Former Clinton Official Named as Russian Dupe

Strobe Talbott, a trusted aide to former president Bill Clinton and advisor to Sen. Hillary Clinton, was outed as having been a trusted contact of the Russian intelligence service by a Russian defector.

If the media pays any attention to this it will likely help her in the primary and hurt in the general election.

John McCain had an opinion of this goof before this came to light.

In 1993, when Talbott was nominated by President Clinton as Ambassador at Large and Special Adviser to the Secretary of State on the new Independent States (of the former Soviet Union), Senator John McCain took to the Senate floor to declare that, despite Talbott being a close friend and personal pick of the President's, "I cannot in good conscience vote to confirm his appointment."

McCain said that Talbott, as a writer for Time magazine and a commentator, had been guilty of making "mistaken observations" and suggesting "flawed policy solutions" on the matter of whether Russia "will evolve peacefully and democratically, collapse into chaos, or return to totalitarianism, be it Communist or fascist."

McCain noted that Talbott opposed all of the Reagan initiatives, including deployment of missiles to Europe and the Strategic Defense Initiative, which had kept Europe free from Soviet control and eventually resulted in the demise of the Soviet empire. McCain said that "it would require many more hours for me to cite all the examples of mistakes and inconsistencies upon which Mr. Talbott bases his reputation as a Soviet expert."

If Hillary Clinton is elected we will see more folks of Talbott's ilk returned to sensitive positions in our government.