Dan Rather, you failed us all again tonight for 60 minutes..

[TruthIsAll]

You dwelled 70% of the time on sex,sex,sex when you had a chance to get Bill Clinton to talk about the ongoing horrors of the Bush presidency.

You kept bringing up the same old crap. It was 1998 all over again.

Why didn't you talk about the despair. The lies. The deaths. The maimed. The debt. The lost jobs. The outsourcing. The part-time manufacturing jobs at Burger King. The price of gas. Peak Oil. Bankruptcies. The hatred the whole world feels for BushCo.

You could have talked about the death of diplomacy. The unending BushCo lies to justify a war for oil. And how the media is propping up Bush now just like they helped Ken Starr in trying to bring Clinton down.

You lied to us back in 1963 about the Kennedy assassination. You lied about what you saw in the Zapruder film. For forty years you have been doing your master's work. By hiding the truth.

And you did it again tonight. Avoided the real issues. Focused on the morality. On the sex. On the pain the Clinton family had to endure. But nothing about the pain the nation and the world has had to endure every day for the last three and a half years.

You could learn something from Andy Rooney and the regulars on Sixty Minutes. Show some spine. You won't be necklaced for it.

[THUNDER HANDS]

1. yeah right

I'm sure his 1.5 million advanced sales were for his thoughts on his health care plan.

:eyes:

Clinton knows the whole Lewinski thing was horrible for his presidency - but the attack on him also made him more popular than ever.

Now he's milking it with his book.

I'm sure he's smiling all the way to the bank.

[lancdem]

3. And he's reminding the American people

about why they were against impeachment in the first place. I thought the interview was really good, frankly.

[JoeRunion]

2. Rather was talking about the things Clinton addressed in his book

And let me say this. Rather is a regular at Democratic fundraisers. There is no doubt he is a Clinton booster. Please save your criticism for those who deserve it like Brit Hume, et. al at Fox

[supernova]

4. Welcome to DU, JoeReunion

:hi: Hope you enjoy it here.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

5. BINGO!!!! Rather is very good!!!

This was an excellent interview!!!

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

7. Welcome to DU and spot on

Although I love TIA...I just think you got this one a bit wrong

[hlthe2b]

13. Rather's a "good guy.." I think it inevitable that these first interviews

touch so heavily on the one salacious event in the Clinton Presidency.... Sad, but true.

But, I'm convinced the good news is that once this round of garbage interviews is over, the whole incident will move to the "old news" category at last. Only then can we hope for the beginnings of a move to put his Presidency in true perspective.



Those who are about to interject, "but, but, but..." :

What I mean is that this inevitably HAD to happen--the interviews focusing on the big salacious incident. But, now that it has happened, there is no mystique left. Discussions will have to focus on more....both good and bad-- but not exclusively Monica..

[jakefrep]

17. Glad you could join us!

:toast:

[newyawker99]

19. Hi JoeRunion!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Cocoa]

21. I doubt it

I'd be surprised if Clinton's book is more than 5% about Monicagate, compared to at least 60% of Rather's interview.

The man was president of the U.S. for eight freaking years, you'd think he had more interesting things to be asked about than an affair.

[supernova]

6. Why did Rather fail?

The interview was about the book, not current events. You misunderstood the purpose of the interview.

[MallRat]

8. Ex-Presidents don't go medieval all over current ones.

The tangential reference to "more time for UN inspections" is about as harsh a criticism you could expect to hear from the Big Dog.

There is an understood tradition that ex-Presidents do not publicly criticize a sitting President. Except for that statement tonight, and the Bush-didn't-seem-interested-in-OBL story in his book, I don't think there's going to be much more from Clinton.

Now Ken Starr, on the other hand... he's fair game. :-)

[ShaneGR]

9. I thought it was a good interview... and I didn't think he dwelled on sex

Certainly he asked, but it's a big part of Clinton's book. Overall, I thought it was a "fair and balanced" interview. I really liked the part where he showed Clinton the video of his mother.

[supernova]

11. That was so touching

:cry:

All of us who have lost our mothers can relate.

[Ironpost]

10. I agree 100 percent

first two replies makes me wonder if we're being freeped

[ShaneGR]

12. Actually

I find it interesting that some people think there needs to be 100% uber lefty outrage at every single thing in the world. It's no different than the freepers demanding 100% uber righty outrage at everything.

Different sides of the same coin I think.

[DEMVET-USMC]

14. Very well stated, if I am not mistaken this is the same man who said" give

me my marching orders Mr. President" after Bush`s first State of the Union speech following 9-11. What can you say ? ...Oscar

[RobinA]

15. What Did You Expect?

I watched it figuring it would be all about Monica, but hoping for some insightful tidbits from a smart, articulate guy. Yeah, it wasn't very enlightening to those of us who wanted some politics from Clinton's administration. No way was it going to be a Bush bash.

I just hope the book has more substance and less Monica/impeachment.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

16. Bush looks so small and angry compared to that man.

n/t

[Kahuna]

18. Inspite of the media whore questions, Bill came out smelling like a rose.

That's all that matters.

[Cheswick2.0]

20. I get sick of hearing about it all too TIA

who cares right? I know everything and more than I ever wanted to about Clinton's sex life.

[mvd]

22. I don't think Clinton would have gone on there if..

he didn't want to answer these questions. I heard that Rather was embarrassed that he had to ask them.

Clinton was great IMO - I'm a liberal and I still really miss him. He's like a friend. So glad that Clinton pointed out the Republican witch hunt and how he came out of everything as the winner. Most everyone else would have been done-for well before the impeachment. Rather never challenged this.

[spanone]

23. Dan is a good ol' Texas boy, you do the math.

[Tsiyu]

24. Ditto (haha)

I was rather disgusted with the whole line of questioning. Who doesn't know that telling your spouse about an affair isn't a pretty scene?

Who wants to know how Clinton would fix the current mess?ME ME ME

Rather, like the rest of American Media, is obsessed with Bill's wee-wee. WOnder if he had a hard-on the whole time?

[robbedvoter]

25. Rather takes good interviews, then editorializes them (whorification)

I saw that with Clark's - which they had on line. What he aired was so chopped up, it barely made sense and he ended with a short editorial: "yeah, he may have had compassion for the Albanians, but what about the poor Iraqis?"
At least with Clinton he ended on a high note - but I gnashed my teeth throught the whole thing.