Gergen says Big Dawg's smackdown was all "context" and to set example.

[jefferson_dem]

Just now on the cesspool of a show - Faux and Fiends.

In responding to the question about Clinton's "angry reaction to the interview", David Gergen says that it was all "CONTEXT." Clinton had just finished the biggest week of his post-presidency and he felt sandbagged...felt, as many would that he had been set up by the right wing propaganda machine.

Gergen also thinks that the Big Dawg was "spoiling for a fight" in order to set an example for how other Dems can fight back aggressively on the terrorism issue in particular.

...and that's when Faux & Fiends cuts him off and ends the segment.

[babylonsister]

1. Boy, Faux is milking this for all it's worth, aren't they. The dumb

bunnies haven't figured out the interview makes them look stoopid?

[npincus]

27. LOL

well, they pulled the video from YouthTUbe, so some genius there had an epiphany of sorts.

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. Yep. We were just waiting for a howl from the Alpha Male.

I, personally, have been chomping at the bit since '98.

[Crankie Avalon]

3. I don't think it changes people's minds much...

...the kind of cracker who is a FOX viewer, hates Clinton, and feels validated by the misinformation on FOX will look at the interview and see what he wants (in other words, whatever gives him the delusion of further validation) while normal, better-adjusted people will see FOX for what it is and wish someone as competent as Bill Clinton had been president during these last 5 or 6 years rather than the useless, corrupt, drunken ape we've been plagued with (in other words, see that much more evidence for what they already were well aware of by this point).

[NewJeffCT]

7. Aren't they already saying it's "Clinton unhinged"

and similar, "Clinton goes crazy" or "nuts" It's their reaction when somebody speaks truth to power.

Whatever the fax from Rove's office said to call him. We'll find out for sure on Rush's show today what their true talking point on this will be...

Remember when Gore started making those forceful speeches a few years back and it was "gore goes crazy" or similar. Very similar to what they're saying about Clinton now.

[Crankie Avalon]

12. Exactly...

...they have to ignore the substance since it goes against this fantasy they've cobbled for themselves since they've tied up this same fragile fantasy with so much of their equally fragile (and I daresay undeserved) self-esteem.

Let's compare Bill Clinton giving Chris Wallace his medicine to what George W. Bush recently tried to do with Matt Lauer. Bush could say absolutely nothing of substance, just sputter "Ah'ma protectin' yer family, Matt!" (being dependent on Bush for your family's well-being--now, THERE'S a frightening thought!!!) in a redfaced fit. He was clearly not informed enough to even make a disingenuous argument for his position. And that was after the most minimal question from a vapid creampuff like Matt Lauer. In comparison, Bill Clinton has been the subject of the libel and slander of the rightwing media machine for a long time, now, and was subjected to these lies even on the day after what has so far been his biggest accomplishment as an ex-president (a moment of accomplishment Bush Jr. will never come close to as an ex-president--Bush Jr. will be even more of a useless ex-president than Reagan was) by a fairly vicious, smirking partisan hack like Chris Wallace. Clinton, angry? Yes, and justifiably. But clearly standing up with substance to an attempt at ambush by a bad faith interviewer. When Clinton poured on the facts, suddenly the coward Wallace wanted to change the subject and avoid his pummeling by abruptly going to what president Clinton had actually shown up to talk about, "Well, let's talk about the Clinton Foundation," but Clinton rightly stuck to the issue at hand so long as Wallace had already so sleazily brought it up. Wallace asked for it, and he sure got it.

[kskiska]

14. They never described Zell Miller as "unhinged"

[NewJeffCT]

16. I used to work with a die-hard RW Republican

And even he admitted that Miller was unhinged, and "downright mean"...

This was a guy that had re-arranged his work day to listen to Bush's guest appearance on the Limbaugh show back in Sept of 2004, and would practically orgasm when talking about Reagan.

[BootinUp]

9. There may be hope for some Faux viewers

at least I prefer to think so. Perhaps lots of Americans have just been caught up in the fear thing, and their fix is the faux channel and other similar fair, like an addiction.

[Iris]

26. but even if not, isn't there some value in standing up to them in front

of the many, many people who are NOT Fox viewers? I think there is.

[zeemike]

4. Gergan got it right

Clinton is no fool when it comes to politics, he knows how to fight back.

[CTyankee]

6. and he picks his fights carefully, that's important

Dawg is smart. Chris Wallace looked like a pipsqueak.

[blm]

20. FIVE YEARS LATER? Maybe Dem PARTY would've been better served if Clinton

had spoken out against the charges made against him BEFORE they set and hardened into conventional wisdom to the average American voter.

Clinton let at least 8 books come out between 9-11 and 2004 where all these charges were made and left unanswered. Burdening every Dem candidate running in 2002 and 2004 with the "Dems are weak on terror" meme.

[whistle]

5. David Gergen ought to know, several years ago he was ambushed

...and confronted by talk show host/reporter Alex Jones about Gergens participation in bazaar rituals at the Bohemian Grove Political Cult Festival. I don't have a link but I think it was either on YouTube or Google Video.

Here is a link to Gergen's bio:

http://www.davidgergen.com/index.php?page=biography

[jefferson_dem]

8. Thanks for that link. I was particularly interested in what Gergen had to

say because he does have credibility. He's not a "partisan gunslinger" for either side -- kind of a voice of steady reason.

[patricia92243]

10. Lots of fence straddlers watch Fox. I think the interview will just serve

to remind them HOW MUCH THEY REALLY MISS AN INTELLIGENT PRESIDENT!

Fox's little stunt is going to back-fire on them big time! If they are smart, they will never let Bill CLinton on their air-waves. All it does is make their hero (Bush) look bad in comparison to a "real" president. And I still say - a LOT of undecided will decide - in Clinton's favor

[CoffeeCat]

11. Damn straight!

Clinton is exactly right, and Gergen got it right too!

Clinton showed the Democrats HOW they need to be acting. Let's stop
being so mealy mouthed. Let's stop tip-toeing around Fascist thugs. Let's
stop kow towing to these bastards and start--at least--sticking up for
ourselves and telling the truth!

Clinton showed that it can be done. It MUST be done.

It's pretty frickin pathetic when the most truth and backbone from the
Dem party, comes from a former office holder.

Where in the hell are the Dem Senators and Congress members?

...and one more thing. IF you have the moxie to stick up for yourselves
and call the Republicans on the carpet for their perversions...don't apologize
the next day. Bad. Very bad.

(sorry. I'm just sick of this. we could smack down these horrible neocons 24/7
if we wanted. There's just that much corruption and evil. but we don't. it's a crime.)

[greenman3610]

13. I just watched the interview...WOW

I kept shouting "WOW!!!!!"

THAT's the way to handle shitheads like
Wallace. I've always been impressed by Clinton's
absolute command of facts combined with his
overwhelming personal force. This clip demonstrates
all the qualities that make him great.
That kind of reasoning and
communicating ability is not common, but
there are a lot of other Dems who have it..
Al Gore is one, at least post 2000.
Wesley Clark is another.
Howard Dean on a good day, and
John Stewart any day.

http://movies.crooksandliars.com/FOX-Wallace-ClintonsInterview.mov

[Strawman]

15. I think he's right

about Clinton wanting to set an example to other Dems of how to counter media bias and there's nothing wrong with that. Clinton didn't have to wait too long for that opportunity, did he? The bullshit and double standards at Faux are non-stop.

Faux is responsible for the context that Clinton is critiquing and then they have the audacity to say that there was noting unusual or uniquely offensive about Wallace's question.....EXACTLY!

[samsingh]

17. good for Gergen (former gop by the way)

[City Lights]

18. Last I heard he was still GOP.

Just not a neo-con or a fundie. :shrug:

[samsingh]

24. probably a more traditional goper

whom i can still respect, but still fault for not speaking out louder against the takeover of the party

[LTR]

30. Gergen is a Republican

And he's worked in Repug and Dem administrations.

He's smart as hell, and calls it as he sees it, without the partisan spin. He's probably one of the few Republicans I trust.

[blm]

19. HORSESHIT - Clinton STAYED SILENT for 4+ years as the myths hardened

in the minds of the average American.

Clinton played Mr. I like Bush and support him for 5 YEARS while other Democrats were challenging him on substantive matters.

Clinton didn't give a flying fuck that every Democrat running for office in 2002 and 2004 was burdened by the charge that "Dems are weak on terror" because Clinton chose to never address the charges against him post 9-11 and throughout the next 5 years.


Clinton exploded because he had it BOTTLED UP inside of him, while other Dems have been butting heads with BushiNc and their corporate media whores WITHOUT HIM.

[Frances]

21. I heard Bill Clinton speak at a rally for Maryland governor

in 2002 and he was awesome. My Dem candidate lost but it surely wasn't Clinton's fault. He did all he could.

[blm]

22. All he could? But no public rebuttal to "Clinton didn't do anything" meme

in any PUBLIC FORUM until this little explosion of his?

Sorry, but, for public consumption, Clinton did little to dispel the "Dems are weak on terror" meme that was allowed to harden post 9-11.

What he did in private gatherings to Dem faithful doesn't amount to much on the public awareness scale.

[Frances]

25. To the best of my recollection,

there was not a lot of criticism of Clinton for 9/11 at that point (2002). My personal opinion is that Bush's approval ratings were so high that Rove didn't want a close examination of causes at that time because Bush would not have come out looking good. Also, what Clinton had actually done was fresh in people's minds.

Clinton is a much better politician than I am. I don't fault him for his timing. In fact, I think all of his good works, especially with the elder Bush, makes his stand now more effective. But that's just me.

[blm]

29. But not effective in a way that would have helped the Dem PARTY. I love

what he did - I think it was appropriate - I would have LOVED to have seen it happen by 2002 after the lies started festering. Hell, after he and Hillary got booed at that Heroes benefit after 9-11.

That NEVER should have happened. That meme never should have hardened as it did.

[Frances]

31. I respectfully disagree with you

I don't think the Repubs started blaming Clinton for 9/11 until Bush's poll numbers began to fall and the memories of what Clinton had actually done started to fade. I think this Blame Clinton for 9/11 is fairly recent.

I saw through Bush from the very beginning, but none of my liberal friends in a blue part of a blue state did. They voted for Gore but they were not majorly anti-Bush. After 9/11 a guy who had worked on a Dem campaign with me told me that he was glad Bush was president. I was astounded, but that sentiment was fairly common among Dems. That's why I spent so many hours on DU after 9/11--this was the only place I felt people understood what was happening. My point is that most die-hard Dems would not have listened to criticism of Bush in the year after 9/11. As one Dem friend put it, "He may not be a good President, but he's the only President we have." I didn't think I had any choice but to bide my time and hope that these people would see the light eventually.

[blm]

33. That may be the way you saw it, but there were polls shortly after 9-11

that were pushing the meme and being used against both Gore and Clinton. The manipulation by the press was horrifying.

There were at least 8 books that came out after 9-11 blaming Clinton and most of them got extensive coverage and the writers brought on as analysts.

Maybe I just pay more attention to that sort of thing because my spouse works in a newsroom, but I saw the lies being pushed as facts HEAVILY throughout the broadcast media between 2001 and 2004.

It took Clinton's heart surgery to soften the public outlook.

[sandnsea]

23. You got it BLM

This is incredible. And it wouldn't even be a story if he hadn't gotten mad. So how does that teach Democrats anything? It doesn't. Within a week or two Clinton will be part of the "angry party" and everything else he said will be forgotten.

[Frances]

34. I hear what you are saying

If, even now, after Clinton's heart surgery and his huge success at raising 7 billion dollars to help people all over the world, the media turns Clinton's factual argument into a Dean Scream, what would have happened if he had made the same argument earlier?

One other point--my husband had the same heart surgery Clinton did. That conditions that cause you to need the surgery and the surgery itself and the recovery period after the surgery do take a lot of emotional and physical energy.

I guess I would say that I am just happy that Clinton did as well as he did in the interview.

[sandnsea]

35. I am very glad he said something

It's about time. I wish he'd said it sooner. But I don't see how adding to the "Dems are weak" line helps anything, certainly doesn't teach the party anything. In fact, it's the problem the party has had, not being able to stand up for what Clinton did in the 90's because he wouldn't stand up for himself.

Oh, and btw, my mother had a heart transplant. It didn't take her two years to regain her emotional and physical energy.

[Frances]

37. I'm glad that your mother recovered so quickly.

It was much harder for my husband. He had bypass surgery when it was still relatively new and then had it again 12 years later. His cardiologist warned us that depression is very common in his circumstances and he was right.

[susanna]

28. Gergen actually is one of those rare people...

...I can stomach as a commentator. He is usually (usually!) quite fair and objective in his assessments. I tend to appreciate his abilities in that regard. Which is probably why Faux cut him off, now that I think about it.

[grasswire]

32. he's still a Yalie with a Yalie daughter....

....and a classmate of W. I'll never fully trust him.

[malaise]

36. Here's the bottom line

If Fox thought they could sandbag Bill Clinton, they were totally outfoxed and fugged up. Let them try that $hit again if they dare.