Remember that clip from this week where Obama he said that the Republican party had been the “party of ideas” for a good chunk of time? Well, Hillary and Bill both LIED on separate occasions and asserted that Obama had said that the Republicans had “better” ideas over the past 10 to 15 years.

Well, first, here’s the transcript:

BARACK OBAMA: I think it’s fair to say the Republicans were the party of ideas for a pretty long chunk of time there over the last 10, 15 years, in the sense that they were challenging conventional wisdom.

If you watch the actual clip, it’s clear that Obama is saying that they were able to come up with a lot of ideas that captured the imagination of the electorate. He’s not saying they were good ideas, he’s just saying that since the Republicans actually HAD some ideas, they were effective in pushing their agenda.

So I’m watching the a podcast of the roundtable on Meet The Press today and here are two clips from the Hill and Bill show.

First Hill…

HILLARY CLINTON: My leading opponent the other day said that he thought the Republicans had better ideas than Democrats the last 10 to 15 years. That’s not the way I remember the last 10 to 15 years.

Then Bill…

MR. BILL CLINTON: Her principal opponent said that since 1992, the Republicans have had all the good ideas. It goes along with that plan to ask the Republicans to become Democrats for a day and caucus with you tomorrow, and then go back and become Republicans so they can participate in the Republican primary. I’m not making this up, folks.

And as Russert points out…

TIM RUSSERT: And in 2002, after the Democrats lost the midterm elections, William Jefferson Clinton said, “The Democrats have to have ideas to win. We are MIA, missing in action on national security and have no positive plan for America’s domestic future.”

Dead solid perfect.

Also…remember how Obama talked about Reagan as an agent of chage? If not, here’s more from his interview…

Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America in a way that, you know, Richard Nixon did not and in a way that Bill Clinton did not. He put us on a fundamentally different path because the country was ready for it.

He tapped into what people were already feeling, which is we want clarity, we want optimism, we want, you know, a return to that sense of dynamism and, you know, entrepreneurship that had been missing.

Again, Obama was talking about Reagan’s ability to sense that the country wanted a change. He’s not agreeing with the changes Reagan made.

Obviously, Hillary has gone after Obama for this, but as the MTP crew points out Hillary forgets her wistful memories of The Gipper…

TIM RUSSERT: Interestingly enough, the Salmon Press in New Hampshire, which endorsed Hillary Clinton, cited as one of the reasons that, when they talked to her in the interview, she listed Ronald Reagan as one of her favorite presidents.

PEGGY NOONAN: That’s right.

TOM BROKAW: May I have a cheap, self-serving moment? In my book, “Boom”…

DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN: Of course.

TIM RUSSERT: A best seller! “Boom,” by Tom Brokaw.

TOM BROKAW: …she says that Ronald Reagan plays the music beautifully, and she talked about how he balanced the interests of the middle class and took on the Soviets.

Again, if you wonder why I’m so tough on the Hill and Bill show, this is why. They’re just not honest, and I’m am incredibly afraid that they’re going to take this brand of dishonest politics and spin their way right back into the White House. And they think that’s going to be able to bring about change?

Well guess what…it won’t work. And as the editor of Newsweek points out…

JON MEACHAM: I think this is a closely argued, closely fought election on both sides. And the one person, which Mike Gerson makes this point for us this week, who could in fact unite the Republican Party, is Hillary Clinton.

Agreed.