Clinton Criticizes Press

President Clinton is blaming it on the media.

At a Democratic fund-raiser Wednesday in Texas, Mr. Clinton sharply criticized press coverage of the U.S. presidential campaign, saying reporters were concentrating too much on minor campaign gaffes and too little on the issues.

“I think it's a bunch of bull,” the president told supporters at a fund-raising dinner in Houston, saying he was frustrated by reporting on the race between Republican Texas Gov. George W. Bush and Democratic Vice President Al Gore.

“I do not think America is very well served by all this rigmarole trying to confuse people into thinking that if you can just find which one has the worst quirks, you'll know to vote for the other,” he added. “That's a bunch of hooey. That's not true.”

Mr. Clinton continued the theme at a second fund-raiser in Houston, describing much of the coverage ahead of the Nov. 7 presidential election as “all this static that goes back and forth.”

“One week we're being told that Gov. Bush has done something dumb and bad, and blah, blah, blah. ... The next week they really dump on Vice President Gore and ... then the American people are told: 'Oh, he's done something terrible,' blah, blah, blah, and the truth is most of it doesn't amount to a hill of beans,” he said.

Mr. Clinton said he had long observed these patterns, but found it particularly troubling in this election.

“It bothers me about all elections but it really bothers me now,” he said.