Clinton Congo outburst blamed on 'nervous' audience member

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's ill-tempered outburst to a question from a student in the audience leads to a scramble from aides to explain her embarrassing behavior.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton snapped at a student during her visit to the Congo this week. The student had asked a question, seeking her husband Bill Clinton's opinion on China's role in Congo's affairs - and the question sparked an unusually vitriolic response from Mrs. Clinton. Now Clinton aides are struggling to offer a consistent answer as to why Mrs. Clinton behaved the way she did. The first explanation centered on a possible misinterpretation based on a loss in translation, but it now appears that they are chalking up her response to "nervous" nature of the student. "I'm not going to be channeling my husband," she said sternly in response to the question. "At a briefing on Tuesday, top State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley initially said the question in French was lost in translation, and the student actually sought President Obama's views, not Bill Clinton's," the New York Daily News reported. "Next, Crowley suggested the young man mangled his question. 'Perhaps he was nervous in talking to the secretary of state,' Crowley told reporters. And then, Crowley said Clinton suggested her sensitivity was heightened because she was in central Africa, focusing on the plight of women where sex assaults are used as "a weapon of war," and regarded the question as sexist." Clinton's aides also explained that Mrs. Clinton was tired from her travels through the "rape capital of the world." "'She's tired. She's in the rape capital of the world. It's a long trip,' the source said. But a party operative added: 'It's embarrassing and unfortunate,'" the New York Daily News reported.