Posted on 10/04/2002 10:08:46 AM PDT by HAL9000
Today is the 11th anniversary of the best article ever written about Bill Clinton, by Meredith Oakley of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. It was published on the date of Clinton's announcement of his candidacy for president of the United States on October 4, 1991 -
Taking Bill Clinton at his word: Basking in a false and empty light
His word is dirt.
Not a statesman is he, but a common, run-of-the-mill, dime-a-dozen politician.
A mere opportunist.
A man whose word is fallow ground not because it is unwanted but because it is barren, bereft of the clean-smelling goodness that nurtures wholesome things.
Those of us who cling to the precepts of another age, a time in which a man's word was his bond, and, morally, bailing out was not an option, cannot join the madding crowd in celebrating what is for some Bill Clinton's finest hour.
We cannot rejoice in treachery.
The bleaters who care more for celebrity than veracity are basking in a false and empty light. They trumpet the basest form of political expediency, for they revel amid the debris of a broken promise.
Clinton will never accept that assessment of his actions or his following. He subscribes to the credo that the anointed must rule the empire, and he has anointed himself. In his ambition-blinded eyes, one released from a promise has not broken any promise.
He ignores the fact that he granted his own pardon.
Clinton announced in late summer that he would take a three-week tour of the state to see whether Arkansans wanted to release him from the promise, made in October 1990, not to seek the presidency if re-elected governor.
Actually, he was on the road only about three days, and he later confessed that he hadn't even bothered to ask those with whom he spoke whether they would release him from the promise.
That is of little consequence, perhaps, for he was meeting with sycophants who would have told him, had he asked, that his bulbous nose was tiny and, in fact, would grace the face of Helen of Troy.
His delusion, therefore, is not entirely self-induced. The strains of Camelot's anthem have followed him for 15 years because he has been able to inspire the young and the beautiful to visions of political grandeur while reassuring their elders that chivalry is not dead.
They who will never be great would settle for a seat, however briefly held, at the foot of greatness. They would pardon any sin--indeed, deny its very existence--for a moment spent basking in the false and empty light of the anointed.
In their adoring minds, Bill Clinton wants to be president; therefore, Bill Clinton should be president.
Clinton has never been known for keeping his word. There is a Scottish proverb that fits his particular code of honor: He never lies but when the holly is green.
If there remained any doubt about that--rather, if there remained any hope that even Clinton would not betray a pledge made before a statewide television audience--it gulped its last breath at the moment those fateful words of wishdom rang through the trees of the Old State House.
"Will you guarantee all of us," asked newsman Craig Cannon on Oct. 15, 1990, "that if re-elected, there is absolutely, positively no way that you'll run for any other political office and that you'll serve out your term in full?"
"You bet," Clinton declared. "I told you when I announced for governor I intended to run, and that's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna serve four years. I made that decision when I decided to run. I'm being considered for as a candidate for governor. That's the job I want. That's the job I'll do for the next four years."
Contrary to his very public declaration, Clinton does not want to be governor of Arkansas. Neither does he intend to perform that job--although he is perfectly willing to draw a governor's salary, to accumulate a governor's pension credits and to keep a change of clothing at the Governor's Mansion while he traverses the country making other statements he does not mean and other promises he will not keep.
Copyright © 1991, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. All rights reserved.
Never EVER Forget!!
FReegards...MUD
And Bush's approval ratings are higher right now than Clinton's EVER were.
My God, and he is still anointed in his and so much of the world's minds. If only we had heeded this warning.
Oh yeah, and Bob Rubin never cooked the books for the Department of Treasury...I contest those polls!!
FReegards...MUD
It is the same article as above.
It was originally published on October 4, 1991 with the title "Taking Bill Clinton at his word: Basking in a false and empty light", then republished on September 13, 1998 with the title "I told you so".
free dixie NOW,sw
Bet'cha DemMorons T-Mac and Slick are gonna git polled quite regularly once Justice catches up to them and they spend the rest of their lives on this planet in an 8'x10' concrete cell!!
Quite Sincerely...MUD
"Does he have a vision or agenda that he pursues, does he have direction in which he is leading the country? I have never been able to detect any particular principal that Bill Clinton would not sacrifice in order to advance his political career."
"The question of his stand on the Gulf War came up .... he mentioned almost casually he had supported the use of force in that war. And that really threw me. Because I remembered that he had not. ... I remember feeling shaken, ... I sped down the 43 miles to the paper, looked up the clips, and of course he had not supported the war. He had issued a classic waffle that would allow him later to take whatever side looked popular whether we had won or lost that conflict. It was a very convoluted statement ... it had so many escape clauses he would have had a hard time not coming out on top no matter how the war came out. We have a term for those escape clauses in Arkansas. Those are called "Clinton Clauses." Seldom, if ever, will you catch Bill Clinton in anything so direct as a lie. There is always a premeditated quality to many of his statements that give him an out in case he decided to abandon a promise or betray an assertion. "
"So that Bill Clinton is very much a man of the '90's. Or maybe the '90's is very much a reflection of Bill Clinton. I'm not sure which. But I think we do live in a Clintonized culture. Just turn on your television set, or read your newspaper or try to find out what the latest spin is, and you can see what counts is the right sentimental expression, the right style rather than anything below the surface, rather than any kind of profound quality. Rather than any sense of pain or sacrifice that awaits us."
Obviously, CorporategreedGate is a direct reflection of Bill Clinton's lawlessness while POTUS, but I disagree that a strong majority of Americans believe Fraud and Graft and Murder and Rape and Treason are unprosecutable fer the Effete Elite.
RE-IMPEACH.CONVICT.DETHRONE.
DISBAR.DE-PENSION.DE-LEGITIMIZE.
INDICT.CONVICT.IMPRISON.DISCARD KEY.
Quite Sincerely...MUD
Thanks for 'heads up 'YaYa' on Greenberg. . .but which column do you mean re Greenberg? Could not find 'dread78645's' post. . .and there are so many by Paul. . .
. . .For sure, Paul Greenberg always has the nail and the hammer lined up perfectly!
free dixie,sw
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