Fox Takes Its Best Shot

The hills are alive with the sound of laptops clicking, as just about everyone but Julie Andrews tries to spin the Bill Clinton/Chris Wallace faceoff. Who is winning?

Oh, silly question. Fights like this never end; they just get replaced by more fights like this. Still, here is a clue: a Google news search just now turned up 83 hits for “Clinton Wallace Monica.” John Dickerson at Slate explains:

If you are a right-winger, [you are] likely to react to his criticisms about the Bush administration by rushing to the inevitable safe ground: sex jokes. A Fox News anchor helpfully pointed out that he hadn't seen Clinton that angry since he denied having sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky.

We must be grateful to Fox for putting our news in a larger historical context. For my audition tape, I will offer a few more possibilities along the same vein.

Clinton faced down Wallace with the vigor of a young Jack Kennedy facing down Nikita Krushchev.

Clinton evinced the controlled outrage of Boston Lawyer Joe Welch unmasking Demagogue Joe McCarthy.

Clinton drove the hack interviewer from the arena with the celerity of Jesus driving the moneychangers from the temple.

Meanwhile, if this is Fox's best shot...

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