Politics & Power Quote by Morley Safer

“Sullied” is doing the heavy lifting here: it’s not the language of policy failure or ideological betrayal, but of stain, taint, something that lingers on the surface no matter how often you polish it. Morley Safer, speaking as a seasoned broadcast journalist, frames Clinton’s problem as reputational and moral optics rather than merely legal jeopardy. The intent is surgical: acknowledge Clinton’s undeniable gifts while insisting those gifts can’t disinfect what Safer implies is a self-inflicted mess.

The phrasing “as brilliant… as magnetic…” sets up the classic journalistic pivot: praise that functions as inoculation. Safer grants Clinton his talent and charisma so the critique lands as reluctant, even commonsensical, not partisan. Then he goes for the kill with “one little screw loose somewhere,” a line that sounds almost folksy, even affectionate, but carries a sharp diagnosis: this wasn’t an isolated lapse; it suggests a glitch in character, an appetite for risk and gratification that outmaneuvers judgment.

The subtext is that Clinton’s greatest strengths - charm, agility, the ability to talk his way through anything - may have enabled the very behavior that damaged him. Safer isn’t describing a villain; he’s describing a virtuoso who can’t stop touching the hot stove. Context matters: this reads as post-scandal Clinton, when the story of his presidency competed with the story of his self-control. Safer’s journalism-minded verdict is less about punishment than about legacy: history, he implies, won’t unsee the stain.