Scott Pelley asked Hillary Clinton a hard question considering that a recent Quinnipiac poll showed that 67 percent of voters said they don’t think Clinton honest and trustworthy, with only 30 percent saying she is. Even 30 percent of Democrats do not think she is honest and trustworthy.
PELLEY: You know, in ’76, Jimmy Carter famously said, “I will not lie to you.”
CLINTON: Well, I have to tell you I have tried in every way I know how literally from my years as a young lawyer all the way through my time as secretary of state to level with the American people.
PELLEY: You talk about leveling with the American people. Have you always told the truth?
CLINTON: I’ve always tried to. Always. Always.
PELLEY: Some people are gonna call that wiggle room that you just gave yourself.
CLINTON: Well, no, I’ve always tried —
PELLEY: I mean, Jimmy Carter said, “I will never lie to you.”
CLINTON: Well, but, you know, you’re asking me to say, “Have I ever?” I don’t believe I ever have. I don’t believe I ever have. I don’t believe I ever will. I’m gonna do the best I can to level with the American people.
Chris Cillizza discussed what a horrible answer this is:
First, it does nothing at all to quell concerns about her ability to be honest and straightforward. In the New Hampshire exit poll, more than one in three (34 percent) of all Democratic primary voters said that honesty was the most important trait in their decision on which candidate to support. Of that bloc, Bernie Sanders won 92 percent of their votes as compared to just 6 percent for Clinton.
That’s broadly in keeping with national polling over the last year, which has consistently shown large majorities of voters voicing skepticism about Clinton’s trustworthiness. Her answer to that criticism has, to date, been to blame it on a Republican party obsessed with her and willing to say or do anything to tarnish her reputation. There’s truth in that but, as the New Hampshire exit numbers suggest, the problem is bigger than just Republicans out to get her.
Second, the answer from Clinton on honesty reinforces a perception that the former secretary of state tries to play with words, giving a heavily couched response when a simple one would — and should — do. You can imagine people rolling their eyes or saying, “Why doesn’t she just answer the question?” while watching that painful response by Clinton.
I’ve been told that there are 2, 10 and 15 minute versions of “Clinton Lies Compilation” on YouTube. I am more concerned about the four or eight year version of Clinton Lies we will see if she is elected.
Either Clinton is lying again here, or she is delusional. Maybe she thought she was telling the truth when she claimed that there were ties between Saddam and al Qaeda in the run up to the Iraq war. In that case she was either lying or showed she is incompetent to manage our foreign policy. She took plenty of heat last fall for her revisionist history on supporting the Defense of Marriage Act.
As I mentioned in December, Factcheck.org had quite a list of lies from Clinton in their article naming Donald Trump the King of Whoppers. And that list of whoppers from Clinton was far from complete. I discussed the types of dishonesty we have seen from Clinton back in November. Plus there were her lies in the last Democratic debate, which even a former Clinton adviser has chastised her for.
Clinton was also confronted by questions regarding her honesty at the Nevada Town Hall. She was questioned about the transcripts of her speeches to Wall Street groups to see if what she is saying on the stump about Wall Street could be trusted, along with her change in position on same sex marriage.
QUESTION: Secretary Clinton, as a realtor here in Nevada I know personally how important the economy, and the housing market is to the stability of our great nation. As the Democratic presidential candidate who has delivered speeches to the largest U.S. financial institution in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in speaking fees, why are you hesitant to release transcripts, or audio-video recordings of those meetings in order to be transparent with the American people regarding the promises, and assurances that you have made to the big banks?
Her answer clearly did not reassure the questioner. A follow up question:
QUESTION: Secretary Clinton, I do respect you very much. In fact, only a decade ago I was a very, very big supporter of yourself, and your husband. It actually broke my heart when you said marriage was between a man and a woman. How can we trust that this isn’t just more political rhetoric.
Please, just release those transcripts so that we know exactly where you stand.
Hillary Clinton claiming she is not a liar is as ridiculous as Richard Nixon saying he is not a crook. Or as ridiculous as Clinton claiming to be a progressive.
Updated from a post at Liberal Values