staff ever felt comfortable telling the boss that no, it wasn't like that at all. She's been living in a bubble for about 16 years now. When a person is in that lifestyle, contradictory information just gets filtered out.

That's a good point. I guess it all ties into this idea that modern foreign policy requires a president who is a "war leader" who can benefit from having been in the same conditions the troops face. I know that's kind of silly, but that's politics. Personally, the idea that our view of the presidency now revolves around the candidate's willingness to drop bombs and go to war shows our crazily militaristic our foreign policy has become.

Whatever happened to the idea that the best foreign policy involved getting something you wanted without fighting for it?

It should've been obvious that the story was a fabrication from the start.

"Well, there's a sniper hanging around the airport, and we've got the First Lady on board for a good will tour. Let's land the plane and tell her to just run to the car while ducking."

Huh?

I mean, unless they were so low on fuel that they couldn't get to another base, or have enough to wait for mid-air refueling, which the C-17 is perfectly capable of, why wouldn't you just keep her on the plane, be quick about refueling, and get it the hell out of there? It didn't add up before the proof that it was total crap was even found.

Oh, and now the military is pissed off for basically the same reason I stated in my post above.

As they should be really.

Man, what's with this fascination with snipers of hers!

Especially since she had the teenage offspring in tow there. They know better than that, and it's sh*tty of her to make it sound like the Secret Service sucks at their job.

It one thing to embellish a story, it's another to just make sh*t up entirely. I agree with Reap though, I've been shot at while deer hunting so I wonder if I can be commander in chief?

I think everyone realizes her ship is taking on water and sinking fast.

Agreed. There really isn't any reason for her not to stick it out. Her senate seat is safe.

If she wants to run in 2012, it'd be better for her if McCain wins than Obama. It's not like she's particularly interested in the health of the Democratic party... else she might try espousing some of its philosophies.

Looks like Daily Kos has turned up some video from the "incident."

I take back what I said. She was clearly in very real danger.

Link

We can only hope...

Could be. I'm sure she and her supporters would argue that she could have beat McCain if only the other half of the party hadn't been in love with Obama. Obama supporters will probably blame her if he loses for giving weight to a lot of the Sean Hannity-style attacks on him. So I don't know what would happen. I bet she's a lot faster to embrace internet fundraising and the importance of small states and caucuses in the second go.

Figure she's going to be running in 2012 and 2016 no matter what happens. It's her big dream, and she's not the kind of person to let what other people think interfere with that.

I think it's fair to say that it's pretty apparent she won't win the presidency this time around. She's more than likely to lose the nomination this time, and even if she wins it, it could only be by superdelegates, which would turn the party so hard against her she'd lose the race for certain.