Clinton chides media over affair (Links to Some Video)

Former US President Bill Clinton has hit out at the media's treatment of his affair with Monica Lewinsky in a BBC television interview. Speaking on a Panorama programme to be broadcast on Tuesday night, Mr Clinton accused the press of helping the far- right and liking "to hurt people".

Mr Clinton said he was relieved his wife, Hillary, did not decide to throw him out but make him sleep on the sofa.

Mr Clinton reacted after presenter David Dimbleby asked him why he had an affair with Ms Lewinsky when he knew he was under investigation by special prosecutor Kenneth Starr for other matters.

Wagging his finger and getting visibly agitated, Mr Clinton expressed anger at the media's behaviour.

He said: "Let me just say this. One of the reasons he [Kenneth Starr] got away with it is because people like you only ask me the questions.

"You gave him a complete free ride. Any abuse they wanted to do. They indicted all these little people from Arkansas, what did you care about them, they're not famous, who cares that their life was trampled. Who cares that their children are humiliated.

"Nobody in your line of work cared a rip about that at the time. Why, because he was helping their story.

People like you always help the far-right, because you like to hurt people, and you like to talk about how bad people are and all their personal failings

"And that's why people like you always help the far-right, because you like to hurt people, and you like to talk about how bad people are and all their personal failings.

"Look, you made a decision to allocate your time in a certain way, you should take responsibility for that, you should say 'yes, I care much more about this than whether the Bosnian people were saved, and whether he brought a million home from Kosovo'."

But despite the shaky start, Mr Clinton quickly recovered his composure and was questioned for a further 30 minutes by Mr Dimbleby.

During that time he laughed and joked, talking frankly about UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, about life at home and his views on the war on terror and the Iraq war.

It is believed that he even made time in his tight schedule to talk off camera to the Panorama team for 15 minutes after the interview ended.

Mr Clinton also revealed that in the wake of the Monica Lewinsky affair he was banished to the sofa by his wife Hillary at home, while ordering bombing attacks on al-Qaeda at work.

"I thought that in a funny way the fact that I was sleeping on the couch and they were still in the same house with me meant that Hilary and Chelsea hadn't given up on me," he said.

"I figured out that I was getting a whipping at home where I should have gotten it. I felt that everything they [Hillary and daughter Chelsea] wanted to say or do to me, they had an absolute right to do so.

"The fact that I was still able to stay under the same roof... I thought that was progress.

"I was just glad to be among the living there at home and frankly, perhaps I shouldn't acknowledge this, but it was a relief to have to go to work and concentrate on something else because otherwise I would have nothing to think about all day long but what a bad fella I'd been."

That dripping sound you hear is my heart bleeding for the "Former Occupant of the Oval Office, 1993-2001". The stark fact remains, he could have been so much better than he turned out to be. From his humble beginnings, he was potentially much more a "man of the people" than the current presumptive Democrat nominee for the Presidency, John Kerry. But he set out to associate far above his station in life, while bringing nothing of consequence to the table. He was shallow when depth was called for, he chose not to risk anything when boldness was paramount.

He had the built-in acclaim that comes with assuming the mantle of the Presidency, yet he did little to build on that almost automatic adulation. He brought shame where there had been only honor.

Harry Potter he ain't.

He said the media cared more about the affair than the conflict in Bosnia.

OK Bill, let’s talk about Bosnia.

It was to be a one year involvement yet our troops are still there many years later.

Did you rush into Bosnia without a plan?
Did you lie about it?
Do you feel you made your case for our involvement in Bosnia?
Did you have a plan to exit Bosnia?
What was your plan to exit Bosnia, and why did it fail so miserably?
Was this quagmire in Bosnia your Vietnam?
Was the Bosnian quagmire your idea or were the neo-progressives leading you along?
What would you do differently to avoid your quagmire in Bosnia?
While our troops in Bosnia were risking their lives, you were fooling around in the Oval Office, or working to covering it up. Was this fair to our sons and daughters in the military?

Bill, I await your answers.

This man...and I use the term lossely, is a sociopath. If there is ANYONE who used the "little people," it was this predator. Everywhere you look around this man, people have been used, abused and disgarded. And I'm not just talking about his abuse of women. This was a president who intentionally put people of, shall I say, lower quality in positions of power, so they could take the fall for his incompetance.

Heck, when you look at the list of those investigated, indicted or convicted, it is filled with minority appointments who took the fall for Bill Clinton. From Maria Shai to Ron Brown to Lani Guinere (sp) to Jocelyn Elders to Henry Cisneros to Hazel O'Leary...etc., Bill Clinton betrayed the very people he claimed to care so much about.

And these weren't even the people involved in MonicaGate, which includes another list of people, like poor Betty Curry who was asked to lie for Clinton. From his Cabinet coming to his defense in a very public statement, Clinton has done nothing but use people.

"Nobody in your line of work cared a rip about that at the time. Why, because he was helping their story.
People like you always help the far-right, because you like to hurt people, and you like to talk about how bad people are and all their personal failings...And that's why people like you always help the far-right, because you like to hurt people, and you like to talk about how bad people are and all their personal failings."

WOW! This is just plain paronoia. The media did all they could to bury this story from the start. It was Isikoff who said Time Magazine wouldn't run the story and was only forced to address it when Drudge made in public. And despite his whining about the media, they were very much apart of the movement to minimize the implications of this case by continually turning it into a "sex" case when it was about perjury, obstruction and abuse of power.

Heck, NBC admits that they buried the Juanita Broadrick story until after the Senate hearing so it wouldn't influence the outcome of impeachment. The media had to cover the story because it was about a president caught lying, who was endanger of being impeached. But make no mistake about it...this media did all they could to minimize the damage Clinton did, by even tarring the images of past presidents as they tried to bring moral equivalency into the story.

I actually agree with CLinton on this. The MEDIA did actually allocate too much time to this in one respect; they ignored all the bigger issues such as the campaign finance/China fraud...or the any number of real scandals that were much more important. In this respect, Clinton should be thanking the media for saving his presidency for distracting from the real important issues..including those we are facing today. This guy is mental case.

"Mr Clinton reacted after presenter David Dimbleby asked him why he had an affair with Ms Lewinsky when he knew he was under investigation by special prosecutor Kenneth Starr for other matters."

I also think this question is extremely relevant as it goes to the psyche of this man. Clinton wasn't just under investigation for "other matters." He was coming off a near disaster in his first term because of an affair (Gennifer Flowers).

To make things worse, he was now under investigation for sexual harrasment from a former employee, by the name of Paula Jones. What kind of man begins...or at least continues, a sordid affair with an intern while he is being investigated for SH?

For me, this was the first indicator that Clinton had some serious marbles loose. While he says it was because "I could," the fact is this is the sign of someone who has no self-control...hardly a characteristic I'd like to see from the person decsribed as the most powerful man in the world.

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