Same Old Bill

No president -- perhaps no other human being -- in the past century has so perfected the art of flimflam as Bill Clinton. Recently he demonstrated once again his uncanny facility for mendacity.

Clinton appeared at the Farmer's Market in Richmond with gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe, whom he praised as "the right sort of bipartisan guy."

Eh?

McAuliffe may be many things -- a prodigious fundraiser, a tireless campaigner, a font of ideas, even (at least hypothetically speaking) the most brilliant and qualified candidate ever to run for governor of Virginia.

But he also is a former head of the Democratic National Committee, one of the two most partisan organizations in America. He headed up Hillary Clinton's presidential run. He is running for governor as a Democrat. He is about as bipartisan as Newt Gingrich.

Clinton-watchers long have noted that the former president stretched the truth even when it was not necessary, even when the stretching was patently obvious. The passage of time does not seem to have mellowed the tendency.