Vanity Fair Hit Piece On Bill Clinton

[Etta Place]

There's a major Vanity Fair hit piece on Bill Clinton this month, and apparently he is VERY upset about it. See, Bush isn't the only guy whose former staff people turn on him.

Bill Clinton Fights Back Against Brutal Vanity Fair Article
by FOXNews.com
Sunday, June 1, 2008


The Office of President Bill Clinton responded with fury Sunday to a Vanity Fair article that attacks the former president and suggests he is out of control personally and consumed by “cavernous narcissism.”

The article, which hits newsstands next week, was distributed to the media and online in advance of its publication. The author, Todd Purdum, has covered Clinton for 16 years. He is married to former Clinton Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers.
“A tawdry, anonymous quote-filled attack piece, published in this month’s Vanity Fair magazine regarding former President Bill Clinton repeats many past attacks on him, ignores much prior positive coverage, includes numerous errors, and ultimately breaks no new ground. It is, in short, journalism of personal destruction at its worst,” reads a statement from the office of the president.

“Though (Purdum) researched the piece for several months, his first contact with President Clinton’s office was several weeks before he closed the story. Most revealing is one simple fact: President Clinton has helped save the lives of 1,300,000 people in his post-presidency, and Vanity Fair couldn’t find time to talk to even one of them for comment,” the statement continues, along with several pages of argument refuting the article’s main points.

Purdum suggests that in the years since Clinton left the White House $12 million in debt, he has been caught up in a world of rich friends, adoring fans and borrowed jets. The article quotes one former aide calling Clinton’s current associates like billionaire Ron Burkle and movie producer Stephen Bing “radioactive.”

The aide says Clinton’s associates are compounding worries that the 61-year-old former president is running with a fast crowd

One source close to Clinton even suggested he has never been the same since quadruple bypass surgery in 2004.

“There’s an anger in him that I find surprising. There seems to be an abiding anger in him, and not just the summer thunderstorms of old. He has been called into question repeatedly by top staff,” a former aide to both Bill and Hillary Clinton told Purdum.

More devastating is Purdum’s claim that about 18 months ago, a former Clinton aide tried an intervention with the former president because he was hearing so many complaints about inappropriate behavior. According to the article, the aide believed “Clinton was apparently seeing a lot of women on the road.”

Purdum wrote that the aide was rebuffed by advisers close to Clinton, never got to speak directly with him, and the attempted intervention was not well received by either Clinton.

The article also includes questions about the millions Bill Clinton has made since leaving office and notes the troubles for Hillary Clinton’s campaign attributed to him.

Bill Clinton Fights Back Against Brutal Vanity Fair Article - America’s Election HQ

And here is the Vanity Fair article:

The Comeback Id: Politics & Power: vanityfair.com

[rpsmith]

you're back!!

[Etta Place]

Originally Posted by rpsmith

you're back!!

Yes. You guys are just too seductive for me.

[robin48]

Originally Posted by Etta Place

Yes. You guys are just too seductive for me.

I am the sexiest fat man on the planet. Welcome back.

[KingArthur]

I'm not all that suprised, it was "uncommon knoweldge" that the Clinton's split the sheets long before the Lewinski, showed up. That's when a lot of dirty laundrey regarding infidelity went public for the first time. But, I have heard that they had their own "interests" before that whole incident. Some people have open marriages, I am suprised they have managed to make it work as long as they have. Those usually lead to divorce pretty quickly, but there is always the exception that proves the rule. But, frankly, infidelity in the white house is not uncommon, it was going on since at least the 19th century, and it shouldn't really be relevant to the American public. I disagree morally with infidelity, but I really don't want to know what bed company the president keeps, that like everyone else. is for the two parties to work out for themselves. Marriage is a contract between two people (I personally believe between a man and a woman), and if it is not the two people involved it really is no one else's business. So, in that regard I think Vanity Fair was out of line. If they wanted to deal with the criminal behavior of a president, that would be relevant. But, the part about him keeping the company of a bevy of women on the road isn't germaine.

[Etta Place]

Originally Posted by KingArthur

I'm not all that suprised, it was "uncommon knoweldge" that the Clinton's split the sheets long before the Lewinski, showed up. That's when a lot of dirty laundrey regarding infidelity went public for the first time. But, I have heard that they had their own "interests" before that whole incident. Some people have open marriages, I am suprised they have managed to make it work as long as they have. Those usually lead to divorce pretty quickly, but there is always the exception that proves the rule. But, frankly, infidelity in the white house is not uncommon, it was going on since at least the 19th century, and it shouldn't really be relevant to the American public. I disagree morally with infidelity, but I really don't want to know what bed company the president keeps, that like everyone else. is for the two parties to work out for themselves. Marriage is a contract between two people (I personally believe between a man and a woman), and if it is not the two people involved it really is no one else's business. So, in that regard I think Vanity Fair was out of line. If they wanted to deal with the criminal behavior of a president, that would be relevant. But, the part about him keeping the company of a bevy of women on the road isn't germaine.

If it was indeed an open marriage, and Hillary was okay or at least accepting of his infidelities, then perhaps it's none of our business. But if he was trying to get away with something, then it shows a deceptive and dishonest character - something that would carry over into his duties as president.

[Etta Place]

I do think that Bill's extra-curricular activities would have been fodder for the gossip business and the press in general, and would have been a major distraction if Hillary would have become the president. That was the main reason why I opposed Hillary for president. I believed that a Hillary presidency would have engendered a cult of personality the likes of which we have never seen, and it would have been harmful to the country.

Actually, I think Hillary probably would make a decent president, if not for her husband lurking around.

[KingArthur]

Don't get me wrong, I am no fan of Clinton, I fully believe he has been involved in a whole host of unethical and criminal behavior. And yes, cheating on one's spouse is a good moral indicator of other things that a person is willing to do as well. Personally, it is something I would never do. However, I have learned that what two people decide to do in their marriage with each other is up to their own moral conscience, and the person who attempts to intervene and get in the middle of such a miasma is simply asking for trouble. I trully believe from things that I have heard prior to the Lewinkski debacle and the way they handled it after that the marriage has been open for some time. But, that being said, I really don't care to know or want to know, how they have decided to to work out their marriage. That is one domestic I would hate to be in the middle of.

[DanTheEldest]

This part is telling, I think:

There’s an anger in him that I find surprising. There seems to be an abiding anger in him, and not just the summer thunderstorms of old. He has been called into question repeatedly by top staff,” a former aide to both Bill and Hillary Clinton told Purdum.

I wouldn't be surprised if he is an angry man, and this is fed by the aforementioned narcicissism. He held the Oval Office for eight years, and despite all his efforts, the only legacy he managed to secure for himself was being the "president who got ****jobs from an intern under the desk".

My own personal layman's opinion is he's a borderline pathological liar. It almost seems like he really believes the crap he says if for no other reason than he's the one saying it and takes it personally when people call him on it.

[one-eyed-fatman]

Originally Posted by DanTheEldest

This part is telling, I think:



I wouldn't be surprised if he is an angry man, and this is fed by the aforementioned narcicissism. He held the Oval Office for eight years, and despite all his efforts, the only legacy he managed to secure for himself was being the "president who got ****jobs from an intern under the desk".

My own personal layman's opinion is he's a borderline pathological liar. It almost seems like he really believes the crap he says if for no other reason than he's the one saying it and takes it personally when people call him on it.

His wife has the same disease.

Welcome back ET oops I mean EP.