2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumHillary Clinton and Henry Kissinger: It's Personal. Very Personal.
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Hillary Clinton and Henry Kissinger: It's Personal. Very Personal.
The Clintons and the Kissingers regularly spend holidays together at a beachfront villa.
by David Corn--"Mother Jones"
At Thursday night's Democratic presidential debate, one of the most heated exchanges concerned an unlikely topic: Henry Kissinger. During a stretch focused on foreign policy, Bernie Sanders, the senator from Vermont, jabbed at former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for having cited Kissinger, who was Richard Nixon's secretary of state, as a fan of her stint at Foggy Bottom.
"I happen to believe that Henry Kissinger was one of the most destructive secretaries of state in the modern history of this country," Sanders huffed, adding, "I will not take advice from Henry Kissinger." He referred to the secret bombing of Cambodia during the Vietnam war as a Kissinger-orchestrated move that eventually led to genocide in that country. "So count me in as somebody who will not be listening to Henry Kissinger," Sanders roared.
Clinton defended her association with Kissinger by replying, "I listen to a wide variety of voices that have expertise in various areas." She cast her interactions with Kissinger as motivated by her desire to obtain any information that might be useful to craft policy. "People we may disagree with on a number of things may have some insight, may have some relationships that are important for the president to understand in order to best protect the United States," she said.
What Clinton did not mention was that her bond with Kissinger was personal as well as professional, as she and her husband have for years regularly spent their winter holidays with Kissinger and his wife, Nancy, at the beachfront villa of fashion designer Oscar de la Renta, who died in 2014, and his wife, Annette, in the Dominican Republic.
This campaign tussle over Kissinger began a week earlier, at a previous debate, when Clinton, looking to boost her résumé, said, "I was very flattered when Henry Kissinger said I ran the State Department better than anybody had run it in a long time. So I have an idea about what it's going to take to make our government work more efficiently." A few days later, Bill Clinton, while campaigning for his wife in New Hampshire, told a crowd of her supporters, "Henry Kissinger, of all people, said she ran the State Department better and got more out of the personnel at the State Department than any secretary of state in decades, and it's true." His audience of Democrats clapped loudly in response.
It was odd that the Clintons, locked in a fierce fight to win Democratic votes, would name-check a fellow who for decades has been criticizedand even derided as a war criminalby liberals. Bill and Hillary Clinton themselves opposed the Vietnam War that Nixon and Kissinger inherited and continued. Hillary Clinton was a staffer on the House Judiciary Committee that voted to impeach Nixon, and one of the articles of impeachment drafted by the staff (but which was not approved) cited Nixon for covering up his secret bombing of Cambodia. In the years since then, information has emerged showing that Kissinger's underhanded and covert diplomacy led to brutal massacres around the globe, including in Chile, Argentina, East Timor, and Bangladesh.
With all this history, it was curious that in 2014, Clinton wrote a fawning review of Kissinger's latest book and observed, "America, he reminds us, succeeds by standing up for our values, not shirking them, and leads by engaging peoples and societies, the sources of legitimacy, not governments alone." In that article, she called Kissinger, who had been a practitioner of a bloody foreign-policy realpolitik, "surprisingly idealistic."
This Clinton lovefest with Kissinger is not new. And it is not simply a product of professional courtesy or solidarity among former secretaries of state, who, after all, are part of a small club. There is also a strong social connection between the Clintons and the Kissingers. They pal around together. On June 3, 2013, Hillary Clinton presented an award to de la Renta, a good friend who for years had provided her dresses and fashion advice, and then the two of them hopped over to a 90th birthday party for Kissinger. In fact, the schedule of the award ceremony had been shifted to allow Clinton and de la Renta to make it to the Kissinger bash. (Secretary of State John Kerry also attended the party.) The Kissingers and the de la Rentas were longtime buddies. Kissinger wrote one of his recent books while staying at de la Rentas' mansion in the Dominican Republic and dedicated the book to the fashion designer and his wife.
The Clintons and Kissingers appear to spend a chunk of their quality time together at that de la Renta estate in the Punta Cana resort. Last year, the Associated Press noted that this is where the Clintons take their annual Christmas holiday. And other press reports in the United States and the Dominican Republic have pointed out that the Kissingers are often part of the gang the de la Rentas have hosted each year. When Oscar de la Renta died in 2014, the New York Times obituary reported:
More At:
http://m.motherjones.com/politics/2016/02/hillary-clinton-kissinger-vacation-dominican-republic-de-la-renta
pmorlan1
(2,096 posts)He is a war criminal.
bigwillq
(72,790 posts)The company one keeps.....
Baobab
(4,667 posts)Now they are trying to rehabilitate Kissinger (example: http://foreignpolicy.com/2014/03/25/madman-in-the-white-house/ ) Because Cambodia, Argentina, etc.
Gomez163
(2,039 posts)He is part of the foreign policy community. You don't shut anyone out.
pmorlan1
(2,096 posts)Not only does she deal with him within the foreign policy community but she vacations with him. Does everyone have to vacation with him too? Of course not.
leftinportland
(247 posts)He is a former security advisor and was SOS for Gerald Ford...a has been who can't leave the United States for fear of being arrested as a war criminal.
Tierra_y_Libertad
(50,414 posts)XemaSab
(60,212 posts)n/t
cali
(114,904 posts)rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)be called on to go to fight for corporate profits. Iran first then off to Russia.
zappaman
(20,606 posts)Wow.
You're a regular Nostradamus!
Silver_Witch
(1,820 posts)...be laughing out the other side of your face - or you will rejoice in war and hatred.
zappaman
(20,606 posts)Silver_Witch
(1,820 posts)as if one in Afghanistan was not enough or our continued involvement in Iraq. It is horrible.
I like Obama, I do...I wish he would not continue war and my fear with Hillary is even more war. I know you all don't think it is real war, but it is.
BootinUp
(47,143 posts)because of what other politicians they have friendly relationships with. Why?
1) Because I wouldn't want someone criticizing me for that.
2) Its actually a sign that our government might be able to function reasonably well imho.
But I am sure I am crazy or just a deluded Clinton defender so, never mind.
cali
(114,904 posts)BootinUp
(47,143 posts)cali
(114,904 posts)War criminals are such a hoot!
BootinUp
(47,143 posts)cali
(114,904 posts)She is close friends with a war criminal. That should disturb any thinking person. I'm not saying that fact alone should be determinative, but it should disturb you.
BootinUp
(47,143 posts)cali
(114,904 posts)BootinUp
(47,143 posts)but I already said what I wanted to so go bully someone else.
cali
(114,904 posts)BootinUp
(47,143 posts)grossproffit
(5,591 posts)or kick them in the ovaries or balls.
Working in La La Land has its benefits.
cali
(114,904 posts)Scalia. He was detestable. He was not a war criminal
Silver_Witch
(1,820 posts)They vacation together that is more than friendly relations.
It is sad you are willing to overlook not only her friendship but also that she considers him a mentor to her and seeks his advice during her service as Secretary of State.
I worry about a country that can turn a blind eye to such warning signs.
BootinUp
(47,143 posts)Fairgo
(1,571 posts)tongue taste like?
grossproffit
(5,591 posts)pacalo
(24,721 posts)And thanks, KoKo, for not posting the vacation pictures.
redwitch
(14,944 posts)Sarom and Sopia. They were so lovely and their lives had been so hard. On the days after Sarom received a letter from her sister, still in a refugee camp, she would be so sad. Her sister was having such a hard time, she had lost a leg and she wanted out of that camp so bad! Sarom was working minimum wage, her husband was not a great guy but they had all been through so much. They lost most of their families to the Pol Pot regime.
When I see Henry Kissinger's face I think of the carpet bombing of Cambodia and then I think of those lovely women. I hope they are doing better now, I hope their sweet children are thriving. I fucking loathe Henry Kissinger. And I cannot accept that the Clintons are friends with him. He's a war criminal! What the hell is wrong with this picture?
redwitch
(14,944 posts)How touching!
cali
(114,904 posts)even the slightest bit questionable. Now that's disturbing.
HooptieWagon
(17,064 posts)She can flip-flop, evolve, be under a criminal investigation by FBI, be bffs with Kissinger and Kochs...none of it matters to them. She can keep veering right all they way to fascist land, and they won't care. It's like a Justin Bieber fanclub.
leftinportland
(247 posts)Along with war crimes he also committed treason against the United States by neogotiating with the South Vietnamese as nothing more than a private citizen on behalf of Richard Nixon. This was when Nixon was still a candidate.
We all know the kind of president he turned out to be. This makes is so hard to accept her as a candidate...you're reminder doesn't help.
Casting my vote for Bernie in Oregon!
Response to KoKo (Original post)
Califonz This message was self-deleted by its author.
tabasco
(22,974 posts)redwitch
(14,944 posts)JEB
(4,748 posts)Friends of the heinous individual should be disqualified from public employment.
bigwillq
(72,790 posts)JEB
(4,748 posts)He is responsible for much pain and suffering in this world.
Juicy_Bellows
(2,427 posts)And now for some music -
Uncle Joe
(58,355 posts)Thanks for the thread, KoKo.
Darb
(2,807 posts)Hogwash. He doesn't know who was there and when, it's innuendo, at best.