Bill Clinton sorry for 'scumbag' remarks, spokesman says

[Gunny]

(CNN) -- Hillary Clinton's campaign has apologized for "inappropriate" language used by her husband in response to what it called an "outrageously unfair" article about the former president.

The article, by Vanity Fair magazine's national editor Todd Purdum, suggested that Bill Clinton's personality had changed since his 2004 heart bypass surgery and said that there were reports of Clinton "seeing a lot of women on the road."

Purdum quoted four anonymous former Clinton aides saying that another of his former assistants had conducted "what one of these aides called an intervention" about the reports of philandering.

A writer for the Huffington Post, Mayhill Fowler, asked Clinton on Monday what he thought "about that hatchet job somebody did on you in Vanity Fair," according to a recording of the exchange posted on the Huffington Post's Web site. Listen to Clinton call the reporter a "scumbag" »

"[He's] sleazy," Clinton responded. "He's a really dishonest reporter."

Clinton said he had not read the article but that he was told that "there's five or six just blatant lies in there. But he's a real slimy guy." Watch Larry King panel debate Bill Clinton's response »

Calling Purdum a "scumbag," Clinton said "he's one of the guys that propagated all those lies about Whitewater for Kenneth Starr. He's just a dishonest guy -- can't help it."

Purdum "didn't use a single name, he didn't cite a single source in all those things he said," said the former president, who added that the article was "part of the national media's attempt to nail Hillary for [Barack] Obama."

He said readers should be wary of news accounts that rely on unnamed sources.

"Anytime you read a story that slimes a public figure with anonymous quotes, it ought to make the bells go off in your head," he said.

Late Monday, Jay Carson, a spokesman for Hillary Clinton's campaign, said that "President Clinton was understandably upset about an outrageously unfair article, but the language today was inappropriate and he wishes he had not used it."

Purdum, a former New York Times reporter who covered the Clinton White House and is now married to former Clinton press secretary Dee Dee Myers, defended his article on CNN's "The Situation Room" Monday.

He told CNN's Wolf Blitzer he was "very careful to say there is no clear-cut evidence that President Clinton has done anything improper." Watch CNN's Wolf Blitzer interview Purdum »

"I reject the notion that I'm making an insinuation," Purdum said. "But I'm very comfortable quoting the people I quote because I know who they are, and I know that they are very senior people who have known President Clinton for a very long time and work for him at very high levels."

In his article, Purdum quotes a Johns Hopkins cardiologist -- who was not involved in Clinton's health care -- who says that the former president's bypass surgery could have affected his mood, perhaps even causing depression.

And on CNN, Purdum quoted "some people who work for him" saying that Clinton "seems to be angry all the time."

Purdum added he himself believes there's evidence the former president is acting in a different manner.

"I think there's a good deal of evidence that he is quite a bit angrier than he used to be," he said. "He's clearly very angry at the media, and he's very angry at the way he sees Sen. Clinton's campaign has been treated."

more ... Bill Clinton sorry for 'scumbag' remarks, spokesman says - CNN.com

 

[T-Bor]

Clinton is the freaking man. I wish I could reel in the ladies like him.

 

[doeton]

not to ride a dead horse(ok, i'm a necroequiniophiliac) ...but this stuff really does exemplify why clinton wouldn't have been as strong a candidate v mccain as her supporters wanna think

 

[Toro]

Good tactical move by the Obama camp for planting this story as another excuse not to pick Hillary as Veep.

 

[AllieBaba]

A Clinton calling someone sleezy...now THAT'S irony.

 

[Ravi]

I don't understand why he apologized.

 

[Care4all]

I don't understand why he apologized.

i don't either?

 

[horaciocs]

He had no reason to apologise Don't know why he did that either

 

[William Joyce]

Did you know that a "scumbag" is a used condom?

 

[Gunny]

I don't understand why he apologized.

i don't either?

Me three. I'd have told 'em to go pound sand.

 

[Gunny]

Good tactical move by the Obama camp for planting this story as another excuse not to pick Hillary as Veep.

I don't see that. Only reason is, I don't see Obama needing any excuse to not choose her.

She WON'T play second fiddle to him, and Bill DOES come with the package.

He's got to weight that against the potential loss of votes.

 

[jillian]

I don't see that. Only reason is, I don't see Obama needing any excuse to not choose her.

She WON'T play second fiddle to him, and Bill DOES come with the package.

He's got to weight that against the potential loss of votes.

If she isn't a good team player now, the party will turn on her and she'll be screwed. I agree, though, it's difficult to have a second fiddle who is good enough to be first fiddle. on the other hand, shouldn't that be what a VP is?

 

[Gunny]

If she isn't a good team player now, the party will turn on her and she'll be screwed. I agree, though, it's difficult to have a second fiddle who is good enough to be first fiddle. on the other hand, shouldn't that be what a VP is?

What do you mean "will turn on her"? Geez, what's it take?

Perception. The perception is in the minds of many Democrats as well as independents, and probably Republicans that Hillary is the BETTER of the two.

If Obama selects her as his running mate, it is going to be perceived as being for the votes (because it will be) and he will be perceived as not strong enough to do it on his own and he will carry that throughout his presidency, should he win it.

In his place, I wouldn't do it.

 

[Justme08]

I honestly do not know what happened to Bill during this campaign - he went from a respected statesman to an absolute loonie old man - in just a few months. Perhaps there is dementia setting in...