The quote you’ve heard all over TV and the blogosphere:
David Trimble, the former first minister of Northern Ireland and 1998 Nobel Peace Prize winner along with SDLP leader John Hume, had this to say about Hillary Clinton’s role in talks leading up to the Good Friday Agreement:
"I don’t know there was much she did apart from accompanying Bill (Clinton) going around," Trimble said. He characterized her recent campaign statements as "the sort of thing people put in their canvassing leaflets. … She visited when things were happening, saw what was going on, she can certainly say it was part of her experience. I don’t want to rain on the thing for her but being a cheerleader for something is slightly different from being a principal player."
Trimble said Hillary Clinton’s claims are “a wee bit silly.”
Just another incident of cherry-picking any “evidence” which sheds bad light on Sen. Clinton.
The above quotes appeared in London’s Daily Telegraph in an article dated 3/8/2008. The article, generally negative toward the former first lady, tamps down positive comments about her role in uniting the women who formed the Women’s Coalition, which participated in Ireland’s peace agreement.
Of the women’s role, the much-quoted Lord Trimble said: "The Women’s Coalition will think they were important. Other people beg to differ."
Read the full two-page article: LINK
And, John Hume, leader of the nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), who shared the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize with Trimble? What has he to say about Hillary’s involvement?
"I am quite surprised that anyone would suggest that Hillary Clinton did not perform important foreign policy work as first lady. I can state from firsthand experience that she played a positive role for over a decade in helping to bring peace to Northern Ireland. She visited Northern Ireland, met with very many people and gave very decisive support to the peace process.
"There is no doubt that the people of Northern Ireland think very positively of Hillary Clinton’s support for our peace process, due to her visits to Northern Ireland and her meetings with so many people. In private she made countless calls and contacts, speaking to leaders and opinion-makers on all sides, urging them to keep moving forward."
Finally, in his book, “A Farther Shore: Ireland’s Long Road to Peace” (Random House, 2003), Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams wrote:
"On a number of occasions she (Hillary Clinton) sat in for discussions between us and the President. Her political instincts on issues of equality meant that she had a natural affinity with the struggle for justice and equity. I also think that she understood the dynamics of the peace process and the need for it to have both forward momentum and a capacity to deliver on issues which affected disadvantaged people in their daily lives. She was to bring a singular contribution to the process on the issue of empowerment of women but in my engagements with her it was obvious that her mind was busy on all the issues that required attention."
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Still on my blog break, folks, but just couldn’t let this WEE BIT SILLY SELECTIVE SCRUTINY ride.
Later, BJ
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Frodo asks, "What is the role of First Spouse?"
Would it be different if "First Spouse" were also "Former President?"
There was, in Frodo's memory, a significant amount of dialogue in the early Presidency of William Jefferson Clinton about getting "two for one." There was, if Frodo's memory is not fully disintegrated, a significant outcry from the opposition, and from the surprised, who felt that the electorate had only voted for one. It was at this point that the then-Mrs. Clinton first found herself developing electoral enemies.
Frodo thinks this issue of "who does what in the White House" is far too important to be charged off as media bias.
The last two comments, duplicates, were deleted because they were an apparent money-making scheme. BJ
Jan remembers as a little girl the shock and mourning of the entire village when FDR died during his fourth term in office. It was indeed a sad period in history. Her parents mourned for many weeks.
Jan also remembers that with Eleanor Roosevelt the nation did indeed have two for the price of one in the oval office.
Just check Eleanor's record and see what great work she did. Like Mrs. Hillary Clinton she, too, was a champion for women and children, civil rights, and other causes to benefit the masses of the people. She was a guardian of human values. She held weekly press conferences, wrote a syndicated newspaper column and traveled extensively.
Unlike today's MSM, FDR's long term affair with Lucy Mercer was not the daily, 24/7 in-your-face headline news. The same can be said of subsequent presidential infidelity until recent times.
Sexism is still so prevalent in today's society that Jan concluded that when the Devil can't be there in person, he sends a male species to further denigrate women. Just look at the MSM males and listen to their foaming-at-the-mouth garbage for proof.
I would have a hard time comparing Eleanor's "two for one" to Hillary's because it was probably supportive of a spouse and a program. What I remember of Hillary's "two for one" was a really serious shock, a surprise, it gave me a feeling of usurping an elected position. It was not good, not appreciated, not right. Talk about gender bias--if that had been GW I'd have railed against it, as I have with everything he's done. At that time I just waited to see what on earth would develop. I had gender bias, I let it go, and tried to see her as ok.
Let's say that that does not matter. The trouble is that it does. It wasn't right at the time--and it wasn't like Eleanor's--it was pre-emptive of the American people, "in their face" we'd say today. "You and who else" will stop me. That is not American government.
I remember the New Yorker article I mentioned some time ago. Mostly about Hillary--good things. But one of the Washington people who was weighing pros and cons about her, and she had pros. She sighed, and she said, oh I hate to see the circus come back to Washington.
Is it media bias, or is it the dropped comment that cannot be denied? then the denial, the persecution claims. All of which get the comment out there at the right moment. That's a PR technique. I am remembering the Clinton years all over again with a new eye.
It is better to debate the issues than anything you have ever done. Debate them in your mind, your hearts, think of history, think of now. Don't ever think of stopping this process. Or you will not be an American anymore.
Hi BJ. Gosh, how I wish I could stop over with a coffecake or a something. Sorry you are so far away.
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I noticed Hillary is on the covers of both Time and Newsweek. Haven't been able to read articles yet because I'll probably have to stand in the store to read them at their prices. Barack, on the other hand, is on Rolling Stone and the National Enquirer. Strange media strategy.
I think this primary season is too long. We are an obsessed and polarized nation over this one, and we're missing what else is going on. Well, I should speak for myself. Thanks to Client #9 for a moment of levity.
Ah, Lady Eowyn … coffee cake, huh? There’s always UPS. Wrap it in a rag soaked in bourbon or rum, and it will make the trip just fine. Frodo has my address.
I agree that we are so focused on the presidential race that news of great import might be overlooked.
I like to read The Progress Report (Center for American Progress) which is emailed to me daily, but I cannot tell you how many times of late I’ve had to delete it without reading. IMHO, it’s the most informative of online newsletters, covering a wide range of news. (Neat trick: if you copy and paste the newsletter to Microsoft Word, all the items under the columns on the right miraculously appear without clicking on their links!)
As you read on his blog, Frodo and I have been smack dab in the middle of tornado alley for the last 24 hours. And, as he mentioned, unable to be online too much.
By the way, did you finish the first Harry Potter? Stay with it: the story grows along with the kids and becomes so compelling it will get you through March!
Thinking of coffee cake. BJ
Thank you for the Progress Report tip! I will look into that. So that's one of the ways you stay so well informed.
I haven't really been aware of the weather you are going through there. Here it's just annoying without relief. Yours now sounds like weather you have to worry about getting TO you. More like the rain in the south and the fires in the west. Tornadoes. Hope that passes and quickly.
Yes, I've tried the rum-soaked fruitcake, but from reading Truman Capote, I'm not Southern enough. It didn't work so well. I looked at my pristine copy of Harry Potter the other day, and was sad because I haven't even started it. It seems like that's a book for a time of charm and grace. I'm waiting for some kind of "nice time"?
It's been nice to have the primaries settle down for a couple days. Looking forward to your next thoughts. And, as for Frodo, well you know what he said about those little pine trees. Knowing the Ents, he has brought a bit of this on himself.
We all need blue skies. And an administration that makes us proud. Doesn't matter if we predicted it, just be nice to relax and have that. Remember . . .the days before we all listened to political news all day long? I used to listen to NPR all the time, then with GW I stopped. Pro or con, all about government.
Lie low, the sun will really shine where you are.
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