The blogosphere is still buzzing over Bill Clinton's verbal smackdown of Fox News' Chris "What Did I Do?" Wallace this weekend. Be sure to check out Nora Ephron's take on our former-narcissist-in-chief, and HuffPost's Eat the Press for some interesting details on how Fox promoted -- and edited -- the Clinton diatribe.
In light of Clinton's suddenly reawakened awareness of the pitfalls of faux bipartisanship, it's worth noting that just a couple of days before his sit-down with Wallace, Mt. Bill was interviewed by Larry King and gave off a very different vibe -- especially on the issue of the Lamont-Lieberman race in Connecticut, which he termed "a complicated thing."
"Most of the independents are against our Iraq policy," he said from on high, "but most of the Republican voters are for it. So it just depends on how many Republican votes Joe gets, as opposed to the Republican nominee, and how many independent and Democratic votes Lamont gets."
Clinton, who backed Lieberman in the primary then agreed to support Lamont, is apparently still feeling torn by the choice.
King: Are you supporting Lamont?Clinton: I am but, you know... I don't have the same view of this as some people do. My view is Connecticut is an unmitigated blessing for the Democrats because Lieberman has said if he wins he's going to vote with us to organize the Senate.
Unmitigated blessing? I'm sure the Lieberman campaign appreciated the shout out -- and the muddying of the waters.
Seconds after basically telling King that he was cool with whoever wins in Connecticut, Clinton tried to adopt the stance of party loyalist:
"I'm interested in getting one of these Houses back," he said, "because that's the only way, I think, we can move away from the philosophical and political and economic direction the country has taken in the last five years. So I'm doing what I can to help the Democrats win the House and the Senate or both."
Doing what he can -- other than giving his unambiguous support to the only Democratic nominee for Senate in Connecticut, that is.
What a difference a few days -- and a change of venue -- can make. I wonder if Clinton is now rethinking giving his "unmitigated blessing" to whoever wins in Connecticut -- including Joe Lieberman, that darling of the gang at Fox.