Bill Clinton appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman tonight to promote the paperback version of his book, My Life.
He looked so thin and old, like he had aged twenty years.
For the entire first segment, Bill and Dave swapped heart bypass stories--not exactly entertaining.
After the break, discussion turned to George H.W. Bush.
Clinton was very gracious, saying that he likes him a lot and that he always has. He told a story about when three-year-old Chelsea met Bush when he was vice president and Clinton was the governor of Arkansas. Clinton introduced little Chelsea and told her she was at Bush's house. When she shook hands with Vice President Bush, the first words she spoke to him were to ask where the bathroom was.
Clinton said about Bush 41, "He’s a very classy man and a good man."
After his trip to Latin America, he will be staying with the Bushes at Kennebunkport. I wonder if Hillary plans to go. That could be awkard, considering her recent over the top, maniacal rants against President Bush.
Clinton then told of how Barbara Bush has taken to calling him "son." He said that shows the lengths the Bushes will go to get another president in the family. Clinton then added, "I wish they’d adopt Hillary." I don't know where or when, but I've heard that line before, possibly on Larry King's interview with George and Barbara Bush.
Then, the discussion turned to the tsunami disaster and stayed there until the commercial break.
Upon returning from commercial, Letterman threw out a few topics. First, he brought up North Korea. Clinton said that "we" stopped North Korea's nuclear program in '94 and their missile program in '98. Then, relations broke off. In other words, the Clinton administration had North Korea under control.
Uh, I don't think so.
Clinton said that we need to have talks, commenting that North Korea is dangerous because they could sell their technology. He said they can't grow food, but they can grow bombs.
Clinton said he "sympathizes with the President because it happened after 9/11." He was saying Bush was in a difficult position, but he accepted no responsibility for completely screwing up on North Korea when he was in the oval office.
Next, Letterman brought up the Downing Street Memo. Clinton said, “What was that?” It was hard to tell whether he was acting like he didn't know what it was or he didn't catch what Letterman said. Eventually, Clinton said, "I heard about it. I haven’t read it. I can’t comment."
But--
Clinton said "we know" that Bush wanted to get rid of Saddam Hussein and that Cheney was plotting it. He said the problem was that the thing was sold as a search for WMD. Clinton believes it was a mistake that "we didn’t let the UN finish."
However, now that we're there, he said Americans shouldn’t give up on it and he spoke out against setting a date for troop withdrawal.
Referring to Iraq, Clinton said, "It’s not Vietnam, but it’s not Bosnia."
Interestingly, Letterman didn't ask Clinton about the Gitmo controversy. I suspect that was agreed upon in the pre-interview.
Overall, it was a very serious interview with few light moments. While Clinton managed to twist the truth on occasion and get off a few shots at the Bush administration, he was supportive of the President.
I haven't a heard a Democrat speak for that long without spewing some sort of insane anti-Bush vitriol. Clinton didn't draw any parallels between Bush and Hitler or Pol Pot. He didn't charge Bush with abusing his power like Hillary has. In that sense, the interview was refreshing--boring but refreshing.
His party would be wise to follow his lead.
