During NBC’s Commander in Chief forum, Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton was asked about her perceived hawkishness. The former US Secretary of State defended her decisions, citing the NATO bombing of Libya, a decision she vocally supported.
"With respect to Libya, again…I put together a coalition that included NATO, included the Arab League, and we were able to save lives. We did not lose a single American in that action."
— Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) September 8, 2016
— Blake Hounshell (@blakehounshell) September 8, 2016
Social media users were quick to point out that four Americans were, in fact, killed in Libya, when militants attacked the US consulate in Benghazi.
"I think taking that action was the right decision," she added.
Clinton was not the only candidate lying to voters.
"I heard Clinton say I was not against the war in Iraq," Republican nominee Donald Trump said during the forum. "I was totally against the war in Iraq. You can look at Esquire magazine from 2004. You can look at before that."
Social media, again, was quick to point out that referring to a publication date after the Iraq War had already begun invalidates Trump’s argument.
Later in the evening, Trump stressed that Clinton "made a terrible mistake on Libya."
— stuart stevens (@stuartpstevens) September 8, 2016
— andrew kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) September 8, 2016
During a 2002 interview with Howard Stern, however, Trump very clearly indicated his support for the Iraq invasion. When asked if he supported the decision, Trump said, "Yeah, I guess so. I wish the first time it was done correctly."
It was only after the war began that Trump began to walk back his support.
On Libya, Trump made a video that reveals his opinions of North African nation’s former leader, Muammar Gaddafi.
— andrew kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) September 8, 2016
"We should go in, we should stop this guy, which would be very easy, very quick, we could do it surgically, stop him from doing it, and save these lives. This is absolute nuts [sic]," he said. "The people will appreciate it, and they should pay us back."
Still, the night’s biggest loser was undoubtedly host Matt Lauer.
— Damien Fahey (@DamienFahey) September 8, 2016
— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) September 8, 2016
— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) September 8, 2016
Wednesday’s highly-touted presidential interviews made for cringeworthy television.
— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) September 8, 2016
