"We have basically given scholarships to potential terrorists to become terrorists by creating this situation," the would-be first lady complained, noting that potential terrorists are now "so angry" at the U.S.

Realizing that she perhaps had gone too far, the billionaire ketchup heiress retreated somewhat, noting for the record: "Not that we created the terrorists initially. We didn't."

But in the next breath the Democratic nominee's outspoken second wife warned, "But doing this [attacking Iraq] doesn't diminish it."

She suggested that President Bush would have attacked Iraq with or without 9/11, telling Matthews, "It was a war that was going to happen, because that's what they wanted to do."

And she criticized Bush for not traveling to Ground Zero quickly enough after the 9/11 attacks, describing him as "stunned" into "paralysis."

"[My husband] would have gone there immediately," she insisted, claiming his experience as a swift boat commander in Vietnam would have made him feel "I have to go see my men. I have to see the people."

Editor's note: