Hillary’s Delusion Is Mac’s Gain

Hillary’s fictitious tale of sniper fire in Bosnia might help Obama, but the real winner here is John McCain.

The CBS footage making the rounds clearly refutes the former first lady’s claim that she had to run for cover from sniper fire when she got off the plane in Bosnia. There was no sniper fire. In fact, dignitaries greeted Mrs. Clinton and her daughter Chelsea on the tarmac. She then had a photo-op posing with soldiers. She and Chelsea were mingling, leisurely, with dignitaries and others at the airport ceremony.

A boon to Obama like some media commentators predict? Maybe. But he’s had some delusional episodes of his own. Before changing his tune, Obama claimed that he didn’t hear — in person, inside the church — Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s inflammatory, anti-American, black power sermons. A whopper delusion.

No, the real winner here is John McCain. Mac did come under sniper fire. He came under all manner of wartime fire. His plane was shot down from the sky. Shortly thereafter, he was taken to the Hanoi Hilton as a prisoner-of-war — for five years.

McCain may occasionally misspeak, as he apparently did on the question of Iran arming al Qaeda. (Although many do in fact believe Iran is arming the terrorist group.) But rest assured — John McCain is not a liar. Far from it. He has absolutely no need to bolster his life experience when it comes to warfare, combat, or anything else.

Here’s what’s going on right now: The more the American public sees and hears Hillary and Obama, the more voters are moving to McCain. Democrats and independents are shifting to McCain in droves. McCain commands a strong lead over Hill-Bama in the national match-ups. And his favorables are rising while his unfavorables are falling. It’s just the opposite with Hill-Bama: Unfavorables are up, favorables are down.

This whole faux-military, faux-commander-in-chief Hillary charade reminds me of Sen. McCain’s GOP-debate zinger earlier in the campaign. When asked about Hillary’s ridiculous earmark for the Woodstock museum, McCain replied that he didn’t know much about it. He said he was “tied up at the time.” Voters remember stuff like that. They will remember Hillary’s Bosnian delusion. They will remember Obama’s Reverend Wright controversy, too.

Right now the stock market is heading higher in part because of aggressive Fed actions to pinpoint discount loans and backstop the financial system. This, of course, is mitigating the sub-prime problem. But don’t discount McCain’s role in this, too. His clear emergence as the frontrunner, with an ever-widening lead over Hill-Bama, is also boosting stocks. Why? For the simple reason that tax burdens will not be raised on investors if McCain becomes president. Nor will free trade be cut off.

From my perch, we don’t look far from the point where John McCain establishes a commanding lead in the run-up to November. Incidentally, the stock market bottom was back on January 22. This was right about the time the Arizonan started to surge.

Think of it.