A paranoid-sounding Bill Clinton threatened ABC News anchorman Peter Jennings in an interview broadcast Thursday night, in a bizarre rant about his impeachment that laid bare the ex-president's persecution complex. "You don't want to go here, Peter," Clinton warned, after Jennings told him that historians ranked him second to last of all presidents in terms of moral authority. Squinting his eyes, an angry Clinton seethed, "You don't want to go here. Not after what you people did. And the way you - your network - what you did with Kenneth Starr. The way your people repeated every little sleazy thing he did. No one has any idea of what that's like."
The amazing exchange came after Clinton at first claimed he didn't care about the verdict of historians. "I had more support from the world when I quit than when I started," he claimed. "And I will go to my grave being at peace about it. And I don't really care about what [the historians] think."
Immediately, Jennings challenged Clinton, all but calling him a liar. "Oh, yes you do . . . Excuse me, Mr. President. I can feel it across the room. You care very deeply." Jennings' challenge sent Clinton into a thinly veiled rage, prompting him to threaten, "You don't want to go here, Peter."
The full exchange went like this:JENNINGS (Discussing rankings by presidential historians]: They gave you a forty-first in terms of moral authority - after Nixon.
CLINTON: They're wrong about that. You know why they're wrong about it? They're wrong about it.
JENNINGS: Why, sir?
CLINTON: Because we had $100 million spent against us in all these inspections . . . In spite of it all, you don't have any example where I ever lied to the American people about my job, where I have let the American people down. And I had more support from the world when I quit than when I started. And I will go to my grave being at peace about it. And I don't really care about what they think.
JENNINGS: Oh, yes you do.
CLINTON: They have no idea . . .
JENNINGS: Excuse me, Mr. President. I can feel it across the room. You care very deeply.
CLINTON: No, no. I care. I care. You don't want to go here, Peter. You don't want to go here. Not after what your people did. And the way you - your network - what you did with Kenneth Starr. The way your people repeated every little sleazy thing he did. No one has any idea of what that's like. |