After Gary Condit choked in his TV comeback attempt, many pundits here – even a few on the right – quipped, almost wistfully, “He’s no Bill Clinton.” They seem genuinely disappointed that Condit lacked Clinton’s political legerdemain. It’s as if they were expecting to watch an ABC special with David Copperfield, and got Carrot Top instead.
Me, I’ll take a thousand Condits to one Clinton.
“Huh? How could you say that, Sperry?” you may demand. “Condit is so cold, unfeeling and unlikable.”
Exactly.
Both men are corrupt, dishonest and dishonorable. But Clinton is so likable, we tend to be more inclined to believe him, forgive him and accept him.
Some still embrace him.
And therein lies his greater power – and danger (mark my words, we haven’t heard the last of Clinton).
If Condit is evil, Clinton is attractively evil – which makes him doubly evil.
If Satan appeared in the flesh – and I’m not saying Clinton is Satan (maybe just his latest prodigy, Beelzebubba) – do you think he’d be a taciturn and testy little fellow with slate-cold, angry eyes?
No, he’d appear as someone all-too human and vulnerable, who bites his lip and gives you a bear hug as he feels yer pain. He’d also be as slick as a televangelist at a nursing home on Easter Sunday (did I say Clinton wasn’t the devil incarnate?).
You may complain that Condit was not contrite enough, that he didn’t ask for forgiveness, which just makes him more unlikable.
But I like Condit better precisely because he’s so hard to like.
He can’t say he’s sorry, because he’s not. Clinton wasn’t, either, but he still said he was sorry anyway (in so many words and tries) so we’d keep on liking him – so he could keep on fooling us, cheating us, robbing us, betraying us.
Clinton’s acts of contrition were phony. Condit is just as shameless, but at least give him credit for not being phony – and since his lying only runs so deep, chances are he won’t survive to do any more harm in Washington.
Clinton, the master manipulator, the evil clown, is another story. He’ll be back in Washington sooner than you think, possibly as the next co-president. And this time, the magic show won’t be so funny.
Democrats’ seething hatred for America
Wayne Allyn Root