DISQUS

cshotton · 1 year ago

This is just an echo of that situational reality the Clintons have crafted for themselves. Everyone pads their resume, but using her logic, I should be able to say I have 38 years of experience as a NFL quarterback because I was a fan at all the Redskin games since I was 6 and had a sideline pass for 3 or 4 of them. Give ME the Heisman!

She actually has significantly less experience as a duly elected public official as compared to Obama, considering his state legislature experience. End of story. (Ultimately they are all hypocrites because all having "government experience" does for you is teach you the process to get (re-)elected. )

Anon · 1 year ago

She only said that she has political experience. You don't have to be a senator for that. She's been active in the political life most of her adult life. You don't think she stayed at home watching Ricky Lake all those years? I bet she did a lot of work when her husband was rising to power.

leaveitbehind · 1 year ago

On par with her claim to have worked the night shift. The campaign's response is that the ad makes it clear that it's referring to her late nights of public service, which is even more insulting to the people she claims as her core supporters. Working late as a corporate lawyer or as the first lady is not remotely the same as working the night shift as a nurse, security guard, auto worker, etc...

Imagine the Clinton campaign's response if Obama made a similar claim.

Tim Peter · 1 year ago

I'm no defender of Hillary, but could she be referencing her work on the Nixon impeachment in '73? Still a bit of a stretch, but...

Michael Markman (Mickeleh) · 1 year ago

Ari Emanuel on Huffington Post has the math on Hillary's 35 years compared to Obama's experience.

Manton Reece · 1 year ago

Rewatch the California debate. Hillary is asked this question directly and she goes through it pretty extensively. CNN.com has the archives. If I have time later I'll pull an MP3 of the segment.

To say that her First Lady experience doesn't count, when she was one of the most influential and powerful First Ladies we've ever had, is like saying that a stay-at-home mom doesn't matter because she isn't paid. I don't agree with that and find it borderline insulting.

The healthcare experience is the easiest one to talk about because it's one of the central points of this Democratic primary. As we all know, she fought for universal healthcare in the early 1990s and failed. But she learned, and her deep knowledge on healthcare now is a result of that. And then a couple years later, while still First Lady, she pushed for the State Children's Health Insurance Program which did succeed. Real results that matter to millions of kids.

And for the record, I do think Obama's experience before becoming US senator matters. But let's get real: he was in middle school when she was a political activist, walking the border towns in Texas to register voters. I like Obama a lot, but trying to go after Hillary on experience is not going to work.

rbazinet · 1 year ago

Dave, this is beyond a stretch. Anyone who listens to her and believes what she says about her long career in government has some issues. Every time I listen to her talk she simply breaths lies, telling us what she thinks we want to hear.

Harl Delos · 1 year ago

Hillary is 60. She was 25 when she got out of college. She apparently believes that sleeping in the Governor's mansion in Arkansas, and sleeping in the White House counts as relevant experience. But shouldn't she be docked for the experience that Gennifer Flowers, Monica Lewinski, etc., got in her stead?

I think someone should point out that she was an avid Republican part of those 35 years - except that it doesn't matter. It's over. McCain is campaigning against Barack now, and Barack needs to be ignoring Hillary and concentrate on campaigning against McCain.

I think it'd be funny if Michelle Obama were to comment that she would never tolerate her husband straying, even if Mrs. Clinton and Mrs. McCain seem to be fans of Tammy Wynette's "Stand By Your Man".

Bryant · 1 year ago

"I think someone should point out that she was an avid Republican part of those 35 years..."

If you're going to make a point of mentioning that, you might also want to make a point of mentioning that it was from the age of 13 to the age of 21 at the very latest.

Christopher Allen · 1 year ago

Certainly by a strict definition of "experience in government" she doesn't have it. However, if the quote was "political experience" she certainly has it. She has been campaigning for others since college, long before she started campaigning for her husband.

Ryan Sholin · 1 year ago

Math and logic available at Politifact.

noebie · 1 year ago

i wondered the same thing

http://twitter.com/noebie/statuses/571640102

Andy · 1 year ago

Damn straight. Just as mind-boggling: why Obama hasn't had one of his surrogates point this nonsense out.

Hal O'Brien · 1 year ago

We had this discussion on my LJ a while back, and here's what I said:

*^*^*^*

""I don't understand why you are arguing that (Hillary Clinton's) experience somehow doesn't count."

I'm not. I'm saying the nature of her experience is being misrepresented. She already has enough disturbing similarities to Mr. Bush (ed. -- we can now add the Frank Rich article to that) -- she doesn't need to add puffing her record to them (ie, Bush represented his experience as Governor of Texas as being comparable to a typical state. The Governor of Texas is weak enough that, it ain't.)

I maintain there is a substantive, qualitative difference between being the president, and advising the president -- no matter how close one may be personally. She's representing her experience as if it's comparable to having been the president... and she wasn't, not by a long stretch. And if she'd actually learned anything from her experience, she'd know that. That she appears not to is disturbing all on its own.

Look, imagine a couple. Married. They're both astronauts by profession. She's been on the shuttle not just once, but twice. He, while qualified to be on the shuttle, and trained for the job, has never actually launched. Heck, he's even worked in Mission Control, being the main support link for his wife while she was on the shuttle.

Then, one day, he starts saying he should go on the next shuttle flight... because he's already been on two previous flights. His position is that he is so close to his wife, it was if he was really there, so his "experience" should include her two flights.

Not only that, but he starts denigrating other astronauts as being "less qualified," because they haven't been on shuttle flights the way he has -- even though the others in question have remarkably similar backgrounds, training, tenure in positions, drive for advancement, etc.

Gender is not the variable here, nor is training, nor is ability. It's the chutzpah.