The Real Hillary Clinton

by Dick Morris, former political advisor to President Bill Clinton

If you happen to see the Bill Clinton five minute TV ad for Hillary in which
he introduces the commercial by saying that he wants to share some things we
may not know about Hillary's background. Beware. As I was there for most of
their presidency and know them better than just about anyone, I offer a few
corrections:

Bill says: "In law school Hillary worked on legal services for the poor."

The facts are: Hillary's main extra-curricular activity in law school was
helping the Black Panthers, on trial in Connecticut for torturing and
killing a federal agent. She went to court every day as part of a law
student monitoring committee trying to spot civil rights violations and
develop grounds for appeal.

Bill says: "Hillary spent a year after graduation working on a children's
rights project for poor kids."

The facts are: Hillary interned with Bob Truehaft, the head of the
California Communist Party. She met Bob when he represented the Panthers and
traveled all the way to San Francisco to take an internship with him.

Bill says: "Hillary could have written her own job ticket, but she turned
down all the lucrative job offers."

The facts are: She flunked the DC bar exam, yes, flunked, it is a matter of
record, and only passed the Arkansas bar. She had no job offers in Arkansas ,
none, and only got hired by the University of Arkansas Law School at
Fayetteville because Bill was already teaching there. She did not join the
prestigious Rose Law aw Firm until Bill became Arkansas Attorney General and
was made a partner only after he was elected Arkansas Governor.

Bill says: "President Carter appointed Hillary to the Legal Services Board
of Directors and she became its chairman."

The facts are: The appointment was in exchange for Bill's support for Carter
in his 1980 primary against Ted Kennedy. Hillary then became chairman in a
coup in which she won a majority away from Carter's choice to be chairman.

Bill says: "She served on the board of the Arkansas Children's Hospital."

The facts are: Yes she did. But her main board activity, not mentioned by
Bill, was to sit on the Walmart board of directors, for a substantial fee.
She was silent about their labor and health care practices.

Bill says: "Hillary didn't succeed at getting health care for all Americans
in 1994 but she kept working at it and helped to create the Children's
Health Insurance Program (CHIP) that provides five million children with
health insurance."

The facts are: Hillary had nothing to do with creating CHIP. It was included
in the budget deal between Clinton and Republican Majority Leader Senator
Trent Lott. I know; I helped to negotiate the deal. The money came half from
the budget deal and half from the Attorney Generals' tobacco settlement.
Hillary had nothing to do with either source of funds.

Bill says: "Hillary was the face of America all over the world."

The facts are: Her visits were part of a program to get her out of town so
that Bill would not appear weak by feeding stories that Hillary was running
the White House. Her visits abroad were entirely touristic and symbolic and
there was no substantive diplomacy on any of them.

Bill says: "Hillary was an excellent Senator who kept fighting for
children's and women's issues."

The facts are: Other than totally meaningless legislation like changing the
names on courthouses and post offices, she has passed only four substantive
pieces of legislation. One set up a national park in Puerto Rico . A second
provided respite care for family members helping their relatives through
Alzheimer's or other conditions. And two were routine bills to aid 911
victims and responders which were sponsored by the entire NY delegation.
Presently she is trying to have the US memorialize the Woodstock fiasco of
40 years ago.

Here is what bothers me more than anything else about Hillary Clinton. She
has done everything possible to weaken the President and our country (that's
you and me!) when it comes to the war on terror.

1. She wants to close GITMO and move the combatants to the USA where they
would have access to our legal system.
2. She wants to eliminate the monitoring of suspected Al Qaeda phone calls
to/from the USA ..
3. She wants to grant constitutional rights to enemy combatants captured on
the battlefield.
4. She wants to eliminate the monitoring of money transfers between
suspected Al Qaeda cells and supporters in the USA .
5. She wants to eliminate the type of interrogation tactics used by the
military & CIA where coercion might be used when questioning known
terrorists even though such tactics might save American lives.

One cannot think of a single bill Hillary has introduced or a single comment
she has made that would tend to strengthen our country in the War on Terror.

But, one can think of a lot of comments she has made that weaken our country
and makes it a more dangerous situation for all of us.