Bill Clinton said Friday that the letter Tim Russert waved around at the Philadelphia Democratic debate was a letter Clinton wrote to the National Archives to speed up the release of his papers, rather than to slow the release or "ban" it, as Russert accused.
Clinton said he wrote the letter five years ago:
"The implication was that in the last few weeks since she'd been a candidate, I had endeavored to cover up records involving her. . That's what people thought when they heard that question," Clinton said.
Russert's accusation: "But there was a letter written by President Clinton specifically asking that any communication between you and the president not be made available to the public until 2012. Would you lift that ban?"
Following Russert's lead, Barack Obama pounced with the suggestion that Hillary would be a secretive president just like Bush. (!) Obama went on to suggest that the ongoing cultural war -- or the intense Republican hatred of the Clintons -- is due to the fact that Hillary is polarizing and "we don't need eight more years of bickering." The allegedly noble Barack Obama added that he's running for president because he can "bring people together," unlike polarizing Hillary.
The arrogance. Gawd. I almost wish Obama would get the nomination so he can have the humbling and learning experience of discovering that after the swiftboaters proceed to massacre him, he too will be viewed as "polarizing" like Hillary, or a complete and uttter fool like John Kerry.
What Bill Clinton said:
"She was incidental to the letter, it was done five years ago, it was a letter to speed up presidential releases, not to slow them down. And she didn't even, didn't know what he was talking about. And now that I've described to you what the letter said, you can readily understand why she didn't know what he was talking about."
The former president added that although he is not required by law to release any documents until 2012, he has "already released one million pages of documents, about half of which affect Hillary — the records of the health care task force."
Hillary Clinton Obama Democratic Debate News Philadelphia Politics Bush Tim Russert Bill Clinton National Archives Video
