>I'm a bit skeptical of this point. The "Wizard of 'Is'" was named
>derisively, for his rather pathetic and transparent answers in the
>Lewinsky matter. On election day 2000, in a spontaneous radio discussion
>with Amy Goodman, Clinton was reduced to claiming that Goodman was being
>"disrespectful"!
Oh come on! Clinton said a lot more than that <http://www.alternet.org/story/10067>. The guy's a scumbag, but he knows a lot and is extremely articulate. And Goodman didn't know enough to challenge Clinton in this passage (in which the word "disrespectful" appears, but amidst a well-marshalled argument):
>AMY GOODMAN: Many people say that Ralph Nader is at the high
>percentage point he is in the polls because you have been
>responsible for taking the Democratic party to the right. What do
>you say to listeners who are listening around the area right now
>(Overlap)
>
>PRESIDENT CLINTON: Well, I'm glad you asked that.
>
>AMY GOODMAN: ... those concerns.
>
>PRESIDENT CLINTON: I'm glad you asked that, and that's the last
>question I've got time for. I'll be happy to ... answer that. What
>is the measure of taking the Democratic Party to the right? That we
>cut the welfare rolls in half? That poverty is at a 20 year low?
>That child poverty has been cut by a third in our administration?
>That the incomes of average Americans have gone up 15 percent after
>inflation? That poverty among seniors has gone below 10 percent for
>the first time in American history? That we have the lowest African
>American, the lowest Latino unemployment rate in the history of the
>country? That we have a 500 percent increase in the number of
>minority kids taking advanced placement tests?
>
>That the schools in this country, that the test scores among ...
>since we have required all the schools to have basic standard test
>scores, among African Americans and other minorities have gone up
>steadily? Now what (Overlap)
>
>AMY GOODMAN: Can I say that some people ...
>
>PRESIDENT CLINTON: Now, let me just finish.
>
>AMY GOODMAN: Let me just say ...
>
>PRESIDENT CLINTON: Now let me ... now, wait a minute. You started
>this and every question you've asked has been hostile and combative.
>So you listen to my answer, will you do that?
>
>AMY GOODMAN: They've been (Overlap)
>
>PRESIDENT CLINTON: Now, you just listen to me. You ask the
>questions, and I'm going to answer. You have asked questions in a
>hostile, combative, and even disrespectful tone, but I ... and you
>have never been able to combat the facts I have given you. Now, you
>listen to this. The other thing Ralph Nader says is that, you know,
>he's pure as Caesar's wife on the environment.
>
>Under this administration, 43 million more Americans are breathing
>cleaner air. We have safer drinking water, safer food, cleaner
>water. We have more land set aside than any administration in
>history since Theodore Roosevelt. We have cleaned up three times as
>many toxic waste sites as the previous administrations did in 12
>years. And we passed a chemical right-to-know law that is a very
>tough law. It's the best environmental record in history.
>
>Al Gore's opponent, and one of the two of them are going to be
>President ... Al Gore's opponent has promised to weaken the clean
>air standards, and repeal a lot of the land protections. Now, those
>are the facts. People can say whatever they want to. Those are the
>facts.