Another Hillary Apologist

In New York magazine, Chris Smith tries to rationalize Hillary Clinton's numerous equivocations about the war. He writes:

Yet Clinton’s position on the war isn’t small-minded. And it isn’t constructed merely to maintain her political viability. It happens to be what she believes. Hillary Clinton has long been more hawkish than her husband, implying that she favored finishing off Saddam during the first Gulf War and, more recently, talking tough about Iran.

Really? Why don't I recall her (or her husband)saying anything about that at the time?

Yes, Hillary Clinton may be taking her lumps with the insane netroots. But she must realize that her biggest problem -- aside from the perception that she's an inauthentic opportunist -- is that she's perceived as a liberal, and that she's a woman (which people often construe as implying a certain weakness on defense). If, by putting up with a little fury from the KosKidz, she can transform herself from someone who reportedly didn't want those in military uniforms around her daughter or in The White House to Margaret Thatcher II, it's hardly dying on the last hill of principle -- rather, it's a good deal for her.