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Politics : Right Wing Extremist Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Glenn Petersen who wrote (26019)	5/6/2002 12:33:26 PM
From: sandintoes	Respond to of 59480

LOL Sounds like the same old same old...eight more years of a dirty old man in action. That's a thought, an action figure of Clinton doing...oh never mind, this isn't late night TV!

To: Glenn Petersen who wrote (26019)	5/6/2002 3:24:35 PM
From: TimF	Respond to of 59480

Boxers, Briefs, Mochas By MAUREEN DOWD Bill should not be the next Oprah. That's silly. He should be the next Ozzy. After all, as one network executive says of the prolix ex-president: "How could he be an interviewer? He only wants to hear himself talk." There is a delicious symmetry in Bill Clinton's exploring the idea of a daytime syndicated talk show: the man who brought Oprah-style psychobabble and misty confessions to politics taking the next step and actually transmogrifying into Oprah. Last Wednesday, Mr. Clinton and his pal, the TV producer Harry Thomason, met in Mr. Thomason's Burbank office with NBC honchos Jeff Zucker and Andrew Lack. News of the meeting generated hilarity. The New York tabloids both blared "Bubba TV" and speculated on whether the former president would consider a BBC offer to be Regis on a new quiz show. David Letterman wondered whether Mr. Clinton "could be the first president ever to be impeached and canceled." But the meeting with NBC did not generate a deal. As it turned out, the president didn't want to be Oprah. The ultimate survivor, the man who managed to avoid being expelled by the tribal council in Washington, does not want to sink to the level of the lurid real-life drama cherished by networks. He wants to raise the intellectual tone. He's been toying with the notion of a serious, issues-oriented "town hall" meeting shown weekly. As one top TV executive yawned to The Times's Bill Carter, "Who's going to watch a show like that?" Trust Bill Clinton to turn everything upside down and inside out. When he was in the Oval Office, where he was supposed to be high-minded, he kept lapsing into low rent. Now that he's mulling a career in a medium that loves low rent, he wants to be high-minded. Mr. Clinton thought he would get beyond the misdeeds of his presidency by doing Jimmy Carteresque good deeds in his post-presidency. Through his foundation, he planned to devote himself to religious and racial reconciliation, economic empowerment and citizen service. Yeah, right. It was hard enough for Sunday Morning Bill to keep Saturday Night Bill at bay when he had all the rigors and restraints of the White House and first lady in place. How is he going to do it now that he is prowling around the world, dining with Chris Tucker, lunching with Robin Williams, playing golf with Jack Nicholson and partying with New York socialites? Besides, Clinton the Elder Statesman is a tough sell. President Bush didn't even acknowledge his Democratic predecessor's offer to help out in the Middle East. And as The Times's Don Van Natta reported last week, Mr. Clinton is struggling to raise the $200 million he needs to build his library in Little Rock. Many big-pocketed donors were put off by his pardon of Marc Rich, and some wonder why they should give money to someone making $150,000 for a 30-minute speech. Mr. Clinton is learning that it's easier to bring entertainment to the world of issues than issues to the world of entertainment. Perhaps the man who reshaped presidential campaigns when he answered the boxers-or-briefs question on MTV and played saxophone on Arsenio Hall should return to his roots. Let Bill be Bill — on cable. A passel of washed-up celebrities are vying to be the next Ozzy Osbourne — reports say Ozzy has been offered $20 million by MTV to continue letting cameras record him puttering, coloring and scratching. Mr. Clinton may not have any tattoos and his brain is intact, but the spectacle of Bill 24/7 would certainly be entertaining for us, and gratifying for him, giving him all the attention and love he craves. We could watch our ex in all his myriad moods — fun-loving, intellectual, angry, self-pitying, lip-biting, gluttonous, flirtatious. Bill alone and restless, padding around the kitchen in Chappaqua, C-Span going in the background, desperately dialing up Tony in London, Donatella in Milan, Hillary in D.C., shaking awake Oscar the Valet to play hearts and listen to him scoff at Bush's Mideast diplomacy and Gore's Midwest strategy. Bill housebreaking his new Lab puppy. Bill ordering a vente white chocolate extra-whip mocha at the Starbucks in Harlem, complaining to the cashiers that his post-presidential life is not being taken seriously enough. "It would [bleep] rule," as Ozzy says. nytimes.com