Bill Clinton

ST. PAUL--Last night, George W. Bush spoke via satellite to the Republican convention for eight and a half minutes—with his speech timed to finish just before the broadcast networks began their blanket coverage of the ten o'clock prime-time hour.

This doesn't compare favorably with the treatment that the other two-term presidents of the television age received at their final conventions.

For comparison's sake, eight and a half minutes also happens to be the length of the above video, which was merely the introduction for Bill Clinton's speech at the 2000 Democratic convention in Los Angeles. When the Clinton video finished, delegates and television viewers (his tribute was carried in the ten o'clock hour) watched footage of the outgoing president making his way through a long hallway to the convention stage, while his various accomplishments scrolled across the bottom of the screen (this particular effect was only for those in convention hall, not on TV).  read more »

Since John McCain sewed up the Republican nomination, it's been obvious that Joe Lieberman - his constant campaign traveling companion and one of his closest personal friends and political allies - would address the G.O.P. convention. What wasn't so obvious was which Joe would show up.

The answer hinged on the outcome of McCain's vice-presidential search. Probably from the beginning, McCain was inclined to tap Lieberman - and as the end of the process approached, it became clear that that's where his heart was.

If McCain had followed through on that instinct, then Lieberman would have shown up in St. Paul ready to spew red meat.  read more »

On the whole, Barack Obama's broad, aggressive and studiedly unglamorous acceptance speech was a fitting end to a convention that he entered with three major tactical goals: (1) to calm the most restive of Hillary Clinton’s supporters and to make a convincing statement to the press that the wounds of the primary season are on their way to healing; (2) to alter the public’s deeply held and instinctive view of John McCain as a principled warrior-patriot who stands above politics; and (3) to defend himself against the G.O.P.’s charge that he lacks substance and seasoning – and to inoculate himself against the escalation of these attacks at next week’s Republican convention.  read more »

A quick review of the most prominently featured speakers over the first three days of the Democratic convention – which ones helped, which ones hurt, and which ones did neither.  read more »

The Obama campaign has just released some excerpts from tonight's speech by Barack Obama.

It'll be interesting to see if he delivers the following line as prepared: "We are the party of Roosevelt. We are the party of Kennedy. So don't tell me that Democrats won't defend this country."

One president--Bill Clinton--is noticeably absent from that list.

After the jump, all of the excerpts put out by the campaign.  read more »

President Jimmy Carter acknowledged the tension between Barack Obama and the Clintons in an interview, but said it added excitement to the Democratic convention and set the stage for last night's dramatic speeches that ultimately left the Democrats better off.

“I thought Bill Clinton made a perfect speech,” said Carter, speaking to The Observer in the hallway of a downtown Denver hotel. “And I thought Joe Biden did superbly. It was the best night by far. I thought that Bill’s speech was much more total commitment to Obama, even than Hillary’s, and I thought that Hillary’s was a good speech. And I believe it will go a long way toward healing the, you know, competition – it wasn’t an animosity – between Hillary’s supporters and Obama’s.  read more »

DENVER—Bill Clinton walked onto the stage of the Pepsi Center on Wednesday night to sustained, roaring and amorous applause. Instead of signs with the names of Obama or Hillary, the hall waved American flags. Every time the ovations seemed to subside, they roared back up again. The time clock above the teleprompter froze at 10 minutes. With the tribute not eating into his speech, Clinton let them applaud. Not that he could have stopped them if he wanted.

When the applause finally died down, Clinton didn’t waste any time putting to rest the speculation about how enthusiastically he would make the case for Barack Obama and his running mate, Joe Biden.  read more »

DENVER—You'd really have to strain to see any trace of Bill Clinton's residual primary-season resentments in his ecstatically received convention speech about Barack Obama. For 20 minutes, the former president spoke and, but for a few references to his wife's primary campaign at the very beginning, used his time to talk up Obama and to take on John McCain and the G.O.P.

In particular, Clinton vouched for Obama's national security credentials - his prime vulnerability, the G.O.P.'s eyes - arguing that Obama will work for diplomacy but that "when he cannot convert adversaries into partners, he will stand up to them."

Perhaps more effectively than any other speaker at this convention, Clinton also went after McCain, prefacing his critiques with praise for McCain's heroism and his willingness to stand up to his party on several high-profile issues.  read more »

To follow Bill Clinton as a speaker is almost impossible on any occasion, let alone after a speech as strong and stunning as his endorsement of Barack Obama.

But the speech delivered so doggedly by John Kerry—as the cable anchors talked over him—was analytically sharp and politically compelling. He gave himself the satisfaction of denouncing Karl Rove by name for the Swiftboat smears. More important, however, was his enunciation of the failures of Republican foreign and security policies—and how the Bush administration has tardily come round to the use of diplomacy with North Korea and Iran. Which happens to be the same approach favored by Obama. That photo op of Michelle with Obama's World War II uncle, who looks like he came straight from the VFW hall, wasn't bad either. Nice of the Obama team to give Kerry that moment.

Only one half of the Democratic ticket is actually set. With this afternoon's acclamation vote, Barack Obama is now officially the party's candidate for president. But Joe Biden, his handpicked running mate, must still win the convention's formal blessing. Technically, the party could go through another time-consuming roll call of the states to nominate Biden, but there's no need for that. Instead, Biden will be nominated just after 10 tonight (after Bill Clinton's speech) by Quincy Lucas, a Delaware woman and domestic violence activist. There will be no seconding speech; to save time, delegates will simply be asked if anyone seconds the nomination -- and hundreds of them will shout back "I do.  read more »

With Bill Clinton scheduled to speak shortly before Joe Biden tonight, it seems a logical question to ask: Will the former president upstage the party's vice-presidential nominee?

This is no small concern for Democrats, since Biden's speech is crucial on two levels. For one, Biden - even though he ran for president this year and has been a staple on Sunday morning newsmaker shows for years - is unknown to tens of millions of voters. A primetime speech carried live by every broadcast network and cable news channel represents his best chance to lock in a favorable impression with these voters. Plus, his speech  read more »

The cliché question of the day is whether Bill Clinton's speech this evening will somehow overshadow Hillary's uplifting call to unity last night.

But that question misunderstands the his-and-hers moment. Their speeches will follow a pattern, logical if not seamless.

She spoke about the imperative to elect a Democratic president; he will talk about what a Democratic president can do.

The latter is a topic that permits him to discuss the achievements of his eight years in office as well as the promise of an Obama administration. The idea is to lend sinew and substance to what many Clintonites worried—until Senator Clinton spoke—would be a wispy, issue-free convention.

What was missing from Hillary Clinton's otherwise boffo speech last night? She neglected to mention much of anything about the nominee, including why he is ready for the job and will do it well.

Her husband is even less likely to make the case for Obama because they scarcely know each other. And aside from a few perfunctory phone conversations, Obama has done little to improve their relationship.

Indeed, friends of the former president say that the Illinois Senator made matters worse when he rebuffed an invitation to visit Clinton in Chappaqua. It seems obvious that Obama will need his help, between now and November and even more if and when he wins.

Perhaps Obama has realized that pushing Clinton away is the same mistake Al Gore made, for very different reasons. The two sides are now discussing a visit to Clinton's Harlem office sometime soon.

There is now word that Hillary Clinton’s supporters will formally place her name in nomination at the convention tomorrow night, a process that requires a nominating and a second speech, as well as the consent of the candidate herself.

This may be part of a deal with the Obama camp; negotiations about how exactly to handle Obama’s formal nomination are still apparently ongoing. But with this development, it’s worth remembering that the Clintons drew the line at allowing their opponents’ names to be placed in nomination back in 1992, when Bill Clinton was formally anointed as his party’s standard-bearer. Back then, the Clintons told their two main rivals, Paul Tsongas and Jerry Brown, that they would not be allowed to speak in primetime if they didn’t first publicly rule out allowing their names to be nominated. Tsongas complied and Brown didn’t, so there was a roll call anyway.

DENVER--Ed Rendell, the governor of Pennsylvania, is a man of large and unfettered appetites, and to see him tear into a small, crustless reuben sandwich, corned beef flying, is a little like watching a lion take after a plump, wounded antelope. His first order of business completed, Rendell gallumphed up the microphone at the Pinnacle Club, where the Pennsylvania delegation was having lunch on Tuesday afternoon, a few hours before Rendell and Hillary Clinton were to address the Democratic Convention.

“Isn’t the food terrific here?” the governor began, and then segued into some stern instructions. “I want to make sure that we do two things tonight.  read more »

Some nominees treat Jimmy Carter better than others. This marks the seventh Democratic convention of Carter's decorated post-presidency, but he wasn't exactly shown a great deal of respect by Barack Obama and this year's planners.

Carter addressed the convention in a pre-taped video message that aired well before primetime, after a speech by a New Orleans jazz singer and before remarks by Obama's half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng. The video featured clips of Carter describing his personal observations of the devastation in New Orleans and footage of Carter surveying the damage and meeting with victims. Several times he praised Obama, saying that the Illinoisan would never fail disaster victims the way the Bush administration had.  read more »

DENVER—Bill Perkins, one of the first New York elected officials to endorse Barack Obama, jumped out of his seat and let out an ear-piercing whistle as Hillary Clinton addressed party unity in a speech to the New York delegation this morning.

“I think she hit a home run,” he said when I asked him about the speech later; he also called it “a transformational expression of support.” Perkins went on, “If that enthusiasm continues, then it’s done and she gets credit for moving [her supporters] into the victory column.”

Representative Charlie Rangel, who gave a fist-bump to Chuck Schumer after giving his own address, called Clinton’s speech “fantastic.  read more »

Last week Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed that New York City engage in a serious effort to develop alternative energy sources, and in return for his trouble he faced skepticism and even ridicule from a cynical media. Cartoons were drawn with King Kong trying to swat a windmill off the top of the Empire State Building. Still, even the tabloids could not dismiss the idea entirely. Bloomberg commands respect, and $4 a gallon gasoline has everyone looking for alternatives.

New York City has been built by people who dreamed large and were able to project into the future. Imagine the city without Central, Van Cortland or Prospect Parks.  read more »

DENVER—The New York delegation to the Democratic convention still doesn't know whom it is supposed to vote for.

Four days before Barack Obama's official acceptance of the party's nomination for president, New York delegates are checking into the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Denver and saying they have not received any guidance on whether to cast a symbolic vote for Hillary Clinton during roll call or whether to vote for Obama.

When I asked City Comptroller Bill Thompson, who supported Clinton in the primary, whether the Clintons expressed a preference, he said, "At least not that I've been made aware of.  read more »

The latest edition of Ricki Lieberman's ELECTABILITY WATCH (EW) daily memo includes this curious paragraph:

I have been flooded with emails from delegates telling me they are staying with Hillary and proud of it! In addition, Hillary delegates are hearing directly from "Hillary people" to please vote for her on the first ballot. There is no longer any ambiguity about that, if there ever was.

Should have a better sense of what she means as Hillary delegates keep flowing into Denver.

Here’s a shot from last night's fund-raiser for Representative Ed Towns, which took place at the home of attorney Sanford Rubenstein and featured a slate of very prominent Democrats.

From left to right: City Comptroller Bill Thompson, Bill Clinton, the Rev. Calvin Butts, Governor David Paterson, Towns, and Assemblyman Darryl Towns (the congressman's son).

Towns is facing a primary challenge from community activist and former MTV Real World star Kevin Powell, who has critisized Towns for supporting Hillary Clinton during the primary.

Bill Clinton will speak at a fund-raiser tonight for Representative Ed Towns, whose challenger, Kevin Powell, is trying to frame Towns' support of Hillary Clinton in the presidential primary as a political liability.

The event is taking place at the home of attorney Sanford Rubenstein, on East 64th Street. Clinton is expected to speak around 7:30 p.m. Others expected to attend include Representatives Anthony Weiner and Yvette Clarke, and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer.

The invitation, which was forwarded to me by a reader, also lists notable figures like Governor David Paterson, City Comptroller Bill Thompson and Representative Charlie Rangel, although it doesn't say whether they will attend.

Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson bailed on the birthday celebration that Ms. Ronson celebrates every year with her twin sister Charlotte because of the lurking paparazzi at the Bowery Hotel. [P6]

Meanwhile, Ms. Lohan's reported ex and daughter of Yahoo CEO Terry Semel, Courtenay Semel, got arrested in Las Vegas on Tuesday for having an altercation with a security guard at Pure nightclub; she had been asked to leave because she was rather intoxicated. [P6]

John Edwards' lawyer pals reportedly helped Rielle Hunter escape to the Virgin Islands a day before his public confession on August 8.  read more »

Jeffrey Epstein, the money manager who will soon start serving 16 months in jail for soliciting underage prostitutes, first came to the media's attention in 2002 when he used his mysteriously acquired wealth to fly some newfound friends like former President Bill Clinton, and actors Kevin Spacey and Chris Tucker, to Africa on his private jet.

But just where was Mr. Epstein's money coming from?  read more »

In her New York Post column today, Cindy Adams takes to task Johns Hopkins University assistant professor of psychiatry John D. Gartner for the Bill Clinton bio he's publishing at the end of September through St. Martin's Press. In the book, titled In Search of Bill Clinton: A Psychological Biography, professor Gartner claims that Clinton's father is not Bill Blythe, as Clinton has always believed, but rather Arkansas doctor George Wright.

Gartner lays out a whole psycho-biography of Clinton (as is his wont—talk about a weird niche!) that explains why he fell in love with Hillary (she looked like his grandma) and why he went for Monica (she reminded him of his mom).  read more »

I can’t help but think of Bob Kerrey right now. In 1992, the then-Nebraska senator (and current New School president) was one of Bill Clinton’s two vice-presidential finalists, and conventional wisdom strongly suggested Kerrey would get the nod.

The reason was simple: Clinton was an inexperienced small-state governor whose Vietnam draft avoidance would be a major issue in the fall – especially since he was running against a World War II hero, George H.W. Bush. The presence of Kerrey, a decorated Vietnam combat veteran widely celebrated for his sacrifices, would inoculate Clinton against the G.O.P.’s ugly attacks, just as Kerrey’s Senate experience would complement Clinton’s gubernatorial resume.  read more »

When it comes to Barack Obama’s running-mate search, the question of “when?” is now being asked just as often as “who?”

The Politico is reporting that Obama’s decision is expected this week – but that it also might come “as late as this weekend,” or even “the beginning of next week” at the Democratic convention. Which doesn’t really narrow it down at all. Marc Ambinder, meanwhile, notes that Obama is scheduled for a down day in Chicago this Friday and that “Democratic advance folks are being called to Chicago,” suggesting an end-of-week announcement could be in the works. Or maybe not.

It’s worth noting that the last time a VP choice was announced during a convention was in 1988, when George H.  read more »

In the three national campaigns he has run - two for the Democratic presidential nomination and one as the party's vice presidential nominee - John Edwards won a grand total of one contest as an active candidate*: the South Carolina primary in 2004. But amazingly, he managed to emerge from each losing effort with his political standing not only unharmed, but actually enhanced.

His 2004 primary bid, which peaked with his strong second-place showing in the lead-off Iowa caucuses, ended with wide agreement among activists and party leaders that his Southern roots, working-class appeal, and powerful communication skills would make him the ideal running mate for John Kerry, who finally gave in and offered Edwards his No.  read more »

With all of the talk about what roles Hillary and Bill Clinton will play at the upcoming Democratic convention – and whether Clinton will allow her name to be placed in nomination for a roll call vote – it's probably worth looking back to the 1992 convention, when the Clintons dealt with similar issues, but from a much different perspective.

Back then, they were the winners, with Bill emerging from the Democratic primaries with more than enough delegates to secure a first-ballot nomination. But as the July convention in New York approached, two of his primary-season opponents – Paul Tsongas and Jerry Brown – each stubbornly clung to their large delegate blocs (more than 500 each), attempting to use threats of rules fights and roll call votes as leverage.  read more »

It’s long been obvious that Bill Clinton believes he was wronged in this year’s Democratic primary campaign, his words and actions deliberately twisted and distorted by his enemies and their accomplices in the press to turn him into someone and something he is not.

Two months after his wife formally conceded to Barack Obama, the former president is still pouting in full public view. In an interview with ABC News last weekend, he was noticeably stinting in his praise of the presumptive Democratic nominee while making it clear that he has some primary-related grievances to air just as soon as this election is over.  read more »

Barack Obama's response to one of Tom Brokaw's six attempts to engage him on his running-mate search on yesterday's Meet the Press, which I wrote about last night, is getting some attention today.

Asked by Brokaw whether geography will dictate his selection, Obama said:

"I'm going to want somebody with integrity. I'm going to want somebody with independence, who's willing to tell me where he thinks or she thinks I'm wrong. And I'm going to want somebody who shares a vision of the country where we need to go, that we've got to fundamentally change not only our policies, but how our politics works, how business is done in Washington.  read more »

• 3 comments

Representative Charlie Rangel, who has recently faced a flurry of tough , intense press coverage, is having what appears to be an enormous birthday party for himself at Central Park's Tavern on the Green on Wednesday, August 6.

The invitation notes that Bill and Hillary Clinton, David Paterson, Chuck Schumer, Andrew Cuomo, Tom DiNapoli, Malcolm Smith, Bill Thompson and Christine Quinn will be there. The "special guest" is Howard Dean.

The event will be a fund-raiser for Rangel's campaign committee, the Victory Fund. The committee is highlighting the "top ten targeted house races," all of which are in the DCCC's "Red to Blue" project.  read more »

"There may be somebody special here today," said Maya Soetoro-Ng, Barack Obama's sister, upon observing the large audience in the Hilton ballroom this morning. Then she abruptly added, "Two somebodies."

It seems the Obama family is having a hard time remembering Hillary Clinton this week. Last night, Obama painfully forgot to make an appeal for the cancellation of Clinton's debt to his supporters at a fund-raiser that was billed as a unity event in which he would make an appeal for the cancellation of Clinton's debt. This morning, in front of roughly 2,000 donors, mostly women, who had donated between $200 and $23,000 to a variety of Obama-related funds, the two former rivals appeared together to argue that equal pay and rights for women was a crucial aspect of any plan for American progress, and that party unity was a critical step to winning in November.  read more »

On the heels of Lanny Davis’ announcement last month, Howard Wolfson’s move today brings to two the number of top Hillary Clinton allies who have signed on with Fox News since the end of the primary season. And let's not forget that Terry McAuliffe, Clinton’s campaign chairman, also offered praise of Fox that the channel recycled into a promo.

None of this would have been imaginable a year or two ago, back when Fox still treated the Clintons as the face of the enemy. So what happened?  read more »

The Clinton campaign and Clinton supporters obviously believed that traditional “liberal” media outlets like CNN and MSNBC had it in for them and were openly promoting Barack Obama, while Fox – especially as the primary season wore on – was far

I'm on vacation this week, enjoying the sun, surf and sand here in Long Beach New York, where we've had a small summer home since 1987. I'm on the West End of town, where the biggest problem over the last few years has been the proliferation of second and third cars and the difficulty of parking on the narrow and crowded streets: Until this summer. This summer the big news is the price of gasoline. In the last year and a half, the price of gasoline has doubled. In January, 2007 gasoline was less than $2.20 a gallon, today it is well over $4.  read more »

David Axelrod has appeared in the press enclosure here at the Unity event. He says Hillary will be a "huge force in bringing about the change we all want."

And her husband?

"We would welcome him. You know, there are only four living presidents and he has so much to offer here. We hope to establish a close relationship."

Axelrod also predicted his campaign would be accused of "inventing" the tie result here in the primary but "that was what happened."

And with that, there comes the sound of Obama and Clinton being introduced. No one can see them yet, though, and the crowd, which was cheering wildly, has gone quiet again.

A reporter says to none in particular that HRC might have decided to make a last round of superdelegate calls instead.

Uma Thurman is reportedly engaged to financier Arpad Busson. [NY Daily News]

Those awkward photos of Sean Avery standing shirtless in a fashion closet at Men's Vogue mysteriously disappeared from the magazine's Web site. [Radar]

Graydon Carter, Jann Wenner, Tom Wolfe, Jimmy Buffet, Gay Talese and others gathered at the Waverly Inn on Wednesday to celebrate Gonzo, a Carter-produced documentary about the life and work of Hunter S. Thompson. [WWD]

Raffaello Follieri's friends reportedly want Anne Hathaway to come get the chocolate lab the couple bought together.  read more »

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- Michelle Obama did her part for Democratic unity here today, referring to Hillary Clinton as an "extraordinary woman" at a round-table event with former New Hampshire Governor Jeanne Shaheen.

"Because of Hillary Clinton's work, the issues of importance to women and working families are more at the forefront than ever before," Obama said, the day before Barack Obama will appear with Clinton for the first time since the primary ended.

Naturally enough, she sought to portray herself and her husband as closely in tune with female concerns.

One of the first rounds of applause during her brief speech came when she paid tribute to her mother for resourcefulness.  read more »