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.

Fact:

Mother Jones was founded as a nonprofit in 1976 because we knew corporations and billionaires wouldn't fund the type of hard-hitting journalism we set out to do.

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2022 demands.

payment methods

Fact:

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2022 demands.

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