Sen. Clinton: ‘We will keep going’ (WARNING! BARF ALERT!)

MSNBC ^ | Sept. 17

[Teacup]

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks to Dateline NBC's Jane Pauley about how New Yorkers are faring in the wake of the recent attack. Attack hit close to home: daughter Chelsea was jogging in the area at the time of the attack. Sept. 17— The tragedy reverberates on so many levels now — the families in which thousands of children are now motherless or fatherless or both. The extent of the disaster in dollars— $20 billion — she calls just the “first installment.” But even for a United States Senator, it began on a very, very personal level. Dateline NBC’s Jane Pauley sat down with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton to talk about the tragic events of the last week.

ON TUESDAY MORNING Sen. Hillary Clintons’ first thought when the second plane hit was “terrorists.” Her next thought was “Chelsea,” who was not only in New York, but staying downtown.
“She’d gone on what she thought would be just a great jog,” says Sen. Clinton. “She was going to go down Battery Park. She was going to go around the Towers. She went to get a cup of coffee and that’s when the plane hit.”
Chelsea was close enough to hear the rumble? “She did hear it,” says Clinton. “She did.”
And to see the smoke in person, not on television? “That’s right,” she says.

“Of course Bill was in Australia and he was so upset by what he was seeing on television that I didn’t want to tell him that I couldn’t find her until I found her,” she says. “I told him, everything’s fine, don’t worry. But I couldn’t do it with the level of assurance that I needed until l could find her a couple of hours later.”

Thousands weren’t so fortunate. Last week, t he former first lady introduced a bill to speed federal aid to families of rescue workers who are dead or missing, while her successor was giving the nation its first glimpse of how she can handle a crisis.

The senator was impressed.

Clinton had said she made her proud. “She did,” says Clinton.

Why that word? “Well, because I know how difficult that position is from my own eight years of experience,” she says. “And you know when the country is under attack, when your husband may very well be a target. It’s not easy to go out there and in a composed and very gracious manner. So I was just very proud.”

The president did come under some criticism for not appearing in public as often as some think he might. What is your comment? You’ve lived in the White House through crises.

“She’d gone on what she thought would be just a great jog. She was going to go down Battery Park. She was going to go around the Towers. She went to get a cup of coffee and that’s when the plane hit.”

— SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON On Chelsea's whereabouts

“I know the tensions that exist between a president and the Secret Service because clearly their job is to protect the president at all costs,” says Clinton. “And I know there must have been some very difficult and tense moments. But what really matters is that he is safe, he is in charge, he is, you know, running our government, and that’s what everybody should be grateful for.”

Hijacking has taken a hideous turn. There are reports that the Pentagon, with the president’s approval, was ready to shoot down a commercial airliner had it in fact threatened the White House or the U.S. Capital. Would that have been with Congress’ approval?

“I for one would not have second guessed that decision,” says Clinton. “And I don’t think that the president had any choice but to make the most difficult order that anyone in that position can make, which is, you know, to say, ‘We have to do what is necessary, and that may mean the loss of innocent life.’”

Does she know Jeremy Glick’s story? “I do,” she says. Last week, ‘Dateline’ viewers met the family of the 31-year-old man who told his wife, by Airfone, about plans to ‘rush the hijackers’ of the fourth plane then bearing down on the nation’s capital.

“They took it into their own hands,” says Clinton. “In fact, I think they had a vote as, one of the accounts tells, they voted about what to do. What could be more American, and a greater rebuke to those who would try to destroy our way of life, than to have a vote on the plane about what to do, and to take action immediately?”

Clinton’s office is researching a suitable memorial for the heroes of flight 93 — perhaps even the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Meanwhile, as the work of recovery goes on, she has brought fellow members of congress to see for themselves what television does not convey.

“Our elected representatives are on the front lines of making the decisions about the war we’re waging against terrorism, and about rebuilding New York,” she says. “And there is nothing like it. We don’t want anyone to feel in a week or two or a month that the enormity of this somehow can be gotten over. We can keep going, and we will, and we can rise even higher and better than we were. But we can’t ever forget what happened on day.”

Sen. Clinton has made three visits to the scene of the devastation — which she says encompasses 16 acres. And while the search for survivors has been so disheartening, the work there is just as determined as when she saw it first, when she felt like she was standing at the gates of hell.

[Teacup]

I moved from NJ 3 months ago. I too have friends who have lost a loved one at the WTC. My question is, where were the Secret service men? How is it that Hillary didn't know where Chelsea was? Doesn't the SS men have to follow her around and report in? Lies, more lies!

[Saundra Duffy]

Thanks for the barf alert. I'm eating lunch. For victory & freedom!!!

[MAWG]

Hey Dipshit! No one wants to hear this crap from you. You're at the wrong web site. If we want to hear this drivvle, we'll attend a NOW meeting or turn on CNN. Get lost! YOU are not welcome!

[MAWG]

Bite Me!

[mountaineer]

Did it occur to you that my statement could be interpreted to mean you aren't a Clinton supporter? Try reading it again.

[NC_Libertarian]

Sorry to critisize on appearance but she just looks creepy in that picture.

[Teacup]

Did you read the thread that said, Bill Clinton went to ground zero and ate sandwitches meant for the rescue workers? I kid you not! I'll try to find the link.

[MAWG]

Couldn't have said it better myself. I'm buying the next pitcher.

[Teacup]

She looks mean, or bothered by something, doesn't it?

[mountaineer]

What do you think? Why do you care?

[RetiredArmy]

I love Miss Laura. I got an autographed photo of her and GW dancing at one of Inauguration balls yesterday for my donation to the RNC. It is great. My wife put it in a frame for me and I put it up with my military stuff on my office wall.