They Shoot E-Mails, Don't They?

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Clinton Embellishes Past

Hillary Clinton greatly misstated an experience in Bosnia that has opened the door for her foreign policy experience to be scrutinized. Sharyl Attkisson reports.

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Among other things, the Clinton volley accused Obama of an "exaggeration of his role on immigration reform and housing policy," claiming "credit for passing nuclear leak legislation that never got out of committee," relying on "selective, embellished and out of context quotes," taking "too much credit for his community organizing" and falsely asserting "he was a law professor."

The two "memos" were among two dozen e-mails sent yesterday by the campaigns of Clinton, Obama and John McCain -- a typical day in the cyberwars of the 2008 presidential race. In a corporeal sense, McCain was in California, Obama in North Carolina and Clinton in Washington, but in e-mail inboxes everywhere the three candidates were going at it mano a mano.

The e-mails began just after midnight and continued into the evening. At 7:41 a.m., McCain attacked Clinton and Obama. Clinton fired back at 9:07 a.m., only to be met by more McCain volleys at 10:06 and 10:29. Obama and Clinton traded fire through the lunch hour, but by early afternoon Obama's Burton found himself fighting on two fronts.

At 1:59, Burton launched this Obama missile at McCain: "John McCain has said that he doesn't understand the economy as well as he should, and yesterday he proved it." Burton didn't wait for return fire from McCain before lobbing a salvo at Clinton at 2:44 pm: "No evasive maneuver, no sniper fire, more questions about her story." Forty-four minutes later, the trigger-happy Burton again aimed at McCain, calling him "determined to carry out four more years of George Bush's failed policies."

Happily, for those suffering from e-mail shell shock, the Clinton campaign offered a change of pace in the form of a tease e-mail issued in the name of Chelsea Clinton under the subject "Please join me!"

"When I heard that Elton John was throwing a concert in New York for my mom's campaign, I knew it was going to be a night I didn't want to miss. Want to join me there?" Chelsea asked in the chatty message. It concluded with a triple-exclamation-point finale: "Please contribute today. Enter and you might be joining me, my mom, and Elton John for a concert in New York! I'm so grateful for everything you're doing to help my mom win! Thank you! Chelsea."

Some of the e-mails provided old-fashioned spin. The McCain campaign's Brian Rogers sent word of a Gallup poll showing that a "sizable proportion of Democrats would vote for John McCain over Clinton or Obama." Clinton's Caroline Adler answered with news that "a new Rasmussen poll shows more Democrats supporting Hillary."

Others were more overtly hostile. The Clinton campaign sent out an e-mail titled "The Obama Record: Just Words" -- responding to the Obama response to the Clinton response to the fiery remarks of Obama's pastor. When Obama, inevitably, responded to that attack, Clinton answered with predictable umbrage, accusing Obama's campaign of "blatantly inaccurate information and false innuendo."

Obama's Burton, however, was just hitting his stride. He sent out audio and a transcript of an interview with the Air Force pilot who flew Clinton into Bosnia on the day she alleged sniper fire. "Not only were there no bullets flying around, there wasn't a bumblebee flying around," the pilot said.

Burton finally provoked a reply from McCain, who condemned Obama's "old-style political attacks" and "smear tactics." Clinton campaign manager Maggie Williams issued an e-mail statement challenging Obama to "demonstrate his commitment to counting Michigan's voters."

Burton went back to his computer. At 5:14 p.m. he dashed off a statement accusing Clinton fundraisers of acting in an "inappropriate" manner. At 5:37 p.m. he e-mailed a statement from Obama campaign manager David Plouffe accusing Clinton of a "my-way-or-the-highway approach." And at 6:28 he e-mailed word that "Clinton tactics turn off some superdelegates."

Then, and only then, did he holster his weapon.