FACT CHECK: Clinton still has no answer on ringing ad...

Clinton still has no answer to the ringing "3 a.m." ad -- and she continues to exaggerate her role on foreign policy issues that she has already been criticized for

RHETORIC: Clinton claims she is better qualified to answer the phone at the White House

FACT: Clinton failed her key foreign policy test with her support for Iraq. Also, Clinton and her campaign can still not answer the question of what in her experience makes her more qualified than Obama to handle tough foreign policy decisions

On CNN today:
Q: Senator, can you talk about one specific time when you've had to make that kind of 3 A.M., split-second decision based on foreign policy?

Clinton: Well, I was involved in a lot of the decisions that were made. But again, you're looking at it from the wrong perspective. I'm presenting – you know, no one who hasn't been president has ever done that. So, that's not the right question. The question is, what have you done over the course of a lifetime to equip you for that moment. Now, I think you'll be able to imagine many things Senator McCain will be able to say. He's never been the president, but he will put forth his lifetime of experience. I will put forth my lifetime of experience. Senator Obama will put forth the speech he made in 2002. And that's why national security is a critical issue for Democrats as we go into this primary; because everyone knows that John McCain will make this election about national security, that is a given. And it will be imperative that we have a nominee who is able to stand on that stage with Senator McCain, and I believe I am the person best able to do that. [CNN, 3/1/08]

From her campaign's conference call yesterday:
It was, in this reporter's opinion, the most interesting moment in today's Clinton campaign phoner with reporters. Responding to the release of HRC's new TX TV ad, which asserts in no subtle terms that only she has the experience to deal with a major world crisis, and, relatedly, to keep your children safe, Slate's John Dickerson asked the obvious question: "What foreign policy moment would you point to in Hillary's career where she's been tested by crisis?" he said. Silence on the call. You could've knit a sweater in the time it took the usually verbose team of Mark Penn, Howard Wolfson and Lee Feinstein, Clinton's national security director, to find a cogent answer. And what they came up with was weak -- that she's been endorsed by many high ranking members of the uniformed military. Take a listen... [Hotline, 2/29/08]

RHETORIC: Clinton claims she was integral in the Northern Ireland peace process and Kosovo

Clinton today on CNN: Well, the issue is who will be there to answer that phone based on a lifetime of experience, and I feel very comfortable putting forth my lengthy experience in foreign policy, representing our country in more than 80 countries, helping to bring peace to northern Ireland, to negotiate to open up borders during the conflict in Kosovo, standing up for American values and interests from Beijing to Africa, Latin America. And his entire campaign is based on one speech he gave at an anti-war rally in 2002. And I give him credit for making the speech, but the speech was not followed up with action, which is part of the pattern we have seen repeatedly. A lot of talk, little action; or as they say in Texas: all hat and no cattle. By 2004, he was saying how he wasn't sure how he would've voted, and he was saying that he basically agreed with George Bush's handling of the war. By the time he actually came to the Senate, and had an opportunity to vote, he voted in support of funding the war, and he and I voted, I think, virtually the same. These are important distinctions. You've got one speech in 2002 versus a record of accomplishment and a record of action. And I think that equips me for whatever might happen.

FACT: Clinton did not have an integral role and has been repeatedly called out for exaggerating her foreign policy experience

George Mitchell: Clinton Was "Not Involved Directly" In Diplomatic Negotiations of Northern Ireland Peace Process. "Hillary Clinton has repeatedly cited her White House years as key to why she has the ability to serve as president from "Day One." Both she and her husband have pointed to her "independent" role in bringing peace to Northern Ireland as an example of her foreign policy experience. Her critics, notably former Clinton pollster Dick Morris, have poured scorn on her claim that she was "intimately involved" in the peace process. So who is right? [...] she accompanied her husband as first lady on those four occasions, so they were hardly "independent" visits. (She would sometimes fly in a day early to give a lecture.) [...] I just spoke to Senator George Mitchell, the Clinton administration's leading Northern Ireland peace negotiator, who said that Hillary was "not involved directly" in the diplomatic negotiations that led to the landmark April 1998 Good Friday agreement on power-sharing. On the other hand, Mitchell credits Clinton with taking an intelligent interest in the issues and getting acquainted with many of the key players. [...] Chris Thornton, a political reporter for the Belfast Telegraph, said that Hillary Clinton's visits to northern Ireland contributed to the "mood music" that made an eventual settlement possible, but were hardly key to reaching an agreement. "Would we have reached a settlement without that kind of stuff? Yes. Would we have got one without the intervention of Bill Clinton and George Mitchell? No." Hillary is making a lot more of her Northern Ireland role on the campaign trail than she did in her memoir "Living History." As the Boston Globe recently noted, her stories of bringing Protestant and Catholic women together have become more dramatic with each retelling. The claim that she brought Catholics and Protestants together "for the first time" seems dubious. This would not be the first time that she has mixed up her chronology. [Washington Post, Fact Checker, 1/10/08]

Washington Post, On Clinton's Role In Kosovo: "Clinton Repeated Her Claim About Negotiating With Foreign Governments 'On Matters Such As Opening Borders For Refugees During The Way In Kosovo. As I Pointed Out' ... This Seems Quite A Stretch." "Clinton repeated her claim about negotiating with foreign governments 'on matters such as opening borders for refugees during the war in Kosovo.' As I pointed out in this post, this seems quite a stretch. She is referring to a visit that she made to Macedonia, Kosovo's neighbor, during the NATO bombing campaign against Serbia in May 1999. Clinton arrived in Macedonia on May 14, 1999, and visited Albanian refugee camps along the border with Kosovo. Macedonia had closed its borders with Kosovo, to prevent even more refugees from entering the country, but re-opened the border under western pressure on May 13, the day before Clinton's arrival. U.S. diplomats used the prospect of Clinton's visit to extract a concession from the Macedonian government, but Clinton did not directly negotiate with the Macedonians herself. That is not the job of First Ladies." [Washington Post, 2/21/08]

Washington Post, On Clinton's Role In Kosovo: "The Record shows That [Clinton] Took An Intelligent Interest In All These Issues, Addressing Conferences And Meeting With Victims Of War, But Did Not Get Involved In Diplomatic Negotiations In An Meaningful Way. Her Role Was More Symbolic Than Substantive." "The Clinton campaign has provided various news clips to support Hillary Clinton's claim during last night's debate about 'negotiating with governments like Macedonia to open their border again, to let Kosovar refugees in.' The news articles make clear that Clinton visited Albanian refugee camps in Macedonia on May 14, 1999, during the NATO bombing war against Serbia. Macedonia had closed its borders the previous week, in order to stem the flow of Albanian refugees from Kosovo. The Macedonian government reopened the border on May 13, the day before Clinton toured the camps. According to this CNN report, only a few stragglers crossed the border. Clearly, Clinton's visit to Macedonia helped focus even more international attention on the country and the refugee crisis that resulted from the forced expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Albanians from Kosovo by the Serbian authorities. According to a May 16 Chicago Tribune report cited by the Clinton campaign, Clinton announced the "release of the first $2 million in a $21 million economic development package for Macedonia" at a meeting with Macedonian government leaders. The question is whether Clinton personally negotiated the deal with the Macedonian government--or U.S. diplomats used her forthcoming visit as an additional incentive to persuade the Macedonian authorities to re-open the border. The sequence of events--first the border reopening, followed by Clinton's visit to the camps and her meeting with Macedonian government leaders--points to the second scenario. This issue may seem trivial but it addresses the question of the nature of Clinton's White House experience. Was she the traditional First Lady or was she almost a co-president with Bill, helping to bring peace in Northern Ireland and negotiating with foreign governments? A truthful answer is somewhere in between. As a candidate, she has naturally tried to focus public attention on the trips she made to places like China, Northern Ireland, and the Balkans, and her meetings with foreign leaders. She claimed at one point that she was "intimately involved" in the Northern Ireland peace process. The record shows that she took an intelligent interest in all these issues, addressing conferences and meeting with victims of war, but did not get involved in diplomatic negotiations in any meaningful way. Her role was more symbolic than substantive." [Washington Post, 1/31/08]

Clinton Does Not Have National Security Experience Or Experience Dealing With A National Security Crisis

Clinton Did Not Hold A Security Clearance And Did Not Attend National Security Meetings. "During those two terms in the White House, Mrs. Clinton did not hold a security clearance. She did not attend National Security Council meetings. She was not given a copy of the president's daily intelligence briefing. She did not assert herself on the crises in Somalia, Haiti and Rwanda." [NYT, 12/26/07]

Clinton Said She Did Not Attend Formal National Security Council Meetings. Clinton, on her role in the Clinton administration, said "I don't think it would have been appropriate to attend a formal national security council meeting, I've said that when I am president, my husband won't do that." [NBC, 1/2/08]

New York Times: Clinton Did "Not Wrestle Directly With Many Of The Challenges The Next President Will Face" And Some Administration Officials Are Skeptical That The Clinton's Conversations And Her 79 Trips Abroad Add Up To A Unique Experience. Clinton "did not wrestle directly with many of the other challenges the next president will face, including managing a large-scale deployment -- or withdrawal of troops abroad, an overhaul of the intelligence agencies or the effort to halt the spread of nuclear weapons technology. ... But other administration officials, as well as opponents of Mrs. Clinton, are skeptical that the couple's conversations and her 79 trips add up to unique experience that voters should reward. She was not independently judging intelligence, for the most part, or mediating the data, egos and agendas of a national security team. And, in the end, she did not feel or process the weight of responsibility." [NYT, 12/26/07]

Clinton Has Exaggerated Her Foreign Policy Experience

The Economist: Clinton's "Experience Of Grappling With Foreign Powers Is Slighter Than She Implies." "Of the first-tier candidates, Hillary Clinton probably knows the most about foreign affairs. Name a country or a crisis and she can shoot back with a carefully formulated position on it. But her experience of grappling with foreign powers is slighter than she often implies. Racking up airmiles as first lady is not quite the same as negotiating a treaty. She makes much of her speech to the UN women's conference in Beijing in 1995, but a president has to grapple with tougher problems than that." [The Economist, 11/29/07]

Newsweek: Clinton's "Sanitized, Ceremonial Trips Abroad Are Hardly Preparation For The Middle-Of-The-Night Call From The Situation Room." Hillary Clinton highlights her extensive travel to more than 80 countries as First Lady and her 1995 women's rights speech to the U.N. to demonstrate of her foreign policy experience. Newsweek wrote, "But these sanitized, ceremonial trips abroad are hardly preparation for the middle-of-the-night call from the Situation Room." [Newsweek, 8/6/07]

Newsweek: Clinton Cited First Lady-Trips As Foreign Policy Experience- "Laura Bush Has Also Traveled Extensively" And "No One Is Saying She Has The Experience." Clinton's aides point to her extensive travel to more than 80 countries as First Lady and her 1995 speech at a U.N. conference on women in Beijing as proof for her foreign policy experience. "Laura Bush has also traveled extensively as First Lady, taking in 68 countries either with her husband or on her own. No one is saying she has the experience to be commander in chief." [Newsweek, 8/6/07]

Was Clinton Really The "Face Of The Administration" In Foreign Affairs?

Clinton Said That "There Are Lots Of Ways In Which What I Did Was The Face Of America When I Was There." Asked about former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack's comments that she was the face of foreign policy during her husband's administration, Clinton said, "I traveled to I think, I don't know, maybe 80, 82 countries... and I went a lot of places that the president or the vice president or the Secretary of State couldn't go or couldn't get there yet. I was the first person for the administration to go to Bosnia after the Dayton Peace accords. I went to Africa; I went to India, Pakistan, the Indian subcontinent to sort of lay the groundwork for building an American relationship with a visit to come from the president. I went to Latin America, I think every year that I was in the White House, meeting with government officials, first ladies, not for profit organizations on issues like health care and education. I think that there are lots of ways in which what I did was the face of America when I was there when I was representing not just my husband but the country." [MSNBC, 11/25/07]

Maureen Dowd: Clinton "Went Of Some First Lady Jaunts And Made A Good Speech At A U.N. Women's Conference In Beijing. But She Was Certainly Not... 'The Face Of The Administration In Foreign Affairs.'" "Her Democratic rivals had meekly gone along, accepting her self-portrait as a former co-president who gets to take credit for everything important Bill Clinton did in the '90s. But she was not elected or appointed to a position that needed Senate confirmation. And the part of the Clinton administration that worked best — the economy, stupid — was run by Robert Rubin. Hillary did not show good judgment in her areas of influence — the legal fiefdom, health care and running oppo-campaigns against Bill's galpals. She went on some first lady jaunts and made a good speech at a U.N. women's conference in Beijing. But she was certainly not, as her top Iowa supporter, former governor Tom Vilsack claimed yesterday on MSNBC, "the face of the administration in foreign affairs."" [Maureen Dowd, NYT, 11/21/07]