On the November 28 edition of National Public Radio's Morning Edition, during a report on former President Bill Clinton campaigning on behalf of his wife, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (NY), national political correspondent Mara Liasson asserted that “other Democratic candidates were furious that [Bill] Clinton seemed to be accusing them of a Republican-style, Swift-boat attack on Hillary” during the October 30 Democratic presidential debate, moderated by NBC News Washington bureau chief Tim Russert. To support her assertion, Liasson played an excerpt of President Clinton's November 5 speech to the American Postal Workers Union. But Liasson cut out the part of Clinton's statement in which he indicates whom he was accusing -- Republicans and the media, not the “other Democratic candidates.”

Specifically, Liasson played a clip of President Clinton saying:

PRESIDENT CLINTON: We saw what happened the last seven years when we made decisions in elections based on trivial matters, when that scandalous Swift boat ad was run against Senator [John] Kerry [D-MA], when there was an ad that defeated [former Sen.] Max Cleland in Georgia -- a man that left half his body in Vietnam. Why am I saying this? Because I had the feeling, at the end of that last debate, we were about to get into cutesy land again.

But Liasson left out the rest of his statement, in which Clinton said: " 'Ya'll raise your hand if you're for illegal immigrants getting driver's licenses.' So, we'll then let the Republicans run an ad saying, 'All the Democrats are against the rule of law.' " The part Liasson edited out makes clear that Clinton was referring to Russert's conduct during the debate (in which, as Media Matters for America noted, at least two of his questions contained actual falsehoods) -- not the Democrats' criticism of Hillary Clinton -- and the way in which, Clinton said, it opened the door to Republican attacks. As Media Matters for America previously noted, several media outlets falsely reported that Clinton had criticized Democratic presidential candidates for “swift-boating” his wife following her response to a question at the October 30 debate from Russert about New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's (D) proposal to allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses. In a November 7 article, The New York Times reported: “Jay Carson, a spokesman for Mrs. Clinton's campaign, said Mr. Clinton had not been referring to Democratic candidates' criticisms of his wife but to Republicans' criticism of her debate performance.”

From Clinton's speech:

PRESIDENT CLINTON: [T]he point I'm here to make to you is whoever you're for, this is a really big election. We saw what happened the last seven years when we made decisions in elections based on trivial matters. When we listened to people make snide comments about whether Vice President [Al] Gore was too stiff. When they made dishonest claims about the things that he said that he'd done in his life. When that scandalous Swift boat ad was run against Senator [John] Kerry [D-MA].

When there was an ad that defeated [former Sen.] Max Cleland [D] in Georgia -- a man that left half his body in Vietnam. And a guy that had several deferments ran an ad with Max Cleland's picture with Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden, because he dared to vote against the president's version of the Homeland Security bill.

[...]

PRESIDENT CLINTON: Why am I saying this?

Because, I had the feeling, at the end of that last debate, we were about to get into cutesy land again. “Ya'll raise your hand if you're for illegal immigrants getting driver's licenses.” So, we'll then let the Republicans run an ad saying, “All the Democrats are against the rule of law.”

I don't -- look, I think it's fine to discuss immigration. We should. Illegal immigration needs to be discussed, and it's fine for Hillary and all these other guys to be asked about Governor Spitzer's plan -- but not in 30 seconds, yes, no, raise your hand. This is a complicated issue. This is a complicated issue.

So, do I hope you'll vote for my wife? You bet I do. It'd be good for America and good for the world. But, more than that, I came here to tell you today: Don't you dare let them take this election away from you. This belongs to you and to your children -- and to the future of America.

Don't be diverted. Don't be divided. Our best days are still ahead, claim them. Thank you.

From the November 28 edition of NPR's Morning Edition:

LIASSON: And there are other potential pitfalls. One of them was on full display recently when Bill Clinton, unprompted, injected himself into the battle between his wife and her Democratic rivals after Senator Clinton's rocky performance in the Philadelphia debate. Here he is, at a solo appearance, in Las Vegas.

PRESIDENT CLINTON [audio clip]: We saw what happened the last seven years when we made decisions in elections based on trivial matters, when that scandalous Swift boat ad was run against Senator Kerry, when there was an ad that defeated Max Cleland in Georgia -- a man that left half his body in Vietnam.

Why am I saying this? Because I had the feeling, at the end of that last debate, we were about to get into cutesy land again.

LIASSON: The other Democratic candidates were furious that Bill Clinton seemed to be accusing them of a Republican-style, Swift-boat attack on Hillary. Privately, Senator Clinton's aides said her husband's off-message comments were not helpful, since the campaign had already abandoned its initial strategy of portraying Hillary as the victim of piling-on by her male rivals.