Time, the once-great magazine that has shrunk to 12 pages a week, has an interview with Madeleine Albright on the occasion of her new book. Like every memoir by a former Clintonoid, I won't read it -- I tend to shy away from fiction -- so I rely on articles and reviews to tell me what to think of it.
Reading the interview, I thought, "Was tact a disqualification for a job in the Clinton administration?" I don't recall anyone from Bush the Elder's gang going out of their way to trash the Clintons; maybe there were a few, but they didn't make themselves as obnoxious as these people. We're not just talking about mid-level appointees trying to make a name for themselves, we're talking about cabinet members all the way up to Bill and his lovely wife, Bruno.
Back to Madame Albright: the interview is very short, but it's packed with howlers, such as "President Clinton focused on terrorism from the start," and "Frankly, if there was a President Gore, we wouldn't be in this particular mess." There are several other questionable statements, like "Iraq is in fact a breeding ground for terrorists" (more accurately, it's a magnet for terrorists as few of them seem to be homegrown.)
One nasty answer particularly stood out --
(Q) Bush's foreign policy started as "Anything But Clinton" in almost every area—the Middle East, North Korea, China. Now events have pushed it back much closer to your approach. Do you ever succumb to schadenfreude?(A) No, I'm much too kind and generous a person.
Because I'm kind and generous myself, I will not point out that Madame Albright looks like Ursula the Sea Witch from "The Little Mermaid." Instead, I will let you decide.
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(Original joke made in 1997 by Steve Schultz when Albright was named secretary of state. Photos edited by me. Original photos (c) ???? whoever owns them.)
I had no idea the magazine had shrunk that much.
They must be desperate: bizrate offers a free one-year Time subscription as a gift for filling out a survey!
I'm exaggerating, but only a little.
By the time you take out the 15 full page photos it probably is nearing 12 pages. Can't be expecting people to read or think when they can look at pictures!!
Haven't followed Time Mag enough to jump into that debate...
But as far as Albright: The most recent edition of Foreign Affairs has an alarmingly partisan piece by her. I wonder how many hours a day she spends thinking about the "Gore Presidency" that wasn't?
Probably not as many hours as Algore thinks about his presidency that wasn't.
Eric,
Give the gal a break. She can't be expected to think about the ethereal Gore presidency for a whole twenty hours a day. I don't even understand how Al Arnold Algore can do it.