Margaret Carlson On Bill Clinton: "Only Hillary Thinks He Has Changed His Ways"
March 30, 2007 -- 9:55 AM EST // //
Okay, we have a winner! Today's Peter Pan Press Award -- which our panel of judges awards periodically to outstanding examples of childish, inane, we'll-never-grow-up political coverage or analysis -- goes to...
Margaret Carlson! And an honorable mention goes to Chris Matthews!
The duo wins our prestigious award for their silly musings on last night's Hardball. Carlson, a columnist for Bloomberg, gets it for her industrious efforts to read Hillary's mind and to speak for the entire population of the United States; Matthews earns it for suggesting that Bill's sex life is an "uncomfortable, unsavory topic" -- while raising the subject anyway.
The discussion was sparked by a USA Today poll that was released yesterday. While many of the poll's questions were unobjectionable -- it found that an overwhelming majority think Bill will do Hillary's candidacy "more good than harm" -- it also asked the following innuendo-laden question: "Do you personally believe that since he left the White House, Bill Clinton has learned his lessons from these scandals or is the same person he always was?" Wink, wink -- get it? Is ol' Big Dog still slipping that leash of his?
It's not a stretch to guess that this question was quite transparently thrown into the mix so the cable chatters could talk about Bill's sex life without quite saying that this was what they were talking about, thus earning the poll more attention. If so, it worked. Matthews gobbled it right up. Via Nexis:
MATTHEWS: And 71 percent think Bill Clinton was a good president. However, also people think that he has not learned from his past mistakes, that he is apparently still Bill. You are hiding this full number here, Margaret. Has Bill Clinton learned his lesson from past scandals? Forty two percent say he has lessened, still say same person.Pat Buchanan, this is an uncomfortable, unsavory topic here. Let me ask you, as a Gallup person here, has Bill Clinton learned his lessons from past scandals? Citizen Buchanan, do you say still same person or he has learned his lesson?
BUCHANAN: I think Bill is pretty much the same fellow we used to know.
MATTHEWS: OK, what do you think Margaret? Margaret, you`re going to hate this question. I`m polling you.
CARLSON: Only Hillary thinks he has changed his ways.
MATTHEWS: Let me ask you, as a citizen of this county: I`m Gallop. I`m a pollster. I`ve got my clipboard here. Has Bill Clinton learned his lessons from past scandals? Has he learned his lesson or is he still the same person?
CARLSON: Let me say this, some of those people in the polls --
(CROSS TALK)
MATTHEWS: I think it`s a fun question.
CARLSON: Some people are polling two things in their mind at the same time, which is he`s still the same person, but it`s not going to hurt him.
I know, I know, it was a joke. It's still friggin' inane. Hard to know which was more ridiculous: Matthews acknowledging that this was an "uncomfortable, unsavory topic" before bringing it up anyway and even calling it a "fun" question; or Carlson's impressive mind-reading. Congrats, guys.
Update: We now have the exchange on video, where it looks even more buffoonish, if you can believe it.
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