What, is this an election year or something?
The little tubes leading to my house have been jammed with spin about former President Bill Clinton's appearance on Fox News, in which he reacted aggressively to some of interviewer Chris Wallace's questions.
From the Big Surprise Department, we heard some blather from Dick Morris (see also: political hack, epitome of). Writing in Daryl Cagle's newsletter, Morris begins:
From behind the benign façade and the tranquilizing smile, the real Bill Clinton emerged Sunday during Chris Wallace's interview on Fox News Channel. There he was on live television, the man those who have worked for him have come to know -- the angry, sarcastic, snarling, self-righteous, bombastic bully, roused to a fever pitch. The truer the accusation, the greater the feigned indignation. Clinton jabbed his finger in Wallace's face, poking his knee, and invading the commentator's space.
Wait a minute. Before we get to Morris's apparent new fetish for adjectives, let's clear something else up first. How do you jab a finger in someone's face and end up poking his knee?
Possible explanations:
- Chris Wallace is even more twisted than the typical Fox Newsie.
- Just more anatomical confusion on Morris's part. (You probably recall that Morris was fired by Clinton during the 1996 campaign, when Morris was caught paying for the privilege of putting someone else's foot in his mouth.)
I myself didn't watch the program when it aired. I rarely watch TV, and I wouldn't watch White House Pravda Fox News if you waterboarded me. Which we don't do.
But given all the hype, we should probably take a look for ourselves, don't you think? The longest excerpt on YouTube that I found is about ten minutes long. You'll note from the title the obvious leanings of the person who posted the excerpt, but nonetheless, I relink, you decide.
[Update: 2006-09-27 09:39 EDT]: Think Progress has the complete transcript, if you'd rather not watch the video.
My take on the interview: Clinton wasn't about to take any crap from Wallace, and quite properly put him in his place. I didn't see anything in the way of "snarling." And as for "bombastic," I think Dick Morris has forgotten what articulate means, probably because it's been too long since we've had a such a president.
1 comment:
John Dickerson, writing on Slate, called this one correctly from the get-go. In a piece subtitled "Clinton's strategic TV blowup," he gives a nice analyis of the competing motivations. He also correctly anticipates the predictable reactions.
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