Hey Maxine, you doin' anything after the dinner?
Posted on 10/29/2003 5:41:35 AM PST by mountaineer
Former President Bill Clinton compared Muslim terrorism on U.S. soil to the 1960 brutality of Birmingham police chief Bull Connor against civil rights marchers.
"These people who killed all of these Americans thought they had the whole story," Clinton told his audience as he accepted a national Freedom Award from the National Civil Rights Museum with Memphis civil rights heroine Maxine Smith.
Clinton, sounding like a combination preacher and stand-up comedian, drew several standing ovations Tuesday in an acceptance speech in which he said the world is divided by people "who think our differences are more important than our similarities."
Clinton and Smith accepted the awards at a free public forum at Temple of Deliverance church, then were honored at a dinner reception in the Grand Ballroom of The Peabody that helped raise an estimated $400,000 for the civil rights museum.
Smith accepted her award first, describing it as a "thrilling thrilling moment. I’m up in the air." But she warned that the "struggle is far from over" and that education is a key to the future. "Education will determine the food you eat, the job you hold . . . the greatness you achieve."
As he followed her to the podium, Clinton said that as he watched an introductory video of Smith he couldn’t help but think as he saw her at age 21, "My God, you’re good looking."
As the audience laughed, Clinton was ready with a winking comeback related to his national apology after the Monica Lewinsky scandal. "I did it. I confess," said Clinton, inspiring a bigger round of laughter.
Bull Connor used fire hoses, dogs and clubs to attack marchers, defending his belief in a segregated America. His devotion to his own misguided beliefs was no different than terrorists who used airplanes to attack the Pentagon and the World Trade Center, Bosnian Serbs who felt justified in exterminating Muslims in the name of "ethnic cleansing," tribal warfare in the Congo and terrorism in Northern Ireland, said Clinton.
The pool of possible award recipients is growing with the museum’s expanded emphasis not just on civil rights but on human rights and struggles against oppressive regimes. That is why a relatively short list of potential future nominees now includes Burmese rights activist Aung San Suu Kyi (now under house arrest).
Robertson said others whose names repeatedly come up in the nominating process include Tibet’s Dalai Lama, former Southern Christian Leadership Conference president Joseph Lowery, U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) and and Clinton political intimate Rev. Jesse Jackson.
MEMPHIS - The terrorists and war criminals who plague the world today all share a common base, regardless of their religious or ethnic backgrounds, former President Clinton said Tuesday.
They all believe they have "the whole truth'' and the right to impose it on everyone else, said Clinton, who was in Memphis to receive the National Civil Rights Museum's highest honor, the Freedom Award.
"And that's what's at the root of all the problems in the Middle East,'' Clinton said. "That's what's at the root of all the fighting that went on for years between the Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland. That's what was at the root of what went on with all that ethnic cleansing between the Bosnian Serbs and the Muslims and the Croatians.'' rest of story
"But if you live in a world that is as interdependent as ours, you cannot possibly kill, jail or occupy everybody who is against you."
Clinton never mentioned President Bush by name or directly criticized Bush administration policy in Iraq or Afghanistan.
"That does not mean that you stop trying to defeat your enemies," Clinton was quick to add. "I honor the young men and women in uniform... But they shouldn’t be asked to carry this whole load."
Clinton said American policy should be to "make more friends than terrorists" and he pointed to his administration’s efforts to forge peace agreements in Northern Ireland, Bosnia and Rwanda. full story
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And we all know how successful his efforts in Northern Ireland, Bosnia and Rwanda have been.
Bonus question: Were more Kosovars killed by the Serbs just because they were Kosovars or were more Serbs killed by IFOR just because they were Serbs?
What an asshole. Of course, the enablers in the room would not think this is sexual harassment but, if Ahhnold or Bob Packwood were to make the same remark......
I don't suppose he's talking about the way the Serbs were driven out of Croatia in the early 1990s. Only Muslims can be the victims of "ethnic cleansing."
Interesting he didn't mention Korea, huh?
It's a shame the people who gave IMPOTUS this award actually think he ever gave a rat's rear about civil rights or them. Maybe he should have shared with them some of those n****r jokes of which he's infamously fond.
Bull Connor used fire hoses, dogs and clubs to attack marchers, defending his belief in a segregated America.
The edited images telecast was that era's Rodney King video. Authorities today would use "fire hoses, dogs and clubs to 'attack' marchers" who threaten to physically overpower police lines.
Some may disagree with what I remember of those days but how could anyone not notice that the Freedom Award is for those who support "human rights and struggles against oppressive regimes" YET three of the four whose names "repeatedly come up in the nominating process" are Americans. To wit,
Robertson said others whose names repeatedly come up in the nominating process include Tibet’s Dalai Lama, former Southern Christian Leadership Conference president Joseph Lowery, U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) and and Clinton political intimate Rev. Jesse Jackson.
As usual America is the evil, racist imperial empire. The struggle continues said the "civil rights" industry spokesperson. I guess so. It's very lucrative.
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