To watch “The Talking Points Memo” in the Screening Room click here.
Hi. I’m Bill O’Reilly. Thanks for watching us tonight.
Hillary Clinton tells all. Or does she? That’s the subject of this evening’s Talking Points Memo.
Here’s my analysis of the Hillary-Barbara Walters interview last night in bullet-point form.
The senator put herself up as a victim of a dishonest husband, as a champion of women, as a champion of children, and as a romantic kind of gal.
She refused to answer pointed questions by Ms. Walters about her husband’s affairs, saying they were, “private matters.” This, of course, was a calculated response to anything too difficult.
She refused to rule out separating from her husband if he was caught straying again.
She dismissed Whitewater and the Paula Jones situations as having no merit and would not respond to the commodities trade that netted her almost a hundred thousand dollars.
She cited the economy as Bill Clinton’s major contribution as president and blamed Mr. Bush for the recession.
She accused right-wing partisans of being the main culprits in the various Clinton scandals.
Writing about the interview in The Washington Post, left-wing critic Tom Shales said, “Clinton still comes across as almost chillingly chilly. She may have emotions like normal people, but she doesn’t like to admit it.”
Now why should we care?
First of all, Hillary Clinton is the third most powerful elected official in the country behind Bush and Cheney.
Secondly, she is a likely candidate for president in 2008 and could easily secure the nomination in ’04 if she wanted it.
And, third, because Mrs. Clinton sees the world much differently than traditional Americans do, and the country would change drastically if she were elected president.
Here are the facts.
Senator Clinton voted for more government spending bills than any other freshman senator in American history.
She’s a vocal supporter of the partial-birth abortion procedure and is against partial — parental, I should say, notification for minors seeking abortion.
She believes in the progressive taxation system that takes money from affluent Americans and gives it to poor Americans. In economic terms, that is called income redistribution.
She failed to improve the educational standards of Arkansas, despite leading that charge for eight years.
She failed to achieve a workable health-care plan but did not explain the failure to Ms. Walters when asked.
She promised to improve economic conditions in upstate New York, but, so far, that has not happened.
And she accused Kenneth Starr of undermining the Constitution but did not address the underlying issue of the investigation, the president’s admitted perjury in a federal case.
Notice Monica Lewinsky was not mentioned in that analysis.
Talking Points has no idea about the Clinton marriage and doesn’t care. On one level, you could argue that Mrs. Clinton’s forgiveness of her husband is admirable and she is right in saying his sins were of weakness not malice.
But Hillary Clinton now has a record far beyond the Whitewater rumors and demeanor perceptions, and that record is something that Americans should take a hard look at. Don’t underestimate Senator Clinton. She has her eye on the prize and is coming on strong.
And that’s The Memo.
The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day
Time now for “The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day”…
More than 7,000 people gathered in Spain over the weekend to let it all hang out literally. Artist Spencer Tunick takes pictures of naked people — here they come — and likes a lot of different options, so there they are. The good folks in Barcelona showed up and showed all.
After Tunick asked them to, some of them reportedly hugged each other. And why not? Especially if you’re kind of lonely.
Tunick says he likes scenes like these because it makes you think about background in a different way. Indeed. And we’re not even going to mention the front ground because it might be ridiculous.
–You can watch Bill O’Reilly’s Talking Points Memo and “Most Ridiculous Item” weeknights at 8 & 11p.m. ET on the Fox News Channel. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com
Leave a Reply