Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Bill Clinton Calmly Tells the Truth

Original Link: http://wwsword.blogspot.com/2008/06/mayhill-fowler-amateur-reporter.html

Mayhill Fowler, the amateur reporter (whatever that means) who exposed Obama's condescending remarks about the American heartland to a group of wealthy cultural left-liberals - Obama said that white rural and working Americans "cling" to guns and religion because they are "bitter" over economic troubles - got Bill Clinton to talk frankly about Todd Purdum's sleaze journalism piece in Vanity Fair (a magazine that specializes in sliming people). Fowler does not identify herself as a reporter and she elicits the remarks by asking the question in a way that makes it appear as if she also believes the piece is slimy. I can't tell if Fowler is genuinely pro-Clinton or is lying to him to get him to talk frankly. So if any of your can clear that up for me, I'd appreciate it.

I want to share audio of the exchange with you, but I also want to post the things Clinton said in text form (found on the Huffington Post web site). I am very proud of Bill Clinton here. He is one of our smartest and most perceptive presidents ever and his analysis of the political motives both behind the attack on Hillary among some in the black community and Barack Obama's resignation from Trinity United are right on the money. The press has adapted the Obama campaign frame for their news reporting, so you won't hear this from them. They are too busy praising Obama for everything, even for his repeated lies. Contrast the press' treatment of Obama compared to the press treatment of either of the Clintons. Bill is justifiably anger and his comments speak truth.

[He's] sleazy" [referring to Purdum]. He's a really dishonest reporter. And one of our guys talked to him.... And I haven't read [the article]. But he told me there's five or six just blatant lies in there. But he's a real slimy guy.

Mayhill reminded Clinton that Purdum was married to his former press spokesperson Dee Dee Myers.
That's all right, he's still a scumbag.... Let me tell ya - he's one of the guys - he's one of the guys that propagated all those lies about Whitewater to Kenneth Starr. He's just a dishonest guy - can't help it.... The editor of Esquire - he sent us an email yesterday and said it was the single sleaziest piece of journalism he'd seen in decades. He said it made him want to go take a shower and he was embarrassed to be a journalist when he read it....

Here's the best part:

You know he didn't use a single name, cite a single source in all those things he said. It's just slimy. It's part of the national media's attempt to nail Hillary for Obama. It's just the most biased press coverage in history. It's another way of helping Obama. They had all these people standing up in this church cheering, calling Hillary a white racist, and he didn't do anything about it. The first day he said "Ah, ah, ah well." Because that's what they do - he gets other people to slime her. So then they saw the movie [the video of Michael Pfleger performance] they thought this is a great ad for John McCain - maybe I better quit the church. It's all politics.

Clinton speaks the truth here. Laying the truth on thick, Clinton went on to say that "this has been the most rigged press coverage in modern history."

One final point. The corporate media has uniformly described this encounter as angry. It doesn't sound angry at all. It sounds honest. He is moving through his arguments in a rational way. Sure, he's calling names, but that doesn't bother me so much. What's more important is that he is speaking truth. That is what I care about and this encounter elevates Clinton in my mind.

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