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Subscribe to RSSPerhaps no person in America better reflects the possibility and peril of a life lived in the public eye than Hillary Rodham Clinton.
From lashing out at a “vast right-wing conspiracy” when news of her husband’s infidelity emerged to finding her “own voice” after a teary answer to a voter’s question on the campaign trail, Clinton has never failed to confound her critics and inspire her fans.
As Clinton’s final day at the State Department closes the latest chapter of her public life, here is a look at 15 key moments -- from the 1960s through today.
First big speech: Hillary Diane Rodham gives the commencement address at Wellesley College in Massachusetts in May 1969. It establishes her not just as respected but as outspoken: She criticizes a previous speaker, Massachusetts Sen. Edward Brooke, and suggests that he is out of touch with the action her generation craves. Weeks later, she is featured in Life magazine as a shining example of the Class of ’69.
William J. Clinton Presidential Library
Meeting her match: At Yale Law School, Hillary Rodham meets Bill Clinton. She would write later that the attraction was immediate, and that they shared an intellectual bond that never broke: "Bill Clinton and I started a conversation in the spring of 1971," she wrote in the memoir, "and more than 30 years later, we're still talking."
AP
‘If that's not enough ... don’t vote for him': Bill and Hillary Clinton go on “60 Minutes” in January 1992, in an interview that airs immediately after the Super Bowl, to deny that he had had a 12-year affair with an Arkansas state employee, Gennifer Flowers. In the interview, Hillary Clinton says: “You know, I'm not sitting here — some little woman standin’ by my man like Tammy Wynette. I'm sitting here because I love him, and I respect him, and I honor what he's been through and what we've been through together. And you know, if that's not enough for people, then heck, don't vote for him.” The couple are pictured with “60 Minutes” executive producer Don Hewitt.
Paul J. Richards / AFP - Getty Images
Health-care advocate: As first lady, Hillary Clinton leads a presidential effort in 1993 and 1994 to reform health care, a policy role unprecedented for a first lady. The plan ultimately aims for universal coverage by requiring employers to provide health care. But some Republicans, and notably the insurance industry, attack the plan as hopelessly bogged down in bureaucracy, and it dies in Congress. The defeat is a huge setback for a woman who aspired to be a non-traditional first lady but who opponents feared had designs on being a co-president.
Doug Mills / AP
Making her mark: In September 1995, Clinton goes to a U.N. conference in Beijing and delivers a forceful critique of abuse of women in China, using language that would be considered strong for any American leader but particularly out of the ordinary for a first lady. She declares: “If there is one message that echoes forth from this conference, let it be that human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights once and for all.”
Conspiracy theory: In January 1998, just after allegations surface of a presidential affair with a White House intern named Monica Lewinsky, Hillary Clinton goes on TODAY and dismisses the matter as a "feeding frenzy." She stresses that the president has denied the suggestions of an affair. She goes on to tell Matt Lauer: “The great story here for anybody willing to find it and write about it and explain it is this vast right-wing conspiracy that has been conspiring against my husband since the day he announced for president.”
Luke Frazza / AFP - Getty Images
Between the two of them: The Clintons, with daughter Chelsea famously clutching their hands, leave the White House for a two-week vacation on Martha’s Vineyard in August 1998. A day earlier, the president had admitted on national television that he had had an improper relationship with former White House interview Monica Lewinsky. Hillary Clinton later writes of this period in her memoir: “Although I was heartbroken and disappointed with Bill, my long hours alone made me admit to myself that I loved him. What I still didn't know was whether our marriage could or should last.”
Richard Drew / AFP - Getty Images
Engaging debate: Clinton makes a point during a September 2000 debate with Rep. Rick Lazio for a Senate seat from New York. During the same debate, Lazio produces a pledge against “soft money” political contributions and walks over to Clinton’s lectern, encouraging her to “sign it right now.” Some Clinton supporters later say the move was bullying. Clinton wins with 55 percent of the vote, and in 2006 trounces another Republican opponent with 67 percent. She generally wins praise as a hard worker in the Senate, and after re-election quickly turns her attention to a bid for the presidency.
Jim Cole / AP
Finding her voice: Clinton exults after defeating Sen. Barack Obama in the New Hampshire primary in January 2008, resuscitating her campaign after a bruising defeat in Iowa days earlier. Clinton, asked by a New Hampshire voter how she deals with the stress of campaigning, had choked up and said: “You know, I have so many opportunities from this country, I just don't want to see us fall backwards.” In her victory speech, Clinton says she “found my own voice.”
Elise Amendola / AP
The laugh: Nearing the end of her primary campaign, Clinton enjoys a drink and some laughs with reporters on her campaign plane after a stop in South Dakota in May 2008. Her laugh — with a boisterous crescendo that borders on a cackle — becomes so famous (or infamous, depending on your perspective) that it inspires a parody by Amy Poehler on “Saturday Night Live.”
Mark Wilson / Getty Images
End of a long battle: Clinton waves to supporters at the National Building Museum in Washington in June 2008 after endorsing Obama for president — the end of their historic prizefight of a Democratic primary campaign. In a reference to her popular-vote count in the Democratic race, she says: “Although we weren’t able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it’s got about 18 million cracks in it. And the light is shining through like never before, filling us all with the hope and the sure knowledge that the path will be a little easier next time.”
Pool / Reuters
Globetrotter: Clinton, as secretary of state for Obama's first term, visits the historic Badshahi Mosque in Lahore, Pakistan, in October 2009. She would say later that it was “hard to believe” that no one in the Pakistani government knew where al-Qaida leaders were hiding. By the end of her tenure as secretary, Clinton had visited 112 countries, logged 956,000 miles and spent the equivalent of 87 days traveling, according to an official State Department count.
Pete Souza / The White House
Finding Osama bin Laden: Clinton, with President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and members of the president’s national security team, waits out a tense moment just off the White House Situation Room during the May 2011 raid that ultimately killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. Asked later why she had her hand over her mouth, Clinton would say: “Those were 38 of the most intense minutes. I have no idea what any of us were looking at that particular millisecond when the picture was taken. I am somewhat sheepishly concerned that it was my preventing one of my early spring allergic coughs. So it may have no great meaning whatsoever.”
© Kevin Lamarque / Reuters / REUTERS
Hillz, the meme: Her popularity as secretary of state spills over to the Internet when, in October 2011, she is photographed checking a mobile device and wearing sunglasses aboard a military C-17 plane bound from Malta for Libya. The shot inspires a Tumblr site, Texts from Hillary Clinton, in which the "secretary" sends snarky texts to the likes of Ryan Gosling, Mark Zuckerberg ... and Mitt Romney.
Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP
‘Prevent it from ever happening again’: Clinton testifies to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee earlier this month about the attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. Clinton is pressed by Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., about why the administration had not learned quickly that the attack was a planned assault, not the spontaneous result of a protest. She answers: “With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead Americans. Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided that they’d they go kill some Americans? What difference, at this point, does it make? It is our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again, senator.”
RELATED: Clinton steps down, but a reluctant style legacy endures
AP
Full slideshow: Hillary Clinton's life has taken her from first lady to senator to secretary of state.
Leave a Comment:
For being called the smartest woman in the world she was so Fuking bright she didnt have the first clue her pus-y hungry husband was boinking all them women. LOL give me a break she is so stupid its laughable. The truth is Billy Cliton was boneing every woman in Washington except Hillery and Janet Reno and am not to sure if he wasnt in Reno's panties.Biggest Fuk Hound ever in DC
@A Vet Here
What does Bill Clinton's sex life have to do with her ability to function as a politician? Not to burst your bubble here, not everyone is in mainstream, monogamous relationships. What people do in their personal life in regards to relationships and how they are expressed behind closed doors is their business.
Also...a vet here.
Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton's affairs were all a right wing conspiracy........Senior moment???
Hillary Clinton said she was under sniper fire when she landed in Bosnia, yet none of her entourage knew it......Senior moment????
Hillary Clinton couldn't remember anything when questioned by a federal judge.....Senior moment???
Hillary Clinton couldn't find her Rosewood documents for over 2 years that suddenly showed up on her desk...... Senior moment?????
Benghazi??? Massive failure and incompetence to react....then a host of lies...
Media bias??? Palin would be castigated for months in the news for things like this.
Hillary??? The leftist media is at her service.....
Hillary???? Not even mediocre at best....
And you can add to that list the fact that not one women's rights group came to the aid of Ms. Lewinsky.......not ONE!!!! In any other situation, this would be considered on the job sexual harrassment! Hillary is married to a serial groper/rapist and she's an enabler!!! If she's going to be married to the fool, she needs to stay home and babysit him!!!
Hillery to Chelsea " Did you haver sex last night on your date Sweetie"? Chelsea--"Not according to Dad Mon".
The National Broadcasters for Communism are working awfully hard to promote the Clinton 2016 Campaign already.
Hmmmmmm....... fair and balanced ? .....RIGHT!
LMAO...
MSNBC's motto is "Lean FORWARD"
"fair and balanced" is the FAUX motto, remember? Although Rupert Murdoch ADMITS they aren't a "news" channel, they are a "COMMENTARY" channel...
Good Grief...bah, bah, bah....
Hillary 2016!
Spoken like someone who has never watched the channel. By-the-way, I believe the spelling should be blah, blah, blah. Unless you trying to imitate the sheep you obviously are.
MSNBC/NBC should not be allowed to be termed a "news" channel.
They, and most networks, need to be renamed "Democrat editorial" channels.
It's defiantly BAH, BAH, BAH...BLEAT, BLEAT, BLEAT!
The Sheep are the FAUX followers!
BTW, I was watching FAUX when THEY called the election...for OBAMA, what a treat that was. I watch it for the comedy...very entertaining! Scripted NONSENSE!
Rupert Murdoch SAYS Faux programming isn't news...it's COMMENTARY!
ABC, NBC, CBS: all editorial channels.
NO NEWS FOR YOU!!!!
NBC's coverage of the Clintons is Hillaryous!
Bill Cliton talking to reports being asked about things him and Hillery have in Common---Bill says " She dont suck D-ck either."
15 moments, zero accomplishments......but she did "stand by her man". And..she is really smart. I like to listen to her speaking. Every other word is a drawn out aaahhhh. What, aaahhh, difference, aaahhh, does, aaahhh, it, aaahhh, make? What difference did she make? Not, aaahhh much.
Not only the ahhhhhs, but if I have watch her flapping those hands around everytime she speaks, well, that would be even worse than watching old obummer pointing his finger at the camera the way Osama used to do. Don't they teach public speaking anymore?
I respectully disagree with you. It's more of a flailing than a flapping.
Hillary is great at deflecting and not answering the questions asked. She paid attention to that section in law school. She also never answered a single question asked at those hearings. She responded but didn't answer a question. Her defining moment noted above points that out clearly. Finding out when her staff recognized an assault vs. a reaction (it seems they never did) is the point in finding out why. She actually laid out her incompetence managing in her answer but no one jumped on it. She and Bill share a bond as she notes. One that involves being politically connected to become wealthy. People don't enter public service to be servants, they enter to become wealthy.
Not all of them, just most.
How about Bill's "rise" ? The one in his pants..................from bong hits in the dorm room to cigars in the "oral office". All the wonderful memories the Clintons have given us.
Bill Clinton's actions with Lewinski did a great deal less harm than GWBush's actions in Iraq. I would rather see a President lie about his sex life than tell lies designed to push us into an unnecessary and expensive war.
Hey ...I'm underemployed too. Where do you work ? At a radio station...... Spinning broken records ?
The video above with Matt Lauer really say's a lot about Hillary. "its an entire operation" against Bill and her. Saying this while at the same time operating her scam to defend her lying husband. I hate these kind of people, left or right and they should never be in public office.
A little trivia to see how much history you know. Be honest, it's kinda fun and revealing.
If you don't know the answer make your best guess.
Answer all the questions before looking at the answers.
Who said it?
1) "We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good."
A. Karl Marx
B. Adolph Hitler
C. Joseph Stalin
D. None of the above
2) "It's time for a new beginning, for an end to government of the few, by the few, and for the few...... And to replace it with shared responsibility for shared prosperity."
A. Lenin
B. Mussolini
C. Idi Amin
D. N one of the Above
3) "(We) .....can't just let business as usual go on, and that means something has to be taken away from some people."
A. Nikita Khrushev
B. Josef Goebbels
C. Boris Yeltsin
D. None of the above
4) "We have to build a political consensus and that requires people to give up a little bit of their own ... in order to create this common ground."
A. Mao Tse Dung
B. Hugo Chavez
C. Kim Jong Il
D. None of the above
5) "I certainly think the free-market has failed."
A. Karl Marx
B. Lenin
C. Molotov
D. None of the above
6) "I think it's time to send a clear message to what has become the most profitable sector in (the) entire economy that they are being watched."
A. Pinochet
B. Milosevic
C. Saddam Hussein
D. None of the above
Scroll down for answers
Answers
(1) D. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton
6/29/2004
(2) D. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton
5/29/2007
(3) D. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton
6/4/2007
(4) D. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton
6/4/2007
(5) D. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton
6/4/2007
(6) D. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton
I don't understand. Are you saying she is smarter than all those people?
No, but she has the same idealogy as those people had.
I was being facetious. I thought it would be obvious.
Pretty interesting!
Typical left-wing liberal sewage coming out of the media. What legacy has she left? Her husband did an intern in the white house. She is responsible for the first Ambassador to be killed in 30 years. WOW, I am impressed.
Let's see the David Letterman Top 15 Embarrassing Moments for Hillary...
Hillary Clinton, no matter what you think of her would make a GREAT PRESIDENT. The woman is smart, I supported Hillary when she ran for President. I am sorry she lost. This is a lady here in AMERICA, that most of our nation can be proud of, not like the guy taking her place, John Kerry, in my opinion the man should be in Federal Prison along with Hanoi Jane.
Agree regarding Kerry and disagree vehemently about Hillary, although I would have supported her against McCain/Palin and would never support Obama.
I really think she would be unbeatable in 2016 unless the dems would run (now don't laugh) Michele. The dems are looking for a way to keep obama in the white house and she would qualify as much (or at this point , more) than her husband did.
Would Michele the mooch be eligible, wasnt she born on a star ship somewhere in space.
LOL! No. She was born in the arugula patch in the WH garden.
She’s lied before,Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
HILLARY'S WATERGATE SCANDAL
By Jerry Zeifman
In December 1974, as general counsel and chief of staff of the House Judiciary Committee, I made a personal evaluation of Hillary Rodham (now Mrs. Clinton), a member of the staff we had gathered for our impeachment inquiry on President Richard Nixon. I decided that I could not recommend her for any future position of public or private trust.
Why? Hillary's main duty on our staff has been described by as "establishing the legal procedures to be followed in the course of the inquiry and impeachment." A number of the procedures she recommended were ethically flawed. And I also concluded that she had violated House and committee rules by disclosing confidential information to unauthorized persons.
Hillary had conferred personally with me regarding procedural rules. I advised her that Judiciary Committee Chairman Peter Rodino, House Speaker Carl Albert, Majority Leader Tip O'Neill and I had previously agreed not to advocate anything contrary to the rules already adopted and published for that Congress. I quoted Mr. O'Neill's statement that: "To try to change the rules now would be politically divisive. It would be like
trying to change the traditional rules of baseball before a World Series."
Hillary assured me that she had not drafted and would not advocate any such rules changes. I soon learned that she had lied: She had already drafted changes, and continued to advocate them.In one written legal memorandum, she advocated denying President Nixon representation by counsel. This, though in our then-most-recent prior impeachment proceeding, the committee had afforded the right to counsel
to Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas. I also informed Hillary that the Douglas impeachment
files were available for public inspection in our offices. I later learned that the Douglas files were then removed from our general files without my permission, transferred to the offices of the impeachment inquiry staff, and
were no longer accessible to the public.
The young Ms. Rodham had other bad advice about procedures, arguing that the Judiciary Committee should neither 1) hold any hearings with or take the depositions of any live witnesses, nor 2) conduct any
original investigation of Watergate, bribery, tax evasion, or any other possible impeachable offense of President Nixon - but to rely instead on prior investigations conducted by other committees and agencies.
The committee rejected Ms. Rodham's recommendations: It agreed to allow President Nixon to be represented by counsel and to hold hearings with live witnesses. Hillary then advocated that the official rules of the House be amended to deny members of the committee the right to question witnesses. This unfair recommendation was rejected by the full House. (The committee also vetoed her suggestion that it leave the drafting
of the articles of impeachment to her and her fellow special staffers.)
If Mrs. Clinton does run for president and I'm not sure she will, I hope she finds a place for Kay Bailey Hutchinson and Chris Cristy on the ticket somewhere. Both are moderates and could help unite the nation.Even better would be a husband and wife team of her as president and Bill as VP :-)
A Clinton team would end any chance forever that this country will unite and as Bill couldn't serve as President, being Constitutionally barred it would be a bizarre decision at best. Given at how woefully uneducated most Americans are, especially in the Obama supporter demographics
It wouldn't be a big deal, if need be the secretary of state could be next in line for president.
Uh, maybe speaker of the house :-) I'm ready for the Jay Leno show now! :-)
Remind me, I couldn't find any reference in the article;
When was the first million made from Whitewater?
When was the first person from the travel office fired?
When did she first collect millions for a book advancement?
I don't get into the Republican-Democrat thing- they were all pretty much the same in securing the neocon zionist invasion of Iraq in 2003. Hilary verbally crucified those that served in the military in the late 60s. Uneducated Marine Corps kids were being ambushed and dying in lots of isolated places below the DMZ while Hilary and Bill had it rough in college with that very hard campus life. The Vietnam War was a mistake but these people cursed at the uneducated enlistees and draftees who were thrown into something beyond their control.
There was far less justification for the Iraq invasion in 2003 but Hilary and over 3/4 of the Dems and Republicans all curried favor with the neocon zionists who had the power and money. Then Hilary even went on to become the next group's willing executioner.
Clearly, msnbc writes columns to keep in favor with the elites such as the Clintons, not to mention those power people that run the major networks and seem to thrive on the sufferings of other people. In the Vietnam days it was the Vietnamese and the families of the Americans abroad who suffered, and today with the latest Muslim scare , it is a lot of innocent Iraqis, Syrians, Libyans, etc , and American families (British, Scottish, etc) who have suffered. By the way, did our wonderful actions in Libya have anything to do with this group of murderers taking advantage of things in Mali?
This woman is an enabler! Her husband assaulted and raped women and she called his accusers "white trash" on national tv......and when they were rewarded in cases against him, not a word from her. I wouldn't vote for her if she was running for dog catcher!
if the truth was really known about this pair they would be under the jail,.
Whats really sad is that a known liar like Hillary is even being considered, get a clue, even old Billie boy didnt want anything to do with her.
I just hate the Clintons, it's a bunch of liars, all they want is fame and notoriety.
So the Billary love-fest begins again in earnest here at lib-central. Now we'll hear nothing except what a perfect president she will be when elected in 2016. Not IF, but WHEN. What a pathetic libtard site this is. Let's have some REAL news. Oh wait... This is lib-central. Libtards don't want real news - for that they go to Fox, then come back here to bash them because they don't toe the lib-agenda line. HAHAHAHAHA Stoopid libtards.
Just before Chelsea was getting married Hillary sat down with her for a mother daughter talk. Hillary asked if she was having sex with her prospective husband yet...Chelsea said "not according to Dad"....
Good one!
What difference does it make if Bill even had sex with your Mother? He would still be one of the finest Presidents that the United States has ever had.
On the other hand, Bush was the worst!!!!!
No, Bill was third worst president. Obama is the worst and Carter is next.
Hasta la vista Hillary.
Sure are a lot of cry babies, fearful of Hillary...on here this morning...
Cry babies, cry...
Hillary 2016!
another comunist muslem in charge, lying to protect the #1 terriorist thats in charge now
Jo- An : you are pretty ignorant and smug calling people cry babies because they bring up key points about Hilary Clinton. At least some of us try to think and research so we can make intelligent decisions. I have no idea what you were doing in 1969 but I was in a place where I and many other men did not want to be and we never cried or complained. I am glad people have joy in this world and can meet interesting people and learn and hopefully be happy on college campuses and other places.
If I cried it was when I knew some Marine's family would next see him in a casket. Some young men just accepted what was thrown at them. Cry babies?? I think a lot of us "cry babies" worked and worked most of our lives with little complaint, never knowing what more elite people had going for them.
Jo-An,
I prefer to think of it as mocking Bill's concubine.
So, you tell us, what did Hillary accomplish? Hmmm?