Deborah White on the Clinton-Wallace "dust-up"

Here is Deborah White's take on Bill Clinton's Fox appearance.

I've been repeatedly asked my opinion of Bill Clinton's angry tirade on FOX Newstwo days ago when asked by interviewer Chris Wallace about charges that Mr. Clinton was inattentive during his administration to the threat posed by Osama bin Laden...

So here's my response, in a nutshell:

First, I don't feel one-bit sorry for Bill Clinton. He's bright, witty and articulate, and should be able to handle himself during any interview. Partisanship and rough questions are the name of the political game these days. Has he watched any of the tough stuff lobbed lately to President Bush during news conferences?

Second, what's wrong with a little anger? It becomes President Clinton to work up a bit of ire if it causes him to blurt the hard truth, rather than continue his bipartisan lovefest with the Bush family during this urgent election season.

Word has it Bill Clinton yachts with Bush-41, and takes private lunches with Bush-43. He even hand-picked Laura Bush as keynote speaker last week for his Clinton Global Initiative Conference, which raised $7.3 billion for global projects.

With all due respect, Mr. Clinton, what did you expect? These people are not your political friends. They aim to rewrite history to blame it all on you. Of course! And by tarnishing your record, they aim to denigrate all Democrats.

Have you not been watching how they use and then routinely trash people who used to be their political allies? And you, sir, were never an ally...

Third, Democrats, let's be honest: Bill Clinton WAS somewhat distracted by Monica (and others, I assume) and his marital woes, and then was incredibly distracted by the Republican's mean-spirited impeachment trial for his affair with Monica.

But as Clinton rightfully shouted on Sunday, he DID search for Osama bin Laden. He tried and failed, but at least he tried.

For eight months of his presidency, George Bush and cronies didn't do a damn thing about Osama bin Laden, apparently because they were too distracted by their own apoplexy over Saddam Hussein.

George Bush, Donald Rumsfeld and Condi Rice did absolutely nothing, even when faced with an August 6, 2001 classified report entitled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US."

In summary, what does this mean? Nothing. The Bill Clinton-Chris Wallace dustup means nothing and solves nothing. It's just media obsession over another meaningless case of fake outrage

I'm hoping, though, that this nasty little contretemps wakes Bill Clinton up to the reality of the Bushies.

And I fervently pray that he once again becomes a passionate Democrat 100% in the corner of other Democrats, and stops spending valuable pre-election time hobnobbing with the Bushies. I mean... what's that all about, anyway?

I found it interesting to take a closer look at the transcript. Bill Clinton is very fast on his feet. Not a bad quality for someone in high office. Maybe some day we'll get another one with the same quality in his skill-set.