September 25, 2006
About that Wagging Dog Thing
President Clinton renewed his bona fides as "an unusually good liar" in an interview with Chris Wallace which aired on yesterday's Fox News Sunday.
Jake Tapper at ABC.com compares his assertions to the, er, facts:
In the interview Clinton said that during the 1990s conservatives criticized him for "obsessing" over bin Laden and "they ridiculed me for trying" to kill bin Laden.
This stunned me when I heard this. I remember the events but had forgotten the reaction. Mr. Tapper -- both less lazy than I and also paid for this -- looked it up.
"I think the president did exactly the right thing," said House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) said. "By doing this we're sending the signal there are no sanctuaries for terrorists." Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) called the attacks "appropriate and just," and House Majority Leader Richard K. Armey (R-Tex.) said "the American people stand united in the face of terrorism."The AP says: "Gingrich dismissed any possibility that Clinton may have ordered the attacks to divert attention from the scandal. Instead, he said, there was an urgent need for a reprisal following the Aug. 7 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. 'Anyone who watched the film of the bombings, anyone who saw the coffins come home knows better than to question this timing,' Gingrich said. 'It was done as early as possible to send a message to terrorists across the globe that killing Americans has a cost. It has no relationship with any other activity of any kind.'
The interview is up on YouTube, you can follow a link from Tapper. If you did not see it, it's a merry, nostalgic romp through the Clinton years. The mendacity and false bonhomie are displayed as clearly as his shins above his socks and below his suit pants (call that a petty complaint but it added to the overall strangeness).
The ugliness of Bush hatred made me rethink my visceral dislike of his predecessor, but I found it rekindled yesterday.
Hat-tip: Insty