Accused in recent days of embellishing her story of a brush with sniper fire in Bosnia, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton said today "don't be fooled" by photos showing her being greeted at the airport by a pony-tailed 8-year-old Bosnian girl with a bouquet of flowers.

"That was no little girl," Clinton told reporters in Gary, Ind. "That was a covert-ops midget sniper."

The New York senator said that moments after the "so-called little girl" presented her with the flowers, she revealed what the bouquet had been hiding: "a tiny semi-automatic weapon."

"Fortunately, I had the presence of mind to use some of the tae kwon do techniques I had learned in preparation for the Northern Ireland peace talks," she said.

Defending his wife against charges that she had yet again fabricated her exploits while first lady, former president Bill Clinton told CNN's John King that "Democratic voters have a clear choice this election: Do they want a liar or a plagiarist?"

"Hillary tells some real whoppers, but at least they're original," he said.

In response to a question about whether he believes his wife's account of the events in Bosnia, Mr.

Clinton said, "All I have to say about that is Reverend Wright Reverend Wright Reverend Wright Reverend Wright Reverend Wright."

Elsewhere, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said he enjoyed the film "10,000 B.C.," calling it "a sentimental journey for me."

Award-winning humorist, television personality and film actor Andy Borowitz is author of the book "The Republican Playbook," published in October 2007. To find out more about Andy Borowitz and read his past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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