Larry and Bill shoot the breeze...

Bill Clinton appeared on the Larry King program last night, and had many interesting comments to make. Here are some of my thoughts after listening to the former President speak.

KING: New book out. I haven't read it yet. It's partly critical, but they ran -- one of the articles was that you want to be secretary-general of the U.N. True?

CLINTON: No. I like the U.N., you know. And I found it interesting working with it. And I tried to make it more efficient and accountable when I was president, in working with the people there. I really am honored to be doing this job for the secretary- general on the tsunami. I'm flattered that some people think I should be.

• Why weren't any of the "critical" issues posed to the former President so he could refute them?

KING: ... What do you make of the Mark Felt story? Is he an American hero?

CLINTON: I think he did a good thing. And I think it's -- it was an unusual circumstance. I think Felt believed that there was the chance that this whole thing would be covered up. Ordinarily, I think a law enforcement official shouldn't be leaking to the press because you should let criminal action take its course.

When he did that, he obviously believed there was a chance that the thing would be covered up. And there was some evidence -- we now know that there was also a problem with trying to use the FBI, and the IRS, and other agencies of the federal government for political purposes back then.

• Of course, there was no sinister use of either the FBI or the IRS during the 90's. In fact, I am relieved to find out that only Republican Presidents abuse the power of their office, while the good Democrats truly respect the office of the President and the associated responsibility that comes along with it.

[responding to a question about Hillary's future]

CLINTON: Yes, and she's good at it, you know? And she's got more patience for it than I think I might have had. I mean, she's really good at it.

• She's really good at what? Winning elections? The art of government? The science of appealing to enough people to get elected while not telling any of them what you really believe?
  
  "The government consists of a gang of men exactly like you and me. They have, taking one with another, no special talent for the business of government; they have only a talent for getting and holding office. Their principal device to that end is to search out groups who pant and pine for something they can't get and to promise to give it to them. Nine times out of ten that promise is worth nothing. The tenth time is made good by looting A to satisfy B. In other words, government is a broker in pillage, and every election is sort of an advance auction sale of stolen goods."[H. L. Mencken]
  

KING: She was a Goldwater Republican.

CLINTON: Yes, but -- she was a Goldwater Republican. And Hillary used to joke with me that Goldwater carried her hometown 3 to 1 and the others thought he was too liberal where she grew up. But you know, and we liked Barry Goldwater a lot.

• A clear attempt to paint Hillary as a moderate Democrat who actually believes in traditional conservative principles, an illusion which I believe is a total fabrication.

CLINTON: ... I mean, you know, this idea that somebody we disagree with on economic or social policy or something we have to turn into some kind of ogre or demon, I think, is a mistake.

• You mean like what your party is doing to Tom DeLay? Or the judicial nominees being sent up by President Bush? Or UN Ambassador nominee John Bolton? Or the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth? Or Trent Lott? Or Rush Limbaugh?

CLINTON: ... Most of the people I've known in politics, by the way, in this country and in other countries, before I became president and when I was in the White House, most of them have been good people. They'd been smart, hard-working, well-motivated, and they pretty well did what they believed was right.

So this image that most politicians are dumb, or lazy, or self- centered, or without conviction is simply not true. Whether they're conservative or liberal, Republican or Democrat, American or foreign, there was the occasional dumb person, the occasional lazy person, and the occasional crook, but they were very rare.

[but then later on...]

CLINTON: ... Working people have to eat more fast food restaurants and they eat out more.

• But, sir, I thought the vast majority of politicians were hard-working people. Are you telling me that the UN bureaucrats spend their lunch meetings in Manhattan at McDonald's?

CLINTON: [responding to a question about the Bush plan regarding the private accounts for a partial replacement to our current Social Security system] ... And we can make it solvent for not very much money.

• Not much money? I'm sorry sir, but most of us "working" folks happen to think that monetary discussions about spending billions of dollars does not fall into the category of "not much money".
  

KING: You supported the president when he went into Iraq. Do you still support him?

• What follows from Clinton is what I believe will be the strategy employed by all Democrats in the next election cycle or two. That is, divert any question about the future of Iraq to a rehashing of the original decision to invade Iraq, then summarize by saying something to the effect of "but we're there now so we have to see this thing through". Of course, Larry King, Katie Couric and the NY Times will never press a Democrat to specifically outline future plans for the next phase of the war in Iraq. [But, that is not media bias. Remember, the media is controlled by the far right.]