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03/11/2002 "The '90s will be remembered more for the ferocity of their prosecutions than for the severity of their crimes. I think we all went a little bit berserk during that time. I think that there really was a conspiracy against Bill Clinton on the right. And I think that, you know, he did some terrible things. But there is such a thing as balance and you know, I was accused in the Washington Post of trying to defend Bill Clinton and James Carville said to me, 'all you have to do is say one sentence in favor of Bill Clinton and you're an apologist.' It shouldn't be like that. It shouldn't be like that. We should be able to acknowledge the fact that he made life a lot better for a lot of people in this country." So to Mr. Klein, balance means that the president gets a free pass to do some terrible things? Or maybe it's the things he did right that should allow him the free pass? The fact is if Bill Clinton hadn't done so many terrible things, there would have been no need to conspire against him. The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy would have suffered through the presidency of a Democrat without becoming nearly so vocal and organized. Russert asked Klein a "what if" question: Would Bill Clinton have reacted as "vigorously and effectively" to the September 11th attacks as have President Bush and his cabinet? Here is Klein's theory: "One of the reasons why it would have been much more difficult for him is that the Democrats last fall gave Bush weeks and weeks to prepare his plan and to execute it. Bill Clinton would have never gotten that space from the Republicans. The next day, two days later they would have been screaming, 'Mr. President, why aren't we attacking in Afghanistan? Why aren't we gong after Osama bin Laden?' And he would have responded, and he would have responded, I think, too quickly and in a not well thought through way, which I think is a real sad commentary. And I have to say this because you and I both know very many honorable Republicans, but the behavior of the Republican extremists in the'90s, who did not accept his legitimacy from day one, borders on being unpatriotic. You cannot run a country in a circumstance like that. You just can't. Democracy suffers. And therefore Clinton's ability to move us through a war or a crisis would have been crippled by that kind of unrelenting opposition." Wow! There's a boatload of excuses for you! Bush got weeks and weeks to plan his attack because he and his cabinet took that much time to work on it. Clinton generally governed by the polls. He would have waited for a poll or two to tell him what would be popular to do, then he would have done it and gotten it over with quickly because he feared a longer military action would become unpopular as Vietnam had. Clinton only did politically what he thought would make him popular. That is a fact. Beyond that, his draft-dodging, peacenik loathing of the armed forces would certainly have prevented an appropriate military response. What is the best course of action for conservatives with regard to The Natural? Don't buy it! This guy deserves none of your money and none of the positive feedback every book sale provides. If you wish to respond to Joe Klein by mail, here it is: Joe Klein c/o Doubleday Publishing [Note: I have not yet found an e-mail address for Joe Klein. His publisher does state that they will not forward e-mail to authors.] Read more here: MRC CyberAlert, 03/08/2002 When you feel your personal media bias tolerance gauge rising into the red zone, don't throw stuff at the TV screen! Send your suggestion to outrage@fairpress.org! Each week, one hideous example of media bias will be selected for closer examination. Hmmmmmm . . .
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