Bill on the Warpath for Hill

ABC Transcript




NBC Transcript

I only caught a little of Bill Clinton as he made the rounds of the Sunday morning shows.

The little I did see was too much. I completely missed Meet the Press, always a good way to start the day.

Here is the only portion that I saw on ABC's This Week:

STEPHANOPOULOS: Let's talk about John Roberts. You had two picks to the Supreme Court, Justice Breyer and Justice Ginsburg. Republicans voted for them overwhelmingly in both cases. John Roberts is unquestionably qualified; no ethical problems at all. Why shouldn't Democrats vote for John Roberts in the same proportions Republicans voted for Justice Breyer and Justice Ginsburg?

CLINTON: Well, I think, in fairness, that there is a little bit of difference.

STEPHANOPOULOS: How so?

CLINTON: Because the Republicans knew I wouldn't appoint somebody they wanted on the Court, and they knew that I'd appointed judges that were not extreme left-wingers, that were more or less mainstream judges and were unquestionably qualified.

Now, Judge Roberts is unquestionably qualified by intellect and character and background and by experience, but the next two appointments to the Supreme Court, his and the replacement for Justice O'Connor, can change the balance on a lot of important things. So I think that's —

STEPHANOPOULOS: But he's a one-for-one replacement for Rehnquist, isn't he?

CLINTON: I think that they have to think that. Well, maybe; we have to see— I think a lot of them would like to know who the other nominee is.

The other thing is there was no issue with my appointees of their refusal to release documents, which I think is still a little bit of an issue in the Roberts case, although I don't know that it would make any difference if he released the documents, since he now says the first documents where he expressed his opinion didn't really reflect his opinion.

But I suspect he probably will be confirmed, but I think for a lot of Democrats, particularly— And keep in mind, I think the whole idea of the Roe v. Wade issue is a big issue, because Justice Thomas said he'd never even discussed it with anybody, and then, like the minute he got on the Court, he made it clear that he wanted to repeal it.

So I think that the Democrats and some of the Republicans, like Senator Specter, can be forgiven for being somewhat skeptical. I think he'll probably be confirmed. I don't know. Hillary would know better than me, but I think that—

STEPHANOPOULOS: Think she'll vote for him?

CLINTON: —there's a sense that— I don't know. I have no idea what she's going to do. I haven't talked to her about it.

But I think there's a sense that there's a lot more at stake here than just any Supreme Court appointment. But I agree that he is qualified by intellect, character, and experience, and he's obviously a very bright man. The only question is whether the Senate has an extra burden here because it's likely to have a significant impact on the balance of Court decisions, depending on who the next nominee is.

I think if President Bush nominated a clear moderate before the vote happened in the Roberts case, he would sail through.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Interesting advice.

Unbelievable. Truly.

GINSBURG A MODERATE???

When I heard Bill say that, I had to laugh.

What a liar! Slick Willy hasn't lost his touch.

Edward Whelan provides links to documents that spell out exactly how moderate Ginsburg is.

Some illustrations of her moderate views:

“Prostitution, as a consensual act between adults, is arguably within the zone of privacy protected by recent constitutional decisions.”

A statutory restriction on political rights of bigamists “is of questionable constitutionality since it appears to encroach impermissibly upon private relationships.”

“Sex-segregated adult or juvenile institutions are obviously separate and in a variety of ways, unequal. . . . If the grand design of such institutions is to prepare inmates for return to the community as persons equipped to benefit from and contribute to civil society, then perpetuation of single-sex institutions should be rejected.”

“The Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts, while ostensibly providing ‘separate but equal’ benefits to both sexes, perpetuate stereotyped sex roles to the extent that they carry out congressionally-mandated purposes.”

“Replacing ‘Mother’s Day’ and ‘Father’s Day’ with a ‘Parents’ Day’ should be considered, as an observance more consistent with a policy of minimizing traditional sex-based differences in parental roles.”

Other nuggets abound. For example, Ginsburg recommended that the age of consent for purposes of statutory rape be lowered from 16 to 12.

Let's go back to Clinton.

He said that Republicans voted for his nominees because they "knew that I'd appointed judges that were not extreme left-wingers, that were more or less mainstream judges and were unquestionably qualified."

WHAT???

Does Bill really believe that Ginsburg is not extreme?

She's not even close to the center. The woman is about as far out of the mainstream as one can get.

Stephanopoulos didn't even challenge Old Bill's completely inaccurate characterization of Ginsburg's views.

Gee, do you think that maybe Steph is such a Leftist himself that he really thinks Ginsburg is mainstream?

It's possible that in advance of the interview, Steph had agreed to swallow whatever Clinton offered.

Could be.

When Steph asked Bill if Hill is going to vote for Roberts, I did think his response to that question may have had a grain of truth.

Bill said, "I have no idea what she's going to do. I haven't talked to her about it."

Yes, I can believe he and Hillary don't speak. However, when it comes to political matters, I think they do communicate, if not directly with each other then via messages from aides, assistants, or maybe interns.

From what I've read of the transcripts, Bill blasted the Bush adminstration on several counts. He strongly criticized him on the Iraq war and on FEMA and on the federal government's response to Katrina.

I wonder if Bill has completed his fund-raising duties for the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund.

Bill slammed the President with such ferocity that I would think it would be a bit awkward for the two ex-presidents to be within shouting distance of each other. Their scheduled joint appearances and the taping of commercial spots must be over. I can't imagine Bill looking Bush 41 in the face after these tirades.

In the interviews, Bill didn't needle President Bush; he took a machete to him.

This is typical of the classless Bill Clinton. Ignoring the tradition followed by former U.S. presidents to refrain from publicly criticizing their successors, Bill hacks away without remorse.

I expected Bill to eventually be critical of the Bush adminstration and Republicans as part of his efforts to shore up Hillary's future run for the White House.

However, I didn't think he would start campaigning for her so soon and so viciously.

Bill Clinton's attacks are particularly tasteless given his agreement to work to raise funds for hurricane relief with former President Bush.

Bubba has no shame, but we already knew that.