Gracious to a fault...

[babylonsister]

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_09/014874.php


GRACIOUS TO A FAULT.... It did seem a little jarring to see John McCain deliver such a high-profile speech at the Clinton Global Initiative this morning. One might think the former president would be more cognizant of the larger political dynamic.

But as Matt Yglesias noted, Bill Clinton seems to be driven by other considerations.

It sure was nice of Bill Clinton to put important national concerns above petty partisanship by agreeing to host a John McCain campaign speech and help the GOP nominee burnish his bipartisan credentials. You might think a former President would be so committed to an axe-grinding agenda that he couldn't see the big picture. But not Bill -- he puts country first, not some personal agenda.

Oh what's that you say? His wife ran for the Democratic nomination and lost? Think that might be relevant?

I'd just add that McCain voted -- twice -- to remove Clinton from office during the impeachment fiasco; McCain has publicly mocked Clinton's daughter for cheap laughs; and McCain repeatedly trashed Clinton's wife when he thought she would be the Democratic nominee.

But never mind all of that. This morning, McCain wanted to score a few points, grab a few headlines, and bolster his bipartisan bona fides, and Bill Clinton was anxious to give the Republican nominee a hand.

The former president is gracious to a fault, isn't he?

Steve Benen~

Yes, I know, we're all reading too much into this. :eyes:

[gateley]

1. It's really unfortunate that this happened.

Was Obama invited to speak as well? (I haven't paid much attention to it.) Thanks.

[soulcore]

2. McCain opened the event...

Obama closed it via satellite.

[soulcore]

3. dupe.

[babylonsister]

4. Yes, he spoke after McCain. nt

[BrainStorm]

5. This was planned way in advance and from what I gather was not a campaign thing

I'm not saying you're not right about Bill. I'm just saying I read about this event over a week ago. Obama was there via satellite.

[spanone]

8. it WAS a campaign speech from mcliar

[babylonsister]

7. Here's text of Obama's speech:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x7180768

[JimWis]

6. I saw the whole thing this morning. Clinton gave a great

introduction for Obama. Referred to Obama's ability to lead this country, don't recall the exact words. Obama gave a great talk, but they were having some audio difficulties with the satellite feed. When Clinton first introduced McCain, I was thinking, what the hell? But then afterwords I realized he said very little about McCain, and much more great things about Obama. In addition - the crowd applause for Obama was much greater than for McCain, as it usually is.

[Maccagirl]

9. Bill always treats his foes better than his allies

Maybe that's why people have a "loyalty" issue with him.