Bubba Trouble: The Comeback Id: Vanity Fair

Vanity Fair:

Old friends and longtime aides are wringing their hands over Bill Clinton's post-White House escapades, from the dubious (and secretive) business associations to the media blowups that have bruised his wife's campaign, to the private-jetting around with a skirt-chasing, scandal-tinged posse. Some point to Clinton's medical traumas; others blame sheer selfishness, and the absence of anyone who can say "no." Exploring Clintonworld, the author asks if the former president will be consumed by his own worst self.

Read the whole story: Vanity Fair

Comments

[SouthFloridaDem]

God, that's a great photo.

[Jaxxon]

“So much of modern culture is characterized by stories of self-indulgence and self-destruction,” Clinton writes near the end of Giving, from which he earned $6.3 million and gave away $1 million (or 16 percent) to charity. “So much of modern politics is focused not on honest differences of policy but on personal attacks. So much of modern media is dominated by people who earn fortunes by demeaning others, defining them by their worst moments, exploiting their agonies. Who’s happier? The uniters or the dividers? The builders or the breakers? The givers or the takers? I think you know the answer.”

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Probably the most important part of this expansive piece in Vanity Fair. It's unfortunate that with all of Sen. Clinton's accomplishments and hard work over the years, this pretty much sums up the primary campaign- how best to divide this country. It's unfortunate that a lot of the bad behavior came from her husband in the early part of her campaign. Bill Clinton's presence in this campaign has been far the most negative aspect of Sen. Clinton's campaign. However, she cosigned this and added fuel to the fire during the last month with her own divisive comments. It's also the fundamental reason I switched from Sen. Clinton to Sen. Obama in my choice for the Democratic nominee.

[DCtrain]

Agreed, Bill was a nightmare for Hillary... Also, if Bill behaved honorably in post presidency, we the people would have no fear of him being loose in the Whitehouse, but the truth is, he's not behaved honorable and having him loose again in the Whitehouse becomes a nightmare for the american people.

[campgranata]

But no matter what you say about Bill Clinton, Hillary stayed with him because without him she would be a process server in a third rate law office. She would never be running for the presidency as the mediocre Hillary Rodham Nobody. He is (was) the talent, she was his watchdog and though she did that well she did it for herself not for him.

[windwalker1984]

If you look at the Clintons tax returns, the majority of the money given to charity went to their own Clinton Foundation, not some worth cause such as the Cancer Society or Salvation Army. Since both Hillary and Bill head their own "charitable" foundation, it is really just anouther tool for manipulation and leverage. Even when it comes to charity, it is still all about the Clintons.

[hopefulintexas]

To me, Bill and Hill are equally matched in terms of offensiveness. Bill's comments are unbelievable -- always at precisely the wrong moment, granted. But he did not force her to say that she and McCain were the only ones "qualified"for commander in chief, and lots of the other divisive stuff coming straight from her mouth. That sneering look of entitlement on her face gets me every time.

[Tropiholic]

Ho Hum, so what else is new?

[CKieffer]

Several months ago, Bill Bradley made reference to very questionable dealings going on with the Clintons. My guess is that the things included in this article are well known within Washington circles. The Clintons are lucky that the media didn't really vet them; didn't question their religious attachment to "The Family" and mostly... very lucky that Obama didn't use any of it against them. Meanwhile, one does have to ask why this article is coming out now and not several months (or at least four to eight weeks ago).... i.e, before WV.

While the shadiness was not a surprise, his gross abuse of the taxpayer's money ("staff", "expenses", etc) annoys me no end.

[gladys46]

This is exactly why Chelsey (a grown woman) took me to my ultimate sense of pissivity when she responded " .... nobody's business ...." What!! The Clinton's lived rent free in that white house on our tax $$$, Chelsey was raised in that white house on our tax $$$ ... Bill dirtied that white house to points where our country thought a G.Bush was clean! K.Starr was rewarded $$$$ gazillions of our tax $$$$ .... and for what ... "not our business ...."

Hillary stayed, she has much "feminist" work to do .... most of that involves healing her own hubby!

As has been said over and over again .... Hillary drags overloaded baggage ... Obama does not need her/him!

[snarkopolitan]

Despite how much I love and fully intend to steal the word "pissivity", I have to disagree. While Bill's misbehavior IS our business, his daughter is not the one to ask. Nobody should be held accountable for their parents' sins. Not Chelsea, not Caroline, not Tricia or Jenna or Ron, not you and not me. When I think about what my mother.....!!!

[PKSSK]

I think this article confirms that Clinton will not and cannot be on the ticket and thankfully will not be the nominee. I think it is sad that this article was not released long before the Clinton's were allowed to tear apart the party and threaten our chances of electing a democrat as President. I can only assume the author, husband of Dee Dee Myers (former Clinton Press Sec), feared the repercussions of being an enemy of the Clinton's. Hopefully, the Clinton's will find some form of solace in the private sector soon.

[starboymikey]

This primary has cost the Clintons most of the residual good will left over from Bill's presidency.

[Krikkit]

The more I learn about the Clintons the less I like them. Now I'm wondering if Hillary isn't so drivien to gain the white house so that she can make her own deals the way Bill has done, so that she can finally dump his sorry butt without giving up the wealthy lifestyle to which she has become accustomed.

[KGinSanFrancisco]

I'm so glad that the Clinton's mess will finally be out of the White House. What a disgrace both of them are! I wish articles like these have been published sooner. Why did they wait so long? Where they afraid of the Clinton's vengeance and their powerful and shady connections? I just want them to go away to the past, where they belong. They have brought shame to this country and the democratic party.

[candyc]

True. This article would have spared us an incredible amount of anxiety had it come out earlier. But, I'll take this timing. This should shut them down fast.

And are we lucky or WHAT? We dodged this very ominous bullet, and for the first time since 1998, neither a Clinton or a Bush will be living in the White House!

AND, on top of that, we have the most awesome candidate EVER!

Thank you Todd Purdum.

[tedbear]

EVERYONE should read this article about the Clintons.

I say the "Clintons," because if Obama can be harassed because a pastor and a priest talking crazy, or because he sat on a board with Farakan, etc., then Hillary Clinton running for President or VP needs to be scrutinized about her loose husband.
He needs to reveal all of his money dealings, and business dealings, and personal friends just like everyone else involved in the election of the President (or VP) of the United States of America. The fact that he contributed substantial amounts of money from very questionable sources, makes this call for transparency in the Clinton campaign even more urgent.

I DO NOT THINK IT PROPER FOR HILLARY EVEN TO PARTICIPATE IN THE TUESDAY PRIMARIES WITHOUT CLEARING UP THESE SERIOUS BEHAVIORS OF HER HUSBAND. HE WILL BE LIVING IN THE WHITE HOUSE! This is an outrage.

[hopefulintexas]

How true. My goodness, if an article like this came out about one of Obama's pastors -- let alone his spouse -- he would be banished from the kingdom until he rejected and renounced them a minimum of 15 times. We would hear of nothing else on any news station for days on end. Where's the furor over this??

I would at least like for Hillary to have to deal with a LITTLE discomfort over this....

[altohone]

I'm not looking forward to the campaign between Obama and McSame.
It's going to be ugly.

But I'm really glad we're not going to see the campaign that could have been.

This article really puts the corporate media to shame... letting things like "the Clinton's have been vetted" slide without a dose of reality. The lack of details available as a basis for judgement would have been an endless refrain alone, without even considering propriety.

[PKSSK]

Your right. I think the media has proven to be a disaster to our country. When I think of the ABC debate by Stephonopolous and Gibson, with Clinton egging them on, I am sickened by their culpability in potentially threatening the position of our electing the only candidate who proved to be of amazing character and integrity. The fact that they did not do their job to vet the one candidate, the former employer of Stephanopolous, that had the most baggage of corruption that would have been easily defeated by McCain, which gives us all an understanding of why the Republicans, Karl Rove, favored her. I have truly come to the conclusion that the American main stream media is in fact an enemy of the people because they only protect their own, the corporate elite, which in this case is the Clinton's!!!!

[bdogg]

You hit the nail on the head there. People seem to be forgeting what he repugs have been telegraphing since before the primaries: They were drooling at the prospect of having Hill as the opponent in the general. Read that article and try to imagine that Rove and Co. didnt know everything in it before the primary race even began. HRC supporters who continue to try cast their candidate as the most electable against McBush constantly leave out the ick factor the Clintons skeleton filled closet brings to the general election. You can tell who the repug pundits are who have been hoping for a Hill victory....the ones who spend a great deal of time defending her now would be trotting out all of this info in the general.

[clevelandchick]

Vanity Fair has been putting the corporate media, especially on coverage of the Bush Administration, to shame for years. Go to their site and find the article called "The Path To War" and think about when it was written. It'll blow your mind.

Randi Rhodes, before she was yanked of AAR, had been telling everyone that Hillary had not been 'vetted' by the media. When Bill & Hillary started their Rovian campaigning against Barack she couldn't hold back anymore and gave out a lot of information about Bill's dealings that nobody had been talking about. It's been nearly 8 years since Monica Lewinsky and if anyone can find some skeletons to stuff in a closet it's Bill.

Part of Hillary's problem from the get-go was that she told everyone that she was involved in Bill's presidency, and she didn't realize that meant she had to take credit for the bad as much as the good.

[Dachozen1]

Hilllary supporters just dont get it. This whole campaign went on and Hillary was not vetted. This is the biggest mispercetion out there. There are so many connections to people and things out there that went unreported. She did a good job of crying sexism to keep people from looking into her dirt. Now we are finding out the associations of McCain and his staff's connections to murderous regimes etc. If the church, miscellaneous stretch associations to Bill Ayers and other made up stuff is the best people can find, then Obama will be ok. These lifetime politicians like Hillary and McCain have more dirt on them than Obama.

[enoughalready]

Before Hillary runs again I predict a divorce. Bill is of no use at this point.

The GOP would have had a hay-day if Hillary were the candidate.

Most electable is Obama.

[Topfeeder]

AIR F**K ONE!!!

[NotMcCain]

Fascinating article, (and gutsy, since the writer is married to DeeDee Myers). I'm glad to see the uranium deal in print again. But disappointed and puzzled that he didn't mention the $800,000 Clinton received from the Colombian government for lobbying for CAFTA.

Also--an inaccuracy. The 2007 tax returns have still not been disclosed (and probably never will be). I think their release would reveal a great deal more about Clinton's business dealings and "donors".

I was disappointed not to read anything about the Clintons' relationship. It is certainly "a puzzlement" and there's the impression given that, in many ways they live separate lives. How would that work for a "First Gentleman"?

Hillary is fortunate that Obama isn't "old politics" and used NONE of the Clintons' vulnerabilities (many well documented here) to raise suspicions about their suitability for the WH (again). The Republicans would not have been so kind.

One last critical note: There's no evidence that Obama thinks he's "hot shit". He has confidence, rightly so, but that phrase is demeaning and unwarranted toward the man who will, I believe, bring dignity and respect to the Presidency (something both GWB and Bill Clinton did not).

[KGinSanFrancisco]

Right on, great comments!

[PKSSK]

As far as the "hot shit" reference, I think the author felt obligated to throw Clinton a bone since his wife was a former press secretary to Clinton. I am very interested how the media will cover this article, especially ABC/Stephonopolous and Gibson, if at all. This article demonstrates how ABC and the MSM journalists are inept, biased and totally non reliable for factual truth!!!

[BADEN]

Let's see -

Retro
Rat Pack
"An offer they can't refuse"....
"Meet ya at the Bohemian Grove inna half an hour..."

AHA!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Z8JV2FAGJro