On the October 29 edition of MSNBC's Tucker, host Tucker Carlson discussed the just-released book Write It When I'm Gone (Putnam Adult), by Thomas DeFrank, Washington bureau chief for the New York Daily News, and noted that the book, which features off-the-record interviews with President Gerald Ford over a 16-year period, quotes Ford saying that President Bill Clinton “has a sexual addiction,” and “needs to get help -- for his sake.” Carlson stated that “President Bill Clinton's sex life” is “something we never talk about on this show 'cause we know the answer. It's still kind of interesting.” He later added: “I don't touch this ... and Bill Clinton -- I mean, the idea of touching -- I mean, just the whole thing is cringe-making.” But contrary to Carlson's assertion that “we never talk” about “Clinton's sex life,” as Media Matters for America has noted, Carlson has discussed the topic on several occasions, referring to President Clinton's “philander[ing]” and “famous appetites” while making the argument that the Clintons' marriage is a legitimate issue in the 2008 presidential election.
During the segment, which featured Politico senior political writer Jonathan Martin and Democratic strategist Peter Fenn, Carlson also said that Ford's comments about President Clinton would be an issue for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's (D-NY) presidential campaign, asserting, “I think it's something. ... I think if you're running on your husband, which she's doing -- people are voting for her 'cause of her husband.” Carlson then accused Sen. Clinton herself of making her marriage an issue in her campaign, claiming that Clinton was “thrusting” her marriage “into our face,” “inviting the question,” and “pushing it on us.” He said: "[I]f she wanted to keep us from talking about it, why are you running for president and thrusting your marriage into our face, which she is doing, day after day?"
From the October 29 edition of MSNBC's Tucker:
CARLSON: President Gerald Ford, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, has now departed, but before he died, in his early 90s, he talked to Tom DeFrank, the longtime and much respected bureau chief of the New York Daily News and a good guy, here in Washington. Mr. DeFrank has now written a book about it.
I want to put an excerpt up. This is Gerald Ford on former President Bill Clinton's sex life -- something we never talk about on this show 'cause we know the answer. It's still kind of interesting. Listen to this: “I'll tell you one thing,” says the former president to Tom DeFrank, “Clinton didn't miss one good-looking skirt at any of the social occasions. ... He's got a wandering eye, I'll tell you that. Betty [Ford] had the same impression; he isn't very subtle about his interest. ... I'm convinced that Clinton has a sexual addiction. He needs to get help -- for his sake.”
And Tom DeFrank talked to Betty Ford about it, the famous addiction expert, and she said, “That's absolutely right. He needs to get treatment.”
FENN: I think they probably ought to stick to alcohol addiction, which she knows and he knew a great deal about, and not go into that. But I'm just not going to touch that stuff.
CARLSON: Well, look --
MARTIN: The good news for Tom DeFrank --
[crosstalk]
FENN: I'm not going to --
CARLSON: I don't touch this either and Bill Clinton -- I mean, the idea of touching -- I mean, just the whole thing is cringe-making.
MARTIN: Don't go there. Don't go there.
CARLSON: However, his wife is running for president on the memory of his administrations --
MARTIN: Right.
CARLSON: -- of '92 to 2000, the golden era of American life and politics. I don't know. There were dark moments, too.
FENN: Of course. Look, there's no question about it. I think a lot of people said, you know, “Here we are, second-term administration; he's doing very well. He's done amazing things for the country. And now, we have to deal with this for three years. This is a disaster, a terrible thing.”
CARLSON: But he's just a really weird guy, too. Now, let's be honest.
FENN: But, you know, the other part of this -- I know. Well, look. But, you know, so, but we look at this as we've -- always say about Americans and sex: We lie before sex, during sex, and after sex.
CARLSON: Right, of course.
FENN: I mean, [French President] Jacques Chirac's, at his funeral, his wife and mistress show up for the event. You know, I mean, we --
CARLSON: What does that have to do with anything?
FENN: What I'm trying to tell you here is, we get a little too worked up about some of this -- some of this stuff.
CARLSON: We may. And the point is not that Clinton had affairs. Lots of people have affairs. You're not seeing me running around judging them or calling them names.
FENN: Right.
CARLSON: I'm not even -- I feel sorry for Clinton. My only point is, he's a very troubled man. That's all I'm saying. In addition to being a brilliant guy and a good guy in some ways, he's a really weird guy. Do we want to deal with that again? That's an honest question.
MARTIN: Politically for her, it's an inconvenient reminder about, you know, the more tawdry days back in the White House that she doesn't need. But look, you can be assured, this is not the last time the Clinton sex life is going to come up. You're going to hear it time and time again through the course of this campaign.
FENN: It's a nothing. It's a nothing.
CARLSON: It's a nothing? I think it's something. I think it's -- I think if you're running on your husband, which she's doing -- people are voting for her 'cause of her husband.
FENN: Tucker, the armchair psychoanalysis here --
CARLSON: It's not armchair psychoanalysis. It was like three years of our collective life here. I think we overdid it.
FENN: Yeah, thank you Kenneth Starr --
CARLSON: I -- look, man, I'm not defending that. I'm just saying: There's no getting around it. And his wife, if she wanted to keep us from talking about it, why are you running for president and thrusting your marriage into our face, which she is doing, day after day?
FENN: Well, that's not true either.
MARTIN: Well, folks who are for her won't care. I mean, if you're supporting Hillary Clinton in the primary, be -- you know -- being reminded of this is not going to change your vote.
FENN: I agree with that.
MARTIN: The larger danger is ultimately, if she does get the nomination, these kind of things being resurrected could do her some damage during the general.
FENN: The more people talk about this, you know, the more the American people are turned off. Why is Newt Gingrich no longer in the Congress of the United States? 'Cause people overplayed this. The American people get it.
CARLSON: That's true.
FENN: They understand it. They've figured it out. You know, everybody's psychoanalysis of it doesn't make it a hill of beans to me.
CARLSON: The Republicans overplayed it. You're absolutely -- they overplayed it and they hurt themselves by doing so. I think Hillary Clinton is overplaying her family life and marriage.
FENN: I don't think so at all.
CARLSON: She's -- I don't know if you're on her mailing list. I am. I get emails every day from her husband talking about their intimate time together --
FENN: Yeah, 'cause they're --
CARLSON: -- their birthday. It's like, shut up about your marriage. I don't want to hear about it. You're inviting the question. Leave me alone. Keep your own weird marriage to your own weird self. That's my feeling.
FENN: Who says it's a weird marriage?
CARLSON: I don't -- I just don't want to hear about it, and she's pushing it on us.
FENN: Oh, come on.
CARLSON: You see -- I'll forward you the emails next time I get them.
FENN: I get them, too.