Hillary & the Military

When Hillary Clinton jumped into this race, I wondered whether we would have to endure an endless rerun of Travelgate, Whitewater, Rose Law Firm billing records, cattle futures, Monica, vast right-wing conspiracy and all the other controversies of the '90s.

But at least, I figured, we wouldn't have to go through all the military mishegoss, as with her husband avoiding the Vietnam draft or John Kerry being challenged to prove that he really deserved those Purple Hearts.

Wrong!

We are now being invited to ponder the question of whether Hillary really tried to enlist in the armed forces, as she has maintained.

It's an odd little episode, and I have no reason whatsoever to think that the senator is making it up. But there are enough people who don't believe anything she says that I doubt we've heard the last of this one.

National Review's Jim Geraghty marshals the circumstantial evidence:

"The New Republic's cover piece on Hillary Clinton's views on the use of military force repeats the old story of a 27-year-old Hillary Rodham attempting to join the Marines in 1975.

"You'll have to pardon my skepticism, but after a bit of Googling and Nexis-ing, I have to ask . . . has anyone besides Hillary ever confirmed this story? (Because the recruiter was such a skeptic, according to her story, it is unlikely the Marine Corps ever took her name down on any records.)

"Even the New York Times story from when the then-First Lady first mentioned it (1994) seemed to suggest something in the timeline seemed a bit odd:

"She and Mr. Clinton married on Oct. 11, 1975 in Fayetteville.

"So, if she was talking to a Marine recruiter in 1975 before the marriage, was she briefly considering joining the few, the proud and the brave of the corps as an alternative to life with Mr. Clinton, who was already being widely touted as a sure thing for Arkansas Attorney General?"

In that Times account--which was by Maureen Dowd--Hillary said she was told by a recruiter: "You're too old, you can't see and you're a woman."