A conservative PAC released a new web video Wednesday blasting Hillary Clinton for her role in the Obama administration’s proposed “reset” of diplomatic relations with Russia
America Rising PAC, which launched a Stop Hillary 2016 campaign last year, labeled the policy as the ‘The Obama/Clinton’ Reset Failure’. The video includes clips of Clinton, then-secretary of state, and President Barack Obama calling for a “reset” of diplomatic relations with Russia before cutting to footage of the recent Russian invasion of Crimea.
“We want to reset our relationship,” Clinton says in the 2009 clips pulled for the ad. “We think that this is a fresh start.”
America Rising initiated the line of attack earlier this week with a splash on its website: “Hillary’s Russia Reset: Nailed It.”
Tim Miller, executive director for America Rising, told TPM that he thought Clinton was culpable in part for what is happening in Ukraine, though he did acknowledge that the conflict’s origins in part arguably date back centuries.
“There have been numerous examples of Russia opposing us at every turn, and to let them off the hook and to try to buddy up with Putin, it’s been clear that that was not working for years now,” he said. “Ukraine is just one example of Putin taking advantage of the fact that we’ve continually tried to give him rope on the international stage. In that sense, I absolutely think it’s fair to say our policy has had an impact on the way that Putin has been able to act on the world stage, and that ties to Ukraine, even though there are obviously other factors as well.”
While the group chastised Clinton for being soft on Russia, Miller also criticized her comments Tuesday, in which she compared Russia’s actions to Nazi Germany, as “overcompensation.”
“Frankly, I think her comments comparing Putin to Hitler sounded like overcompensation for what she sees as a political vulnerability,” he said. “It was a pretty clumsy overcompensation at that, to make such an extreme comment. I don’t think some over-the-top, strong anti-Putin language now is going to fix that for her.”
The full video is below.
