The Tuzla Pilot

33 Comments

1. 

   RandyH on March 26, 2008 at 2:45 pm

   Oh this is TOO funny. Alternate footage of Tuzla, showing the real dangers! Protect your keyboards.

   • 

     BooMan on March 26, 2008 at 2:49 pm

     she did seem strangely fearless, like a true leader.

     • 

       idredit on March 26, 2008 at 3:41 pm

       for what its worth, Chris Bowers, Open Left, endorses:

       Barack Obama For President

       “I just made my first contribution to Barack Obama, and I did it though the Blue Majority page on Act Blue. Now, I am asking you to do the same, since Barack Obama is the latest candidate to be added to the Blue Majority page.

       Importantly, my rationale for endorsing Barack Obama goes beyond his status as the overwhelming favorite to win the nomination. As a progressive, there are two key ideological markers that I believe make Barack Obama a better choice than Hillary Clinton:

     • 

       Mattes on March 26, 2008 at 3:57 pm

       Maria Cantwell just turned neutral. I sent her a couple diaries, they need to know how some people feel. Clinton’s are pathetic. Power at any cost. Bet they would love it if Obama lost the election. Then she can run again.

       • 

         idredit on March 26, 2008 at 4:52 pm

         It would be good for Cantwell to read and circulate these links:

         Hillary’s Ties to Religious Fundamentalists – a lot more vunerable than Barack Obama

         via Andrew Sullivan:  Martin Marty on Jeremiah Wright:

         This is simply must-reading for any fair-minded person interested in the full Jeremiah Wright story. There are very, very few people in American religious life as respected as Martin Marty, few scholars as learned, few Christians as sincere. He has been a professor of religious history at the University of Chicago for 35 years, one of the greatest universities in the world. If you do not know of him, here his is Wikipedia page and his own home-page. More here. I have never met the man but I have read a fraction of his over 5,000 articles, was deeply informed by his masterful Fundamentalism Project (co-edited with Scott Appleby) for The Conservative Soul, and know of few more distinguished, principled or decent public figures. Along with Barack Obama, he will not disown Jeremiah Wright, or Trinity United Church of Christ, where he attended services and listened to many Wright sermons.

         The Chronicle Review

         Prophet and Pastor -Martin E. Marty

         To his former professor, congregant, and friend, Jeremiah Wright has been both

         Through the decades, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. has called me teacher, reminding me of the years when he earned a master’s degree in theology and ministry at the University of Chicago — and friend. My wife and I and our guests have worshiped at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, where he recently completed a 36-year ministry.

         Images of Wright’s strident sermons, and his anger at the treatment of black people in the United States, appear constantly on the Internet and cable television, part of the latest controversy in our political-campaign season. His critics call Wright anti-American. Critics of his critics charge that the clips we hear and see have been taken out of context. But it is not the context of particular sermons that the public needs, as that of Trinity church, and, above all, its pastor.

         [.]

         In the early 1960s, at a time when many young people were being radicalized by the Vietnam War, Wright left college and volunteered to join the United States Marine Corps. After three years as a marine, he chose to serve three more as a naval medical technician, during which time he received several White House commendations. He came to Chicago to study not long after Martin Luther King Jr.’s murder in 1968, the U.S. bombing campaign in Cambodia in 1969, and the shooting of students at Kent State University in 1970.[.]

             The four S’s charged against Wright — segregation, separatism, sectarianism, and superiority — don’t stand up, as countless visitors can attest. I wish those whose vision has been distorted by sermon clips could have experienced what we and our white guests did when we worshiped there: feeling instantly at home.[.]

             Yes, while Trinity is “unapologetically Christian,” as the second clause in its motto affirms, it is also, as the other clause announces, “unashamedly black.” From its beginning, the church has made strenuous efforts to help black Christians overcome the shame they had so long been conditioned to experience. That its members and pastor are, in their own term, “Africentric” should not be more offensive than that synagogues should be “Judeocentric” or that Chicago’s Irish parishes be “Celtic-centric.” Wright and colleagues insist that no hierarchy of races is involved. People do not leave Trinity ready to beat up on white people; they are charged to make peace.[.]

         read the full defense of Rev. Wright

         btw, Jeremiah Wright’s White House commendations include his assisting in President LBJ’s heart surgery.

         Wright has gotten a bum rap

         • 

           Omir the Storyteller on March 26, 2008 at 5:21 pm

           and Jay Inslee, and Norm Dicks, and Ron Sims (King County executive), and any other superdelegate you can find who is still part of Team Clinton. The people who voted them into office have overwhelmingly voted their support of Obama. They should go with the will of the majority on this.

         • 

           idredit on March 26, 2008 at 7:18 pm

           DailyKos has front paged the Clinton super-donors threat to Pelosi

         • 

           americanforliberty on March 26, 2008 at 10:47 pm

           I see only 17 maybe 18 potential voters in the threat letter to Cong. Pelosi. She should tell them we no longer care about what the DLC wants..because theres this thing called the internet.

     • 

       onealbear on March 26, 2008 at 5:26 pm

       The Clintons are starting to look really ridiculous now. This is so bad. I really can’t see how this ever goes away in a General Election. Hillary has no response to this. None. There is nothing she can say to mitigate the fact that she has permanently damaged her credibility with this (ironically avoidable) mistake. This is a world class political blunder–a “catastrophe of biblical proportions,” as Dr. Kissinger famously said of Watergate (or maybe that was Oliver Stone, I’ll have to look it up.)  

       • 

         fabooj on March 26, 2008 at 8:02 pm

         Your comment reminded me of a most excellent post I read a TPM a few weeks ago by that title.  It’s a very long read that reads like a couple of paragraphs:

         The Clintons not only never know when to quit; they also never realize when they’ve gone too far–and that has been the Achilles heel that has tripped ’em up every time.
         [snip]
         When The First Black President begins to complain before the South Carolina primary that race is going to hand the victory to a REAL potential black president–he is warned, not just by Clinton campaign insiders and civil right leaders, but by the old lion himself, Ted Kennedy, to back off.  He says, NEVER!  LET’S FIGHT! and does not back off.

         [snip]

         Then, when the Kitchen Sink Strategy was cooked up behind closed doors of the Clinton campaign to throw anything and everything they could think of at the charismatic young candidate in order to bring him down; they started with theatrics–whining that “the media” was unfairly attacking her and going easy on him and then turning around and shaking his hand and kissing up all in one night; raging in front of the cameras in a fire-engine red suit about a two-months’ old campaign mailout as though it were a brand-new outrage the next day; sarcastically mocking him–and by extension, his supporters–on the next; accusing him of sleazy real estate deals (hmmm) the next; making wild accusations that Obama was “imitating Ken Starr” the next; leaking a scurrilous (though innocent) photo of him in a head turban the next; and unveiling a McCain supporter’s purloined YouTube ad the next couple of days before the primaries that was deliberately designed to frighten people in the best tradition of Karl Rove–to “scare up votes” as Obama put it.

         Finally, Hillary winds up her happy-warrior week by telling 60 Minutes that, no, Obama was not a Muslim…”as far as I know.”

         Bull’s eye.

         And it was working.  This Kitchen Sink Strategy.

         Newspaper and network newsies, thus scolded by mama and Saturday Night Live, didn’t want to get into trouble again, so they worked to prove how very fair they were by dumping scores of stories designed to cast doubt on Obama, from articles about his Chicago church, to articles about the Rezko real estate deal, to articles examining what he had–and had not–accomplished in state government (even if they did quote mostly Republican colleagues)–and in the U.S. Senate, to more tiresome examinations as to whether or not he really COULD be a Muslim, to whether or not he was tough enough to beat Hillary–let alone answer the red phone at three a.m., to snotty op-eds about all those crazy fainting fans (which never mentioned that those same supporters had probably been standing in line or on their feet at a rally for hours, and that the room gets hot with thousands of people in it, and that they don’t sell concessions, so you don’t eat until it’s all over, but whatever.  We’re aaaaallllll “Obamamaniacs.”)

         [snip]

         And then, because she is a Clinton, she had to go too far.  

         And she didn’t just do it once–she did it three times in a row, in full view of reporters–because she was so sure of herself that, when in fighting mode, you just keep on fighting even when you’re winning.  You don’t let up until your opponent is not just down, but DEAD.

         Problem with that is that, even in bare-knuckled street fighting, there are always at least one or two rules.

         And in politics, if there is one rule and one rule only when it comes to the presidential race, it is this:  YOU DON’T GIVE THE OTHER PARTY AMMUNITION TO USE AGAINST YOUR OPPONENT IF THAT OPPONENT HAPPENS TO WIN THE NOMINATION.

         Because the bottom line is not personal ambition.  The bottom line is that Democrats wind up in the White House.  Not Republicans.  So you pull up short, for the sake of the party and the nation–if you are anybody but a Clinton.

         It’s a very simple rule, really.  And even if it didn’t exist, most people with any sense of character and honor wouldn’t cross over that line anyway.  The stakes are just too high, not just for our party, but for our country.

         But when Hillary smells blood in the water, she’s going to slice through the water for the kill.

         That’s only about a third of what’s posted.  It’s a really good post, but this is the gist.

   • 

     idredit on March 26, 2008 at 3:30 pm

     Carl Bernstein nailed it.

     Hillary Clinton: Truth or Consequences

     Since her Arkansas years [I wrote], Hillary Rodham Clinton has always had a difficult relationship with the truth… [J]udged against the facts, she has often chosen to obfuscate, omit, and avoid. It is an understatement by now that she has been known to apprehend truths about herself and the events of her life that others do not exactly share.” [italics added]    

     As I noted:

         “Almost always, something holds her back from telling the whole story, as if she doesn’t trust the reader, listener, friend, interviewer, constituent–or perhaps herself–to understand the true significance of events…”

     The Bosnian episode is a watershed event, because it indelibly brings to mind so many examples of this tendency — from the White House years and, worse, from Hillary Clinton’s take-no-prisoners presidential campaign. Her record as a public person is replete with “misstatements” and elisions and retracted and redacted and revoked assertions…

     I wouldn’t put it so kindly.  Obama made her do it.

     Send hillary some fire ants.

     • 

       eodell on March 26, 2008 at 4:05 pm

       I’m reminded of people who get caught claiming to have been a Navy SEAL or something similarly impressive, only it turns out the closest they ever got to the military was watching a John Wayne movie. Do they not know that records are kept about this kind of shit?

       It’s not her dishonesty that makes her undesirable as a candidate, it’s her stupidity.

       The first thing I thought when she started with the Tuzla story was that it would be extremely unusual for a plane to land under fire on a non-combat mission under any circumstances; doing so with a civilian VIP on board is almost unthinkable.

       The “if it’s too dangerous for the president, send the first lady” line is a real hoot, too. The real world just doesn’t work that way. We already have one president who is unable to distinguish between movie wars and real wars. Do we really need another?

       • 

         shergald on March 26, 2008 at 4:33 pm

         Easy now. I once walked up to a military recruitment office, well ten feet away, and thought about going in. Why? I was about to be inducted and someone said I’d get a better deal if I volunteered. My feet froze, and I went home, only to receive, a few months later, an induction letter. Unavoidable, I entered the military, albeit for two instead of three years.

         Still I was amongst those who “almost” volunteered. Hillary didn’t come this close. So I am putting my record out there to confront Hillary’s, and I’m voting for Obama. We don’t really need any more heroes out there than me.

2. 

   Heart of the Rockies on March 26, 2008 at 3:00 pm

   Apparently Bill Clinton is now saying that

   “I don’t think any of these people oughta be asked to resign,” he said. “All these guys that say bad things about any other campaign, they say, ‘Should they resign?’ My answer is no; they’re repeating party line. They oughta stay right where they are. Let’s just saddle up and have an argument. What’s the matter with that? That’s what America’s about, right?”

   Too bad he wasn’t speaking up when they were flogging Samantha Power.  Or When Hillary was bashing Dr. Wright.

   • 

     americanforliberty on March 26, 2008 at 6:49 pm

     That’s because Carville stepped over-the-line with Gov. Richardson. Hillary should renounce and denounce Carville and then fire him.

     • 

       Heart of the Rockies on March 26, 2008 at 8:05 pm

       I don’t think he actually works for them.  So it would be hard to fire him.  But they could rebuke him publicly.

3. 

   RollaMO on March 26, 2008 at 3:01 pm

   They’re also using the big money guns to threaten clear headed leadership – http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/in_letter_a_dozen_top_clinton.php

4. 

   Andrew Longman on March 26, 2008 at 3:11 pm

   Did my drivetime taste of Rush today and he quoted a NC poll showing Obama now with a 20 pt lead while they were pretty even just last week.

5. 

   mainsailset on March 26, 2008 at 3:19 pm

   The first defense of HRC yesterday on CNN was that she simply got her incidents mixed up, with the followup argument that people who have faced danger may get the name of the hill they charged incorrect but there was a hill (no pun intended) out there somewhere that they charged.

   This YouTube points out that military policy would have STOMPED on anyone who put the first lady in any iota of jeopardy. Either Hill is without her hill or her statement accuses the US Military in charge of protecting her life of negligence.

   Experienceless Hillary is a nice tag for a Tshirt, not a Commander in Chief.

6. 

   dada on March 26, 2008 at 3:32 pm

   that’s a gerat interview, especially the take down vis-a-vis the definition of “is” is…

   quote [±]…“l was the first high profile american to go into bosnia after the dayton peace accord”…

   response [±]…“if you discount the president and the secdef”…

   there’s a reason for this:

   
   via gallup 18 march 2008

   turn out the lights…the party’s over.

7. 

   Moonwood on March 26, 2008 at 4:01 pm

   and Hillary has failed repeatedly

   • 

     eodell on March 26, 2008 at 4:07 pm

     Oh hush. We all know that Clinton supporters have never thought that character matters. 😉

8. 

   phronesis on March 26, 2008 at 4:09 pm

   The Tuzla “Big Lie” isn’t even the biggest of Sen. Clinton’s lies.   Her absolute and utter lie about NAFTA, that she has always been against it, has now been brought to light by the fact that she attended a minimum of 5 meetings during her husband’s administration shilling for hubby’s push for NAFTA.  Not only was she not pushing back against NAFTA, she was one of the administration’s flacks coming up with the tactics to use against unions, environmental groups, and other anti-NAFTA people who knew that NAFTA would destroy American jobs and would destroy Mexican agriculture.  Apparently, NAFTA is one of those Iraq things for Clinton.  She was for it, but her President husband didn’t execute it right.  She is completely and entirely full of shit.  

9. 

   americanforliberty on March 26, 2008 at 4:23 pm

   Well, the lie about landing in Tuzla does divert attention that she is like “super rich” and won’t release her and Bubba’s tax returns.

   Or the whole Tuzla incident is an early sign of Alzheimer or dementia, in that case I apologize to the Clinton’s and hope she obtains good medical attention.

   • 

     mainsailset on March 26, 2008 at 5:12 pm

     Oh my,you may have hit it-every lie begets another and that where HRC has led herself. She’s working furiously each day to cover up yesterday’s lie.

10. 

    maryb2004 on March 26, 2008 at 4:38 pm

    Good lord – why are you so angry?  And it’s a little self-centered for you to claim that it’s all your fault.  😉

    I’m not worried about those polls – polls for the GE in the middle of a nomination fight are not reliable imo.

    And for once I’m not worried about Hillary.  I do believe she is imploding.  She’s acting like a character out of a movie.   I keep expecting frogs to come out of her mouth or something (what movie was that?).  

    She’ll stay in through PA – she may try to stay in longer.  But it’s over.  Bosnia has done her in – her credibility is in shreds.   In fact, for once I can’t WAIT for the next debate.  

    You are thinking in blog time and not in R/L time.  In R/L there are many people who are just today learning about the Bosnia lies.  You have to give it time to sink in.  Be calm.

    • 

      AP on March 26, 2008 at 4:52 pm

      You have to give it time to sink in.  Be calm.

      OMG, I should call you ZenMary. 🙂 I so admire that.

      • 

        maryb2004 on March 26, 2008 at 6:56 pm

        Here’s something to think about.  The reason that Clinton won’t drop out and nobody’s going to `force’ her to drop out is because – the majority of Democrats don’t want that.

        According to Rasmussen A solid majority of Democrats, 62%, aren’t ready for either candidate to leave the race.

        Until a solid majority of Democrats thinks she should drop out – the superdelegates aren’t going to do anything.   Except that they may be more likely to get on TV and say things that will move those numbers.

        So everybody should calm down and watch to see if the changing media narrative that reflects she won’t catch up in pledged delegates, that uses phrases like the “Tonya Harding strategy” and that plays things like the Bosnia tapes starts to move those poll numbers.   I believe that yesterday was the beginning of the end and we’re going to start seeing a slow increase in the numbers who want this thing to end.   In fact this poll was done March 24-25.  This might be the peak numbers.

      • 

        maryb2004 on March 26, 2008 at 7:03 pm

        speaking of polls …

        Here we go:

        New NBC poll out shows that

        As expected, one of the two major Democratic candidates saw a downturn in the latest NBC/WSJ poll, but it’s not the candidate that you think. Hillary Clinton is sporting the lowest personal ratings of the campaign. Moreover, her 37% positive rating is the lowest the NBC/WSJ poll has recorded since March 2001, two months after she was elected to the U.S. Senate from New York.

        Poll was conducted Monday and Tuesday.   I bet if they had done it yesterday and today it would be even lower.

11. 

    Oui on March 26, 2008 at 5:28 pm

    .

    Retired Colonel William “Goose” Changose said:

    Changose: Yeah, so, no evasive maneuver. I gotta tell ya, I will give it to the commander of Air Base Eagle. He had that place – you know, not only were there no bullets flying around, there wasn’t a bumblebee flying around.

    RUSTY: Okay, well you just mentioned, she says she was the first high-profile American to go into Bosnia after the Dayton Peace Accord. I don’t recall…

    Changose: Well except for the President. Except for the Secretary of Defense. But other than those two, she was the first.

    RUSTY: [laughter]

    Changose: So you know, it all depends on what your time of reference is, you know?

    "But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."

12. 

    onealbear on March 26, 2008 at 5:36 pm

    I really do think the Jeremiah Wright story has peaked. Oh, it’ll be back in the fall, of course, coupled with other Republican nastiness and innuendo; but Barack Obama has an answer for it. He has an answer for all of it, and he has the ear of the American people, because they genuinely like him (Even 33% of Republicans like him.) The American people are not naïve enough to be taken in this time by fake debates over symbols and slogans. We’re all adults now.  

    This will be an election like we’ve never seen before. It will be driven not only by black America, but also by the youth of America, supported in full throated cry by all of us old hippies and dreamers who have managed to hang on through the Nixon/Reagan and Clinton/ Bush years to get to this moment in history. (No, I did not forget the Carter years, but they flew by so fast that my memory of them grows dimmer and dimmer with each passing election cycle. Peace and blessings to you, James Earl Carter.)

    Thanks for your work Booman. You’re a brave soul. I had a great time cooking for the Obama kids down here in South Carolina in January. Now we are getting together the Homeboys for Change group for North Carolina. There is link in the right hand column of my blog to a 9 minute documentary about our group during the SC primaries. It was big fun.  

13. 

    maryb2004 on March 27, 2008 at 2:01 am

    Update on the Bosnia story – via Patriot Daily News over at kos the Washington Post is reporting that Hillary’s story that didn’t happen in Bosnia – DID happen.  The only problem is that it happened to somebody else – Olympia Snowe.  LINK

    So … she plagiarized it?

    • 

      CabinGirl on March 27, 2008 at 8:35 am

      Does this mean Olympia Snowe meets the CinC threshold?