Bill Clinton Takes On the Media

But Obama spokesman Bill Burton dismisses the notion that his boss has wavered on Iraq. "They're taking a small slice of his words to make an inaccurate point. He has always said that the case was not made," Burton says.

The former president missed the mark when he invoked "the Obama thing calling Hillary the senator from Punjab. . . . Or what about the Obama handout that was covered up, the press never reported on, implying that I was a crook. Scathing criticism over my financial reports." (He couldn't resist adding that former special prosecutor Ken Starr "indicted innocent people to find out that I wouldn't take a nickel.")

There was no coverup. In June, the Clinton camp obtained -- and gave the Times -- an attack memo that Obama's team had been circulating to reporters on a not-for-attribution basis. It referred to Clinton's political designation as "D-Punjab" (citing the couple's personal and financial ties to India) and suggested conflicts in Bill Clinton's relationship with California multimillionaire Ron Burkle. The Times reported the memo's contents as part of a Page 1 story that also said the Clintons had sold millions of dollars in stocks from their blind trust to avoid potential conflicts, and noted the former president's investments with Burkle.

Dozens of news organizations reported on the "Punjab" memo. But Obama defused it by admitting his staff had made a "dumb mistake."

Bill Clinton, who first got steamed at the press over the 1992 stories on Gennifer Flowers and Whitewater, undoubtedly believes that his wife isn't getting a fair shake. But he's also pretty good at working the refs.

Timesman Returns

Nearly five years after he was forced to resign as the top editor of the New York Times, Howell Raines is taking on a new role: media critic.

He will write a monthly column for Portfolio, the new Conde Nast magazine. And his perspective is that of a battle-scarred veteran: "I've got more arrows in me than Custer's horse," he says.

From his home in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains, Raines, 64, sounds a bit mellowed: "It's been refreshing and a bit daunting to try to think about writing something that hasn't been said 30 times. I don't have any thunderbolts to throw at my former profession." He plans to focus on campaign coverage.

Raines was ousted from the Times in 2003 during a backlash against his handling of the Jayson Blair fabrication scandal and his domineering management style. In a scathing Atlantic Monthly article the following year, he infuriated ex-colleagues by accusing the paper of a "culture of complaint," "clock-punching atmosphere," "indifference to competition" and "sloppy work . . . accepted as adequate."

Now, says Raines, who is absorbed in writing a Civil War novel, "I don't want to be seen as fighting old battles." While it would "feel artificial" to avoid critiquing the Times in his new column, "five years pretty well healed a lot of loose ends that might be dangling from my experience."

Collateral Damage

Carol Leigh Hutton, who has been talking about blowing up the newsroom at the San Jose Mercury News, may have pushed too hard. She is out as executive editor after just seven months on the job, with a replacement immediately named, after promoting a radical redesign that would have cut the paper, now four or five sections, to three while also shrinking the scope of the coverage.

Staying Put

Paul Begala says he's never had a conversation about joining Hillary Clinton's campaign -- despite reports to the contrary on Fox News.