Not her health benefits, of course, but the benefits of doubt that blacks, humanitarians, Obama folk, media, millions of others, have been giving Hillary Clinton for years. 

Early on, it was apparent that her husband cheated on her, more than most, and, incredibly, Hillary stayed with him.  Many thought she wanted political power and had made a Faustian deal, sparing Bill a divorce scandal in return for a shot at the White House later.  Others gave her the benefit of the doubt, defending her by asserting it was a private matter between Hillary and Bill made ugly and public by a “vast right wing conspiracy“.   

Later Bill went back on his campaign promise to stop the killing in the former Yugoslavia.   Again, some, such as Sally Bedell Smith and Christopher Hitchens, believed Hillary did not want another Somalia disaster threatening her health care reforms so Hill urged Bill to ignore the Bosnian cries for help (See Hitchens’ Slate article here).  Supporters gave Hill & Bill the benefit of the doubt, despite over 250,000 deaths there during Bill’s first term, and defended Bill’s inaction by asserting Europeans should help Europeans. 

In 1994, the unthinkable happened.  Over 56,000 blacks per week were being butchered in Rwanda - a murder rate 5 times that of the Holocaust.  Clinton was quick to get Americans out and supported Belgium’s call to pull UN troops out rather than send more troops in.  To get around that pesky UN Genocide Convention, Clinton instructed Secretary of State Christopher and UN Ambassador Albright not to let anyone use the word “genocide” so the US could avoid it’s more and legal obligation to intervene.  Some say Hillary was behind the policy of inaction that let 800,000 die needlessly (See Hillary’s Genocide Problem).  Others gave Hillary the benefit of the doubt and believed her when she said, during her 2008 Presidential Campaign, that she had, in fact, urged Bill to intervene in Rwanda.    Even African-American leaders gave the Clintons the benefit of the doubt about the worse genocide in African history (see Where’s Black Outrage Over Rwanda). 

During the 2008 Presidential Campaign, Billy Shaheen, her New Hampshire Co-Chair, resigned over remarks he made about Barack Obama’s past drug use, and his insinuation Obama not only used, but also dealt drugs.  Shaheen claimed he was only raising an issue that Republicans would have raised in the fall (See Clinton Adviser: Obama’s Past Drug Use A Liability).  Earth to Billy:  An attack on a Democrat during a Democratic Primary is a Democratic attack not a Republican attack.  Some suggested this was only the latest example of a Classic Clinton tactic of smearing a political opponent, waiting for the smear to get a lot of media coverage so it “sticks” then apologize for the comment.  Net result:  the smear still gets out there and it’s cheaper than paying for an ad!  Others (you guessed it!) gave Hillary the benefit of the doubt and resented that Mr. Shaheen made Hillary’s campaign look “out of control”. 

I could come up with a hundred more examples of deeply offensive behavior, or comments, by the Clintons, or their supporters, that asked for the benefit of the doubt over and over again. 

Yesterday, Friday, May 24, 2008, Hillary Clinton lost her benefits (See Hillary’s Big Mistake).  When asked whether her remaining in the race was hurting the Democratic Party, she mentioned that her husband’s campaign didn’t “wrap up” until June (it was over in March, 1992) and that “We all remember that Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California”. 

WHAT IS SHE IMPLYING??? 

In the context of a question about why she’s in the race still (when she has no real chance to win) she brings up RFK’s assassination?  Most might say she’s implying that, if only someone would take out her opponent, she’d win this thing.  Once again, some may give her the benefit of the doubt but, ding-ding-ding, she’s all out of benefits. 

No more for you, Hillary!  You’ve used up all the good will even your supporters had for a woman and a couple who put themselves first, at the expense of others, for the last time. 

It’s especially offensive given that her opponent is a black man and blacks have a sad tragic history of losing their leaders to a sniper.  America’s heart still hurts from the loss of Dr. King.  Colin Powell, although absurdly popular, never ran for fear of assassination.   Is there some nut job out there that will hear her words and “step up to help”?  It was a grossly irresponsible comment that I could rant about some more but I thought Keith Olberman said it best, the comments were “Unforgivable”.

I called Rush Limbaugh on Friday about Rwanda. You can read the transcript and listen to the audio here:

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_050908/content/01125115.guest.html

I was a first time caller and a little nervous talking to a man I’ve admired for most of my adult life, and still do.

As such, I did not engage him about some of the things he said that were a little off the mark.  Rush’s overall answer was fine but he made a couple mistakes in his comments & I know he’ll want to correct the record as soon as practical.

Rush’s 1^st mistake: “Clinton was busy at the time saving Haiti.” 

Even if the Haiti intervention happened during the genocide (Apr-Jul, 2004), the US military had the capacity to return Aristide to power and intervene in Rwanda.  Bush proved this later when he fought two wars (Iraq & Afghanistan) with over 400,000 troops deployed.  Clinton himself estimated in 2003 that he would only have needed 5,000 – 10,000 troops to “save half of those killed in Rwanda”

So, Haiti is not a legitimate excuse. Christopher Hutchens suggested that Hillary asked Bill not to intervene in Bosnia, as he had promised he would in the 1992 campaign to Elie Wiezel, because a messy intervention might jeopardize her health care reforms. Hutchens estimates that about 250,000 died before Clinton finally intervened in his second term. I believe this also explains why the Clintons abandoned Rwanda. The Clintons did not want another Somalia. The Hutu commanders in Rwanda knew about Clinton’s mistake in Somalia and knew if they killed a few soldiers the West would leave and not come back. They were right.

Rush’s 2^nd mistake:   “Clinton squared it all …took responsibility.  He was a big man.  At least Bill Clinton admitted a mistake”.

Clinton’s apologies on Rwanda were late (in 1998 - well after the 1996 Presidential Election) and, well, Clintonesque.  He suggested he was not fully aware of the genocide and he wished he could have done more. 

In 2004, documents were released that show Bill Clinton, and Vice-President Al Gore, were kept well-informed of events in Rwanda and, in fact, began using the term “genocide” privately within 3 weeks (150,000 dead) but chose not to get involved, or allow others to send rescue teams (that would embarrass us) until three months later – after 800,000 had died.

Even if he really apologized – that doesn’t “square it all”. No apology or singing in black churches or African charity work can make up for letting 800,000 humans die needlessly.

So, given these facts – why is Rush sticking up for the Clintons? Is this part of Operation Chaos?

The Clinton /Rwanda controversy is rich with conservative talk radio material about liberal hypocrisy:

1. Hundreds of thousands of black women, young and old were raped and mutilated. Where were the feminists then? Why do they support Hillary now?
2. Over 800,000 Africans were butchered to death? We should all be outraged but why is there not outrage from African-Americans like Obama, Sharpton, Clyburn, Jackson, etc? Hours and hours about all the terrible things whites have done to blacks in Rev Wright sermons and nothing about Rwanda?
3. Democrats and their activist groups are outraged about 4000 dead soldiers – “Bush lied, they died”. Of course, we should honor every soldier’s sacrifice but they died fighting a noble cause. Tabonhe victims of the Rwanda Genocide were largely innocent – many women and children. So many were slaughtered that the Kagera River ran red with blood and clogged in some places with the bloated & hacked body parts of women and children.  Democrats are outraged about 4000 soldiers who died fighting a noble cause but not a peep about 800,000 innocent blacks butchered to death at a murder rate 5 times the Holocaust?

Apparently, the Clintons made a political calculation that, in the end, no one cares that the Clintons abandoned Africa during it's worst genocide, not even African-Americans.

They were right.