Ford Considered Bill Clinton Sex Addict And Hillary Clinton Strong One
A new book that contains conversations with former President Gerald Ford that the ex-president agreed to be published only after his death is likely to create some ripples — and perhaps some unwelcome talk show and buzz chatter for New York Senator Hillary Clinton.
According to the New York Daily News, Ford, who had gotten to know Bill Clinton, felt the ex-president had a sex addiction problem and considered Hillary as the one who wore the pants in the family:
“He’s sick – he’s got an addiction. He needs treatment,” Ford told Daily News Washington Bureau Chief Thomas M. DeFrank, author of “Write It When I’m Gone: Remarkable Off-the-Record Conversations with Gerald R. Ford.”
Ford’s wife, Betty, who founded a pioneering treatment center after her battle with alcoholism and drugs, agreed.
“You know, there’s treatment for that kind of addiction,” she told DeFrank during the same conversation in 1999. “A lot of men have gone through the treatment with a lot of success. But he won’t do it, because he’s in denial.”
According to the News, the Fords first got to know the Clintons when they hosted them during a visit in 1993. Ford felt that Clinton was charismatic and an even better politician than JFK. He didn’t like Clinton’s foreign policy, though, and thought Clinton simply could not learn from his past mistakes in his personal life. Ford reportedly based his opinion on how he perceived Clinton during his visit and what Ford felt was the then-President’s interest in women who caught his eye during the trip.
“I’ll tell you one thing: He didn’t miss one good-looking skirt at any of the social occasions,” Ford said later.
“He’s got a wandering eye, I’ll tell you that. Betty had the same impression; he isn’t very subtle about his interest.”
Nevertheless, when the Monica Lewinsky sex-and-perjury scandal erupted and barreled toward impeachment, Ford was willing to help Clinton – to a point.
After the House voted to impeach Clinton but before the Senate’s decision on whether to convict him, the sitting President phoned the ex-President.
“He said he needed my help and wanted to know if I could help,” Ford recalled not long after.
Ford took a kind of middle road approach in the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal:
Ford had written two Op-Ed pieces in which he called for Clinton to admit he had lied to federal investigators in exchange for censure over impeachment.
He told Clinton that he would help him, if he agreed to such a deal.
“Bill I think you have to admit that you lied. If you do that, I think that will help – and I’ll help you. If you’ll admit to perjury, I’ll do more,” he said.
“I won’t do that,” Clinton told him. “I can’t do that.”
Ford was stunned by Clinton’s lack of contrition. “It’s a character flaw,” he concluded.
….”I’m convinced that Clinton has a sexual addiction. He needs to get help – for his sake. He’s already damaged his presidency beyond repair,” he told DeFrank.
And his view of Hillary Clinton?
“She’s stronger and tougher than he is,” he said. “When she takes a point you’re gonna have to be damn sure you’re well informed because she won’t compromise as quickly or as easily as he.
“She’s very bright. She’s strong, and I think he defers to her. When she gets her dander up, she ain’t gonna roll over.”
And he had no doubts about her ambitions. “Hillary is gonna be on the ticket in ’04 or ’08, one or the other, you can write that down,” he said in 2002.
And her chances? “I don’t think the country is ready for a lady President.” he said.
This book is likely to be highly-controversial. Those who detest the Clintons will seize on it an quote it. Some who support the Clinton’s will dismiss it out of hand on perhaps several grounds:
(1) that it represents the opinions of one person (2) that the assertions in the book come from someone who is dead so perhaps they are not what he really said (but you can bet your house in Vegas that this kind of interview was taped and tapes will confirm the accuracy of the quotes.)
The bottom line is that it’ll keep some of the baggage Hillary Clinton is trying to shed in public view. How will the Clinton camp handle it? Most likely as they are right now:
The Clintons, through spokesman Howard Wolfson, declined to comment about the book.
And that’s wise. How do you rebut off-the-record opinions with someone who is now off the face of the earth? If the book gets big media coverage the the story has “legs,” look for the Clinton camp to address it a bit more directly on programs such as “Hardball.”
But for many Americans it’ll be seen as just another book to compete with time spent on watching football or Desperate Housewives.
To historians it’ll be seen as a document that can be used to provide supportive quotes (“Gerald Ford later said..”).
And to those seeking to “stop” Hillary Clinton, it’ll be seen just one more weapon.
15 Responses to “Ford Considered Bill Clinton Sex Addict And Hillary Clinton Strong One”
[...] post by Joe Gandelman This was written by . Posted on Sunday, October 28, 2007, at 12:34 pm. Filed under [...]
This book will reinforce the strange nature of Hillary watching. I note how relatively little attntion in commentary is paid to Hillary, the Senator, when compared to Hillary, the wife, the former first lady, the wife of Bill, the owner of Socks.
The relative outrage value of addictions and character flaws is also strange. Pres. Bush’s problem with alcohol gets only rate mention (something I applaud) but when it comes to sex,,,,,oh, my! Monica will live longer in the nation’s psyche than Watergate.
What I want to know is how a presidential candidate would handle the next Cuban millile crises, the next
Katrina, the next (and current) Viet Nam.
Instead, attention swirls around what is, relatively speaking, trivial. I have my own question re Hillary, but none of them concern Bill’s sexual habits or addictions.
No wonder Europe laughs at the nature of our politics. I would laugh, too, if I wren’t busy tearing my hair out.
[...] Clark Ford Considered Bill Clinton Sex Addict And Hillary Clinton Strong One » This Summary is from an article posted at The Moderate Voice » Domestic and international news [...]
I think domajot nailed it. Why does this country give so much weight to the chaff and ignore so much of the wheat? It’s an embarrassing commentary on our priorities to say the least. Personally I’d be surprised if Hillary suffers much fallout from the story, afterall it isn’t she who had the problem. The Ford reference to her being bright and strong might even give her fuel.
[...] create some ripples — and perhaps some unwelcome talk show and buzz chatter for New … themoderatevoice.com/entertainment/books/15807/ford-considered-bill-clinton-sex-addict-and-hillary-c… The Moderate Voice [...]
If only Clinton rook Ford’s deal we could have been spared the impeachment. But then Clenis would stand with Nixon in history’s view as benefiting from another Ford pardon.
I’m done with this place. There is nothing worthwhile to read hear. It has become nothing but a forum to constantly target Hillary. I don’t even see this obsession at the conservative blogs. How about discussing rudy’s marriage and his personal baggage?
Actually Ford said positive things about Hillary and she’s the one who’s running, not Bill. But its just like you and others to spin this as harmful to Hillary.
The only one I have any respect for here is Holly. The rest of you, one final word (deleted)
Apparently LL has not read this site over a long period of time. We have run many many stories commenting on things both favorable and unfavorable to all candidates. No, there is no attack on Senator Clinton from TMV in the above post. If you read it, this post tells and discusses what is in a New York Daily News article and looks into the possible impact. We don’t tailor our posts to please X candidate or Y candidate but give readers links and posts on things we find interesting and pass on. I suspect you will see a lot of media coverage on the book and there is probably going to be other stuff in it that doesn’t reflect well on people such as the two George Bushes. Just cussing out a site or a person doesn’t prove a point. As I noted in my post, the book is based on the comments of someone who isn’t around to be challenged…and that is a point people can bring up. But it most likely (certainly) was taped. And it is Mr. Ford’s opinion, which other people may or may not disagree with. But, sorry, if we see things of interest that we want to discuss we will do so which doesn’t mean we agree with what we link to or that we wrote about it. If you read my post it clearly discusses the book and how different people may react to it. We hate to lose readers — and we also insist that comments observe our commenting policy stated below about language used on this site.
Well Joe, I think that was decency on your part above and beyond the call of duty. Anyone who has spent any length of time here recognizes the absurdity of LL’s comment. I hope he has a better day tomorrow. Keep up the great work!
I think the Ford piece actually speaks highly of Hillary Clinton. It shows that she’s the smart one in the family, even if ambitious to a fault. His comments about Bill as a sex addict are neither novel nor interesting. Who doesnt know that Bill Clinton is a serial adulterer? If he said that Hillary was cheating on Bill, then he’d have something interesting to add.
Is our favorite son, Rudy G, also a sex addict? Is Newty G a sex addict? Since some of you are fairly young, I’ll throw in a couple of democrats, Brock Adams and Wayne Hays. There are millions of men who are serial adulters but that does NOT mean they are sex addicts.
I would not place much stock in the opinions of an old ex-president as opposed to a competent therapist. It’s fair to call Bill C an adulterer but sex addict?????? But as others have pointed out Hillary’s sex life is almost “virginal”.
Clinton came out of it well, and, IMHO, much of the country realized what a bunch of lunatics that particular batch of GOP’ers was.
IMHO, Ford’s portrait sounds reasonable to me.
I don’t fault the book or its author. I do regret the way these books are received by the public and represented in the news.
Actually, this particular book contains a lot of interesting information about Ford vis-a-vis Nixon and Ford’s pardon of Nixon,
Publixhers, I think, take advantage of election fever to time the books coming out, and as a result, these books are combed for what can be used as ammunition rather than insight
,in all probability, the 2000 election for Al Gore, by persisting with the lies about his affair. He rebounded once he got rid of Morris (a backstabbing gossiper who ended up turning on both Clintons and going public as a Fox “analyst”) and replaced him with David Gergen- who helped him rebuild his presidency.
Bill may be a sex addict or a womanizer – it certainly is nothing new in politics, where money, extramarital sex and political power form an age old trifecta. At the time of the impeachment , Bob Livingston and Newt Gingrich who led the charge were also engaged in affairs, and Tom Delay had a long history as a womanizer.
Wanting a break from the sordidness, we chose as a nation, George Bush, whose history did not include adultery, just alcholism, cocaine use and business failures until age 40. We need to decide if we are going to decide on the basis of competence or chastity. Since both party’s frontrunners are either serial adulterers (Giuliani) or married to serial adulterers (Clinton), it appears most Americans are more interested in competence than a president’s bedroom behavior.
Many past presidents were in unhappy marriages and/or had affairs on the side, yet were able to perform on the job.FDR was an adulterer, yet led us ably through the Depression and WWII. Other major leaders in history like Martin Luther King were unfaithful- yet can you imagine the civil rights movement without him? Presidents who were faithful- like Bush and Carter have made poor chief executives, leaving legacies of failure and disaster.