Newsweek Rewriting History, ala Clinton

There is a piece by Newsweek about Hillary Clinton’s new love affair with the military. Clinton is a skilled manipulator who has had a complete make-over. She says that she supports our troops and that she is against a date for withdrawal from Iraq. She has however, kept up the rhetoric against George Bush. Yes she voted for the action but if she knew then what she knows now. Well Hillary, hindsight is 20/20 and you had the same intelligence that the President had. In fact, Hillary had access to much of that stuff for the previous eight years. She was well aware of what was going on but did not care so long as she and her husband could appease Arafat and Communist countries like China and North Korea.

The article talks about how well received Hillary was by a Guard Unit in New York. I do not doubt this. Despite the feelings soldiers might have about elected officials they are usually very respectful of their positions. It is unusual for a soldier to be disrespectful to any elected official. The passage that begins the rewrite of history is:

While they were in the White House, the Clintons were never regarded warmly within the ranks or among the brass, and the First Lady was seen as especially hostile to the military. (There are still soldiers who swear by the myth that she banned uniforms at the White House.)

The whole rewrite is a continuation of what Hillary tried to do when interviewed by Brian Lehrer. As reported in Dick Morris’ book, The Truth About Hillary, she addressed that by stating:

I have been trying to figure out where that [story about banning military uniforms in the White House] got started. And, again, I can’t speak for the hundreds and hundreds of people who worked in the White House, and perhaps someone, in a moment of what I consider a terrible lapse of judgement, said something or did something that then became a wild fire of rumor and innuendo…but I certainly had nothing to do with it, and I know my husband didn’t.

She then goes on to tell how she has been accused of everything from murder on down and finds it hurtful and personally distressing. She concludes that this is the work of people with some other purpose. What Newsweek and Hillary fail to mention is that LTC Buzz Patterson, who was an aide to President Clinton, states that it was absolutely true. He discusses it in his book and Morris talks about Patterson and the military in his. In The Truth About Hillary, Morris continues:

Despite Hillary’s reputation for shading the truth, Brian Lehrer believed her explanation. And no wonder. After all, it seemed incredible that a First Lady would attempt to ban the wearing of military uniforms in the White House.

And yet, that is exactly what Hillary had tried to do in the spring of 1996. At that time, all military personnel serving in the White House wore business suits, except for the one day they were required to don their uniforms. There were only two exceptions to this rule: junior officers who served at the White House social events wore dress uniforms; and military aides who carries the nuclear “football” containing the top-secret codes the President needed in case of nuclear war wore their service uniforms.

“Hillary tried to change the tradition where military aides wore uniforms when accompanying the President with the nuclear football,” said air force lieutenant colonel Robert “Buzz” Patterson, who served as President Clinton’s senior military aide. “There were five military aides-from air force, army, navy, marines, and coast guard-and she wanted us to wear business suits when we were carrying the football.”

“The directive came down from Hillary through the President’s chief of staff, Leon Panetta,” Patterson continued. “Secret Service agents opposed her plan, because they wanted us to be easily identifiable by our uniforms in the event that something critical went down. We military aides were not just responsible for the nuclear codes, but for evacuating the President and accompanying him to safe houses.”

“Eventually, Hillary relented. My opinion is she was trying to downplay the military in and around her husband. It’s ridiculous for her to claim the story was the result of some young staffer who, in a lapse of judgement, said something critical to someone in uniform. It was all Hillary’s doing from beginning to end.”

That is a rather lengthy excerpt from the book and can be found on pages 229-231. The point is that Hillary and Newsweek are trying to rewrite what actually happened. The choices are to believe them or a distinguished military veteran who actually served in the White House. Dick Morris is also well informed in the ways of the Clinton clan. It is unlikely this whole episode was a myth, as Newsweek would have you believe.

As I stated, Clinton is not dumb. She knows how to manipulate and how to pander. She is a master at changing the facts to suit a situation and she will do or say anything to get what she wants. It is not surprising the MSM, in Newsweek, is helping her along the way. Considering the love affair the Clintons have with the MSM it probably will not be too much longer before the rest of them are on the bandwagon.

Hillary will try to woo the military. She wants that segment of the population to vote for her. Given that most of the people who support her are not inclined to read the books by Morris or Patterson, it is unlikely the truth will ever be presented to them. Even if they did read the books they would discredit Morris and go after Patterson. Military heroes are only off limits when they are Democrats.

It is surprising that two people, like Bill and Hillary, who spent so much time using the phrase “I don’t recall” were able to recall so much for the books they wrote. Keep that in mind when she tells you that she is unaware of something.

Read it here.

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