Uh, which one, Ed?
At some point in the not so distant future, former president Bill Clinton will pick up a phone, dial the main number at MSNBC/Pravda in Rockefeller Center, ask to speak with resident loose cannon/action hero Ed Schultz, and tell Schultz that if he really wants to help the Clintons, he should refrain from talking about them. At least not aloud and within range of a microphone. (Audio after the jump)
In yet another installment of the Unintended Comedic Stylings of Ed Schultz, the blustery radio and cable TV host yesterday slammed Republicans for going after Bill Clinton for his womanizing predations while president. Schultz, who can reel off the specifics of GOP transgressions going back decades, suddenly develops amnesia when it comes to Clinton (audio) --
Have you noticed that Mitt Romney seems to be the new go-to guy for the Republicans on, he's the hot interview. (chuckles as if he's said something funny). He's the only one that's not in any trouble or having any controversy swirling around him as I see it. (cursed Boy Scout!). But there seems to be this propensity by the Republicans to do two things -- trash people (yes -- Ed Schultz of all people condemning this) and, of course, demand apologies. They're pretty good at that. (And hey, that's our shtick!).
But this latest round of interviews that Mitt Romney has done, and he was on one of the shows yesterday, is that they are digging up the Monica Lewinsky - Bill Clinton, uh, saga of yesteryear, yester-decade, yester-century. I think it's bitter, it's cheap, it's low-rent, it's searching for material. I mean, what is there to gain by Mitt Romney saying that Bill Clinton embarrassed the country? What does that do for anybody? (uh, aside from its obvious benefit of annoying you?).You know what Bill Clinton has done for the world? The Clinton Global Initiative is one of the most impactful organizations in the history of this world. (As the latest corporate memo at MSNBC duly notes). The billions of dollars that have been raised around the globe (pause for effect) to help people. And yet, the best thing Romney can come up with with Bill Clinton is that he embarrassed the country. And then he renders judgment that, you know, Hillary's going to be OK, says Hillary Clinton will be judged on her own record, as if Bill Clinton has done nothing in life. One indiscretion. Still, you want lineups from Republicans that have had some indiscretions? Where, do you want to start in the House or do you want to start in the Senate? Give me a break.
Oh, that indiscretion.
For a moment I thought Schultz might have been referring to Juanita Broaddrick's allegation that Clinton raped her in 1978 while he was Arkansas attorney general.
No, perhaps Schultz was alluding to Clinton's longtime affair with lounge singer and actress Gennifer Flowers, which Clinton vehemently denied while running for president in 1992, only to acknowledge as true six years later while president.
Or maybe Schultz meant to invoke Paula Jones, who alleged that Clinton made a pass at her while governor of Arkansas while visiting her in a hotel room, dropping his pants and telling her to "kiss it".
Then again, the "one indiscretion" cited by Schultz might have been Kathleen Willey's claim that then-president Clinton groped her against her will, on the same day that Willey's husband committed suicide.
These are just the tip of the iceberg. Who knows what remains to be learned after the Clintons are gone and their accusers no longer fear retribution.
Allow me to refresh Schultz's memory. Clinton wasn't impeached for an "indiscretion". He was impeached because he perjured himself about his relations with Lewinsky before a federal grand jury investigating the scandal. Under federal law, perjury is a felony, and one is not exempt from its consequences if serving as president when the crime is committed.
Yet when it came time to testify before the grand jury, this consummate legal eagle did not invoke the Fifth Amendment, as was his right. Instead, a man who has long believed he can talk his way out of anything decided to perjure himself instead.
Moreover, Clinton was not impeached solely on the charge of perjury. He was also impeached for obstruction of justice in his efforts to compel others to lie for him and hide evidence in the case. Had it not been for a party line vote in the Senate, Clinton would have become the only president removed from office after impeachment and conviction.
Bad enough that Clinton's pathological dishonesty combined with his fratboy skirt-chasing finally caught up with him. Arguably the greater crime was what Clinton let occur while he was so easily distracted -- the rise of a determined new enemy named al Qaeda, and the cataclysm that its focused adherents would wreak soon after Clinton left office.
Schultz blasts Romney for revisiting the Lewinsky scandal from "yesteryear, yester-decade, yester-century." Yet it was hardly ancient history but fair game for Schultz and other media liberals during the 2012 campaign to go after Romney's business practices at Bain -- during the same period that Clinton was immersed in the Lewinsky scandal.
Regardless of what Romney says, he can't get a fair shake from Schultz. When Romney said on "Meet the Press" that Hillary Clinton would be judged on her own record, regardless of what her husband did while president, Schultz becomes indignant, "as if Bill Clinton as done nothing in his life." In other words, Schultz wants the Clintons joined at the hip -- co-presidents in the 1990s, and future co-presidents -- and then conveniently separated when anyone points out awkward facts about Bill Clinton.
