Did anyone catch what Hillary Clinton said today [1] in response to questions about Obama’s chatting it up with Venezuela’s Socialist dictator Hugo Chavez?
At a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing this afternoon, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton defended her boss’s foreign policy views in a way that seemed to suggest that she personally holds a different view than does President Obama, but that he beat her in the Democratic presidential primaries, so his view wins.
The remark came after Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., challenged Clinton on “the issue of the president being photographed with the virulent anti-American socialist dictator of Venezuela,” President Hugo Chavez.
Pence called Chavez “a Castro wannabe” who has “oppressed the media,… bullied economic interests,… (and) blacklisted political opponents.”
The Indiana Republican quoted remarks then-Sen. Clinton, D-N.Y., made in July 2007 regarding potential meetings with the leaders of North Korea, Venezuela, or Cuba: “I will not promise to meet with the leaders of these countries during my first year. I don’t want to be used for propaganda purposes.”
Pence asked: “In light of your previously stated insight, isn’t it true that having the president of the United States be seen on the world stage warmly greeting a virulent anti-American socialist dictator that intentionally or unintentionally our president was used ‘for propaganda purposes,’ to borrow the phrase that you used?”Said Clinton: “President Obama won the election. He beat me in a primary, in which he put forth a different approach. And he is now our president, and we all want our president, no matter of which party, to succeed, especially in such a perilous time.”
She said more after that, but wow – she really made it all about her to start with. She’s learned well from her boss [2]. Or maybe he learned it from her [3].
Where’s that blasted reset button [4] when you need it?