Whatever the mighty Clinton spin machine is saying about the front-page catfight between Hillary, Barack Obama, and David Geffen, the fact is, the Geffen-Obama forces put a big hurt on the presidential aspirations of the former First Lady.
This brouhaha blossomed when Geffen, the left-wing media mogul, told New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd that “Everybody in politics lies, but [the Clintons] do it with such ease, it’s troubling.” He said a lot more that was derogatory specifically to Hillary Clinton, but that’s the key statement since Geffen is obviously referring to both Clintons. After all, it was Hillary who enabled Bill’s lies time and again. Now, America is being told — and by a former Clinton benefactor no less — that there’s more where that came from.
Geffen’s shot across the bow, with its huge media echo chamber, reminds folks what it was like when the Clintons were in the White House. Geffen has single-handedly pried the lid off the rusty old can of Clinton lies, reminding voters of what will happen if this truth-challenged couple ever returns to the Oval Office.
Does the American electorate want to go through this all over again? Have we forgotten the lies?
Go Google the simple phrase “Bill Clinton lies.” When I do so, this is what I quickly turn up (and from various sources):
– Clinton lied under oath to a Federal Grand Jury. (That’s perjury, of course, and perjury remains a felony.)
– Clinton continues to lie about his 12-year affair with Gennifer Flowers.
– Clinton still denies he sexually harassed Paula Jones. (Even though he paid her $850,000 in hush money.)
– Clinton persists in dismissing the Whitewater scandal as a “land deal where I lost money.” (Despite the fact that a dozen of his close associates landed in jail over the matter.)
– Clinton illegally obtained FBI files on his political opponents, and lied about that, too.
– On the golf course, Clinton has an incredibly difficult time playing his ball where it lies. According to close observers (Tiger Woods among them), Clinton exhibits questionable math when he tallies his scorecard.
– And according to Washington Post reporter John Harris, Clinton was so upset about his inability to lose weight in 2000, that following his annual physical he instructed aides to release a bogus number that made him five pounds lighter.
David Geffen also has turned our attentions back to the days of the Lincoln bedroom scandal, when White House sleepovers were regularly offered in exchange for large political contributions. I could be wrong, but I don’t recall a single instance of this happening while George W. Bush has been in office. Same for Bush Sr. and Ronald Reagan. For that matter, I don’t recall any Lincoln-bedroom sales during the presidencies of Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, or Richard Nixon.
Just the Bill Clinton presidency.
It is highly ironic that the very liberal Mr. Geffen has put all this front and center. It seems that Geffen is still jilted by the fact that President Clinton failed to pardon Leonard Peltier, an American Indian activist who was convicted and sent to jail for killing two FBI agents. I’m speculating here, but the “ultimate” lie may have been that Clinton promised Geffen a pardon for Peltier, reneged on the deal, and instead pardoned Marc Rich, the currency manipulator and money launderer who is the husband of Clinton pal Denise Rich, who is also a suspected Clinton paramour. The trigger for Geffen’s Hillary insurrection, and the bile-filled remarks he served to Maureen Dowd, may have been lingering resentment.
Everyone’s attempting to call this fight. Geffen, of course, is now solidly in the Obama camp, and he’s bringing his rich Hollywood pals with him. As for Obama, his alleged sin is that he won’t reprimand Geffen, as the Hillary camp demands. As a conservative with no skin in this Democratic game, I’d have to say the Geffen episode has bloodied Hillary’s nose much more than Obama’s.
Why?
Because David Geffen, unwittingly or not, reminded voters of the moral impoverishment and constant chicanery of the old Clinton White House.
Do voters really want to watch this low-grade C movie once more?
I’ve always believed that the Clinton White House past would be Hillary’s biggest problem in the future. Now, suddenly, it’s been put into the campaign in startling Hollywood Technicolor.