Clinton Defends Himself

It would be presumptuous for me to give Bill Clinton, whom the media was given to describing as among the greatest Democratic politicians alive, political advice. But the man whose reputation for extraordinary political instincts took a nosedive around, oh, the 2008 South Carolina primary has lost a little off his fastball.

In an interview on 8/3/08 with ABC News' Kate Snow, Clinton 42 was asked "Do you personally have any regrets about what you did, campaigning for your wife?" He responded, inelegantly

Yes, but not the ones you think. And it would be counterproductive for me to talk about. There are things that I wish I'd urged her to do. Things I wish I'd said. Things I wish I hadn't said. But I am not a racist. I've never made a racist comment and I never attacked him [Obama] personally.

As any Republican can tell you, when in doubt attack the messenger. Clinton here just appears to be defensive when the least he could have done would have been to respond to Snow's question by asking "What specifically did you have in mind?"

Instead, the former President only reminded me of another former President, the fellow who at the height of Watergate asserted not "I am not a racist" but "I am not a crook." And while Clinton probably isn't a racist (the statement therefore being true), neither was Nixon lying: he arguably was not "a crook," not having been convicted of a criminal offense, and thanks to President Gerald Ford's despicable and destructive pardon, never was.