Political Provocateur

On Meet the Press on Sunday, former president Bill Clinton offered his two-sense on current affairs.

When asked if a “vast right-wing conspiracy” still existed in the U.S., Clinton said this:

“Oh, you bet. Sure it is. It’s not as strong as it was, because America’s changed demographically, but it’s as virulent as it was,” the former president replied.

“I mean, they’re saying things about him [Obama] — you know, it’s like when they accused me of murder and all that stuff they did. It’s not really good for the Republicans and the country, what’s going on now,” Clinton said. “I mean, they may be hurting President Obama. They can take his numbers down, they can run his opposition up. But fundamentally, he and his team have a positive agenda for America.”

Is it just me or is the fact that Bill Clinton is so eager to use a phrase that was originally coined by his wife to deny accusations that her husband had committed adultery, and then lied about it under oath, just a little weird?Either way you look at it, invoking this magical phrase does nothing but marginalize critics and legitimate opposition.

And whether you call it a right-wing conspiracy or not, in 1998 during the Lewinsky scandal, Republicans were…right. That kind of takes the fun out of labeling something a “conspiracy” doesn’t it?