Friday, July 02, 2004
Robert Novak almost kills Paul Begalla
It was a great Crossfire today! Man, I thought for sure Robert Novak was going to kill Paul Begala. At the beginning of the show, Begala brought up something Novak had said when Novak appeared on the June 20th Meet The Press with Tim Russert, in talking about Bill Clinton with Russert and writer Joe Klein:
MR. NOVAK: Joe, if I could get a word...
MR. KLEIN: Yeah, OK.
MR. NOVAK: ...in, please? I don't believe that the Whitewater case was ever fully investigated. People died. The judge that was going to get information out was not questioned.
MR. KLEIN: People died?
MR. NOVAK: And as a matter of fact, Joe, I believe that Bill Clinton beat the rap on Whitewater and I think Ken Starr failed on that.
People died? That's what Paul Begala wanted to know about. Let's roll the tape (or in this case copy and paste the text from CNN.com):
NOVAK: All right. Readers -- readers of the left wing magazine, "The Nation," might be a little shocked when they see the back page of the current issue. Even the most fanatical Bush haters might be shocked.
Yes, the drawing shows George W. Bush eating a headless child. This is inspired by a 19th century work by Francisco Goya, Saturn Devouring his Children, aimed against the Spanish monarchy.
Sitting at this table, I know how emotional and relentless and mindless is the hatred directed against George W. Bush. But in the spirit of patriotism, this Fourth of July weekend, I wonder, Paul, if you can join me in deploring this treatment of any president of the United States as over the line and unacceptable?
(APPLAUSE)
BEGALA: In the spirit of patriotism, let me support the first amendment, which says the nation shouldn't be censored by right- wingers. And let me ask you, Mr. Novak, with your new self-founded -- newfounded self-righteousness, are you going to retract the statement you said last week on "Meet the Press," where you implied that President Clinton was involved in people's deaths over Whitewater? That's the most outrageous things I've heard said about an American president.
NOVAK: I didn't say he was engaging -- and you're lying.
BEGALA: I'll read your words.
NOVAK: And when I said that...
BEGALA: "I don't believe that the Whitewater case was ever fully investigated. People died, and I believe Bill Clinton beat the rap on Whitewater."
(CROSSTALK)
(BELL RINGING)
NOVAK: Well, I didn't say he was involved with the thing.
BEGALA: You said...
NOVAK: You...
BEGALA: ... he beat the rap and people died. Who died? Who died in Whitewater?
(CROSSTALK)
NOVAK: McDougal died, and...
BEGALA: He died in prison of a heart attack.
NOVAK: Well, people died (UNINTELLIGIBLE). But just a minute. You can't -- you can't say -- go on national television and accuse me of something I didn't say.
BEGALA: I read your words.
NOVAK: I did not say that, and that is a lie. And I...
BEGALA: These are your words, Mr. Novak. I read them.
NOVAK: And I'm ashamed of you for going on the air and saying that.
BEGALA: I got this from the transcript. This is the transcript from "Meet the Press", Bob.
NOVAK: That's an outrage. And it is...
BEGALA: It is an outrage. You owe Mr. Clinton an apology.
NOVAK: ... an absolute outrage because I did not say that he was responsible for those deaths. And this is not fun, Paul.
Why wait until the fourth? There have been plenty of fireworks in the world of politics this week. We'll debate who got burned this week.
And later, Secretary of State Colin Powell and art of diplomacy, or something like that.
That was over the line, Mr. Begala.
Whoa! As they cut to commercial you could see Novak ready to jam his pen into Begala's eye. Or something. One has to wonder why Novak would deny saying what he said? The transcript, as you've just read, is available on MSNBC. But what did Novak mean that people had died? Jerry Falwell used to peddle a tape called The Clinton Chronicles which outlined all of the crazy Clinton conspiracy theories, and one of those conspiracy theories was the "Clinton Body Count," which was a huge number of people that had died after "crossing" Bill Clinton. The link above is to a transcript of the Clinton Chronicles. Read at your own risk -- that just might be Bill Clinton hiding around a corner!
It was a great Crossfire today! Man, I thought for sure Robert Novak was going to kill Paul Begala. At the beginning of the show, Begala brought up something Novak had said when Novak appeared on the June 20th Meet The Press with Tim Russert, in talking about Bill Clinton with Russert and writer Joe Klein:
MR. NOVAK: Joe, if I could get a word...
MR. KLEIN: Yeah, OK.
MR. NOVAK: ...in, please? I don't believe that the Whitewater case was ever fully investigated. People died. The judge that was going to get information out was not questioned.
MR. KLEIN: People died?
MR. NOVAK: And as a matter of fact, Joe, I believe that Bill Clinton beat the rap on Whitewater and I think Ken Starr failed on that.
People died? That's what Paul Begala wanted to know about. Let's roll the tape (or in this case copy and paste the text from CNN.com):
NOVAK: All right. Readers -- readers of the left wing magazine, "The Nation," might be a little shocked when they see the back page of the current issue. Even the most fanatical Bush haters might be shocked.
Yes, the drawing shows George W. Bush eating a headless child. This is inspired by a 19th century work by Francisco Goya, Saturn Devouring his Children, aimed against the Spanish monarchy.
Sitting at this table, I know how emotional and relentless and mindless is the hatred directed against George W. Bush. But in the spirit of patriotism, this Fourth of July weekend, I wonder, Paul, if you can join me in deploring this treatment of any president of the United States as over the line and unacceptable?
(APPLAUSE)
BEGALA: In the spirit of patriotism, let me support the first amendment, which says the nation shouldn't be censored by right- wingers. And let me ask you, Mr. Novak, with your new self-founded -- newfounded self-righteousness, are you going to retract the statement you said last week on "Meet the Press," where you implied that President Clinton was involved in people's deaths over Whitewater? That's the most outrageous things I've heard said about an American president.
NOVAK: I didn't say he was engaging -- and you're lying.
BEGALA: I'll read your words.
NOVAK: And when I said that...
BEGALA: "I don't believe that the Whitewater case was ever fully investigated. People died, and I believe Bill Clinton beat the rap on Whitewater."
(CROSSTALK)
(BELL RINGING)
NOVAK: Well, I didn't say he was involved with the thing.
BEGALA: You said...
NOVAK: You...
BEGALA: ... he beat the rap and people died. Who died? Who died in Whitewater?
(CROSSTALK)
NOVAK: McDougal died, and...
BEGALA: He died in prison of a heart attack.
NOVAK: Well, people died (UNINTELLIGIBLE). But just a minute. You can't -- you can't say -- go on national television and accuse me of something I didn't say.
BEGALA: I read your words.
NOVAK: I did not say that, and that is a lie. And I...
BEGALA: These are your words, Mr. Novak. I read them.
NOVAK: And I'm ashamed of you for going on the air and saying that.
BEGALA: I got this from the transcript. This is the transcript from "Meet the Press", Bob.
NOVAK: That's an outrage. And it is...
BEGALA: It is an outrage. You owe Mr. Clinton an apology.
NOVAK: ... an absolute outrage because I did not say that he was responsible for those deaths. And this is not fun, Paul.
Why wait until the fourth? There have been plenty of fireworks in the world of politics this week. We'll debate who got burned this week.
And later, Secretary of State Colin Powell and art of diplomacy, or something like that.
That was over the line, Mr. Begala.
Whoa! As they cut to commercial you could see Novak ready to jam his pen into Begala's eye. Or something. One has to wonder why Novak would deny saying what he said? The transcript, as you've just read, is available on MSNBC. But what did Novak mean that people had died? Jerry Falwell used to peddle a tape called The Clinton Chronicles which outlined all of the crazy Clinton conspiracy theories, and one of those conspiracy theories was the "Clinton Body Count," which was a huge number of people that had died after "crossing" Bill Clinton. The link above is to a transcript of the Clinton Chronicles. Read at your own risk -- that just might be Bill Clinton hiding around a corner!
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