Joe Biden Criticizes Clinton for Getting Key Facts Wrong about Pakistan

 

The Boston Globe reports:

“One of the leading candidates said — God love her,” Biden began. The crowd laughed — Clinton is the only woman in the race — prompting Biden to say, “Good people are running!” before continuing:

“But to say Musharraf is up for election! Musharraf was elected –fairly or unfairly — president six months ago. It’s a parliamentary election” that is coming up in Pakistan, Biden said. 

The Biden campaign later supplied two instances to the Globe in which it said Clinton mistakenly suggested that President Pervez Musharraf is on the ballot in upcoming elections in Pakistan.

On Dec. 28, during an interview on CNN, Clinton said, “If President Musharraf wishes to stand for election, then he should abide by the same rules that every other candidate will have to follow.”

And on Dec. 30, during an interview on ABC’s “This Week,” Clinton responded to a question about whether Musharraf should step down by saying, “He could be the only person on the ballot. I don’t think that’s a real election.”

Biden added yesterday: “To say there hasn’t been a peaceful transfer of power and that it’s always bloody — not true! The last 19 years in Pakistan there has been a peaceful transition of power. How can you lead immediately if you don’t know these basic facts?”

Clinton, who has repeatedly argued that her experience makes her “ready to lead from day one,” stated that Pakistan is “not a country that has had a history of peaceful successions” during the Dec. 30 “This Week” appearance.

Read more.

Note that Barack Obama answered the same question about the Pakistani elections this past Sunday on Meet the Press and unlike Clinton, he had his facts straight.