• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

One way or another, he’s a liar.

When I was faster i was always behind.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

These are not very smart people, and things got out of hand.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Donald Trump found guilty as fuck – May 30, 2024!

Washington Post Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

When they say they are pro-life, they do not mean yours.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

This chaos was totally avoidable.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

Mobile Menu

  • Seattle Meet-up Post
  • 2025 Activism
  • Targeted Political Fundraising
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • COVID-19
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2025 Activism
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Politics / Media / Evan Thomas and John Thomas

Evan Thomas and John Thomas

by DougJ|  October 4, 200912:24 am| 72 Comments

This post is in: Media, Assholes

FacebookTweetEmail

It will be interesting to observe the Village black-balling of Taylor Branch’s new book about Bill Clinton. Evan Thomas sets the tone (bold mine):

Clinton was not wrong to be frustrated or to believe that the single greatest mistake of his administration (against the advice of the first lady) was to appoint a special prosecutor to look into Whitewater. He also had the canny insight that Whitewater served as a proxy for what really interested reporters: those rumors of “bimbo eruptions” floated by political enemies and less-than-reliable state troopers.

Given all that, how could Clinton have been so foolish as to take up with a White House intern just as he was turning back the tide of Gingrichism in the fall of 1995? The reader longs for some insight, some Shakespearean narrative to help explain Clinton’s self-destructive recklessness. But Branch does not deliver; he merely reports that Clinton said he “just cracked.” Branch seems almost too embarrassed to try to find out more. Partly because Clinton did not summon him for several months as the Lewinsky scandal was breaking in the winter of 1998, Branch skips past the drama of the darkest days, when Clinton’s presidency seemed to hang in the balance.

Shorter Evan Thomas: Taylor Branch should have asked more detailed questions about the blowjobs.

Start learning Mandarin, people.

Update. Commenter Martin thinks I’ve got it wrong:

It’s “Shorter Evan Thomas: Taylor Branch should have made shit up to deliver our Shakepearean narrative about the blowjobs.”

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « The *Official Saturday Night* Open Thread
Next Post: CBS Sunday Morning »

Reader Interactions

72Comments

  1. 1.

    Midnight Marauder

    October 4, 2009 at 12:29 am

    Start learning Mandarin, people.

    I sense the makings of a new tag here…

  2. 2.

    BDeevDad

    October 4, 2009 at 12:34 am

    Ni Hao. Xie Xie.

  3. 3.

    DougJ

    October 4, 2009 at 12:34 am

    I sense the makings of a new tag here…

    Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. But I think I might add “Policy is hard, let’s go teabagging” first.

  4. 4.

    Warren Terra

    October 4, 2009 at 12:35 am

    Start learning Mandarin, people.

    I sense the makings of a new tag here…

    There’s a fair bit of overlap with the “We Are All Mayans Now” tag … both are significantly about our country being dragged down the plughole by a bunch of people in public life, with actual responsibilities, who don’t take their jobs (whether they’re governing, legislating, informing the public about the actual issues, or whatever) seriously.

  5. 5.

    LosGatosCA

    October 4, 2009 at 12:38 am

    Thinking can hurt your head

  6. 6.

    madmommy

    October 4, 2009 at 12:39 am

    Heh, I’m ahead of the curve on this one. My kid watches a cartoon show that teaches Mandarin every morning.

    I now know several words, but they’re geared more towards the kindergarten set. Still, it’s a start, right?

  7. 7.

    Polish the Guillotines

    October 4, 2009 at 12:43 am

    I caught most of Fresh Air when Branch was on. Most definitely worth a listen. Here’s the link.

    Funny they should key in on Lewinsky rather than, say, the fact that the GOP was less concerned with attacking Bin Laden and Al Queda than attacking Clinton.

    Oh, wait — I forgot: Blow jobs are a direct threat to national security.

  8. 8.

    Martin

    October 4, 2009 at 12:43 am

    I think you misassess. It’s not “Shorter Evan Thomas: Taylor Branch should have asked more detailed questions about the blowjobs.”

    It’s “Shorter Evan Thomas: Taylor Branch should have made shit up to deliver our Shakepearean narrative about the blowjobs.”

    They still just want the juicy story, true or not.

  9. 9.

    BDeevDad

    October 4, 2009 at 12:44 am

    @madmommy: Ni Hao, Kai-Lan is a welcome respite from the Kindergarten Spanish of Dora the Explorer.

  10. 10.

    madmommy

    October 4, 2009 at 12:48 am

    @BDeevDad:
    Ah, a fellow traveler!

    He’ll watch Dora, but prefers Diego, being the manly kindergartener that he is.

  11. 11.

    Balconesfault

    October 4, 2009 at 12:58 am

    From a description of Victorian era journalists:

    Newspaper reporters purchased gossip from loose-lipped servants and gentlemen and ladies willing to expose their friends. They also blackmailed their potential victims, taking money to not print some embarrassing incident. Sometimes even, stories were completely made up, by a reporter who would rather stay at home than go out to look for news.

  12. 12.

    The Dangerman

    October 4, 2009 at 1:02 am

    My first time through the post, I read it as “the reader’s dong”; somehow, it fits.

    + ?

  13. 13.

    gocart mozart

    October 4, 2009 at 1:08 am

    Commener Martin thinks I’ve got it wrong:

    No need to play the royalty card DougJ.

  14. 14.

    DougJ

    October 4, 2009 at 1:11 am

    No need to play the royalty card DougJ.

    Fixed.

  15. 15.

    Nellcote

    October 4, 2009 at 1:18 am

    Blitzer was interviewing Branch today and all he asked about was Lewinsky. Sometimes you just want to reach through the teevee screen and shake them whilst screaming “WTF???”

  16. 16.

    Midnight Marauder

    October 4, 2009 at 1:23 am

    @Warren Terra:

    There’s a fair bit of overlap with the “We Are All Mayans Now” tag … both are significantly about our country being dragged down the plughole by a bunch of people in public life, with actual responsibilities, who don’t take their jobs (whether they’re governing, legislating, informing the public about the actual issues, or whatever) seriously.

    True, but I think there’s a substantial enough difference between the two. The “Mayans” tag (at least IMHO) refers to the coming Wingnut Event Horizon apocalypse this country is being dragged towards more and more these days; whereas “Start learning Mandarin” is more focused on the waning last days of the USA as the preeminent superpower in the world today, and the supposed rise of the Chinese to fill that void.

    Just my take.

    +4

  17. 17.

    Warren Terra

    October 4, 2009 at 1:27 am

    Someone probably ought to point out to these jokers that the Wikipedia entry on Clinton’s Presidency contains more than 4000 words, of which fewer than 300 are about the Lewinsky scandal. Now, I’m sure that if the wingers figure that out, they’ll add a bunch more Lewinsky, but maybe – just maybe – the other 3700 words might contain something interesting to ask about.

  18. 18.

    Jason Bylinowski

    October 4, 2009 at 1:29 am

    In fairness to Thomas, I was kinda hoping for some insight into that period myself, but I have the sense to know that sometimes there just isn’t any grand rationale for things, whether right or wrong. As a matter of fact, it happens to me all the time. It just dawned on me the other day that I’ve been wasting the past nine months writing music when I should have been at least dividing that time up with my MCSE study time (this is a networking certification and a good one to have), but no, I sabotaged myself almost without even realizing it and now I have so much more to do before I can schedule the test. If I had stuick with the plan I’d be done by now, people. so what’s my grand excuse? Nada. I like to waste time and forget about my family goals, I guess. Oh well. Now I’m depressed but at least I’m on the wagon again.

  19. 19.

    Jason Bylinowski

    October 4, 2009 at 1:32 am

    @madmommy: Diego Luna

    /non-sequitor

  20. 20.

    C Nelson Reilly

    October 4, 2009 at 1:34 am

    @Midnight Marauder:

    You’re gonna miss the Rapture if you keep talkin’ like that

  21. 21.

    jl

    October 4, 2009 at 2:06 am

    People want Shakespearean narratives about Clinton’s trailer trash escapade? Huh? Then why not an in depth analysis of Jimmy Swaggart’s fall from grace.

    Gawwd dang, I guess if you cross Faulkner and Mark Twain, that is about as close as you’ll get. But it got me to thinking about what sort of Shakespearean narrative would be appropriate for the Village Idiot audience. Here is what popped up first on a Yahoo Quotes for ‘Shakespeare, lechery”:

    Quote:
    “Lechery, lechery, still wars and lechery. Nothing else holds fashion.”

    Author: Shakespeare, William

    Categories: lechery; war

    Attribution: William Shakespeare (1564–1616), British dramatist, poet. Thersites, in Troilus and Cressida, act 5, sc. 2, l. 194-5.

    I think Troilus and Cressida, is a pretty darn good fit, if we could find a Basic English version. The whole rancid atmosphere fits those rancid retro snerds.

    Ulysses’ speech on Fate/Fortune’s purse would do them good, to boot, except they probably would think it is very wise advice for moral boys with an eye on the main chance.

    As to whether we need a serious in depth analysis of the episode, I for myself do not. Just like I do not particularly need one about Ike’s or Bush I’s or JFK’s or LBJ’s affairs. At least we do not have film of the President balling a meter maid in public, which was a Berlusconi prank. That one is easy: Falstaff getting dumped in the river in a basket.

  22. 22.

    Mike

    October 4, 2009 at 2:25 am

    Balconesfault

    loose-lipped servants

    Speaking of blowjobs…

  23. 23.

    Splitting Image

    October 4, 2009 at 3:00 am

    I think Troilus and Cressida, is a pretty darn good fit, if we could find a Basic English version. The whole rancid atmosphere fits those rancid retro snerds.

    Modern Republicans would probably find Titus Andronicus more their speed. It’s more violent, is based entirely on revenge, and involves a mixed-race baby being spirited off to safety, an uprising against a foreign usurper, and an evil Moor.

    Also, oddly enough, pie.

  24. 24.

    TenguPhule

    October 4, 2009 at 3:02 am

    Oh, wait—I forgot: Blow jobs are a direct threat to national security.

    Every blowjob given to a Democrat is one that’s not being given to a Republican. And that is a crime of the highest order (to Republicans).

  25. 25.

    TenguPhule

    October 4, 2009 at 3:03 am

    Sometimes even, stories were completely made up, by a reporter who would rather stay at home than go out to look for news.

    The more things change….

  26. 26.

    TenguPhule

    October 4, 2009 at 3:04 am

    Assholes, Media

    At this point, can Balloon Juice just combine these tags into “Asshole Media” to save space?

  27. 27.

    JackieBinAZ

    October 4, 2009 at 4:57 am

    @madmommy: My oldest son was born when I was stationed in Germany and German was his first language. At times, I needed the dictionary just to understand what he was saying. But by the time I left, I’d gotten to the point where I could speak it directly without translating from English in my head first. I lost it all really fast though. I don’t know if that’s a function of learning it the way babies do, or just from lack of use. My son can’t speak it any more either, but when he does accents, he can still nail the umlaut and gets the guttural sounds without sounding like he’s trying to hack up a loogie.

  28. 28.

    Napoleon

    October 4, 2009 at 5:31 am

    In case you think the media has just in the last 15 years lost their minds, last night I am reading Clarke’s book “The Last Campaign” about RFK’s run for the presidency in ’68. The part I am on is MLK, Jr being murdered in Memphis with RFK speaking that night to a largely black crowd in Indy, where no rioting occurred unlike any other major city (there were riots in nearly 120 cities that night). The next morning he has an interview with Jack Paar who ask Bobby “Do you think the White House is big enough for 10 children?”

    RFK’s response “Do you think that is going to be my biggest problem?”

  29. 29.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 4, 2009 at 6:24 am

    @Polish the Guillotines

    I also heard that Fresh Air interview with Taylor Branch, and was riveted. Very luckily, I am going to meet/hear him in person in a week or so when he addresses an organization I belong to. The usual format is a prepared talk of 20-25 minutes followed by Q&A. It will be interesting to hear not only what TB selects to concentrate on but also what a roomful of (mostly) journalists thinks is important to ask him. Anything interesting emerges, I’ll post to BJ.

  30. 30.

    EnderWiggin

    October 4, 2009 at 6:44 am

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I also thought that interview was pretty good, but most of her’s are. I might try to get around to the book, but I currently (and always) have quite a backlog.

    The question I would like asked is ‘Did Clinton seem concerned about terrorism, and in what way and to what degree?’.

  31. 31.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 4, 2009 at 6:55 am

    @EnderWiggin: I will be glad to submit that question if Branch doesn’t cover it in his prepared remarks.

    Agree with you about Fresh Air. Terry Gross is a wonderful interviewer. Even when the guest or subject matter is someone or something I would normally avoid or at least ignore, on FA it’s almost always worth hanging around.

    Also, I hear you about the books piling up. I will be buying a copy of Branch’s book at the press club event on the 14th, which he will autograph. I’m genuinely looking forward to reading it but it’s just going to have to wait patiently in the TBR heap for a little while.

  32. 32.

    Balconesfault

    October 4, 2009 at 7:07 am

    I’d like to ask “did Clinton ever understand while as President how quickly all the gains we’d made as a nation under him could be pissed away?”

  33. 33.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 4, 2009 at 7:22 am

    @Balconesfault: Well, IANTB but I have to think Clinton isn’t even capable of imagining how fast and thoroughly all the gains under his administration would be or could be undone. Why would he bother in the first place? I get (I think) that your comment was written with a degree of facetiousness but it’s a good, serious point. I’d love to hear an unguarded Clinton talk candidly about the way the Dubya-Darth years unfolded, or even better, contemporaneous comments or journals.

  34. 34.

    ironranger

    October 4, 2009 at 7:30 am

    @LosGatosCA:
    Which is why most conservatives avoid it like the plague.

  35. 35.

    Fleem

    October 4, 2009 at 7:35 am

    @BDeevDad:

    Hello, broccoli?

  36. 36.

    geg6

    October 4, 2009 at 7:41 am

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I’d like to know what ol’ Bubba can tell us about what they learned about domestic terrorism from the Oklahoma City bombing and whether he thinks we are better prepared for ferreting out these groups who hate America and Americans today. I believe, personally, that this is the greatest danger to the country right now. Well, that and our idiot media who enable them. In fact, I wonder if Bill sees a connection between the media and domestic terrorists since, IMHO, the media enables the creation of the nutjobs.

  37. 37.

    geg6

    October 4, 2009 at 7:55 am

    By the way, Alex Koppelman has a terrific profile of my new boyfriend, Alan Grayson, over at the War Room at Salon:

    http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/feature/2009/10/02/grayson/

  38. 38.

    WereBear

    October 4, 2009 at 8:07 am

    @geg6: A most excellent point!

    I thought terrorism was our Priority One!

    No matter who’s doin’ the “terrerizing.”

    I think that now is the time to come down on those right wing groups and remind everyone what is the difference between principled dissent and terrorism.

  39. 39.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 4, 2009 at 8:09 am

    @geg6: Another excellent and thought-provoking question. My guess (partly from the careful way he handled a couple of Terry Gross’ questions) is that Branch will be meticulous about NOT speculating or guessing what Clinton’s views are on any given subject, but will limit his comments to what Clinton said at the time. So if they talked about OKC and domestic terrorism, I think he’ll report those conversations. But (without having read the book yet, so I don’t know) Clinton’s views on the media enabling terrorists and extreme behaviour? — I kind of doubt it. I think he talked about the VRWC trying to take him down but maybe not much beyond that. Anyhow, it would be extremely interesting and insightful to know his thoughts on this.

    I hadn’t really intended to serve as a conduit for a lot of questions — for one thing, I won’t have the opportunity to ask more than one and for another, there’s no guarantee I’ll even be selected to ask a question at all — but I will carefully compile all the issues BJ-ers mention as things they would like to find out about and see if there’s some way I can combine them in a portmanteau question.

    The press club event isn’t until the 14th of October, so we have a little time.

  40. 40.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 4, 2009 at 8:12 am

    @geg6: I wish the press club would bring Grayson as a guest soon! He hasn’t written a book AFAIK but he sure has been a newsmaker lately. I would go see him in a heartbeat.

  41. 41.

    geg6

    October 4, 2009 at 8:18 am

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I want Grayson on my teevee night and day. He is the first Dem I can remember in ages who talks the way I would if I were a congresscritter.

  42. 42.

    bellatrys

    October 4, 2009 at 8:21 am

    @Splitting Image:

    Also, oddly enough, pie.

    You are EBOL. Have an internet!

  43. 43.

    Fleem

    October 4, 2009 at 8:42 am

    @geg6:
    I like Alan Grayson a lot. We need more Dems to take his approach. Hyperbolic yet true soundbites rock.

    However, that particular article pissed me off tremendously.
    It treats Grayson’s hyperbole on the House floor as somehow equivalent to Joe Wilson yelling at the president. Blech blech blech blech. False equivalency much?

    But those wacky lefty DFHs sure do think he’s nifty.

  44. 44.

    Joey Maloney

    October 4, 2009 at 8:56 am

    @Napoleon:

    RFK’s response “Do you think that is going to be my biggest problem?”

    This is what I find most irritating – why don’t interviewees smack down the nonsense more often? Why do they treat stupid questions seriously? Politicians are so desperately afraid of getting on the wrong side of the Village, I guess, and outsiders are too often dazzled by the tv lights, literally or figuratively, but I can’t help feeling that the quality of journamalism would improve if its practitioners were called out right then and there when they said something stupid. Humiliation can be a spur to better performance.

  45. 45.

    Kirk Spencer

    October 4, 2009 at 9:02 am

    @madmommy: (late to the thread) Different things work for different people, but provided you’re willing to ignore the embarrassment the most generally effective technique is to get a lot of ‘read-along’ children’s books. Not just translations of favorites (because that gets you into traps where ‘this word doesn’t translate well’) but children’s stories from that culture.

    Don’t worry about the meaning, not with the tales for toddlers. The pictures are plenty. Just read along till you’re comfortable – till you can read out loud without the audio playing. Then go to the early school books: kindergarten to maybe second grade. It’s harder to find such with audio so you’re going to have to work at figuring some of it out yourself. It’s no more (and equally as) difficult for you than it is for children of that age.

    Once you’ve passed that, blast into children’s books for primary school – up to fifth grade or so. You’re brushing against Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew or Harry Potter by the time you’re done. (If you can find a series you like – at every stage – it will help due to consistency over the different tales. Intermittent reinforcement is a wonderful thing.)

    Somewhere in here start picking up “old favorites” of adult reading. Whether it’s magazines you read every week/month or it’s favorite fiction you’ve read the print off of, or it’s non-fiction in which you have a SERIOUS interest (I often pick up cook-books, here), you’ll polish the understanding you’ve already gained.

    But the really interesting thing is that you can get by extremely well with a 5th grade vocabulary.

  46. 46.

    The Grand Panjandrum

    October 4, 2009 at 9:04 am

    Shocking. A Villager wants to write about more blowjobs. Shockingly shocking …

  47. 47.

    linda

    October 4, 2009 at 9:05 am

    @geg6:

    i don’t know how this guy wasn’t on my radar … lol:

    Then, not long after he took office, he got some attention for telling a writer for the Huffington Post, “Rush Limbaugh is a has-been hypocrite loser, who craves attention. His right-wing lunacy sounds like Mikhail Gorbachev, extolling the virtues of communism. Limbaugh actually was more lucid when he was a drug addict. If America ever did 1% of what he wanted us to do, then we’d all need pain killers.”

  48. 48.

    geg6

    October 4, 2009 at 9:10 am

    @linda:

    I know. He says stuff like that all the time. That’s why I fell in love with him.

  49. 49.

    ironranger

    October 4, 2009 at 9:19 am

    @geg6:
    I followed the link to Grayson on birther Alex Jones show. Jones was quite laudatory when he introduced Grayson which surprised me a bit. Now I’m wondering how Jones’ regular listeners reacted to his praise of a Democrat going after contractors’ frauds of the gov’t.

  50. 50.

    Fulcanelli

    October 4, 2009 at 9:20 am

    @geg6: OT, but…

    You should check Alan Grayson’s website if you haven’t yet. He’s a pistol, no doubt and I look forward to seeing who gets wet from the waves he’s making. He got one gag order lifted on war profiteer fraud and took Custer/Battles down and that’s whet his appetite, I’ll bet.

    Apparently my congress critter Jim Langevin (D-Doormat) may be facing a Dem primary challenge here in RI, which I welcome enthusiastically. His biggest asset is that he’s not an R, other than that he’s like a squirrel foraging around for crumbs to fund little projects that endear the elderly and downtrodden to him, but he’s politically invisible on the big issues, like our Senator Reed.

    The litmus test for this primary challenger is what she thinks of Grayson and what our Senator Whitehouse has done. If she balks, I’ll be telling her right to her face to stay on the porch with the other lap dogs, ’cause there’s enough Dem weenies in congress.

  51. 51.

    kay

    October 4, 2009 at 9:20 am

    I don’t think Clinton needs redemption or absolution by media. It isn’t offered here. The writer still isn’t satisfied. He wants another pound of flesh, apparently. He’s looking for some epic suffering, by Bill or (better!) Hillary Clinton.
    I know media were absolutely riveted by Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky, and have stubbornly refused to offer absolution for his monumental crime, but I think the country judged Clinton on the sum total of his work long ago without waiting for media to announce he was morally rehabilitated.
    Clinton’s work has held up a lot better than media’s work, actually. Everyone now admits Whitewater was a whole bunch of nothing, and media pursued that, stupidly and inexplicably, for years, while Clinton’s work as President during that years-long witch hunt looks solid, in retrospect.

  52. 52.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 4, 2009 at 9:30 am

    linda, geg6, Fleem: I’m with you, I could listen to him all day long. He personifies the phrase “speaking truth to power” and I find it wonderfully bracing.

  53. 53.

    Fulcanelli

    October 4, 2009 at 9:39 am

    @SiubhanDuinne: You should have a look at his story and the videos on his site if you haven’t yet.

    Solid polished brass ones he has, no surprise he grew up a poor kid from Brooklyn. No surprise at all…

  54. 54.

    Fulcanelli

    October 4, 2009 at 9:40 am

    @SiubhanDuinne: Could this be the coming of… The Anti-Newt?

  55. 55.

    kay

    October 4, 2009 at 9:41 am

    @The Grand Panjandrum:

    WTF do they want from the Clintons? If anyone is owed an explanation, shouldn’t it be coming from these morons to Americans, for getting Whitewater so completely wrong, and putting us all through that?
    I just love how the writer coyly mentions that Whitewater might have been a tad overplayed, then immediately launches into blaming Bill Clinton for agreeing to a special prosecutor.
    Where did the crazed ( and ultimately erroneous) speculation on Whitewater come from? From them. How did they think this was going to end? Knowing what we know about Republicans, they really thought it was going to end at an investigation into the land deal? Come on.

  56. 56.

    aimai

    October 4, 2009 at 10:06 am

    Martin’s point is so good it deserves to be said over and over again. He nails it–the interviewer wants Branch and Clinton to satisfy his prurient porn desires *and to do so* using the cover of a high art form so he (and we) can pretend it isn’t porn. Its the voyeur’s and frotteur’s equivalent of the porn actress saying that stripping was “authentic” and “artistically necessary” to the role. Yah, Shakespeare talked about a lot of stuff and used big words but, oddly enough, mere sexual frisson wasn’t the goal of Hamlet.

    aimai

  57. 57.

    Citizen_X

    October 4, 2009 at 10:17 am

    Jeebus. We need new metaphors. This isn’t rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, it’s continuing to interrogate people about the stolen strawberries on the Titanic.

  58. 58.

    asiangrrlMN

    October 4, 2009 at 10:24 am

    @madmommy: Considering the discourse in our media, I think you are ahead of the curve.

    Wo ai ni! But, that’s not used very often in political discourse, so forget it. Wo bu hua shuo Zhongguo hua. Je pai say. That will work.

    P.S. Clinton–she was an intern, and he did it in the Oval Office. Those two things bother me. Other than that, no, I don’t give a shit, and it wasn’t an impeachable offense.

  59. 59.

    aimai

    October 4, 2009 at 10:36 am

    57

    Citizen_X

    Even better!

  60. 60.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 4, 2009 at 10:45 am

    @Fulcanelli 9:39 and 9:40 am

    “The anti-Newt” — love it! FSM knows we need one, badly, and Grayson seems to be just the ticket.

    Haven’t looked at his web site yet but I will. Thanks for the reminder.

  61. 61.

    Bullsmith

    October 4, 2009 at 11:06 am

    See Clinton sullied the dignity of the office. Bush, on the other hand, sullied the whole nation. So that’s okay.

  62. 62.

    Janet Strange

    October 4, 2009 at 11:23 am

    @SiubhanDuinne: Late to the thread, but if you check back – I second the suggestion of a question about terrorism. My impression is that Clinton was trying to get Congress to take the threat of terrorism more seriously, but was accused on “wagging the dog” on the issue to try to distract Congress from the truly important matter of impeachment over a blow job.

    Didn’t Reno try to get Congress to authorize getting FISA warrants (quaint idea, getting warrants and all) on particular suspected terrorists rather than being limited to getting the warrant on a particular phone number since said suspected terrorists were thought to have figured that out and were possibly buying cheap cell phones and then buying another one (with a new phone number) frequently to avoid phone taps? And was denied that authority because of right-wing hysteria over FISA warrants being such a horrible abuse of our privacy?

  63. 63.

    Bob In Pacifica

    October 4, 2009 at 11:25 am

    Why didn’t the press ask more questions about Jeff Gannon’s blowjobs? Or his overnights at the White House?

  64. 64.

    gnomedad

    October 4, 2009 at 11:26 am

    @BDeevDad:
    我也说一点儿中文.

  65. 65.

    MBunge

    October 4, 2009 at 11:26 am

    I’m sure when John Edwards reads this thread he will weep bitter tears and exclaim, “Why, oh why couldn’t I have cheated on my wife AFTER winning the Presidency?”

    Mike

  66. 66.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 4, 2009 at 11:41 am

    @Janet Strange

    Yes, that’s my general recollection too — and I will definitely ask (at least, will be prepared to ask, if I am called on) the Terrorism Question. What I am not sure of is the extent to which Clinton discussed this with Taylor Branch, especially if there was a long hiatus in their conversations during much of the Lewinsky-impeachment period — and my sense of Branch is that he is not prepared to speak for Clinton or speculate about what Clinton thought about anything unless it was actually part of their conversations.

    BTW for anyone in the Atlanta area, I heard fleetingly that Branch is also going to do a public appearance at the Atlanta History Center, I believe that evening (14 October) or maybe the night before. Not sure if it costs but I think I heard that reservations are required. The thing I’m going to (Atlanta Press Club) is membership and members’ guests.

  67. 67.

    bryan

    October 4, 2009 at 11:49 am

    But Branch does not deliver; he merely reports that Clinton said:

    Blow, interns, and their cracked cheeks! bondage! blow!
    You catamines and whores with cane, spout
    Till you have drench’d our steeples, drown’d the cocks!
    You sulphurous and cigar-lighting fires,
    Vaunt-couriers to oak-cleaving penii,
    Singe my silvery head! And thou, all-shaking rumpshaker,
    Smite flat the thick rotundity o’ the backends of Monica!
    Crack nature’s moulds, and semens spill at once,
    That make me a grateful man!

    which he couldn’t make heads or tails of, but only a bit of both.

  68. 68.

    Jay C

    October 4, 2009 at 12:04 pm

    Not that I don’t agree wholeheartedly about most of the Bill Clinton “scandals” being composed mainly of reeking bullshit (which should have been apparent even at the time), and our media’s sick acquiescence in “pursuing” them; they weren’t totally founded on fantasy. Face it, Bill Clinton was, and had been for years, a notorious horndog; and moreover, one with a fairly lax record at keeping the “bimbo eruptions” out of the press. The main difference was, that as President, he was on a bigger – and more-widely-scrutinized – stage. After all, given the general attitude of the press in this country, what did he (or anyone) think would be the better hook for a readings/ratings-garnering story?

    “President’s Role Examined in Arkansas Land Deal” or

    “President Fucks Intern in White House” ?

    We sensationalize, you decide….

  69. 69.

    Polish the Guillotines

    October 4, 2009 at 12:22 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Wow, that’s cool. Please do report.

  70. 70.

    Mike G

    October 4, 2009 at 3:28 pm

    Face it, Bill Clinton was, and had been for years, a notorious horndog

    But why should this be news on any level outside the celebrity-scandal circuit?

    These were consenting adults, nothing illegal (Larry Craig), no national security risk (Profumo), no manipulation of legislation or use of public money (Ensign) and he wasn’t neglecting his official duties (Sanford). Neither was there any hypocrisy angle versus his policies (Republican moralizing).

    Not admirable conduct, but really of no more relevance than whoever Mel Gibson, Angelina Jolie or any other celebrity is banging in their private life.
    This entire thing was a ginned up hit job by the Repig morality police, and their complicit media tools.

    I’d like to hear just one Repig admit that the several years of dragging the country through this prudish manufactured bullshit impacted the Clinton Administration’s anti-terrorism efforts in the years before 9/11. We’ll never know if this would have made a difference.

    They weren’t just playing their stupid, selfish political games, they were hurting the government’s ability to serve the country. They never gave a shit because for them, government is never supposed to serve the country, it’s just a vehicle to funnel money and contracts to their cronies and a tool of those in power.

  71. 71.

    tess

    October 4, 2009 at 7:37 pm

    Branch is speaking at the Atlanta History Center on Tuesday, October 13, 8pm. Reservations required, $5 for members, $10 for non-members.

    http://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/Page.asp?id=97&eventid=123

  72. 72.

    Scamp Dog

    October 5, 2009 at 4:35 pm

    I tried posting this last night; let’s see if it takes this time.

    I think Thomas deserves a small bit of credit for tiptoeing up to the media’s responsibility:

    Today, when the mainstream media seems so weakened, we forget how powerful — and arrogant — the New York Times and The Washington Post, along with the networks and news magazines, seemed to be in the early and mid-1990s. They were part of a giant scandal machine that dominated official Washington in the first few years after the Cold War. The endless string of special prosecutors and the media’s obsession with Whitewater seem excessive in retrospect.

    He loses out on full credit because of saying “seems excessive in retrospect” instead “was thoroughly irresponsible”.

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

On The Road - Winter Wren - North of Quebec City (part 2 of 3) - Cap Tourmente and on the way to Tadoussac 4
Image by Winter Wren (5/16/25)

Recent Comments

  • NotoriousJRT on War for Ukraine Day 1,177: A Brief Friday Night Update (May 17, 2025 @ 1:27am)
  • Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom on War for Ukraine Day 1,177: A Brief Friday Night Update (May 17, 2025 @ 1:17am)
  • Westyny on War for Ukraine Day 1,177: A Brief Friday Night Update (May 17, 2025 @ 1:12am)
  • Sister Golden Bear on Totally Out of the Loop Open Thread (May 17, 2025 @ 1:12am)
  • Ruckus on Totally Out of the Loop Open Thread (May 17, 2025 @ 12:43am)

PA Supreme Court At Risk

Donate

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
War in Ukraine
Donate to Razom for Ukraine

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Meetups

Upcoming Ohio Meetup May 17
5/11 Post about the May 17 Ohio Meetup

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)
Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Hands Off! – Denver, San Diego & Austin

Social Media

Balloon Juice
WaterGirl
TaMara
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
DougJ NYT Pitchbot
mistermix

Keeping Track

Legal Challenges (Lawfare)
Republicans Fleeing Town Halls (TPM)
21 Letters (to Borrow or Steal)
Search Donations from a Brand

PA Supreme Court At Risk

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!