As the U.S. Marine Corps commemorates its 240th birthday this week, Hillary Clinton has revived her old anecdote: she attempted to sign up for the Marines. Republicans don't believe the story.
The Yale-educated attorney recalled that when she tried to be a part of the Marines upon relocating to Arkansas in 1975, she was rejected by a recruiter.
"He looks at me and goes, 'Um, how old are you,'" Clinton narrated during an event in New Hampshire. "And I said, 'Well I am 26, I will be 27.' And he goes, 'Well, that is kind of old for us.' And then he says to me — and this is what gets me — 'Maybe the dogs will take you,' meaning the Army."
Clinton told her story in a forum dubbed Candidate Café, arranged by WMUR-TV.
As anticipated, Clinton's tale was greeted with skepticism, especially among Republicans. Clinton has repeated this particular story a couple of times in the past years.
“G.I. Hillary?” reads the email the Republican National Committee sent to the New York Times. “Clinton’s claim that she tried to join the Marines doesn’t add up."
In 2008, Clinton faced a controversy after she said that her plane arrived in Bosnia in 1996 under sniper fire. Rather than bullets, however, she was welcomed by youngsters who even offered her a copy of a poem, according to reports.
She then confessed that she "misspoke" when she gave a dramatic description of her arrival in Bosnia years back, passing the buck to tiredness.
On Nov. 13, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), who was the Republican presidential nominee back in 2008, implied in a tweet that he wasn't going to believe Clinton's tale. He even linked Clinton's story to the incident in Bosnia.
Hillary in the Marine Corps? Well, she did come under sniper fire in #Bosnia, right? #SemperFi https://t.co/wjPNreLRnF
— John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) November 12, 2015
Meanwhile, Clinton's spokesperson Nick Merrill corroborated the story, stating that Clinton paid a visit to a Marine recruiter soon after moving to Arkansas as she was enthusiastic about exploring options for serving in the military.
"Her interest was sincere," Merril further said. "[A]nd it is insulting, but not surprising, that Republicans would attack her for this, too.”
