3/08/2003

Clinton vs. Dole: 2003

No, not Hillary vs Elizabeth - it's the Big Dogs themselves. Bill Clinton and Bob Dole will be doing a series of short debates on 60 Minutes. I find this intensely interesting.

The WaPo story reads like a lovefest:

The deal for the former opponents to revive the old "Point/Counterpoint" debate on the CBS newsmagazine reflects their late-blooming friendship, television's hunger for celebrity and the collapsed wall that once separated the political and media worlds.
...
The Democratic ex-president and the Republican ex-lawmaker share one unusual bond: Their wives won Senate seats as they were leaving public life. Both men said they hoped not to cause trouble for the officeholders in the family.

"I'm going to be anxiously awaiting Sunday nights," Hillary Rodham Clinton said from Capitol Hill yesterday. "Elizabeth Dole and I will be holding our breath. . . . If people don't agree with what he says, they should call his office, not mine."
...
The pair have not always been boffo at the box office. Their second debate in 1996 drew 36 million viewers, the lowest number in the history of such televised encounters. Dole complained in that campaign that various Clinton scandals weren't receiving enough attention, asking: "Where is the outrage in America?"

But Lockhart said the two men grew close when Dole left the Senate and backed Clinton on military intervention in Bosnia, and when they teamed up to raise scholarship money for families affected by the Sept. 11 tragedy.


I can't wait for the inevitable zinger, "Bill, you ignorant slut!" on the SNL parody:
Will their feelings be bruised if their debates turn into a new "Saturday Night Live" skit? "I'd be hurt if it doesn't," Clinton said.


And what if the show bombs? Don't blame me. I voted for Kodos.

UPDATE: Dole has an encouraging complaint about the first debate. I think it bodes well!

UPDATE2: People are complaining because the debates are too civil. Excellent. AND Dan Ackroyd returned to SNL just to deliver the line I predicted above. I am a genius.

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