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Yes, Bill Clinton Wants Fries With That

Former president still connects over food on the campaign trail

Bill Clinton stumped in Western New York for his wife, and a few fries. (Al Drago/CQ Roll Call File Photo)
Bill Clinton stumped in Western New York for his wife, and a few fries. (Al Drago/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

With Bill Clinton, life imitates art and art imitates life. Especially when it comes to french fries.  

In a campaign swing through Western New York on Monday, the former president urged folks to vote for his wife, former Sen. Hillary Clinton, in Tuesday’s presidential primary.  

He also sampled some of the french fries at Alton’s Restaurant in Cheektowaga, according to the Buffalo News , harking back to an immortal “Saturday Night Live” sketch, when a jogging Clinton (played by the late, great Phil Hartman) worked his way through a McDonald’s, scarfing french fry after McRib after apple pie.  

“Are you gonna finish those fries?” the faux president asks a woman whose baby the president is complimenting.  

The customer obliges — “Uh… no. Would you like some?” — and the snack attack rampage begins, peppered with Clinton pitching policy proposals.  

Steve Brown, a local reporter for WGRZ, caught the 42nd president mid-sample on Twitter on Monday, and the ensuing threads all pointed to Hartman’s iconic performance.

President Clinton might expect a nutritional lecture once his loved ones, and doctor, find out about his get-out-the-nosh adventures.  

After a series of health problems, including quadruple bypass surgery in 2004, he adopted a vegan diet, although he has acknowledged he’s not 100 percent faithful to it, and his doctors actually suggested he reintroduce lean proteins like salmon back into his diet.  

But french fries? As Hartman’s Clinton says at one point to his Secret Service detail about the fast food foray, “Jim, let me tell you something — there’s gonna be a lot of things we don’t tell Mrs. Clinton about. Fast food is the least of our worries.”  


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