As Cartman might say, why the fuck not? I like this sentiment from an empowered woman who has the courage of her own desires:
Most of the time, when they end, I think, What an ass. If it’s going to turn out like that anyway, I’d rather it be a fine-looking ass.
Exactly.
"[Bill] Clinton doesn’t like to play an overtly political role anymore; he enjoys the statesmanlike aura that surrounds any ex-president, and he is not about to undermine it, even for his wife’s campaign," – Matt Bai, New York Times Magazine, December 23, 2007.
He admirably cops to it here. Glossary for Dish award criteria here.
This thing won’t quite go away. A reader writes:
Some people have enhanced the first "he raised taxes" whisper using audio technology and have discovered that there was actually more to it than just "he raised taxes". They’ve disconvered that more can be heard: "He raised taxes, I’m not gonna…". Listen to the full enhanced audio yourself. Go out and get a tape and enhance it yourself if you think this is wrong.
This is even greater proof that there is something going on here. If this is correct, then it’s not just a microphone malfunction, but an ACTUAL answer to the question Romney was given: "He (Reagan) raised taxes. I’m not going to raise taxes."
Go after this! After being lied to about the war, about WMDs, about torture, about absolutely everything from the GOP powerhouse, this cannot be left for us to figure out at a later time once Romney is in the White House!
I really don’t know what happened. But I have yet to hear a convincing explanation either.
A blast of pure derision from the essential Colbert King.
Gjilan, Kosovo, 12.15 pm.
A pitch-perfect editorial. The younger generation gets it.
My own rambling thoughts on the dangers – political and constitutional – of a two-headed executive can be read here. Today, Garry Wills provides a deeper analysis, one that goes back to the Founders and their legitimate worries about accountability without a, ahem, unitary executive. He fears that Bill Clinton could become Hillary’s Dick Cheney – but worse, in fact, since at least Cheney was on the ballot and in some sense accountable to the public directly. Money quote:
No other vice president in our history has taken on so many presidential prerogatives, with so few checks. He is an example of the very thing James Wilson was trying to prevent by having one locus of authority in the executive. The attempt to escape single responsibility was perfectly exemplified when his counsel argued that Mr. Cheney was not subject to executive rules because he was also part of the legislature.
We have seen in this campaign how former President Clinton rushes to the defense of presidential candidate Clinton. Will that pattern of protection be continued into the new presidency, with not only his defending her but also her defending whatever he might do in his energetic way while she’s in office? It seems likely. And at a time when we should be trying to return to the single-executive system the Constitution prescribes, it does not seem to be a good idea to put another co-president in the White House.
Can we all agree on that?
Why not swear-words? An exploration of the possibilities.
I would have lost it. He didn’t. His coolness and good humor under fire have not gotten enough attention. Here’s a good take on it.
Ross, Marc and Matt talk it over in the humming, throbbing intellectually tumescent world of the seventh floor Atlantic library.
The Dish 