Posted on 12/15/2005 2:05:59 PM PST by NYpeanut
Former President Bill Clinton poses with a fan in a suite in HSBC Arena Wednesday night. More photos of Clinton's visit on the Picture Page, C10.
Former President Bill Clinton lamented a new political climate stressing ideology over performance while in Buffalo Wednesday, lambasting the Republican Party on almost every front before joining next year's potential GOP candidate for governor for hockey in HSBC Arena.
In a day that provided all kinds of strange political mixes, he wowed an audience of about 600 hand-picked Democrats in the Buffalo Convention Center as part of a swing through Rochester and Buffalo.
His invitation came from B. Thomas Golisano, the Buffalo Sabres owner who has made substantial contributions to the William J. Clinton Foundation, and who reiterated Wednesday that he will decide whether to run for governor within the next month.
But while Golisano dismissed all the "strange political bedfellows" characterizations of his new friendship with Clinton, the latter lashed out at the ruling regime in Washington.
In a session that sources say was practically demanded by high-ranking Democrats to counter Golisano and his new Republican persona, Clinton insisted the nation is growing tired of a style that has created a slew of new problems through devotion to ideology.
"They're tired of politics that focuses on ideology over evidence. They're tired of politics that focuses on division over unity. They want to have a future of shared responsibilities," he said.
Clinton's audience seemed to especially appreciate his criticism of cutbacks in social programs like child care and hurricane relief to help right a budget that he said Republicans are only now beginning to acknowledge is unbalanced.
"The one thing that's sacrosanct in this budget is tax cuts," he said, while the new budget also calls for cuts in food stamps, cutting child support collection efforts, raising the cost of college loans, cutting back on aid for child care and refusing to help New Orleans utilities the way it did Con Edison in Manhattan following the terrorist attacks of 2001.
"That's their idea of a fair deal," he said. "Now, if we can't take that and get some votes, we all ought to get a different line of work."
Clinton played well to his Buffalo audience too, thanking Mayor Anthony M. Masiello, Mayor-elect Byron W. Brown, former Rep. John J. LaFalce and others for their support over the years. He pointed to his 1999 appearance in HSBC Arena as one of the "most meaningful moments" of his presidency when more than 22,000 supporters buoyed him just following his impeachment.
And while he referred to a Monday interview with The Buffalo News, he confessed he had not spoken the entire truth when expressing his admiration for the city and its values.
"I didn't say it because I thought it would be a little indelicate," he said. "But you can't live here and stay here if you're a "wuss.' This is no place for the fainthearted."
But while Clinton sounded a partisan theme, Golisano wanted nothing to do with traditional political sparring. He told an arena press conference that no politics was involved in his invitation to watch the Sabres host the Dallas Stars. It stemmed instead from the "more than seven-figure" contribution he gave to the Clinton Global Initiative that combats a number of world problems with specific plans.
"The only dynamic was that he got me involved in a project that's very, very important to the world," he said. "As a way of reciprocating, he agreed to come to Rochester and Buffalo. There's nothing else beyond that.
At Wednesday night's hockey game, the duo appeared at the top of the stairs in the owner's box while lights were dimmed for the national anthems of the United States and Canada, followed by a forceful live performance of "God Bless America" by Irish tenor Ronan Tynan.
Sitting next to each other in the front row, the two often had their heads together in conversation.
The first period of play was almost over when "Don't Stop," the Fleetwood Mac song used by the Clinton campaign in 1992, filled the arena and a spotlight focused on the former president. As the crowd applauded and cheered, Clinton stood and waved. He left after the second period.
The Sabres defeated the Stars, 4-3.
"Isn't it great that people from two different parties can get together and work on something without everybody conjuring up all kinds of strange bedfellows or whatever it is?" Golisano said at the afternoon press conference. "I just joined the Republican Party and he's obviously a Democrat, but we worked on something that's very, very important."
A billionaire who has proven a major philanthropic force in upstate New York, Golisano said Clinton persuaded him to join his effort "by the force and strength of his presentation."
"Mr. Clinton has a way of presenting information in a very logical and understandable way," he said. "It made sense."
But for all of Golisano's protests, Clinton's visit took on political overtones because of Democratic concerns over his visit with a potential member of the Republican ticket opposing Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton next year.
"It's still percolating, it's still awkward, and we're letting it be awkward," said one Democrat with knowledge of the situation.
As a result, Democratic sources said the Convention Center event orchestrated by Erie County Democratic Chairman Leonard R. Lenihan was assisted by Sen. Clinton as a way of assuaging those Democratic concerns.
"It was helpful," said the Democratic source.
Golisano, however, would not drop any hint that he had been upstaged by the Democratic event. He continued emphasizing the bipartisan nature of his invitation, which also included a visit to the Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences at Rochester Institute of Technology.
News Staff Reporter Janice L. Habuda contributed to this report.
e-mail: rmccarthy@buffnews.com
Heard Golisano wants to run for Governor of NY. NO WAY IN HELL WILL HE BECOME GOVERNOR!
Was BC there to brag about all those jobs his wife promised for Buffalo?
My how I despise this man! Projection, projection, projection! Somehow he managed to leave out the 'politics of personal destruction'!
Limited government - yuck!
Free enterprise - ugh!
Respect for God - No way!
/Channeling Slick Willy
Super-rich guy who thinks it would be cool to be governor, and who has the money to make it happen. Or come close, in Golisano's case.
If Golisano thinks that Bubba makes sense it makes me wonder how Golisano ever became so rich.
Golisano is a liberal democrat. Make no mistake about it.
"...he wowed an audience of about 600 hand-picked Democrats..."
Tough crowd!
Gee, I wonder if the Bush's are going to invite Billy Klinton for dinner any more??? How stupid can people be, especially ones we elect into the White House??
Washington is totally out of control.
How can Golisano be smart enough to make all that money and still be dumb enough to believe Klintoon's plans? But then again, nature does produce some strange beings.
I see Golisano continues his record of helping Democrats -- first by running as an "independent" to take votes away from Pataki, and now this.
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