Former President Bill Clinton reveals his marriage was on life support for a year after he came clean about his dirty dalliance with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
Hillary Clinton needed time to decide whether she wanted a divorce, the 42nd President tells CBS' "60 Minutes" in a shockingly candid interview.
"We'd take a day a week, and we did - a whole day a week every week for a year, maybe a little more - and did counseling," Bill Clinton tells Dan Rather in the hour-long sitdown timed to the release next week of his memoir, "My Life."
And daughter Chelsea, who was feeling increasingly alienated, joined in the shrink sessions, the former President added.
"We did it together. We did it individually," said Clinton, admitting he was "in the doghouse" for a long time. "We did family work."
Clinton also confesses he has no rational explanation for cheating on his wife and risking his legacy as President. "I did something for the worst possible reason. Just because I could," he says. "That's just about the most morally indefensible reason anybody could have for doing anything."
Clinton - embarking on a national tour to promote his long-awaited life story, which is already a best seller via advance sales - does not shy away from the Lewinsky affair in his book, either, said Rather, one of the few to have read the tome.
"I lied to everybody," Clinton admits at one point. ...
On other issues:
Clinton calls charges his administration had terror mastermind Osama Bin Laden in its grasp but let him go long before 9/11 absolute "bull."
He avoids any direct comment about his former vice president, Al Gore, because, Rather said, Clinton didn't want to be seen as "piling on."
Clinton generally supports President Bush's decision to take out Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. "People will be surprised at how supportive he is," said Rather, "considering he's a Democratic former President."
Clinton views his stewardship of the American economy as his greatest accomplishment.
"I kept score, how many people's lives were better off," Clinton said. "I think the fact that we were able to have 22 million jobs and record homeownership and lower interest rates ... people actually had the ability to do more things than ever before."
There were many days he counts as his best - but one in particular stands out: The day the U.S. Army helped the people of Kosovo rid the world of Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic.
"The day that Kosovar war ended and I knew Milosevic's days were numbered was a great day," Clinton said. "I had a lot of great days."
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/203741p-175820c.html
It would be nice if some enterprising reporterette would ask the Toon what impact he thinks he had on sexual harrasment law in general.
Me, too.
"I did something for the worst possible reason. Just because I could," he says. "That's just about the most morally indefensible reason anybody could have for doing anything."
***
Speechless...
I may have to take the rest of the day off.
Uh yeah, whew, thanks to clinton we dodged that dangerous Milosevic bullet.