Posted on 06/21/2004 7:14:24 AM PDT by WrightOnTarget
The media frenzy is reaching a fever pitch this week now that Bill Clinton's memoir, "My Life," has become the former president's most heavily reported release outside of the Oval Office.
Media outlets are saturating the airwaves and newspapers with all things Clinton, but nobody's drinks have been spiked with more Spanish Fly than those at CBS. Their coverage is so intense and giddy that this is going to become one of those "you remember where you were when ..." type of events, with the answer for many of us being "vomiting."
CBS is at the forefront, and behaving less like reporters and more like visibly aroused commissioned salespeople who somehow believe that journalistic salvation can be attained by remaining tightly clamped around Clinton's leg.
The ball got rolling with Bill's hour-long love-in with Dan Rather on "60 Minutes."
Given Rather's obviously deep affection for Clinton – and Bill's incessant love of suck-ups and media groupies – it was a bit shocking the interview wasn't held in Massachusetts ... just in case the mood was right, the moon full and the chapel open. Going in, this had all the markings of an interview that would open with the question, "Your place, or mine?"
In typical fashion, Clinton told the smitten Rather that he wore his impeachment "like a badge of honor," because the effort was illegitimate. This is an interesting viewpoint. If you're jacked with a crowbar and your wallet is stolen, do you wear the lump on your head and your loss of cash "like a badge of honor" because the thief was in the wrong?
Clinton still may feel a little guilt, since he once had an opportunity to earn an actual badge of honor, but instead, he was over at Oxford, pucker-deep in a doobie. Now, it looks like he'll take 'em any place he can get 'em.
Dan Rather, of course, gave the book "five stars" after allegedly managing to slog his way through the 900-plus page monster – a chore the equivalent of push-mowing Ohio, and requiring Enrico Fermi's atom splitter to unparse words and separate fact from fiction. How do I know this, not having read the book? The same way I know to look down before I step into a cow pasture.
Watching and listening to Clinton being interviewed by an adoring media has a peculiar fascination for me as a viewer. There's always a large facade of intellectualism constructed over a backdrop of highly distracting sexcapades – It's like trying to watch Bill Buckley's "Firing Line" while being waited on at Hooters on "trampoline night."
The media have to pretend to want to know what it was like to meet with Yassir Arafat and Vladimir Putin, while working their way toward the real goodies. They know that idle policy-and-issues chatter with Clinton is just a stretch of the long and boring highway on which they need to drive in order to reach their Disney World – the sex stuff. And when it comes to sex stuff, Clinton is left of Epcot Center.
Clinton told Rather that he did what he did with Monica Lewinsky, "for the most selfish of reasons ... because I could." Well, that and he wanted some pizza, too. He went on to attempt to rebuild that facade of intellectualism by saying that there were "more complicated psychological reasons" for what he'd done. Yes, the psychological complexity of what Karl Jaspers would have termed as "zee chronic droppink of zee pants" is tough for the layman to grasp.
In the CBS special episode of "Diagnosis: Horny," Clinton also spoke about attending marital counseling with Hillary after the affair became public.
The counseling may have worked, because, as it was originally pointed out on BrokenNewz.com, the Clintons may have slept together for the first time in a couple of decades – unfortunately, it was at Ronald Reagan's funeral. Oh well ... "baby steps."
In addition to the "Bubba-thon" on television, CBS is putting together an hour-long free commercial ... I mean ... radio interview with Clinton where his book will be discussed and supportive calls will be taken. Sure, some mildly confrontational callers will probably make it through, but there will be no tough and relevant questions allowed. In other words, the call screener is going to be working harder than Courtney Love's pool filter.
CBS will soon be reminded to stop talking to Clinton, and start covering the Democratic convention – and they will. They'll be there, post cold shower, as their cameras finally turn away from Bill Clinton to focus on the stage, where the Democrats' candidate will accept the nomination. The crowd will then rise to its feet and collectively exclaim, "John who?"
NO WAY. Is this for real???
It is so obvious what this Clinton book tour is all about...for the media. Watching Bill Press on NBC (I think) was a joke, as he reminded us of the so-called peace and prosperity that has long been removed. He actually had the nerve to refer to the peace in the Mid-East while Clinton was president. I guess he missed the first Intafada as Arafat went on to reject all the concessions that Clinton and Barak worked for.
I guess in the liberal mind, peace really is just the absence of war...especially when you refuse (or ignore) to engage with an enemy that has attacked you for years. Maybe Bill also missed Haiti, Somalia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Sudan...and even Clinton's four separate strikes at Saddam and Iraq. Wow...that was sure alot of peace.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.