Idiots

September 26, 2006 by Jeff Jarvis

FoxNews takes the Bill Clinton interview down from YouTube. Fools. They would be getting a whole new audience. They’d be even more part of the conversation. At the otherwise numbing panel I went to this morning, that interview was raised by a young person — in the audience, not on the panel — as an example of real conversation on TV, not packaged and faked balance. She saw it on YouTube. Now she can’t. Foolish, foolish Fox.

  • A

    They’re pulling down selectively, of course. Full interview clips that provide context for the questions are gone, while clips that start at the second question are still up.

  • http://ruthcalvo Ruth

    Bill Clinton showed justifiable anger and looked really articulate while their interviewer stumbled along, maybe Faux News just can’t take it. But don’t cry for them, Jeff, they’ve got their story to tell and can’t be diverted from the role of promoting rightwingery.

  • RonP

    I agree taking it down was a mistake. I found it kind of fascinating – watching Clinton come unglued over nothing was like watching a train wreck. Clinton seemed like an athlete who has not competed in awhile – I always knew he was lying but he was always so skillful – a real master at work. On sunday he reminded me of an old prizefighter who needed the money – a real human hamburger. The more entertaining part was the media spin machine that fanned out to cover the tantrum. The person i feel sorry for is Hillary. She better lock him in the garage when she finally does run.

  • http://www.familygreenberg.com/blog.htm Brian Greenberg

    The full video is still up on on foxnews.com. I can understand why they took it off of YouTube, but I can’t understand why they didn’t replace it with a link to the video on their own site.

    That would not only draw the new audience that Jeff mentions, but also drive eyeballs to the other stories (and banner ads) on their site. As it stands, they’ve turned what could have been an extra click into an extra Google search.

    Foolish, foolish Fox…

  • thedude

    I watched a man actually take apart a rightwing propaganda machine. Finally someone called out the Bush adminitrations mouthpiece for what it is. And its nice to see a President, even in anger, articulate a point and in full command of facts. Bush has hissy fits and can’t finish a sentence at every other press conference, yet the media doesn’t make an issue out of it. I guess its all about expectations. No one expects Bush to be able to deal in facts or finish a thought.

  • yoyo

    thedude,
    please link to video of the Bush hissy fits, and please link to any cnn/msnbc/hn video of clinton ever being asked a tough question. the olberman interview might suffice, but please tell us at what time in the video said tough question is asked. fwiw,i don’t expect you to do this.

  • http://redstapler23.blogspot.com Suebob

    Jeff’s blog is a space to talk about technology and the media. There are plenty of other sites to drag out political arguments.

  • RonP

    if anything fox did li’l abner a favor if they indeed took the video down. please tell me what was wrong with the questions asked? i liked the new definition of achievement – I tried, but i failed. hope to see this used in the next medical mal damages trial.

    if bubba had not had the snit about the abc docudrama, these issues probably would not have come up. he is so used to being fellated by the likes of olbermann and king that to get a real question is like a sock in the jaw.

    also note to bill – better get with Al G. re: the internet – lying in the public eye is dangerous – plenty of stuff that doesn’t go away – like tape, video, and newspaper interviews.

  • RonP

    who made SueBob the hall monitor?

  • yoyo

    suebob,
    talk away or press the down key, it’s that easy.

  • RonP

    seriously suebob – we can have this debate or foodfight precisely because of things like YouTube (technology) & FoxNews (media). get it. the fun is the subjective interpretation of events by both sides. i will take thedude anyday over scolds like yourself. at least he (making a sexist assumption )has an opinion.

    and isn’t that the point of this blog? that traditional media is de-constructing into configurations that are not quite comfortable for the mainstream. your statement reminds me of so much media i have ignored for so many years now.

  • kat

    The finger wagging reminds me of “I’ve never had sex with that woman” and we know he lied then just like he lied now. And then there was the moment with Peter Jennings, who sure as hell can’t be accused of being rightwing.
    http://hotair.com/archives/2006/09/26/video-flashback-clinton-points-finger-at-jennings-enraged-at-moral-questioning/

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  • thedude

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuVtQUQvIpo

    Typical pissy fit, filled with bizarre half sentences. I guess he is the decider.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjAzaqjBCZs

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp4vLBvU1bA
    So what?

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  • dusty

    Republicans reminiscing about the blow job – $1

    The Media regurgitating the Clinton gets crazed nonsense – $.50

    A true believer “watching Clinton come unglued over nothing was like watching a train wreck” – Priceless

    Attacks on pre-Bush America are “nothing” except that they weren’t responded to as well as GWB’s America so let’s stay calm. Wait… Not calm but afraid. Attacks on a Republican America are worth burning the Constitution and don’t you even think about debating the Republican response you seditionist traitor. Weird, something going on here.

    I’m beginning to think republicans have lived an an echo chamber for so long that they don’t recognize simple debate. Clinton was far from unglued and merely articulated his responses to OBL (with a bit of conviction) that have already been established in the 9/11 commission report. You repubs really should debate somebody offline to see what it’s like. Conviction looks like Clinton, irritation with the Peasants is what Bush does.

    Good luck.

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  • kat

    (Conviction looks like Clinton,) Yeah, I saw that conviction when he didn’t have sex with that woman. He’s a convincing liar who lies with conviction.

  • http://www.filmbuffonline.com Rich Drees

    At least he’s a better lie than Bush, who can’t seem to keep his stories straight. (“We’re going to get OBL…OBL isn’t important…We’re still going after OBL…”)

  • http://www.filmbuffonline.com Rich Drees

    Opps. That should read “better liar”.

  • http://brooklynkitchen.net/brooklyn-kitchen-blog.html Brooklyn Kitchen

    It’s most interesting to see how the Clinton interview was perceived with regard to one’s own political afiliations. It seems that Democrats see it as a takedown of Fox and Bush administration nonsense. Republicans see it as a Clinton hissy fit.

    Also: Fox took the video off of YouTube because they wanted to draw the new audience you speak of back to their own site. There move is about advertising impressions, isn’t it? Fox likely sees the video on YouTube and imagines all that money going down the toilet.

  • RonP

    At times i wonder whether Bill Clinton is a creation of Karl Rove. Everything was looking great for the dems to re-capture at least one house of government. post labor day that seemed to evaporate – evidenced by the RangelPelosiBegalaSchumer et al diving for the microphone in order to denounce El Presidente Chavez – always nice when your betters deign to throw a bone to the bumpkins in flyover country. But to seal the deal – Rove sends out Bubba to have a meltdown on TV and then distributes it via YouTube – bet Rove invented that as well. talk about looking guilty – positively nixonian. there goes 2006! its been a bad year for the “true believers – kos kids etc., no fitzmas, and no return to power. how does Chimpy Bushitlerburton do it? now thats priceles.

  • http://kalipuna.blogspot.com Dr. Mathews

    The recently declassified NIE judgements seem to indirectly bolster Clinton’s point about the ill-conceived diversion of resources to Iraq instead of their use to track down Bin-Laden. As former top CIA official in Saudi Arabia, Ray Close, stated:

    No reasonable person can possibly deny that our intervention in Iraq has been an enormous stimulus to terrorist activity worldwide. Efforts by John McCain and others to discount the significance of that factor by pointing out that the attacks on 9/11 occurred before our overthrow of Saddam Hussein is as trivial and irrelevant as they are disingenuous.

  • Brileni

    Fox News doesn’t want to be part of the conversation – they want to control the information that the public has access to, and make sure the story that Fox News promotes is the only one alive. If they can’t control the message, then the message cannot exist. Simple as that.

  • RonP

    In the wider context do you really think that capturing Bin Laden matters? since this is an asymetrical war, do you really think Bin Laden has any knowledge of what is going on in conflict based on individual cells? the time to get bin laden has passed and unfortunately Mr. Clinton could have pulled the trigger on that at least twice (what he has admitted to). Now we have the martyr effect to deal with. had he been dispatched (relatively) quietly he would have shown up as nothing more than burning gob of goo in the desert.

    all this noise and spin cannot detract from the failure of the Clinton administration to confront this head on. that should not give a pass to the Carter, Reagan or Bush 1 administrations they dealt with this on a piece meal basis as well.

    if Clinton could have dropped his narcissism for just a moment he could have answered the question in a far more statesmanlike manner. He could have said “I tried, i made mistakes, i like my predecessors did not grasp the gravity of the situation – that said I now believe that the way the current administration is handling the situation is not correct.”

    I would have looked at that as an opening for real bi-partisan discussion on terrorism. the spin machine seems to only want to talk about Clinton giving the democrats a spine. sort of begs the question and allows for a follow up question of, “if you didn’t have a spine until now then why shouldn’t i believe the accusations that you are objecting to?” The War Room doesn’t work anymore – things like YouTube, blogs, etc. have instant access to information which can immediately demolish what either side say. beware.

  • John

    NBC has worked out a finanical deal with YouTube to air network clips on the service, though I assume those are clips chosen by the network itself. The other networks and their movie studio partners have balked at allowing their content up on YouTube, since (as a previous poster mentioned) they don’t see any money in it for them.

    Some YouTube accounts have been suspended and content taken down when people have posted even segments of copyrighted material, so Fox’s action with the Clinton video falls into that category. It’s self-defeating, since as much as this brohaha may be stirring up passions right now, nobody’s going to care much about it six months down the line, and few if any people will be heading over to the Fox site to download the video. Get it out their as much as possible, and let the silly slow-spinning box in the lower left corner of the screen remind everyone they’re watching a Fox News show.

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  • penny

    “The recently declassified NIE judgements seem to indirectly bolster Clinton’s point “…

    Only when you cherry pick it. Nice try though.

  • chico haas

    I never liked or voted for Clinton. Thought he steered his presidency by focus group. But I will give him his due: he’s an articulate conversationalist. Miss that.

  • http://www.jonlester.com Jon Lester

    People of every persuasion and who come to every possible conclusion about the interview would all like to have it handy for reference. You are absolutely right; this is network stupidity.

  • http://kalipuna.blogspot.com Dr. Mathews

    Here’s a Message for you GOP’ers:

    When historians look back on the 2006 midterms and the Democratic sweep of both the House and Senate, they will look back on Friday, September 29th as the day that sealed the GOP’s fate.

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  • http://www.alltradenet.com Daniel

    I have to say, that I could not agree with you in 100% regarding Idiots, but it’s just my opinion, which could be wrong :)