Clinton Admits Bosnia 'Mistake'; Slams Obama Over Wright
Clinton delivers belated slam to Obama over pastor's inflammatory sermons.
March 25, 2008 — -- Sen. Hillary Clinton admitted a "mistake" in recalling a 1996 trip to Bosnia as more dangerous than footage later revealed and, turning the tables on her Democratic rival, delivered a belated slam on Sen.Barack Obama for the controversial remarks of his pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
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"Given all we've heard and seen, he would not have been my pastor," Clinton said of Obama's pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright during a press conference Tuesday in Greensburg, Pa
Earlier this month, Obama distanced himself from his pastor of 20 years following media furor surrounding inflammatory remarks made by Wright.
In a speech on race last week, Obama called Wright's statements "divisive" and "racially charged" but also defended his long association with Wright, saying, "I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother … a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street."
Firing back Tuesday, Clinton compared Wright to radio host Don Imus and criticized Obama's defense of Wright.
"We don't have a choice when it comes to our relatives. We have a choice when it comes to the pastors and the churches we attend," she said.
Clinton also addressed the growing controversy surrounding a 1996 trip she made to Bosnia as first lady.
Video footage offers a contradictory description of recent dramatic accounts from Clinton in which she said she and her crew landed in an "evasive maneuver under sniper fire."
"There was supposed to be some sort of greeting ceremony, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles," she said at an event in Washington last week.
At her Tuesday press conference, Clinton said she "made a mistake in describing it."
When a reporter informed Clinton that the Obama campaign was pointing out that this fabrication was becoming a pattern, Clinton insisted, "I made a mistake and, you know, I had a different memory. My staff and others all kind of come together trying to sort it out; so I made a mistake, that happens. It proves I'm human, which for some people is a revelation."
Questions surrounding whether or not Clinton embellished a 1996 trip to Bosnia are particularly embarrassing for her because she has campaigned so hard on her "experience," arguing that she is ready to answer the 3 a.m. crisis call at the White House.
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