Jeff Greenfied: “Even in this Age of Permanent Gas-baggery, when the signal-to-noise ratio is approaching the win-loss ratio of the 1962 Mets, the mindlessness of the Baby Clinton conversation has made CNN’s search for the Malaysian airplane look like a model of thoughtful analysis. I would cheerfully give a significant three-figure sum to any talking head who, when asked to opine on the earthshaking consequences of Chelsea’s pregnancy, would channel John McEnroe: ‘You cannot be serious!'”

The Week: Meet the Clinton baby truthers

The famous Clinton White House document known as the “conspiracy commerce memo” has finally surfaced in a batch of documents released by the Clinton library, Politico reports.

“The memo, which details how right-wing conspiracy theories made their way into the mainstream press, was written in 1995 and first acknowledged by the White House in 1997. The idea of a ‘conspiracy’ was also famously referred to by Hillary Clinton in 1998, when she cited a ‘vast right-wing conspiracy that has been conspiring against my husband since the day he ran for president.'”

Hillary Clinton “played an energetic role in virtually every foreign policy issue of President Obama’s first term, advocating generally hawkish views internally while using her celebrity to try to restore America’s global standing after the hit it took during the George W. Bush administration,” the New York Times reports.

“But her halting answer suggests a problem that Mrs. Clinton could confront as she recounts her record in Mr. Obama’s cabinet before a possible run for president in 2016: Much of what she labored over so conscientiously is either unfinished business or has gone awry in his second term.”

Chelsea Clinton told Fast Company that she might run for public office one day.

Said Clinton: “I live in a city and a state and a country where I support my elected representatives. If at some point that weren’t the case, and I didn’t support my mayor or my city councilwoman or my congresswoman or either of my senators — and I’m lucky to live in a state where I have lots of women representing me, you know — maybe then I’d have to ask and answer the question for myself, and come to a different answer.”

Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich shared a memory on Facebook about what the Huffington Post calls “the most powerful classroom ever.”

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The New York Times reports on “roughly 2,500 pages of documents from the Clinton White House years that were made public on Friday by the National Archives. More of the 30,000 documents will be released over the next several weeks.”

“Some of the most riveting material involves the administration’s scramble to contain the Lewinsky scandal — which led to the president’s impeachment — and the maneuverings inside the White House to prepare for Hillary Rodham Clinton’s political future.”

“Almost 18 months before the Lewinsky scandal broke, but months after Mr. Clinton’s relationship with her began, the president went to the trouble of sweetening a reference to his wife as he twice scribbled changes to his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in 1996.”

Wall Street Journal: “One of the striking and somewhat dispiriting revelations in the new batch of Clinton presidential archives released last week is just how little seems to have changed in the 20 years since Bill and Hillary Clinton entered the White House.”

“A review of thousands of pages of internal memos shows the 42nd president grappling with many of the same policy dilemmas and stubborn political realities that bedevil the 44th. Each White House trotted out some of the same rhetorical points and tactical maneuvers in trying to move its agenda, running full force into some of the same obstacles.”

Huffington Post points to one memo which shows an adviser decrying parts of a planned Clinton speech on the federal debt as “a fuckin’ lie.”

The Washington Post reports on the “cache of confidential communications” between Hillary Clinton and her political image-makers “detailing the strategic machinations behind her evolution from a political spouse to a political leader in her own right. The secret memos open a rare window into the meticulous and intense efforts to manage Clinton’s public image during her and President Bill Clinton’s tumultuous eight years in office.”

“They describe attempts to cultivate influential journalists who could become ‘fans’ or ‘Clinton surrogates.’ They also detail a push to leverage the first lady’s official travel and agenda to generate positive news media coverage, softening her image in the run-up to Bill Clinton’s 1996 reelection campaign.”

Politico: “Yet anyone hoping to divine insight into the true Hillary Clinton from the latest cache of documents is bound to be disappointed yet again.”

Politico notes that for years after Bill and Hillary Clinton’s health care reform effort failed, “the generally accepted storyline was that they cooked up the health care plan in secret, didn’t work with Congress enough and that’s why it stalled.”

“Not true, according to the documents released Friday, which include transcripts of briefings Hillary Clinton gave to members of Congress and memos from White House advisers. They show that she was constantly being urged to hold more meetings with key members of Congress, including Democrats and Republicans, in early 1993 when the plan was being put together — and she was being advised on how to stroke the egos of individual lawmakers.”

“And yet, the Clinton White House didn’t put the pieces together to see the coming collapse, with Democrats unable to get on the same page and Republicans under pressure to say no to the whole thing.”

The Clinton Presidential Library “will make its first release on Friday of records that were previously withheld from the public under legal provisions that expired early last year,” Politico reports.

“About 4,000 to 5,000 pages will be put online at 1 P.M. Friday, with paper copies becoming simultaneously available at the library in Little Rock… More releases are expected in the next couple of weeks.”

First Read: “Our understanding — for now — is that they probably won’t contain any
big news or revelations (unless, say, you’re looking to pore over memos
that current Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan might have sent Clinton
when was working in his counsel’s office). But we’ll have to wait to
find out.”

“A trove of Clinton White House records long processed for release remains hidden from public view at the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock — even though the legal basis initially used to withhold them expired more than a year ago,” Politico reports.

“The papers contain confidential advice given to or sought by President Bill Clinton, including communications with then-first lady Hillary Clinton, and records about people considered for appointments to federal office.”

Joe Klein: “I wasn’t expecting much dirt from the Diane Blair papers, even though they were splashed internationally on Drudge on Sunday, with a big SCANDAL headline. And I wasn’t disappointed: not much there, except Hillary’s stiletto discription of Lewinsky as a ‘narcissistic loony tune.’ Indeed, the ‘editor’ of the ‘publication’ that ‘broke’ this story described the then-First Lady as ‘surprisingly human.’ To which I can only ask: Why surprisingly? I’ve known Hillary Clinton for nearly 30 years now. I wouldn’t say I know her particularly well, but well enough to describe her in an entirely different way-as relentlessly human…”

“My overwhelming reaction to the release of the Blair papers was sadness-sadness because I remember Diane Blair fondly, the sort of smart, level-headed person I’d want as a friend. But also because it brought back the disgraceful bilge volcano of the Clinton years-the non-stop garbage peddled and sleazed by Drudge and Rush and the then frisky young Fox Network, the fact that the Clintons were accused of drug-trafficking, murder, financial scandals and all sorts of vile craziness-none of which proved to be true. And no apologies have ever been forthcoming from the greasy perps.”

Hillary Clinton said that she hasn’t driven a car since 1996, TPM reports.

Said Clinton: “I have to confess that one of the regrets I have about my public life is that I can’t drive anymore. My husband thinks that’s a blessing, but he’s the one who should talk. Last time I actually drove a car myself was 1996, and I remember it very well. Unfortunately so does the Secret Service, which is why I haven’t driven since then.”

Bill Clinton “may be a globe-trotting citizen of the world, but these days he is focusing on his home state, and for good reason: The election ballot for next year looks like a Clinton political family tree, full of the former president’s protégés and ex-staff members and family friends,” the New York Times reports.

“Senator Mark Pryor, who was 11 when he first met Mr. Clinton and whose father has been a close ally of the president’s for four decades, is fighting for re-election. James Lee Witt, whom Mr. Clinton met in a Little League dugout in 1974 and eventually named director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is running for Congress. And Patrick Henry Hays, a protégé and one of a band of locals who stumped on Mr. Clinton’s behalf in 1992, calling themselves Arkansas Travelers, is also seeking a House seat.”

Washington Post: “Maybe it was something about what they served in the White House mess in the 1990s. Or perhaps it’s what happens to baby boomer Democrats more than a decade after leaving office. For whatever the reason former vice president Al Gore has gone vegan, just like the president with whom he once served.”

Bono did a remarkably good impersonation of Bill Clinton today at the Clinton Global Initiative.

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The New Republic takes a fascinating look at the role Doug Band played in Bill Clinton’s post-presidential inner circle.

“A longtime Clinton associate was approached by a company interested in having the former president speak at a conference and asked Band for guidance… Band explained that the company should pay a certain sum to Clinton’s speaker’s agency and ideally contribute a certain sum to the Clinton Global Initiative or the foundation. Of course, he told the associate, the company should ‘also pay you for having made that happen’ — as if that were simply the way things were done.”

“Band had a key ally on Hillary’s team: Huma Abedin. Bill’s body man and Hillary’s body woman had bonded over their loyalty to their bosses. They were known to show up at parties together… They also had an ingenious method of collecting intelligence on each other’s behalf. Abedin would sidle up to someone in Bill’s camp and, in a confiding tone, make a disparaging remark about Band. If it was reciprocated, she would relay the criticisms to Band and he would do the same for her, says someone who fell for this technique.”

Gennifer Flowers told the Daily Mail that she and Bill Clinton would still be together today, were it not the birth of Clinton’s daughter, Chelsea.

Said Flowers: “Bill and I would be together today if it wasn’t for politics. It was me, Bill and Hillary. Then they had Chelsea and the stakes got too high.”

She also claimed that Hillary Clinton was bisexual: “I just know what Bill told me and that was that he was aware that Hillary was bisexual and he didn’t care. He should know. He said Hillary had eaten more pussy than he had.”