The Onion Predicts the Future, Again: Bill Clinton’s Third Run

If Bill Clinton wants to be president, again, y'all should just learn how to shut up and deal with it.<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/worldeconomicforum/403612854/">World Economic Forum</a>/Flickr

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

It’s long been known that the creative team behind The Onion is comprised primarily of fortunetellers, time travelers, palm-readers, and other folks who are capable of peering deep into the future.

Remember the article on how George W. Bush revived war, jingoism, recession, fear, and loathing…published in January 2001? How about when they prophesied the advent of Joe the Plumber all the way back in 1993? Or that Gillette would be crazy enough to put five blades on a razor (three years before the product was even introduced)? And how about that tiff between an Al Qaeda spokesman and 9/11 Truthers?

And in late January 2008, the satirical tabloid ran the following headline

 Oh, look, here we are in November 2011, and….. 

(To see what just happened to your mind, click here.)

On Tuesday, the 42nd President of the United States appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” to discuss, among other things, his take on the two-term limit. The thought of scrapping the Twenty-Second Amendment and paving the way for another coming of Clinton would surely speak to the desires of Americans who pine for an era when unemployment was at 4 percent and the commander-in-chief played tenor sax on MTV.

So when host Joe Scarborough asked the former POTUS if “a president [should] be able to take two terms, take time off, and run again,” Clinton responded with: “I’ve always thought that should be the rule. I think as a practical matter, you couldn’t apply this to anyone who has already served, but going forward, I personally believe that should be the rule…People are living longer, they’re developing greater capacity…”

Okay, so maybe he wasn’t explicitly applying “the rule” to himself, or declaring another presidential bid. But that doesn’t change the fact that the Onion news team clearly time-travels to land scoops on things like the Iraq War and safety razors.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate