If his lips are moving, he's lying

Two posts below, Lex takes former President Clinton to task for being a self-promoting narcissist. I noted how Clinton used the terms “I” and “me” 6 times in about 21 seconds. In a word search of the FNS transcript dealing only with the bin Laden portion of the interview, Clinton used “I” 103 times, “me” 18 times, “my” 8 times, “I’m” 7 times and “I’ve” 3 times. That’s 139 references to himself in about ten minutes time. Given the fact some of time was used by FNS host Chris Wallace the references per minute of just Clinton speaking would be through the roof.

After doing that bit of research, the Drudge Report this morning is saying Secretary of State Rice is calling Clinton a liar. While it struck me that Clinton seemed obsessed with himself during the interview, it never occurred to me to check his facts, because I just assumed he’d be lying. Further, given Mr. Clinton’s propensity to play fast and lose with the truth, I assumed everyone else would assume he was lying.

Eleven times during the interview, Mr. Clinton refers to Richard Clarke’s book. He ought to read it himself. In it and the 9-11 Commission report, Clarke refutes two of Clinton’s main accusations, that Clinton had left the Bush administration a comprehensive plan for the war on terror. Clarke says no such plan ever existed. Clarke also lays waste to Clinton’s assertion that he was demoted. He was not. Clarke was in fact the head of counterterrorism on 9-11. The other most obvious lie was when Clinton said, straight- faced, “Now, I’ve never criticized President Bush.” Yagottabekidding.

None of that surprises me. It’s hard to keep every fact of one’s eight year administration straight or even the first nine month of someone else’s. What struck me most in the interview was the part where Clinton said “After the Cole, I had battle plans drawn up to go into Afghanistan, overthrow the Taliban and launch a full-scale attack and search for bin Laden.” The only hold up was that the FBI and CIA wouldn’t let him. Huh? It's as if a couple of eight year olds were planning a sleep over. The plans get scuttled when Billy's mom says "no". You were the president man! Who tells who they can’t do something?

I’ve noted on this page before that Clinton was a poll driven president who never did or even tried to do anything big after Hillary’s health care debacle. The three major accomplishments of his administration, the economy, welfare reform and the balanced budget were the result of previous Republican administrations and a Republican congress. Clinton will always have a one word legacy - Monica.