Hillary Clinton (D) And Brian Williams (D-NBC): Two Peas In A Pod
[guest post by Dana]
NBC News Anchor Brian Williams came clean today, admitting that he lied when he claimed to be aboard a helicopter that was shot down by an RPG in Iraq in 2003:
NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams admitted Wednesday he was not aboard a helicopter hit and forced down by RPG fire during the invasion of Iraq in 2003, a false claim that has been repeated by the network for years.
Williams himself repeated the claim Friday during NBC’s coverage of a public tribute at a New York Rangers hockey game for a retired soldier that had provided ground security for the grounded helicopters. In an interview with Stars and Stripes, he said he had misremembered the events and was sorry.
After being taken to task for his mis-remembering (in a REALLY BIG WAY), Williams responded:
You are absolutely right and I was wrong. In fact, I spent much of the weekend thinking I’d gone crazy. I feel terrible about making this mistake, especially since I found my OWN WRITING about the incident from back in ’08, and I was indeed on the Chinook behind the bird that took the RPG in the tail housing just above the ramp,” Williams said in a statement in to Stars and Stripes.
“Because I have no desire to fictionalize my experience (we all saw it happened the first time) and no need to dramatize events as they actually happened, I think the constant viewing of the video showing us inspecting the impact area — and the fog of memory over 12 years — made me conflate the two, and I apologize.
Look, I can’t imagine how many stories Williams has covered in his tenure, how many miles he has logged on planes, helicopters, trains and rickshaws, nor how many different time zones he has has found himself in over the course of a year, and yes, I get it – time passes and details can become murky, but honestly, getting SHOT AT AND FORCED DOWN in a war zone is something you don’t forget! It’s not something you think happened, or something that you sort of remember happening. You. Know. If. You. Were. Shot. Down. I suspect that any civilian aboard a helicopter that gets hit by an RPG will forever have that moment undeniably and indelibly etched in his mind. Unless it didn’t happen.
Williams and his camera crew were actually aboard a Chinook in a formation that was about an hour behind the three helicopters that came under fire, according to crew member interviews.
That Chinook took no fire and landed later beside the damaged helicopter due to an impending sandstorm from the Iraqi desert, according to Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Miller, who was the flight engineer on the aircraft that carried the journalists.
“No, we never came under direct enemy fire to the aircraft,” he said Wednesday.
And, according to Mike O’Keeffe, who was a door gunner on the damaged Chinook:
“Over the years it faded,” he said, “and then to see it last week it was — I can’t believe he is still telling this false narrative.”
At this point, can the public, and NBC Nightly News, trust anything Brian Williams tells us from the anchor desk?
–Dana
Hello.
Dana (8e74ce) — 2/4/2015 @ 4:20 pmTo the anointed, the memories are fungible. Hillary was shot at. Williams was shot down. Dan Rather wasn’t kicked out of the Marines in basic training. Well, at least he doesn’t remember it that way.
Dan Rather cannot call himself an Ex-Marine, and he must stop referring to himself as such. To be a Marine, a recruit must graduate from boot camp, and Dan Rather did not; he was medically discharged before graduation. According to him, he was medically discharged from the Marine Corps due to a medical disability caused by a childhood case of rheumatic fever.
I went through Marine Corps boot camp at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD) San Diego about the same time Dan Rather was there, and here’s my take on his brief tour in the Marine Corps. First of all, I find it highly unlikely that the Marine Corps would allow Dan Rather to enlist in spite of a known disability. At the time, a childhood case of rheumatic fever would have made him ineligible for enlistment in the Marines. So, if Dan Rather did not simply medically “wash out” through no fault of his own, as he says, then how did he manage to enlist and then leave the Marine Corps in such a short period of time (three months)? I cannot say with certainty that I know how he did it, but here is how I saw others do it at the time:
Rather could not have had a disability before going to boot camp. I examine recruits. One thing the Marines do is they do not pay recruiters until the recruits finish boot camp. It may have been less vigorous in the 1950s when I went into the Air Force, but it was also harder to get sent home from boot camp.
Mike K (90dfdc) — 2/4/2015 @ 4:31 pmOh, sorry, Dana, I just posted something about this on the other thread because I had not noticed your new thread started. Pretty amazing the tricks one’s mind can play isn’t it? Saying the lie enough times for these people makes it true? Riiiiight.
elissa (089d2b) — 2/4/2015 @ 4:31 pmNo worries, Elissa. I didn’t see your comment anyway. It took me a long time to get this up.
Dana (8e74ce) — 2/4/2015 @ 4:35 pmBoy, that Dan Rather is one big story in himself.
Dana (8e74ce) — 2/4/2015 @ 4:36 pmDo you think it might have been the same guy who shot at Hillary! and Williams? Like a serial career killer?
Steve57 (8d38a0) — 2/4/2015 @ 4:38 pmDana. I think it’s cute how you indicate that somehow our opinion
of his or her (or any other political operative’s) integrity will now change.
I haven’t trusted those bastards since at least the Slick Willie years.
jakee308 (f0aa61) — 2/4/2015 @ 4:40 pmIt makes you wonder how may times at Washington parties and such Hil and Brian have compared notes and clinked glasses over their wartime adventures and near misses.
elissa (089d2b) — 2/4/2015 @ 4:43 pmDo you think it might have been the same guy who shot at Hillary! and Williams? Like a serial career killer?
Worse, a Serbian/Iraqi serial career killer! Those are the worst kind.
JVW (60ca93) — 2/4/2015 @ 4:48 pmI mis-remembered getting blown by Raquel Welch once…
Gazzer (e441dc) — 2/4/2015 @ 4:49 pmAce is all over this. Williams is trying to pull the “I accidentally misremembered, I didn’t intentionally lie” trick. It’s hilarious.
http://acecomments.mu.nu/?post=354775
Did I ever tell you about the time I was taking off from La Guardia and we ran into a flock of geese, one of which FODed one of my engines? Well, we didn’t have enough altitude to make it back to the airport and the only open space was the Hudson river, so I…
Oh, wait. That was Sully Sullenberger.
Steve57 (8d38a0) — 2/4/2015 @ 4:50 pmAnd besides, ol’ Brian is dealing with some far more uncomfortable stuff from his daughter (I worked hard to find a link that isn’t too salacious for Patterico’s Pontifications, but I would still append a NSFW warning to this).
JVW (60ca93) — 2/4/2015 @ 4:52 pmEvery time their SEAL team mates get together for the reunion, at least. I hear Hillary! and Williams graduated in the same Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL class.
Steve57 (8d38a0) — 2/4/2015 @ 4:53 pmYeah, JVW, that was, um, interesting.
I was tempted to begin this sentence with “And you wanna know what was the weird part?”
IT IS ALL THE WEIRD PART!
But apparently designing the thong the young “actress” wore in that scene was a mother-daughter project. So that there was some cloth running vertically, but it wouldn’t show on camera from the side.
And Brian Williams was running around saying how proud they all were of her, like she’s doing Shakespeare.
I understand the beaming mom & dad actually watched that episode.
What’s next for Brian Williams? He’ll be on the road for NBC and decide to call up an escort service. And his daughter will show up.
Now that you linked to that story in your comment, JVW, I think I might know.
Steve57 (8d38a0) — 2/4/2015 @ 5:06 pmI once mis-remembered my girlfriend, Morgan Fairchild…yeah, that’s the ticket.
Gazzer (e441dc) — 2/4/2015 @ 5:12 pmback in the nam we used to call these people big fat lying stupidheads
happyfeet (831175) — 2/4/2015 @ 5:15 pmAlready I see this has all the makings of a late Friday night thread, not a middle of the work week Wednesday thread.
elissa (089d2b) — 2/4/2015 @ 5:17 pmfeets, did I ever tell you about the time back in ‘Nam when I drove my Swift boat up the Mekong just so I could spend Christmas in Cambodia? It’s seared, SEARED, in my memory.
Oh, wait, for a second I misrembered being the Secretary of State.
Steve57 (8d38a0) — 2/4/2015 @ 5:29 pmI know you’re lying. Do you know how I know you’re lying? It’s because there was a CIA guy passing out lucky hats there in Cambodia and you did not even mention it. Gotcha!!!!
elissa (089d2b) — 2/4/2015 @ 5:37 pmWhat a week for the Williams family. One’s getting her ass eaten, and the other one’s getting it handed to him. Lordy.
Gazzer (e441dc) — 2/4/2015 @ 5:43 pmI wonder what Mrs. Williams may yet have in store for us, gazzer.
elissa (089d2b) — 2/4/2015 @ 5:44 pmFalse valour is everywhere. I’ve raped people with my eyes.
Brooks (535902) — 2/4/2015 @ 5:46 pmYou’re right, elissa, but how about a mid-week work week stress reliever? Some hilarious comments.
Oh JVW,
That’s a helluva link. Shame on Brian Williams. What a dad says: “Listen, little sister, if you’re asking me what I think of you doing this scene, let’s just say, you’re worth more than that. No amount of anything that is “Lena Dunham” is worth spreading your legs for. Don’t fall for the we’re revolutionary, we’re pushing the envelope, we’re changing society one ass at a time con. You’re being used. And it will hurt you in the end. (No pun intended, Allison). I know this because I am your dad, I love you, and I believe in the fine young woman you are. And that young woman is worth far, far more than this.”
According to cast member Alex Karpovsky, there’s a sexual revolution evolving this year, and this episode may be a representation of what to expect in the future of television.
“Maybe that’s one of the cliffs or peaks that we need to begin to incorporate into our societal representation of this revolution, specifically in television. This could be the year of the anus,” he said.
Too late, silly little Alex. There’s nothing new under the sun, it’s all been done, nothing can shock us anymore. And how sad is that.
Dana (8e74ce) — 2/4/2015 @ 5:49 pmWhen something “interesting” happens while flying, you don’t misremember it. You remember it as clearly as if it just happened yesterday. Almost in a mid-air? Yeah, crystal clear 40+ years later. Airplane catch on fire? Sure, still remember the smell in the cabin. Major fuel leak? Yep, owe what’s left of my life to Danny. You DO NOT FORGET those things.
Bill M (906260) — 2/4/2015 @ 5:50 pmWell of course, it happens all the time. Another helicopter gets shot down, you were in a helicopter, you see the shot-down helicopter an hour after the fact. Memories get conflated. Next thing you remember, you were taking fire. Stuff like this happens whenever we forget to take our Clozapine. Or, you know, smoke too much crystal meth. It could happen to almost anybody!
David Pittelli (b77425) — 2/4/2015 @ 5:53 pmI mis-remembered paying my taxes one year. The IRS was not best pleased.
Gazzer (e441dc) — 2/4/2015 @ 5:56 pmSeriously though, how far has our society sunk. Time was a resignation would have been duly proffered and accepted. Now, we have the “survivor” of a sniper attack in Tuzla being seriously considered as a potential C-i-C. An attack that was debunked by Sinbad, no less. We are beyond self- parody at this point.
Gazzer (e441dc) — 2/4/2015 @ 5:58 pmclarification please. was this sarcastic?
Brian Williams daughter works for Dumbham? (i did not click on the link)
seeRpea (9a7f2e) — 2/4/2015 @ 6:10 pmseeRpea, yes,csarcastic. It’s an enormous thing to get wrong.
Dana (8e74ce) — 2/4/2015 @ 6:14 pmoh, “in a really big way” referred to the mis-remembering, not the “being taken to task”
seeRpea (9a7f2e) — 2/4/2015 @ 6:22 pmTrust Brian Williams to tell the truth? I never have, he’s a liberal Democrat.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/4/2015 @ 6:26 pmCourse, had that been Kim Kardashian in that role on “Girls”, the perp would have had to have turned the stereo up. Way up.
Gazzer (e441dc) — 2/4/2015 @ 6:27 pmToss dat salad! A very unattractive young lady in profile.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/4/2015 @ 6:30 pm“At this point, can the public, and NBC Nightly News, trust anything Brian Williams tells us from the anchor desk?”
No. Next question.
f1guyus (9cbd15) — 2/4/2015 @ 6:31 pmHold teh croutons!
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/4/2015 @ 6:32 pmHold the clingons!
Gazzer (e441dc) — 2/4/2015 @ 6:34 pmHe tossed dat salad like his name was Romaine!
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/4/2015 @ 6:35 pmBeautiful post. I especially like the rickshaw.
DRJ (e80d46) — 2/4/2015 @ 6:46 pmPeter Pan, my ass…
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/4/2015 @ 6:52 pmJust another smug, lying lefty… http://youtu.be/lzq0GChcgp8
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/4/2015 @ 6:55 pmYeah, thanks for the NSFW warning, JVW. I steer away from seeing things “you can’t unsee.”
“Brian Williams (D-NBC)”
LOL! that is a great idea! All talking heads should so be identified!
felipe (56556d) — 2/4/2015 @ 6:55 pmHe’s been telling the story since 2003, but he wrote something different in 2008? And then he went back to telling the false story?
It could be maybe a story he let others tell, at least at first, and then decided to live woth the false, misunderstood, story. Or did he have to tell the truth to some people? What was that 2008 writing?
Sammy Finkelman (e806a6) — 2/4/2015 @ 7:00 pmI was in El Salvador during the civil war there. I was having lunch outside in a little dusty towns only restaurant.
The concrete block walls behind me were shot to shit. So I am sitting there and a Huey pops up out of the valley real quick and close and takes a good look with a kid that looks 15 years old on the door gun. I slowly reached for my beer and took a swig, trying to act like I always enjoy the scenery when little kids are pointing weapons at me.. which I learned to do.
Good news was there was often no one else at the historic sites, but the bad news was the surf was still crowded at La Libertad.
If Brian Williams wanted to get shot at, he’d embed with guys who get shot the most.
steveg (794291) — 2/4/2015 @ 7:09 pmHe probably went home every night to steak and soft serve ice cream in the Green Zone
That’s why I cancelled my cable entirely, felipe.
Steve57 (8d38a0) — 2/4/2015 @ 8:08 pmIf you play for the right team, there is literally nothing you can’t get away with.
JD (38bb15) — 2/4/2015 @ 8:12 pmBrian and Mrs. Williams must be so proud.
Now I’m doubly glad I cancelled my cable. I think I’ll get a billiard table.
Steve57 (8d38a0) — 2/4/2015 @ 8:17 pmWay back in the ’70s, some friends and I went to a scaggy strip club in Houston because that’s what you do when you’re 17 and stupid. This was in the daytime. So, the main attraction that day was a skinny drug addict in a G-string. She asked to see our ID and one of my friends, who may have been 16 at the time said “They never asked for my ID in ‘Nam.”
Ag80 (eb6ffa) — 2/4/2015 @ 8:28 pmSo, anyway, the point of my story before my computer posted for some reason, is that skinny drug addict kicked us out of the bar and she has more journalistic integrity than Brian Williams.
And I’m sure he’s proud of his daughter who plays a skinny whore on TV rather than a strip club in Houston.
Ag80 (eb6ffa) — 2/4/2015 @ 8:31 pmRevolution and revolting sometimes mean the same thing and sometimes they don’t.
nk (dbc370) — 2/4/2015 @ 8:37 pmHow long until someone says Williams was Swiftboated?
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/4/2015 @ 8:57 pmLet’s coin a new phrase just for him. He was Chinooked.
Steve57 (8d38a0) — 2/4/2015 @ 9:07 pm“Revolution and revolting sometimes mean the same thing and sometimes they don’t.”
Another entry for my forthcoming book entitled The sage sayings of nk.
felipe (56556d) — 2/4/2015 @ 9:17 pm“He was chinooked”
I like it. Here’s my nickel -I’m gonna use it.
felipe (56556d) — 2/4/2015 @ 9:22 pmGod ! That is one step from porn. A half step.
Mike K (90dfdc) — 2/4/2015 @ 9:24 pmMake it “S**t nk says” and I’ll autograph the first 1,000 copies for you, felipe.
nk (dbc370) — 2/4/2015 @ 10:31 pmI have no doubt that TV will be showing full-on hard-core sex acts before all too long. Artists like Lena Durham will push it there, shortly before nobody watches TV for entertainment anymore.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/4/2015 @ 11:45 pmYou can all come over and play pool at my place. I gave up on TV years ago. I still have one in my living room so I can watch DVDs, but I can do that on my computer. But if I get rid of the TV I think I can fit a billiard table.
Steve57 (f0ee0c) — 2/4/2015 @ 11:49 pm“Artists” like Lena Dunham producing prime time porn.
It’s like a vision of hell.
Steve57 (f0ee0c) — 2/4/2015 @ 11:50 pmWilliams uses the word “mistake.” A curious word in this circumstance and yet another lie.
Otto Maddox (990b3b) — 2/5/2015 @ 1:06 amMrs clinton america’s next president! Ever month 100,000 minority kids turn 18(voting age) and 15,000 conservatives die of old age or what ever. The mormon got 61% of white vote sames reagan in 1984 gop landslide but in 2012 it was not enough and other 39% of whites hate republicans as much as the minorities do! Bend over and kiss your ass good buy!
truther (fb9a4e) — 2/5/2015 @ 1:25 amThe closest Brian Williams was to ever being shot down was by a P.I. hooker.
Gerald A 11/2006 (2c96c6) — 2/5/2015 @ 1:37 amI had a question that I’ll throw out there that’s kind of off-topic, but if there’s no such thing as an “ex-Marine” how do you Semper Fi guys classify the pathetic coward Lee Harvey Oswald?
Johnny Mustard (e2a87c) — 2/5/2015 @ 4:41 amHis apology is being shot down
mg (31009b) — 2/5/2015 @ 5:45 amLester Holt tonight?
If a Hilton was nearby, he was in it.
mg (31009b) — 2/5/2015 @ 5:47 amNow we know why the media never questions obama when he lies. He may call them on theirs.
Jim (84e66d) — 2/5/2015 @ 6:39 amMr. lee harvey oswald is very misunderstood a lot of people don’t know that he was a big dog lover and he had a timeshare in Alabama he never got to use cause he’d always let other people have it
next year I’m a go he would say but why don’t you take it this year
happyfeet (a037ad) — 2/5/2015 @ 6:43 amNo, but could we ever?
Patterico (9c670f) — 2/5/2015 @ 7:00 amWe can trust Brian Williams as much as we can trust Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. They truly are peas in a pod.
DRJ (e80d46) — 2/5/2015 @ 7:10 amLet’s see:
Hillary! – corkscrew landing
Bill – walked from LaGuardia to Harlem after his London flight
Williams – took RPG fire to his ‘copter and lived
Kerry – “They gave me the hat. I have the hat to this day.” Surely, seared into his memory.
The only positive thing that these narratives accomplish is to illustrate the plasticity of memory. If you repeat a lie enough, at some point, it becomes true in your mind. Food for thought for prosecutors and such folks.
carlitos (c24ed5) — 2/5/2015 @ 7:42 am“This isn’t about freedom; this is a slaughter. If I’m gonna get my balls blown off for a word, my word is “apology”.”
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/5/2015 @ 8:18 am– Brian Williams
If you repeat a lie enough, at some point, it becomes true in your mind. Food for thought for prosecutors and such folks.
Cops and prosecutors do that with witnesses all the time. They bring in a witness, and “go over” his statement with him time and time again until it is unshakeable under cross-examination. He will actually believe it and be offended if you try to shake his recollection. It’s not done as much as it used to be, but they will also hold somebody as a “material witness” to make sure they are the only ones who get to shape his testimony.
nk (dbc370) — 2/5/2015 @ 8:24 am@67, you forgot one:
Barack Obama, Renegade: The Making of a President.
http://www.amazon.com/Renegade-Making-President-Richard-Wolffe/dp/0307463133
Actually, that’s the only honest one on the list. But it encompasses all the others. They all really do believe their own bull****.
Steve57 (f0ee0c) — 2/5/2015 @ 9:42 amSome of them even want to eat their own ****.
Senator says restaurant employees shouldn’t be required to wash their hands.
carlitos (c24ed5) — 2/5/2015 @ 10:04 amYou got to stick with your lie. That’s the difference between Bry and Hill. She’ll stick with her lies all the way in. When the NTSB people sift through the wreckage, they’ll find Hillary’s steaming corpse still clinging tightly to her lie.
papertiger (c2d6da) — 2/5/2015 @ 10:18 amStars and Stripes:
—————————–
He was repeating the lie because he told the lie the first day. Now it could be it all started from a misunderstanding, which he didn’t want to disabuse people of. But it could also be he wanted to show himself intrepid, and was in competition with David Bloom. Whoever did a better job might get all other kinds of jobs at NBC.
This happened on March 24, 2003, and David Bloom only died on April 6.
Till April 6, Brian Williams was in danger of being outshone by David Bloom. (not by enemy fire, but it’s believed from a pulmonary embolism caused by scrunching up his legs so much which had resulted it is presumed, in deep vein thrombosis)
Sammy Finkelman (e806a6) — 2/5/2015 @ 12:30 pmI am sure of teh exact date in March, 2003 that the another helicopter was forced down.
Sammy Finkelman (e806a6) — 2/5/2015 @ 12:32 pmI am NOT sure! I am not even sure whay I typed March 24. Maybe I saw something. The NBC story was March 26.
Sammy Finkelman (e806a6) — 2/5/2015 @ 12:33 pmNK sounds like you lose a lot of cases. You sure know a lot that just ain’t so. Cops generally don’t have a lot of contact with witnesses after the initial reporting and D/A’s wish they had time to do all the pretrial conferences that would be necessary to do you think they do.
labcatcher (61737c) — 2/5/2015 @ 4:41 pmI didn’t say they did it for rolling stops at stop signs, labcatcher.
nk (dbc370) — 2/5/2015 @ 4:49 pmThe Insider covered this today.
Sammy Finkelman (e806a6) — 2/5/2015 @ 5:33 pm