We have known Hillary Clinton both professionally and personally for close to 20 years, dating back to before President Bill Clinton's first trip to Africa in 1998 -- a trip that they both acknowledge changed their lives, and gave considerable meaning to their post White House years and to the activities of the Clinton Foundation. Joe, serving as the National Security Council Senior Director for African Affairs, was instrumental in arranging that historic visit.
Our history became entwined with Hillary further after Valerie's identity as a CIA officer was deliberately exposed, ruining her ability to serve our country. That criminal act was taken in retribution for Joe's article in the New York Times in which he explained he had discovered no basis for the Bush administration's justification for the Iraq War that Saddam Hussein was seeking yellowcake uranium to develop a nuclear weapon. When we were subjected to a vicious character assassination campaign orchestrated by senior White House officials and championed by their allies in the right-wing echo chamber, Hillary reached out to us. Her counsel during that tumultuous period was as timely as it was wise. She reminded us that the personal attacks on us were politically designed to deflect attention from the Bush administration's falsehoods to the American public about the threat of Saddam's supposed "smoking gun in the shape of a mushroom cloud." She urged us to remain strong in the face of their tactics of personal destruction. Smear campaigns should not trump the facts in the public square. Few people knew as well as she did how searing these attacks could be, but if we stayed strong, she urged, we would be vindicated. We did, and she was correct. A decade later, all but the most self-deluded ideologues understand that the Bush administration misled the American people into a war of choice that still scars us.
President Barack Obama chose her as his Secretary of State in his first term because he recognized from the relationship they developed during the 2008 campaign for the Democratic nomination that she was smart, tough and indefatigable. Hillary proved herself to be from the very beginning a trusted confidante and extraordinarily capable leader of his foreign policy team. Her commitment to service was once again on display, as it had been in Arkansas as a policy innovator, as the First Lady who bravely put women's rights on the international agenda, and as the hard-working U.S. senator from New York.
More (2 paragraphs): We're for Hillary and Here's Why - Joseph C. Wilson & Valerie Plame Wilson
A very nice endorsement from two great American patriots.
Our history became entwined with Hillary further after Valerie's identity as a CIA officer was deliberately exposed, ruining her ability to serve our country. That criminal act was taken in retribution for Joe's article in the New York Times in which he explained he had discovered no basis for the Bush administration's justification for the Iraq War that Saddam Hussein was seeking yellowcake uranium to develop a nuclear weapon. When we were subjected to a vicious character assassination campaign orchestrated by senior White House officials and championed by their allies in the right-wing echo chamber, Hillary reached out to us. Her counsel during that tumultuous period was as timely as it was wise. She reminded us that the personal attacks on us were politically designed to deflect attention from the Bush administration's falsehoods to the American public about the threat of Saddam's supposed "smoking gun in the shape of a mushroom cloud." She urged us to remain strong in the face of their tactics of personal destruction. Smear campaigns should not trump the facts in the public square. Few people knew as well as she did how searing these attacks could be, but if we stayed strong, she urged, we would be vindicated. We did, and she was correct. A decade later, all but the most self-deluded ideologues understand that the Bush administration misled the American people into a war of choice that still scars us.
President Barack Obama chose her as his Secretary of State in his first term because he recognized from the relationship they developed during the 2008 campaign for the Democratic nomination that she was smart, tough and indefatigable. Hillary proved herself to be from the very beginning a trusted confidante and extraordinarily capable leader of his foreign policy team. Her commitment to service was once again on display, as it had been in Arkansas as a policy innovator, as the First Lady who bravely put women's rights on the international agenda, and as the hard-working U.S. senator from New York.
More (2 paragraphs): We're for Hillary and Here's Why - Joseph C. Wilson & Valerie Plame Wilson
A very nice endorsement from two great American patriots.
