Kroft: You've been saying all week that you've got to put this issue behind you. Are you prepared tonight to say that you've never had an extramarital affair?
Bill Clinton: I'm not prepared tonight to say that any married couple should ever discuss that with anyone but themselves. I'm not prepared to say that about anybody. I think that the . . . .
Kroft: . . . That's what you've been saying essentially for the last couple of months.
Bill Clinton: . . . You go back and listen to what I've said. You know, I have acknowledged wrongdoing. I have acknowledged causing pain in my marriage. I have said things to you tonight and to the American people from the beginning that no American politician ever has.
I think most Americans who are watching this tonight, they'll know what we're saying; they'll get it, and they'll feel that we have been more candid. And I think what the press has to decide is: Are we going to engage in a game of "gotcha"? . . . I can remember a time when a divorced person couldn't run for president, and that time, thank goodness, has passed. Nobody's prejudiced against anybody because they're divorced. Are we going to take the reverse position now that if people have problems in their marriage and there are things in their past which they don't want to discuss which are painful to them, that they can't run?
Kroft: You're trying to put this issue behind you, and the problem with the answer is it's not a denial. And people are sitting out there -- voters – and they're saying, "Look, it's really pretty simple. If he's never had an extramarital affair, why doesn't {he} say so?"
Bill Clinton: That may be what they're saying. You know what I think they're saying? I think they're saying, "Here's a guy who's leveling with us." . . . I've told the American {people} more than any other candidate for president. The result of that has been everybody going to my state and spending more time trying to play "gotcha."
