Bill Clinton shares an insight about live microphones
Bill Clinton offered a nifty defense of Jesse Jackson’s “I didn’t know the microphone was on” moment last week, when the civil rights leader took his crude swipe at Barack Obama.
At a Harlem news conference Thursday, Clinton said, “If all of us lived on live mics, 100% of us would be embarrassed.”
The ex-president ought to know. Clinton himself unleashed an outburst -- one that, he apparently was surprised to find out later was recorded -- against Jackson during the Arkansan’s first run for the presidency in 1992.
As recounted in the New York Observer, a few days after that year’s New Hampshire primary, which Clinton lost, a local television reporter asked him to comment on a (baseless, as it turned out) report that Jackson had decided to endorse Iowa senator Tom Harkin.
Clinton was furious. “It’s an outrage,” he fumed. “A dirty, double-crossing, back-stabbing thing to do. … For him to do this, for me to hear this on a television program, is an act of absolute dishonor.”
And last month Clinton slipped up again. He went on a tirade against Vanity Fair writer Todd Purdum (calling him, among other things, “slimy” and “dishonest” and worse) –- only to later learn that his verbal rampage had been recorded by his questioner and put on the Huffington Post by that amateur Web journalist Mayhill Fowler.
Clinton was far more cheery and diplomatic at Thursday’s news conference, which spotlighted work being done by his foundation.
According to the Associated Press, when the subject turned to Obama -- whom Clinton portrayed as too inexperienced for the presidency during the primary season -- the ex-president said he was ready to campaign for the candidate. “I’ll do whatever I’m asked to do, whenever I can do it,” Clinton said.
-- Stuart Silverstein
Photo credit: AP
Andrew Malcolm's immigrant parents repeatedly stressed the importance of active participation in a democracy. Early lessons included learning the alphabetical list of states by watching televised roll calls of national political conventions. That childhood exposure led to a lifelong fascination with politics, including 40-plus years of covering them and a brief stint practicing them as press secretary to Laura Bush in 1999-2000. A veteran foreign and national correspondent, Malcolm served on the Times Editorial Board and was a Pulitzer finalist in 2004. He is the author of 10 nonfiction books and father of four.
Johanna Neuman is a veteran Washington correspondent for both The Los Angeles Times and USA Today, having covered presidents and politics as far back as Ronald Reagan. A former president of the White House Correspondents Assn., she authored a book on media and foreign policy, “Lights, Camera, Wars.” Most recently she was co-author of the 
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PLEASE, PLEASE don't fall into the trap of posting photos on your blog that you would never dare put in print.
You are lowering your standards to Huffington Post's internet rag, I thought you knew better.
By the way, why do people use any Bill Clinton quote to go on tangents that last 10 times longer than the original Bill Clinton quote? Clinton's quote is right on, as usual, but somehow the media feels the need to bring up everything they can find to make the story be about whatever they want it to be.
You are sad and pathetic should you choose to lower your standards to HP's.
Posted by: Alessandro Machi | July 17, 2008 at 10:31 PM
Bill Clinton shares an insight about live microphones
Posted by: Martina | August 11, 2008 at 02:12 AM
Woh what a great this top of the cirket.
Posted by: Martina | August 22, 2008 at 01:09 AM