Clinton interview on FOX quickly defines political differences among politicians and pundits.

The Clinton interview has done much to mobilize both the Conservatives, who thnk that he overreacted, and the Liberals, who thnk he was sandbagged.

On the side of the Conservatives we have White House press secretary Tony Snow:

“In the previous administration, we had an attack on the World Trade Center, on Khobar Towers,” he said. “We had attacks on both embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, an attack on the USS Cole.

“Also, Osama bin Laden in February of 1998 made it clear that he not only intended to wage war on the United States, but he wanted to use Iraq as a central battleground,” he said.

And FOX news chief Roger Ailes:

Ailes said Clinton had a "wild overreaction" in the interview, broadcast on "Fox News Sunday." Hundreds of thousands of people subsequently watched clips over the Internet, with Fox foes rallying behind Clinton.

"If you can't sit there and answer a question from a professional, mild-mannered, respectful reporter like Chris Wallace, then the hatred for journalists is showing," Ailes said in an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday. "All journalists need to raise their eyebrows and say, `hold on a second.'"

However there is one Republican presidential hopeful who did not get the memo.

According to forme New York mayor Rudy Giuliani:

"The idea of trying to cast blame on President Clinton is just wrong for many, many reasons, not the least of which is I don't think he deserves it."

And on the left side of the spectrum we have Hillary (No surprise here):

"I think my husband did a great job in demonstrating that Democrats are not going to take these attacks,"

Hillary Clinton said Tuesday. "I'm certain that if my husband and his national security team had been shown a classified report entitled 'Bin Laden Determined To Attack Inside the United States' he would have taken it more seriously than history suggests it was taken by our current president and his national security team."

And my favorite, Keith Olbermann:

Bill Clinton did what almost none of us have done in five years.

He has spoken the truth about 9/11, and the current presidential administration.

"At least I tried," he said of his own efforts to capture or kill Osama bin Laden. "That’s the difference in me and some, including all of the right-wingers who are attacking me now. They had eight months to try; they did not try. I tried."

Thus in his supposed emeritus years has Mr. Clinton taken forceful and triumphant action for honesty, and for us; action as vital and as courageous as any of his presidency; action as startling and as liberating, as any, by any one, in these last five long years.

The Bush Administration did not try to get Osama bin Laden before 9/11.

The Bush Administration ignored all the evidence gathered by its predecessors.

The Bush Administration did not understand the Daily Briefing entitled "Bin Laden Determined To Strike in U.S."

The Bush Administration did not try.

Now personally I have resisted blaming Bush for what happened before 9-11, reserving my scorn for what he fucked up after the fact. I would have been happy never pointing out his missed chances to stop that disaster from ever happening. I am also not one of the rabid conspiracy theorists that believe that the Bush administration orchestrated the whole thing as an excuse to dominate the Middle East oil fields.

But if the Conservatives want to open this Pandora's box then they will certainly suffer by the comparison. In a word, they are have picked a fight that they cannot possibly win.

In a nutshell this kind of sums up the policies of this White House, picking fights with opponents who they have no hope of defeating.