Mike Gallagher
Tuesday, July 3, 2001

So anyhow, right as the game was getting ready to start, there's a huge cheer all throughout Madison Square Garden. Lo and behold, look who's making a grand entrance: none other than Sen. Hillary ("someday I'll be back in the White House") Clinton and her husband, Bill. The loving couple sat just a few rows in front of us, so I knew I'd be treated to some prime viewing of one of America's most infamous married couples.

It was fairly amusing to watch the Clintons in action. He'd rub her back or shoulder every few minutes, and they'd share a few moments of conversation together. Then they'd lean apart, Bill deep in verbal intercourse with the attractive young blonde to his left (I’m not kidding), and Hillary conversing with an older woman to her right.

Was it my imagination or did Hillary really keep glancing nervously at her husband as he waxed poetically to the pretty young thing sitting next to him? Do you suppose Mrs. Clinton would EVER trust the man again? Or are the cries of a marriage that is really an "arrangement" right on the mark?

In any event, I had a good time watching their body language and seeing a couple of photo-op pros in action (they didn't miss a chance to smile and wave at each of the dozens of cameras hovering around them). Don't tell my wife, but it beat watching women play basketball.

But I'll tell you what really leaves me deep in thought: As the Clintons entered, there was nothing but lusty cheers. When the power couple was shown on the JumboTron, more wild cheering and applause. When Hillary went out to center court to present a check at halftime to a charitable group, a standing ovation. And when they finally left at the end of the game, there was nothing but the sort of enthusiastic ovation reserved for a pair of beloved leaders. Not a single boo to be heard in the place (unless you include my meek attempt, not withstanding my liberal wife's withering glance).

How could so many of us who make our living on the radio seem to be so wrong? Turn on any of our shows on any given day, and you'll hear us describe Bill and Hillary as two of the more contemptuous creatures to ever hold public office. Did all those thousands of people at the Garden forget what he did to us? Could that many New Yorkers REALLY be duped into believing that her Senate win was anything more than a sham to grab a seat of power on the way to higher office? Are Americans so desperate to embrace celebrity that we'd cheer and salute a man who shamed his nation, his office, and his family?

I spent the entire drive home trying to rationalize the crowd's reaction. Sure, this would tend to be a liberal crowd. Certainly there are more lesbians in the arena than your typical pro basketball game (last week, one female couple was actually shown deep in a kiss on the ol' JumboTron – Lord, what strange times we live in). But could it truly be possible that there was not one person in Madison Square Garden who wanted to give the Clintons a Bronx cheer? Not a single Republican-loving, Clinton-hating right-winger in a single seat?

Sometimes, I wonder if my job in talk radio is part of the real world. During the Clinton years, I took calls day in and day out from listeners completely outraged at the behavior of Mr. and Mrs. Bill Clinton. Very rarely did I hear from a Clinton supporter (political discussion is generally off-limits in our house). And yet to hear the crowd at the "world's most famous sports arena" last night, you'd think the impeachment of an American president was a distant and forgotten memory.

I guess I need to hike up my pants, put the game out of my mind and go back to work. If what I do for a living really isn't the real world, at least it's a world I feel comfortable in. Not to mention safe. Anybody want a season ticket to the New York Liberty games?

Mike Gallagher’s nationally syndicated radio show, headquartered in New York’s Empire State Building, is now heard on well over 200 stations.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Clinton Scandals
Sen. Hillary Clinton

A product that might interest you:
Get Chris Ruddy and Carl Limbacher's Special Report on Hillary Clinton
Trooper reveals Hillary's secrets!