Bill cost Al and Hillary the presidency

This year is the 20th anniversary of Clinton's impeachment for perjury and suborning perjury. Most people focus on Bill's affair with Lewinsky, but that happened in 1995 but the public found out about it in his sexual harassment lawsuit (which he later settled out of court for every buck Paula Jones sought: $800,000). He lied in deposition.

Hillary seemed upset that he got caught. Al Gore, his vice president, defended him lamely.

But a new book reveals Gore's then-wife, Tipper, was livid.

"Tipper Gore was furious at Bill Clinton, angrier than Hillary Clinton was," said Kate Andersen Brower, author of "First in Line: Presidents, Vice Presidents and the Pursuit of Power."

The Gores and Clintons did not get along well. The Gores were born and bred in DC. The Clintons came out of Arkansas. Plus, Bill was far more popular and gregarious than the wooden Al Gore.

Tipper was pretty uptight. She led that Senate campaign to censor rock and roll lyrics, which led to Frank Zappa telling a Senate committee, "I wrote a song about dental floss but did anyone's teeth get cleaner?"

(For the record, I do not eat yellow snow.)

Tipper pushed her husband to distance himself from Bill in the 2000 election.

She may have gotten along with Hillary. Who knows?

But her husband didn't.

"Today, Al Gore still bristles when asked about his relationship with Hillary Clinton – who many characterized as Bill Clinton’s co-president, diminishing Gore’s role as veep," the New York Post reported in a story about the new book.

Brower told the Post she interviewed Gore for the book.

"I expected him to say Hillary Clinton and I had a great working relationship. [But] he thought the interview might have to be cut short," she wrote in her book.

Brower pointed out, "They both suffered because of him."

I agree, but it was the choice they made.

Hillary should have left him, and Gore should have told him one of us is going to resign because I cannot serve a liar.

Instead, they fell on their swords for him.

Well, falling on your sword usually leads to a lot of pain, if not death. Politically speaking, of course.

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