The happy couple reviewing their gift registry...I mean... during a break in the "interview."
So, I watched the interview of former President Bill Clinton last night on 60 Minutes. Perhaps I should say that I caught the "mutual love-fest that was passed off as an interview" by CBS Newsman Dan Rather.
I tried to avoid it, I really did. It was kind of like a train wreck to me. I knew what that lying philanderer was going to say. I mean, we all did--and not just because CBS leaked just enough details to pique the interest of viewers.
Well, their plan worked. I tuned in, and so did many of you. The Clinton infomercial was the highest rated program of the night. The memoir itself was talked about on every Sunday Talking Heads show. It's all over talk radio. It's everywhere. The book isn't even on the shelves yet, and it's already the most talked about news item in the cycle.
In fact, most of the people talking about the book, haven't even read it. It's still not clear whether the former President has either.
Am I truly to believe that the leader of the free world really slept on a sofa in the White House after confessing an affair to his wife? That's what he writes. Supposedly, after confessing his transgressions with Monica Lewinsky to his wife, he slept on a sofa. Does anyone have any idea how many bedrooms are in the White House?
The President and his family live in the Residence. There are 132 rooms, 35 bathrooms, and 6 levels in the Residence. Now I know the Lincoln bedroom was busy being rented out, but does he expect me to believe that he slept on a sofa when there are hundreds of rooms?? Yeah...right...sure thing, Bill.
Oh, and we're also supposed to believe that Bill Clinton did a full day of family counseling for over a year after that. Really? So...which days were those? Are those in his calendar? I honestly hope they are because I'd like to know when and what dates he was in counseling on my dime!
Don't get me wrong, I support his decision to get therapy...if he actually did. However, as the President of the United States, his job is to protect and run the country--not talk to a doctor about his feelings or his inability to keep it in his pants. He ought to do that on his time, not mine.
Clinton also said his greatest failures as the President had nothing to do with the Monica Lewinsky scandal. "I'm sorry on the home front that we didn't get health care and that we didn't reform Social Security," the former President told Rather. Yeah, I have to say I'm really upset and teary-eyed that his little slice of Socialism was never enacted in this country.
At one point, Rather asked Clinton which of the nicknames he'd been given over the years he liked the least. Without missing a beat, Clinton said "Slick Willy" was the one he disliked the most. Why? "No one could fairly look at my political life and say I didn't believe in anything."
Oh, he believes in something alright. He believes in himself, and that's the only thing he's concerned about.
The New York Times says this of Clinton's book:
Unfortunately for the reader, Mr. Clinton's much awaited new autobiography "My Life" more closely resembles the Atlanta speech, which was so long-winded and tedious that the crowd cheered when he finally reached the words "In closing . . ."
The book, which weighs in at more than 950 pages, is sloppy, self-indulgent and often eye-crossingly dull — the sound of one man prattling away, not for the reader, but for himself and some distant recording angel of history.
So much for a book that the former President says is more candid than any other Presidential memoir in history. People will buy it, though, and they'll make him insanely rich in the process.
What makes me scratch my head, though, is why people will shell out $35 to hear the same lies and self-absorption they heard for eight years while he was in Washington.
Rather should be ashamed at this poor excuse for an interview. He used to be a news man and now he's nothing more than a shill for Clinton's book. He tossed more softballs at him in this interview than are thrown in the NCAA Tournament.
Rather's counterparts at the BBC, didn't have their lips affixed to Clinton's ass, however. In an interview to be broadcast with David Dimbleby, Clinton lost his cool and became visibly upset and angry when asked whether or not his public apology for the affair with Monica Lewinsky was genuine.
If Rather had half a spine, that's how his interview should have been: real questions that didn't let the President off the hook. Unfortunately he was an all too willing accomplice and I only hope he got a portion of the sales for his efforts.
William Smith
ConservativeBlogger.com
