By Pamela Gentry, Senior Political Producer

Posted March 26, 2008 – Democrat Hillary Clinton decided Tuesday to deflect questions about her misleading recollection of her trip to Bosnia, by providing her rival with advice on how to deal with the fiery comments by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Clinton admitted she misled people about her humanitarian trip in 1996.  “I made a mistake. That happens,” she told reporters during a news conference in Pennsylvania. “It proves I’m human, which, for some people, is a revelation. ”

Well, “being human” could be an excuse for most folks who make mistakes. But it isn’t one she’s been willing to allow Wright.

The media has shied away from publicly calling the New York senator a liar, but she didn’t tell the truth about this trip, and it begs the question, ”What else could she be misleading the American people about?” 

What troubles me more is her comments regarding Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) decision not to leave his church. 

“I think, given all we have heard and seen, he would not have been my pastor,” the New York senator told a Pittsburgh newspaper this week.    That’s some tough talk from someone whose choices were questioned when she declined to renounce her husband’s behavior involving Monica Lewinsky.

Clinton has never really explained why she decided not to leave her husband, if only for a short time, after she discovered his involvement with the White House intern.  President Bill Clinton lied to his family and the American people about the extra-marital affair, and he was punished with impeachment.  But why did she stay?

On Tuesday, Chelsea, on the campaign trail for the senator, was speaking to college students in Indiana.  She was asked about the Lewinsky affair.  She told the student that, in all of her 70 college visits, the question had never been asked. “And I do not think that is any of your business,” she responded.

It’s difficult to draw lines in the sand when you’re running for public office, which requires public trust.  The Clintons want all unpleasant and unpopular parts of their past off-limits.  

“We don’t have a choice when it comes to our relatives. We have a choice when it comes to our pastors and the church we attend,” Clinton told reporters.

Most folks would agree with the senator.  But for the thousands of women who divorced their husbands for similar breaches of trust, they might ask her why she made a choice to stay. She made her choice, and no one questioned it.