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Bush offers glowing tribute to Clinton at unveiling of portrait
AP ^ | 6.14.04

Posted on 06/14/2004 12:09:41 PM PDT by ambrose

(06-14) 11:54 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) --

President Bush offered a glowing tribute to former President Clinton on Monday as the White House unveiled the official portraits of the 42nd president and his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Bush rode into office on a promise "to restore honor and dignity" to the White House after eight years of Clinton, and he was bitter at Clinton for defeating his father in the 1992 presidential contest. Moreover, Clinton plans to campaign for the man trying to oust Bush from office, Democrat John Kerry.

But on Monday, Bush delivered a lengthy, forceful defense of his predecessor, and welcomed dozens of Clinton administration officials back into the White House. It was Clinton's first return to the White House since leaving office, said a spokeswoman, Tammy Sun.

"As a candidate for any office, whether it be the state attorney general or the president, Bill Clinton showed incredible energy and great personal appeal," Bush said. "As chief executive, he showed a deep and far-ranging knowledge of public policy, a great compassion for people in need and the forward-looking spirit that Americans like in a president."

Bush left Clinton laughing so hard that his face turned red with a jibe about Clinton's optimism in campaigning in Texas for George McGovern in 1972.

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: unveiling
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To: ambrose
to a certain extent, bill clinton and GWB have more in common
with each other than virtually anyone else in the world. they
were both president of the united states. that's a pretty
exclusive club, and you really don't catch them going after
each other very often. if 9/11 didn't unleash a torrent of
finger pointing between GWB and bill clinton, and it didn't,
then nothing is likely to.

like somebody else said upstream in this thread, it's
politics.
161 posted on 06/14/2004 8:32:29 PM PDT by smonk
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To: Beeline40@aol.com
This Bush speech clearly needed a dis-combobulator translation:

"The years have done a lot to clarify the strengths of this man," Yes, he was a "very good liar" as Kerrey once said of him.

Bush said about Clinton. "As a candidate for any office, whether it be the state attorney general or the president, Bill Clinton showed incredible energy and great personal appeal. " Clinton was a good campaigner. Or is he talking about how Clinton was in the sack?

As chief executive, he showed a deep and far-ranging knowledge of public policy, Always wants to keep talking and talking about all he knows. a real know-it-all "a great compassion for people in need, and the forward-looking spirit that Americans like in a president." I feel-your-pain. where was Clinton's compassion when he subjected us to 1 1/2 hour state of the union monologues?

Bush said Clinton "could always see a better day ahead, and Americans knew he was working hard to bring that day closer. ... Working towards the day when he could cruise for chicks as ex-president and play more golf ... oha and write a big fat book about himself. " Over eight years it was clear that Bill Clinton loved the job of the presidency." Ok. Mark him down as "power-mongerer". Are you sure it just wasnt the golf, cigars, and interns he was after? He really loved 'solving' mideast peace by embracing Arafat, then dissing Newt Gingrich to stop the advance of a balanced budget?

He filled this house with energy and joy. The Lincoln bedroom vistors were joyful indeed. He's a man of enthusiasm and warmth, ... so say all the interns. who could make a compelling case and effectively advance the causes that drew him to public service." And that number 1 cause is: Bill Clinton himself!

162 posted on 06/14/2004 8:34:05 PM PDT by WOSG (Peace through Victory! Iraq victory, W victory, American victory!)
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To: hunter112
Speaking of Sen. Clinton, Bush said, "She inspires respect and loyalty from those who know her, ... "

The same could be said of all the great dictators of the 20th century. How that loyalty is maintained is the question.

163 posted on 06/14/2004 8:36:05 PM PDT by WOSG (Peace through Victory! Iraq victory, W victory, American victory!)
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To: GVgirl
pickle walking into history

What does that mean?

164 posted on 06/14/2004 8:36:28 PM PDT by alnick
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To: CIACrack
So to compliment scum would have done Reagan proud? I'm missing your point.

President Bush was a gracious host today.

165 posted on 06/14/2004 8:40:18 PM PDT by alnick
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To: alnick

Fly in the ointment. Turd in the punchbowl, etc.


166 posted on 06/14/2004 8:42:01 PM PDT by GVnana
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To: CoolPapaBoze; sasafras

"President Bush has risked his presidency by pursuing a foreign policy that completely disregarded "what others think" because he believed it to be the right thing to do. He did the same on tax cuts, pulling us out of the Kyoto treaty, calling for a Constitutional amendment on gay marriage and on and on. There are plenty of legitimate complaints about the president, but the notion that he is more worried about what others think isn't a legitimate one."

Correct.

And clearly Bush didnt get up and think "well, what would the anti-Clinton supporters of mine think of this speech." No. He gave an appropriately personal non-partisan speech to the event of the unveiling of Clinton's portrait. He didnt give this kind of speech because he was 'afraid' of Clinton's reaction, he gave it because he's a class act who knows the right time and wrong time for certain statements.

Bravo Mr President. You show again that one should not be serious about unserious things. Good remarks about a President who had interesting and useful qualities, as all Presidents do. The many gaps, flaws and errors of Clinton need not be raised by the President in this event. It was not the President's place to be an historical critic of Clinton at this time.

That's our job. :-)


167 posted on 06/14/2004 8:43:46 PM PDT by WOSG (Peace through Victory! Iraq victory, W victory, American victory!)
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To: YankeeReb

Savage has no class either and wouldn't recognize class if he saw it.


168 posted on 06/14/2004 8:54:43 PM PDT by Ann Archy (Abortion: The Human Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
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To: harpo11

You have NO idea about Nuances, do you? Bush actually LEVELLED Clinton....even Clinton said he felt like a PICKLE!!! Bubba KNEW that Bush skewered him, why can't YOU see it??? It was BEAUTIFUL!


169 posted on 06/14/2004 8:56:37 PM PDT by Ann Archy (Abortion: The Human Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
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To: ambrose
Bush singled out the Clintons' daughter, Chelsea, and said, "The fact that you survived your teenage years in the White House speaks to the fact that you had a great mom and dad."

Is this a joke?

170 posted on 06/14/2004 8:59:33 PM PDT by Joe Hadenuf (I failed anger management class, they decided to give me a passing grade anyway)
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To: Digger; ambrose; sweetliberty
I don't know about doing a Reverse Speech, but here's my take on "hidden meaning":

"Bill Clinton could always see a better day ahead [when I would become President] and Americans knew he was working hard to bring that day closer [and quicker by being impeached, if only those idiots in the Senate had gone along]," Bush said. "Over eight years it was clear that Bill Clinton loved the job of the presidency [as demonstrated by his abuse of power and especially his screwing around with interns]. He filled this house with [undirected] energy and joy [and that stuff on the blue dress, man, am I glad I had the Oval Office carpet replaced]. He's a man of enthusiasm and warmth, who could make a compelling case [because he's such a convincing liar] and effectively advance the [liberal, socialistic] causes that drew him to public service.

(Hey sweetliberty - the Pres was in town today - some of my daughter's friends got to meet him at a "suprise visit" to a local grocery store where they work)

171 posted on 06/14/2004 9:02:44 PM PDT by FatherOfLiberty (Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.)
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To: Joe Hadenuf
And here's my "hidden meaning" take on that statement:

Bush singled out the Clintons' daughter, Chelsea, and said, "The fact that you survived your teenage years in the White House speaks to the fact that you had a great mom and dad [and that you had great people protecting you from their influence]."

172 posted on 06/14/2004 9:12:56 PM PDT by FatherOfLiberty (Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.)
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To: FatherOfLiberty
And here's my "hidden meaning" take on that statement:

Oh, I get it, like an old Beatles record.

173 posted on 06/14/2004 9:16:36 PM PDT by Joe Hadenuf (I failed anger management class, they decided to give me a passing grade anyway)
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To: Malsua

Leave poor Chelsea alone -- can't you see she's had to undergo plastic surgery to try to hide her Hillary-Web look....I wish GWB would have refrained from telling Chelsea what wonderful parents she had, however!!


174 posted on 06/14/2004 9:20:26 PM PDT by Froggie
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To: ambrose

A stroke of genius on the part of Bush. He buttered ole bill up, for potential votes and Clinton sucked it up while Kerry was miffed at not getting attention. For those Demoncrats on the fence, saluting their boy, bill may swing their vote over to Bush. Demoncrats typically vote party but for those that don't this could help Bush since many Demoncrats are not happy with Kerry.


175 posted on 06/14/2004 9:25:11 PM PDT by nmh (Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God).)
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To: Joe Hadenuf
Oh, I get it, like an old Beatles record.

And if you play it in reverse, it sounds like this:

".dad dna mom taerg a dah uoy taht tcaf eht ot skaeps esuoH etihW eht ni sraey eganeet ruoy devivrus uoy taht tcaf ehT"

176 posted on 06/14/2004 9:26:43 PM PDT by FatherOfLiberty (Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.)
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To: areafiftyone

"This is just the beginning - the only good thing about this is that Clinton is now stealing the spotlight from Kerry. And Clinton is using his Book tour to help Kerry? That's is the biggest joke around. Clinton will be stealing the spotlight BIG TIME From him. Kerry was hardly in the news today."

Yup! That was my take on it. Bush had the biggest laugh. He's appealing to the Clintons self serving ways at the expense of Kerry. I think it is hilarious.


177 posted on 06/14/2004 9:27:01 PM PDT by nmh (Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God).)
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To: GradientEcho

It's not "class". It's shrewd politics.


178 posted on 06/14/2004 9:30:20 PM PDT by nmh (Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God).)
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To: nopardons
Well said, nopardons. Those who come here claiming to want to sit out the election are either naive fools or plants, or perhaps both.
179 posted on 06/14/2004 9:35:29 PM PDT by Cultural Jihad
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To: Cultural Jihad
Thanks. :-)

Fools mostly,but some "plants" too,is my guess.The sitter outers/vote for fringers set,need a reality check at the very least.

180 posted on 06/14/2004 9:39:29 PM PDT by nopardons
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