[MrPink]

During the whole Monica Lewinsky/Impeachment thing, I remember Bill Clinton answering one of the questions as "it depends on the depends on the definition of "is" ".

I was burned out on the whole thing at that stage and wasn't paying much attention to the stories. Can anybody give me the historical context for his statement? It seems to be a classic joke for many - "well it depends on what your definition of "is" is" and I'd just like to get it.

[Gordon Fink]

It’s simple. W. J. Clinton was speaking in the present tense, so he wasn’t technically lying about past events.

~G. Fink

[Zak Smith]

Here is the full transcript:

http://wp.netscape.com/news/transcript.html?cp=sta09trans

The portion in question:

QUESTION: Your -- that statement is a completely false statement. Whether or not Mr. Bennett knew of your relationship with Ms. Lewinsky, the statement that there was no sex of any kind in any manner, shape or form with President Clinton was an utterly false statement. Is that correct?

CLINTON: It depends upon what the meaning of the word is means. If is means is, and never has been, that's one thing. If it means, there is none, that was a completely true statement.


-z

[QuickDraw]

:confused: :confused:

I'm just as confused now as I was the first time I heard it.

QuickDraw

[Standing Wolf]

If is means is, and never has been, that's one thing. If it means, there is none, that was a completely true statement.

Sad to say, he's got it mostly right in purely semantic, grammatical terms; sadder to say, Snopes Clinton was impeached, but not removed from office.

[jimpeel]

Clinton was, and is, the undisputed master of the parsed statement.