Halperin and Heilemann: Bill Clinton’s ‘Pay The Bills’ Answer ‘Tone Deaf,’ ‘Ridiculous’

Monday on Bloomberg’s “With All Due Respect,” while discussing former President Bill Clinton saying he has to pay his “bills” in an answer when asked about his getting paid $500,000 or more for giving speeches while his wife was secretary of state, co-hosts Mark Halperin and John Heilemann said he was “tone deaf,” and “rusty.”

Halperin laughing, said, “Bills. Bills. Bills. Telephone bills. Auto bills. He also said in that interview that the Clinton Foundation has never done anything knowingly inappropriate, and he is not in politics. What is behind Bill Clinton’s performance from of all places, Tanzania?”

Heilemann said, “You think it’s Hillary Clinton who is tone deaf when she said she was dead broke when they came out of the White House? This is the same thing! Like, what’s up in Chappaqua? The gas bills. The electric bill. So I have to give a half a million dollar speech. This is ridiculous.”

“He’s tired and distracted and as he said in 2008, he’s rusty,” Halperin added. “If he thinks he can go out and say whatever he wants, that interview — I don’t believe it advances Hillary Clinton’s chances of being president. He is the best in his game and I can’t understand a thing he says. Complaining about paying the bills. That’s the last thing his wife needs.”