Posted on 09/24/2006 1:37:33 PM PDT by rface
Following today's buzz generating conversation with Bill Clinton, Chris Wallace shared some of his post-interview thoughts with FishbowlDC:
I was delighted to get the chance to interview former President Clinton. This was the first one-on-one sitdown he's ever given "Fox News Sunday" during our 10 years on the air.
The groundrules were simple--15 minutes--to be divided evenly between questions about the Clinton Global Initiative and anything else I wanted to ask.
I intended to keep to the groundrules. In fact--I prepared 10 questions--5 on the CGI and 5 on other issues.
I began the interview with 2 questions about Mr. Clinton's commitment to humanitarian causes. His answers were cogent and good-humored.
Then--I asked him about his Administration's record in fighting terror--fully intending to come back to CGI later (as indeed I did).
I asked what I thought was a non-confrontational question about whether he could have done more to "connect the dots and really go after al Qaeda."
I was utterly surprised by the tidal wave of details--emotion--and political attacks that followed.
The President was clearly stung by any suggestion that he had not done everything he could to get bin Laden. He attacked right-wingers--accused me of a "conservative hit job"--and even spun a theory I still don't understand that somehow Fox was trying to cover up the fact that NewsCorp. chief Rupert Murdoch was supporting his Global Initiative. I still have no idea what set him off. Former President Clinton is a very big man. As he leaned forward--wagging his finger in my face--and then poking the notes I was holding--I felt as if a mountain was coming down in front of me.
The President said I had a smirk. Actually--it was sheer wonder at what I was witnessing.
I tried repeatedly to adhere to the ground rules--to move the President along--and back to the CGI. But he wanted to keep talking about his record fighting terror.
When it became clear he wanted to throw out the ground rules--then I just went with the flow of the interview.
don't worry, Chris. Clinton made a fool of himself. It was NOT your doing!
Also 10:00 PM Pacific according to Fox News Channel -- my special arrangements.
** it is always exactly WHAT THEY ARE DOING!**
LOL!
>>Wallace can take some comfort that at least Clinton no
>>longer has the vast resources of the DOJ, the
>>intelligence agencies and legions of private
>>investigators to retaliate against him.
Not to mention the IRS.
I read somewhere (grin) that your odds of being audited by the IRS during The impeached one's presidency went to 100% if you were a female who claimed to have had "Relations" with the bent one.
Too bad Chris Wallace didn't say, "The Devil was just here! I can still smell the sulphur!" He'd have been a "right-wing" icon forever.
I keep hearing how "big" he is.
Clinton's a Class A pu**y. Oh that he would ever......ever........poke his finger in my face, that smug son of a bitch; and I'm maybe 3/4 his size.
To say such things about a former President of the United States absolutely disgusts me......but I can't help it. That dirtbag brings it upon himself.
I think I read something similar. And to some of those who were abused by him, that was only the beginning.
"clinton shows enough outrage to be a Muslim!"
Yes he did, it was the dark underbelly of the beast he saw. Juanita Broderick saw this and worse.
Like Clinton's successor.
(......and, of course, she along with him)
Leni
Care to expand a bit?
You believe he intended to make that big of an ass of himself?
I think he simply allowed his temper to get away from him...that was NOT pretty in any fashion or form.
That's because you think like a conservative Freeper. Now, think like the enemy. The Dems are lapping this up like honey. And I suspect X amount of Independents will be swayed by his tirade too. He is firming up the base, both for the mid-terms and for Hillary's eventual run. Don't think from your point of view; think from his and from the Dem plus some Independents' views. This was a calculated move on his part. He didn't just pull this out of nowhere in a moment of pique, he planned it. I smell it, and my political instincts are pretty fine tuned.
"Clinton does not stage anger."
You are politically naive if you think that.
"We all remember that he lied then. If it was planned, they did not think of how this performance was reminiscent of that one and it will backfire."
Already Howard Dean is saying the following (the spin begins) and is making Clinton into a hero - this was all planned):
"President Clinton did exactly what Democrats need to do in this election. Democrats need to stand up to the right-wing propaganda machine and tell the truth. Washington Republicans' attempts to twist history and recast the truth do not help us win the war on terror or bring us closer to capturing Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks. President Clinton stood up to the misleading tactics of the right-wing propaganda machine."
I bet she is moritifed. I'm smiling.
And I wonder how Mike Wallace feels tonight, after seeing what the left will do to anybody just to make their case.
"It's tough to watch someone being bullied and taking it."
Yes, in my youth I had many problems with bullies. They lost, I won. But at what cost? The victims, for the most part, did not thank me or my friends.
At what cost? My friends died early. Why? Because the people they stood up for did not support them and they gave up. Good people all, died too young. I remember.
ping
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"They were all disloyal. I tried to run the ship properly by the book, but they fought me at every turn. If the crew wanted to walk around with their shirttails hanging out, that's all right, let them!
Take the towline - defective equipment, no more, no less. But they encouraged the crew to go around, scoffing at me and spreading wild rumors about steaming in circles and then 'Old Yellowstain.'
I was to blame for Lieutenant Maryk's incompetence and poor seamanship. Lieutenant Maryk was the perfect officer, but not Captain Queeg.
Ah, but the strawberries! That's, that's where I had them. They laughed at me and made jokes, but I proved beyond the shadow of a doubt, and with, with geometric logic, that, that a duplicate key to the wardroom icebox did exist. And I would have produced that key if they hadn't pulled the Caine out of action.
I, I know now they were only trying to protect some fellow officer.
(He pauses - looks at all the questioning faces that stare back at him, and realizes that he has been ranting and raving.) Naturally, I can only cover these things from memory...
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