In an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, President Bill Clinton said there was something “completely disingenuous about the feigned outrage” from conservatives over the MoveOn ad. Clinton noted that many of the same conservatives who expressed outrage had likened Sen. Max Cleland (D-GA) to Osama bin Laden and had smeared Sen. John Kerry’s (D-MA) war record. He added:

It was just bait and switch. It was just, oh thank goodness, I can take this little word here and ignore what we’ve done in Iraq and what we’re gonna do — and the outrageous way we gained political power by smearing John Kerry.

Watch it:

The House today voted to condemn the MoveOn ad — a full 16 days after it first appeared in the New York Times. The full interview with Clinton airs tonight on CNN at 10 pm EST.

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Today, the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works held a hearing about global warming’s impact on the Chesapeake Bay. Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), a proud climate skeptic, loudly objected to the fact that Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) was going to testify, but was quickly put down by the chair of the committee, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA). The Politico’s Ryan Grim reports:

Inhofe, with staff already present, responds that he’ll agree to allow the Maryland senator to stay if Boxer will concede it as a one-time-only deviation.

“Senator, I’m not going to agree to that,” she says. “I’m the chairman of this committee and I’ve spoken to you about this. You knew this was coming. I asked Sen. Mikulski to join us. If that’s not enough, I went back to the parliamentarian. There is absolutely no rule that forbids this.” [...]

Mikulski cuts in. “We need to focus on the issue of global warming and the impact on the bay,” she says, “and not on myself. I yield to the ruling of the chair.”

Inhofe, though, is no longer chair. “Well, the ruling of the chair, if I had a chance to rule,” says Boxer, the chair, “would be that you will be joining us.”

In March, Inhofe threw a similar fit at a global warming hearing, objecting to the testimony of Al Gore. At that time Boxer also shot him down, stating, “Elections have consequences. So I make the rules.”

Today, the Spanish newspaper El Pais published a transcript of a discussion between President Bush and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar in February 2003 in which Bush told Aznar that the U.S. would go to war with Iraq to disarm Saddam Hussein with or without a UN resolution:

“We must take him right now. We have shown an incredible degree of patience until now. There are two weeks left. In two weeks we will be militarily ready.”

Though Aznar asked Bush to “have a little patience” and urged, “It is very important to have a [UN] resolution,” Bush pushed for war throughout the meeting, telling the Spanish Prime Minister, “We will be in Baghdad by the end of March.”

Just a few days later, Bush insisted to the American public that war with Iraq was not a certainty:

BUSH: “I’ve not made up our mind about military action. Hopefully, this can be done peacefully.” [3/6/03]

BUSH: “We are doing everything we can to avoid war in Iraq. But if Saddam Hussein does not disarm peacefully, he will be disarmed by force.” [3/8/03]

Prior to going to war, Bush insisted he would get U.N. authorization. He said, “no matter what the whip count is,” the U.S. would go to the UN and “call for a vote.” But it’s clear Bush was never going to let the U.N. get in the way of his quest for war.

To this day, Bush has continued to insist that the “the United States did not choose war — the choice was Saddam Hussein’s.” In fact, as this conversation with Aznar illustrates, Bush had made his decision long before exhausting all other options.

For the full transcript in Spanish, click HERE.

(HT: Editor&Publisher)

In a private meeting with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani in New York City today, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who is seeking the Republican nomination for President, “indicated that he would keep a U.S. presence in that country for as long as necessary,” according to his aides. The Congressional Budget Office reported recently that a long-term presence in Iraq, such as Giuliani wants, could cost taxpayers trillions of dollars.

In March, Joint Chiefs Chairman Peter Pace declared, “I believe that homosexual acts between individuals are immoral.” Today, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) called them “very hurtful comments, very demoralizing comments.” Harkin then offered Pace, who was attending his final hearing before resigning his post, an opportunity to clarify his remarks. But Pace only caused more anger with his explanation

So I would repeat. My upbringing is one that says, sex, other than between man and a woman inside the bonds of marriage, is a sin. … We should respect those that want to serve the nation, but not through the law of the land condone activity that in my upbringing, is counter to God’s law.

Pace’s response created such an outrage from the audience that Chairman Robert Byrd (D-WV) was forced to temporarily adjourn the hearing: “Let us clear the room!” he shouted, as chaos erupted. Watch it: