Slick Willie Purple Rage Round-Up

When President Bubba, our only elected President to be impeached, spewed his fatuous swill in front of Chris Wallace, you knew it was only a matter of time before the blogosphere began shining the light of truth on the subject. To wit, this post is a compilation of swill remediation. Consider it my electronic community service. (Not that I've ever been court-ordered to perform community service, mind you.)

Richard Miniter writes in the Wall Street Journal "What Clinton Didn't Do...".

In his Fox interview, Mr. Clinton said "no one knew that al Qaeda existed" in October 1993, during the tragic events in Somalia. But his national security adviser, Tony Lake, told me that he first learned of bin Laden "sometime in 1993," when he was thought of as a terror financier. U.S. Army Capt. James Francis Yacone, a black hawk squadron commander in Somalia, later testified that radio intercepts of enemy mortar crews firing at Americans were in Arabic, not Somali, suggesting the work of bin Laden's agents (who spoke Arabic), not warlord Farah Aideed's men (who did not). CIA and DIA reports also placed al Qaeda operatives in Somalia at the time.

By the end of Mr. Clinton's first year, al Qaeda had apparently attacked twice. The attacks would continue for every one of the Clinton years.

In "Condi vs. Bubba", the New York Post editorial board tells of its conversation with Secretary Rice:

"The notion somehow for eight months the Bush administration sat there . . . is just flatly false," the former national security adviser told The Post's editorial board yesterday. "What we did in eight months was at least as aggressive as what the Clinton administration did in the preceding [eight] years,"

Firing Clarke? Far from it, she noted: He "was the counter-terrorism czar when 9/11 happened, and he left [in 2003] when he did not become deputy director of homeland security," as he wanted.

At Real Clear Politics, Ronald A. Cass brings a measured, thorough look at the situation in "Bill Clinton: Play It as It Lies". The opening paragraph is a thing 'o beauty.

Former President Bill Clinton, never one to let truth stand in the way of a good line, has decided to reincarnate himself as our tough, anti-terror President. The man who ran away from military service and displayed striking contempt for our armed forces has now announced that he did more—and would do more—to combat Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda than anyone else. In his view, he should be recognized as the best man to fight that enemy.

John Hinderaker at Power Line notes "Why didn't Wallace ask the Bush Administration? He did."

Byron York writes in National Review Online on "Bill Clinton's Excuses."

“All you have to do is read Richard Clarke’s findings and you know it’s not true,” he said at yet another point. In all, Clinton mentioned Clarke’s name 11 times during the Fox interview.

But Clarke’s book does not, in fact, support Clinton’s claim.

Another Power Line blogger, Paul Mirengoff, sums up the "So What?" presidency with his post, "The Fruits of an Unserious Presidency".

Bill Clinton is desperate to be remembered by history for something other than the Lewinsky affair, perjury, and impeachment. And he will be. It's becoming clear that the Clinton legacy will also include eight years of inaction, broken by rare instances of ineffectual action, towards the mounting threat posed by Osama bin Laden and other Islamic terrorists that culminated in 9/11.

Noel Sheppard at The American Thinker - "Bill Clinton, Bin Laden, and Hysterical Revisions"

Howard Kurtz at The Washington Post - "Clinton's Finger-Wagging Moment"

And, last but not least, via the indispensible Michelle Malkin, The Washington Post reminds us that we've seen it all before.