Most revealing is one simple fact: President Clinton has helped save the lives of 1,300,000 people in his post-presidency, and Vanity Fair couldn’t find time to talk to even one of them for comment," the statement continues, along with several pages of argument refuting the article’s main points.
Greg quipped: "The Vanity Fair piece accused Clinton of ‘cavernous narcissism,’ which his office confirms with the ridiculous claim that he saved more than one million people."
The Purdum piece is long, but the headline is "The Comeback Id," and the summary does sound like it's rough on Slick Willie:
Old friends and longtime aides are wringing their hands over Bill Clinton’s post–White House escapades, from the dubious (and secretive) business associations to the media blowups that have bruised his wife’s campaign, to the private-jetting around with a skirt-chasing, scandal-tinged posse. Some point to Clinton’s medical traumas; others blame sheer selfishness, and the absence of anyone who can say "no." Exploring Clintonworld, the author asks if the former president will be consumed by his own worst self.
But here's some tidbits from the Fox summary:
One source close to Clinton even suggested he has never been the same since quadruple bypass surgery in 2004.
“There’s an anger in him that I find surprising. There seems to be an abiding anger in him, and not just the summer thunderstorms of old. He has been called into question repeatedly by top staff,” a former aide to both Bill and Hillary Clinton told Purdum.
More devastating is Purdum’s claim that about 18 months ago, a former Clinton aide tried an intervention with the former president because he was hearing so many complaints about inappropriate behavior. According to the article, the aide believed “Clinton was apparently seeing a lot of women on the road.”
Purdum wrote that the aide was rebuffed by advisers close to Clinton, never got to speak directly with him, and the attempted intervention was not well received by either Clinton.
For a reminder on what kind of Messiah profile Slick Willie expects, let's recall GQ's George "I Love the Smell of Shoe Shine" Saunders, who heavily promoted the Clinton lifeguard line:
In this little Clinton-caused moment, something occurs to me: If not for the William J. Clinton Foundation, every one of these kids would be dead or dying soon, since every one of them is HIV-positive, and until the foundation intervened, almost no one in the Dominican Republc had access to life-prolonging antiretroviral drugs (ARVs). And for most kids this young, the life expectancy for something with HIV no on ARVs is five years.
"I see a vacant seat in the poor chimney corner, and a crutch without an owner, carefully preserved," the Ghost of Christmas Present says to Scrooge, re Tiny Tim. "If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, the child will die."
The kids – these twenty altered shadows – present Clinton with a poster: CHILDREN LIVING WITH AIDS. A BIG CHALLENGE FOR THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC.
The teachers count off: "Uno, dos, tres..."
"DENK YOU!" the kids shout.
Saunders projected that Clinton saved the lives of half a million people. Sounds like the Clinton people will be demanding an update.
