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Lauded as warm, caring, Hillary took part in a series of shady financial deals in the seventies and eighties. Some of them, like the commodities dealings, have embarrassed her, while others, like a nursing home deal in Iowa, have not come to light.
Description
Described as smart, even brilliant, Hillary could not remember key facts and events related to Whitewater when quizzed by reporters. Heralded as a feminist and a skilled lawyer, she implied that she was Jim McDougal's innocent female victim when confronted on whether she should have recognized his scams for what they were.
Portrayed as a shrewd operator and a better politician than even her husband, Hillary led the administration over the cliff to its biggest debacle, the health care defeat.
Celebrated as an advocate of poor children and the leader of the campaign for public school reform as First Lady of Arkansas, Hillary enrolled her daughter Chelsea in an exclusive private school once in Washington.
And on and on it goes. Even in her newfound role as Traditional First Lady, another side shows through. Hillary's defense mechanisms are so hair-trigger that she dissembles even when it is not necessary.
So who is Hillary Rodham Clinton? In January 1996 New York Times columnist William Safire called her a "congenital liar." That explanation is too simple.
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