The International Herald Tribune featured an interested article  occasioned by the publication of a book of quotations of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton titled I've Always Been a Yankees Fan: Hillary Clinton in Her Own Words. The piece says rather little about the book itself and instead launches into a discussion of the 'Bushisms' series which the article's author dubs the '800—pound gorilla' of the genre of collected mis—quotations.

This line of aggressive defense will not do, however, as any attempt to establish any kind of moral equivalency between the two is bound to fall flat. The reason for this is simple: President Bush is an honest man while the lady in question is not.

Although he occasionally mangles the English language, George Bush very rarely — if ever — intentionally tells an untruth. Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, rarely — if ever — tells the truth about anything. A hardened liar, she lies about what she believes and she lies about what she would do if elected. Telling a lie means absolutely nothing to her. Dishonest and deceptive, she shares these qualities with her husband and most activist liberals.

Being under the sway of an ideology erected on false premises, they can hardly do otherwise. Although many of them started out as young idealists, most have ended up as moral wrecks with whom truth, honesty and personal integrity count for naught. It is only fitting that these people invest so much of their hopes in Hillary Clinton as they did before in Bill. Neither of them has a moral center and neither does liberalism.

The several collections of 'Bushisms' have not appreciably damaged Bush's standing, as they are largely made up of innocent verbal gaffes most of which are, in fact, rather endearing. The collected Hillarisms, on the other hand, have the potential to hurt their utterer, because they show her for what she really is — a ruthless, calculating liar without principles or conscience.

Vasko Kohlmayer   4 19 06