Clinton 1, Fox 0

Bit of fall in the air this morning, no? The change of the seasons is one reason I continue to live in New York. I trust everyone had a pleasant week-end. The Patriot is going to try to tone down his inflammatory rhetoric lest he goad himself into even higher blood pressure in the remaining weeks before the election. However, Democrats take note! Bill Clinton taught a wonderful lesson over the week-end on how to handle the “reporters” over at Fox news. After being lied to by Fox and told he was going to be asked questions solely about his global initiative, Chris Wallace fired away at Clinton, accusing him of empowering Al Queda by withdrawing troops from Somalia in 1993. This little bit of revisionist history is part of a larger Republican strategy to subtly shift the blame for the increase in terrorost risk to the former administration in anticipation of the mid-term elections. Bush has been assisted in this effort by Fox and ABC/Disney who chose to air the one-sided 911 fictional dramatazation despite universal condemnation of its portrayal of the events leading to the attack.

Clinton, who is fast becoming my favorite ex-president, was having none of it. It was, of course, the Republicans in the Senate who most forcefully were calling for immediate withdrawal from Somalia after the Blackhawk down incident and Clinton, at great political risk, kept the troops there for six more months and engineered a smooth transition to the United Nations. Republican Senate leaders threatened to cut off all funding for any troops in the region. I have literally prayed for a Democratic Congress with the backbone to stand up and make the same threat with regard to Iraq, but to no avail.

Let’s see what Colin Powell had to say about Somalia back in 1993: “Because things get difficult, you don't cut and run.” (Sound familiar?) “You work the problem and try to find a correct solution' ... So let us finish the work we set out to do. Let us demonstrate to the world, as generations of Americans have done before us, that when Americans take on a challenge, they do the job right." Clinton stayed put.

The administration’s blatant attempt at revisionist history is disturbing but within character. Fox’s reporting it as fact borders on slander. Clinton, that old gleam in his eye was in full finger wagging mode and it was beautiful to see. Fox’s usual modus operandi is to invite a weak liberal guest and trash him with glee and impugnity. They miscalculated with Clinton and the story is on every media outlet in America today. Democrats, take notice. Attacking the right-wing “newspeak” bullshit with force makes you look strong and in control so climb out from under your desks and attack.