“Who would have thought, after years and years, even decades, in which the Republican right attacked ‘Old Europe’ that they would embrace the economic policies of the Euro zone — austerity and unemployment now at all costs,” former President Bill Clinton joked at a fundraiser for President Obama’s re-election campaign Monday night.

It would have been a good line — if only it were true. Yes, unemployment in Europe is high. Yes, that high unemployment is largely due to “austerity” policies brought about by Europe’s crushing debt burden. But Clinton is dead wrong when he compares European austerity to Republican policies.