OK, so Hillary dissed the military when she lied about being shot at. I’m sure that it was just a slip of the tongue–surely she didn’t mean to.

Well, actually, since she’s running for president, I am sure that she didn’t mean to. But it’s indicative of her cluelessness about the armed forces over which she viciously ambits to become Commander-In-Chief. When he came into office, her husband was similarly clueless. It took him a long time to learn to salute properly, and he never really got it down (though it should be noted that there is no requirement that the President salute to the troops–that was a tradition started by Ronald Reagan, and one that both Clintons no doubt wish that he hadn’t). But this goes beyond simply basic lack of understanding of how the military works. Underlying it is a contempt for the military, and authority itself, other than their own.

Consider this passage from Unlimited Access:

Another close source, this one in the Secret Service, told me that she had ordered her Secret Service protective detail to “stay the f–k away from me!” and to keep at least ten yards of distance between her and them at all times.

The Secret Service agent told me that it was much harder to protect her from a distance of ten yards, and she was told this, but she didn’t seem to care what the Secret Service said. He also told me that she had a clear dislike for the agents, bordering on hatred, in his opinion.

Along those same lines, another source told me that two Secret Service agents heard Hillary’s daughter, Chelsea, refer to them as “personal trained pigs” to some of her friends. When the friends were gone, the senior agent tried to scold Chelsea for such disrespect. He told her that he was willing to put his life on the line to save hers, and he believed that her father, the president, would be shocked if he heard what she had just said to her friends. Her response?

“I don’t think so. That’s what my parents call you.”

As is noted there, if true (and frankly, I certainly have no reason whatsoever to disbelieve it in light of their general history*), it makes sense, because Bill and Hillary were sixties campus radicals, and did indeed come from a culture that considered law enforcement officials “pigs.”

And we know, going all the way back to the first Clinton campaign that, no matter how he chose to spin it at the time or now, his letters about his draft deferment indicate that he did indeed “loathe” the military. There’s no reason to think that Hillary felt differently, then or now. And when you loathe something, you’re unlikely to invest much time in learning about it, or becoming familiar with it. The military culture is completely alien to this woman, and this incident is just one more bit of evidence for that.

And beyond that, even for someone unfamiliar with the military, it would seem obvious that when you tell a tale of running under fire on an air base where the people are dedicated to providing for your safety, that doesn’t reflect well on their performance. Obvious to anyone but Hillary Clinton. And she probably thought that showing her bravery under fire would be politically advantageous someone who probably knows nothing about the military other than action movies (many of which depict American troops as depraved) by her Hollywood pals.

But insulting the troops? Telling blatant and repeated lies? What does it matter, as long as she gets back into the White House? The hilarious thing is that it has blown back so badly on her.

The most brilliant woman in the world.

Right.

*Yes, before the trolls drop by and tell me that Aldridge’s book has been thoroughly discredited because of the story about Bill Clinton being sneaked out for trysts through a White House tunnel, I give that argument about as much weight as that OJ was innocent because Mark Furhman made some racist remarks–you don’t throw out an entire body of evidence because some of it has proven to be suspect.

And, of course, for those who are going to argue that I’m being unfair in ignoring Pastor Wright’s good works in condemning his lunatic remarks, I’ll just say that the two situations are not in any useful way equivalent, and if you’re too dim to understand why, I’m not going to waste time attempting to explain it to you.