Clinton did not “melt down”. He defended himself.
Sunday, on Fox News, Bill Clinton vigorously defended his record on bin Laden (see below). Since that interview aired (and even before) FOX “News” and other neocon media outlets have been characterizing Clinton’s response as a “melt down” bringing Clinton to “purple-faced rage”. And, those are the more kind descriptions. In any event, the observant will note that all such characterizarions are patently false.
Chris Wallace, Fox interviewer, basically asked Clinton “Why didn’t you do more to get bin Laden?” As Clinton rightly points out, Wallace did not do so with a sense of journalistic or intellectual honesty. Nor was his question simply a bit of “tough” journalism. It was, plain and simple, a blatant. ill-considered attempt to lay the blame for 9/11 at Clinton’s feet.
Do Clinton’s hackles rise? Indeed. Faced with such a bald-faced bit of character assasination, how would you react? Does he fly off into a rage? Hardly. Rather, he gives a spirited, accurate defense of his attempts to eliminate bin Laden.
Clinton rightly calls out neocons who once blocked his campaign against al Qaeda and now, conveniently, try to blame him for 9/11. And, he deftly calls out the fact that in the 5 years since, the Bush administration has relegated bin Laden and al Qaeda to a footnote, rather than the central target, where they belong.
Lost in all of this is the fact that Clinton, quite honestly, shows regret that he did not get bin Laden. Clearly he wishes he’d been able to do so. Now, before anyone decides that I am a Clinton apologist, I am not. I think the guy is a brilliant, but flawed man and leader.
Like everyone, I was and remain deeply disappointed in the Lewinsky scandal. The man should have learned a long time ago to keep it in his pants. However, I never thought his impeachment was anything more than a Republican attempt to mobilize the religous right. It did. And now, we have the Bush quasi-theocracy and the war in Iraq; both more compelling reasons for Clinton to have avoided dalliances with interns.
This being said, I gained new respect for Clinton on Sunday. It is about time someone outside the Repblican party stood up to the neocons and their mouthpieces at FOX “News” in a vigorous and confrontational manner. Of course FOX will try to spin it into Clinton flying off the handle. That is what they do. But don’t be fooled. Watch it for yourself.
Interestingly enough, FOX Keep pulling it off of YouTube.com. They leave all of the O’Reilly and Coulter clips up, but they go after the one clip where someone spanks them. Come on FOX, if your ae going to defend your copyright do so consistently. So, if it does not show up here, Fox pulled it again. So, go download the uncut version over at crooksandliars.com.
Finally, if you still think Clinton’s response is over the top, or as some have said, orchestrated and calculated, watch the following report where FOX again tries to slam Clinton by proxy with a 9/11 Commission member who actually defends his reaction as justified.