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.

[wny]

I think, actually its well known, Chuckie is a corrupt fool. However, he is a NY-er and his concern is genuine.

[Teacup]

You Get a life! I know many people from around New York and New Jeresy who have lost family memebrs and friends. Some of which are very well known. They aren't hogging the media. They are mouning in silence with class. OOPS! I forget, class is not what these folks know.

[mr spike]

Hillary aka: the 'Snake'....Look into Those Cold Sadistic and Merciless Reptilian Eyes....Your Window into The Cell Blocks of Hell....Just Get a Good Look at The 'Snake's Face and 'You' Know She and Her RAT FINK "Husband" Were/Are 'Players' in The Mass Murder in WTC and DC....'You' Can Make 'Book'(take bets) That They Made 'Fun' Tax Free Ca$h Dealings in The World Wide Stock Markets in The Days Before The MASS MURDER....For 'They' Knew........

[ChuckHam]

Everyone that has been interviewed that lives near there or was near there has told their personal story of what happened and how it affected them. Why shouldn't she? This is not spin, and she never claimed this was about her, or Bill, or Chelsea. Sheeeeesh. You people and your hatred for this woman no matter WHAT she says, does, goes, wears, etc. is pathetic. Get a life.

No matter what she says, she's scum. Your defense of this pathetic piece of human debris speaks volumes and volumes of your character. She should be in prison at the very least. Go worship at the throne of clintoon at salon.com

[Carolinamom]

I read on a FR thread either yesterday or this morning (everything blurs these days) that Hillary said that Chelsea was seeing about a job. The reactions were.....WWWWWWWhhhaaaaatttt? Did you read it and can you find it? Thanks in advance for exposing still another lie.

[Teacup]

BUMP! It took them a while but the Clinton defenders are out today.

[TexRef]

I could have done without the picture!

[mountaineer]

So tell me, who goes jogging and stops for a cup of coffee?

My first thought! You can bet the first thing I want after a three-mile run - huffing, puffing and dripping with sweat - is a nice, hot cup of Starbucks. What a freakin' crock of bovine excrement.

These Clintoons are so pathetic in their efforts to weasel their way into other peoples' tragedies. "Look at me! I was there! I almost was in danger! Okay, so I wasn't in the slightest bit of danger, but I might have been if only ...." Whatever. Do I get some kind of medal for having a relative in New York City at the time of the attacks? After all, she might have been killed, too, if only she weren't 20 blocks away.

Would someone please ask Hillary how she's enjoying the thousands of dollars worth of jewelry she received of Arafat, and whether she's longing to lay another big kiss on Arafat's wife? She must be so frustrated, having no other terrorists to pardon.

[Euro-American Scum]

I thought she loooked very tired and washed out and really did not seem to care about what happened one way or another. She seemed to be in a daze.

Perhaps lamenting that fact that her presidential aspirations went up in a cloud of smoke with the WTC.

We can only hope.

[CheneyChick]

ROFLMAO!!! Teacup, you are toooo much!

[NYC GOP Chick]

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.

Well, my father's *first* thought was that I was FOUR blocks away -- and without any Secret Service agents. His second was terrorists.

I think the story of Chelsea heading over there is pure B(arbra) S(treisand) and fabricated in order for them to glom onto anything that might be newsworthy.

Chelsea heard it in person? I was only covered with teeny tiny glass shards while watching bright orange flames shoot out the sides of the building and windows cascading down to the street, as a few people were apparently being blown out of the building by the force of impact and I was calling 911.

She *saw* smoke? I only ran in and from it as the towers were collapsing.

So, how many more gasbag celebs are going to insert themselves into this tragedy?

[Teacup]

I hope not many. This is the time to pray for the victims and those hurt by this attack. I hope you are feeling better, sweetie. I know you have been affected by this terrible attack. XOXO to you and yours.

[Dick Bachert]

"...she felt like she was standing at the gates of hell."

GREAT!

Nothing like a little rehearsal for that FINAL PERFORMANCE.

[NYC GOP Chick]

Thank you. :-D And now it looks like I *might* be move back to my apartment by the end of the week -- but I still don't have phone service. Grrr....

[NYC GOP Chick]

I think, actually its well known, Chuckie is a corrupt fool. However, he is a NY-er and his concern is genuine.

His teenage daughter was also much closer to the tragedy than was Chelsea -- and his kid didn't have Secret Service agents with her.

[Billie]

Not to take anything away from a mother being concerned about her child, but as for being close enough to see the smoke or hear the rumble......DUH! As if that smoke and that rumble could not be seen nor hear for MILES! I said it in another thread, my sister and her husband were in DC when the Pentagon was hit - they HEARD the blast, they SAW the smoke billowing from the building. They were in a hotel at least a mile - mile and a half away.

[Billie]

And didjaHAFta post that santimonious, patronizing, pursed-mouth photo?! Her nodding, all-knowing expression makes me ILLLLLLLLLLLLLL! :^)

[OrioleFan]

"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."

Time for Peter Jennings to break in here: "That's only alleged!"

[Billie]

How horrific it must have been for you to witness it first-hand - to feel the debris hitting you and choke on the smoke and gases and see it all in person. We can't even imagine.