A miracle ! The Washington Post says Clinton was a jerk during his interview with Dan BrownNose Rather...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mr. Clinton's Honor
Washington Post
April 2, 1999
Mr. Clinton's Honor
Friday, April 2, 1999; Page A28
The Washington Post
PRESIDENT CLINTON feels "honored" to have had a chance to defend the Constitution by warding off impeachment, he told CBS interviewer Dan Rather on Wednesday. "I do not regard this impeachment vote as some great badge of shame," Mr. Clinton said. He was impeached, the president believes, because people who were "furious" that his policies were working and that the country was prospering "attempted to use what should have been a constitutional and legal process for political ends." As for his own responsibility, the president allowed that he is ashamed of his "mistake." But he suggested that his behavior may not have been as bad as we've all been led to believe. You have to bear the consequences of your mistakes, he said, "whether or not what's made public is [an] exactly accurate reflection of what, in fact, happened."
The unseemliness of Mr. Clinton's self-pitying musings, especially at a moment like this, is stunning. On the historical interpretation, we certainly part company with the president. We believe that lying under oath was a serious offense, and we don't ascribe base political motives to all of those who felt such conduct warranted his removal from office. In fact, we can recall Mr. Clinton himself, at moments when he evidently felt in more political jeopardy than he does now, acknowledging the seriousness of his offenses and expressing a willingness to accept a fairly severe censure from people whom he did not attack, at that time, as political malcontents.
But all that is almost beside the point now, or at least it should be. When the time comes, Mr. Clinton will be a young ex-president; he'll have plenty of opportunity, after he leaves office, to plead his case to history. For now, he should be concentrating on other things. At this moment, many Americans -- including members of Congress and the public, including many who believe Mr. Clinton should have been removed -- are trying to set aside their doubts about his leadership in the interest of supporting American troops whose lives are in danger. This is a moment "to stay with your leaders," he pleaded during his CBS interview. But he doesn't make that easy.
Mr. Clinton had the audacity to compare himself to Franklin Delano Roosevelt in response to a question about his reputation for "parsing words too closely" -- for toying with the truth, that is. "That's what they said about President Roosevelt, too," Mr. Clinton said. "He made a pretty good president." Mr. Roosevelt did make a pretty good president. One reason may be that he spent more time earning his place in history and less time decorating it in advance.
|
