A Shot Across the Bow

Whatever the mighty Clinton spin machine is putting out over the front-page catfight between Hillary, Barack Obama, and David Geffen, the fact is, the Geffen/Obama forces put a big hurt on Mrs. Clinton.

David Geffen made the key point about the Clintons when he said, “Everybody in politics lies, but they do it with such ease, it’s troubling.” It's an important point because Geffen is obviously referring to both Clintons. After all, former First Lady Hillary Clinton enabled President Bill Clinton’s lies time and time again, and there’s more where that came from.

This whole Geffen episode, with its huge media echo chamber, reminds folks what it was like when the Clintons were in power in the White House. It also suggests what may be in store if the Clintons return to the White House. Surely, this is a troubling point for voters.

Geffen’s shot across the bow pries the lid off the rusty old can of Clinton lies. It reminds people what may happen all over again if they return to the White House. In other words, Geffen’s point has been unstated so far in the campaign, but now it is very clearly out of the can. It’s in the middle of the kitchen table.

Does the American electorate want to go through this all over again? Have we forgotten the lies? Well, I googled the phrase “Bill Clinton lies.” Here are some of the things that came up from various sources:

- Clinton lied under oath to a Federal Grand Jury. (Of course, that’s perjury. Perjury remains a felony.)

- Clinton continues to lie about his 12-year affair with Gennifer Flowers.

- Clinton continues to lie about sexually harassing Paula Jones. (Of course, he paid her $850,000 of hush money.)

- Clinton continues to dismiss the Whitewater scandal as a "land deal where I lost money" - despite the fact that a dozen of his close associates landed in jail over the illegal activities in that deal.

- Clinton illegally obtained FBI files on his political opponents - lied about that, too.

- On the golf course, Clinton has an incredibly difficult time playing his ball where it lies. It’s virtually impossible for him to keep an honest score. His final scorecard is always a good deal better than his real score.

- According to Washington Post reporter John Harris, Clinton was so upset about his inability to lose weight in 2000, that he made his aides release a bogus number after his annual physical to make him five pounds lighter.

Mr. Geffen also reminded everyone of the Lincoln bedroom scandal, where White House sleepovers in return for large political contributions were commonplace. I could be wrong, but I don’t recall a single instance of this sort of thing being reported during President George W. Bush’s term, nor his father’s, nor Ronald Reagan’s. Nor for that matter do I recall any Lincoln bedroom sales during the presidencies of Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, or Richard Nixon.

Just Clinton’s.

It is highly ironic that the very liberal Mr. Geffen has put all this front and center in the campaign. Ironic because he seems to still be jilted by President Clinton’s failure to pardon Leonard Peltier, an American Indian activist who was convicted and sent to jail for killing two FBI agents. This was shown by Geffen’s ire when the subject came up during his interview with the New York Times’ Maureen Dowd.

And it may constitute the “ultimate lie” where (and I am speculating here) Bill Clinton promised Geffen a pardon for Peltier, but the former president reneged, and instead pardoned the currency and commodity manipulator/money launderer Marc Rich, the husband of Clinton pal Denise Rich, also a suspected Clinton paramour. This long lingering resentment may have triggered Geffen’s Hillary insurrection and his bile filled remarks to Maureen Dowd.

Right smack in the middle of the campaign, Geffen, unwittingly or not, is reminding voters of the moral impoverishment and chicanery of the Clintons. This is why I believe the Geffen episode has bloodied Hillary’s nose much more so than Obama’s.