Bill Clinton. Full-time BS artist.
Posted on 11/13/2004 10:10:44 AM PST by kattracks
The more than 4,500 people who crammed into the field house at Hamilton College on Tuesday got to see the new model Bill Clinton, a former president who says he now spends more time looking at the trees.Heart bypass surgery can do that to a person, the 58-year-old Democrat explained.
For eight years, of course, it was Clinton's job to see the forest through the trees. The Franklin Roosevelt-inspired 22nd Amendment meant that was all the time Clinton would have in the Oval office, unless Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton takes him back there as "first husband."
She is considered a possible front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008 with John Kerry having lost this year's election to President Bush.
The former president said there was a good and a bad side to no longer being president.
"The good news is I can say whatever I think. The bad news is, since I'm not president, nobody listens anymore," he said with a laugh, glossing over the fact that he earns millions of dollars annually for giving just such speeches.
Whether they listen or not, Clinton said he is just happy to be still talking.
"I was about to embark on a six-nation, 21-day tour of Asia when I felt these chest pains," Clinton told his Hamilton College audience. "I think it is highly unlikely that I could have survived that trip without a major heart attack. Whether it would have killed me, I don't know."
On Sept. 6, Clinton underwent quadruple bypass surgery to deal with blocked arteries, some more than 90 percent obstructed.
The former president said there were two reasons _ "one profound and one kind of funny" _ for why he was never really scared and didn't go through the post-operative depression that is common following such surgery.
"I've always lived with my own mortality," Clinton said, recalling his biological father's death at age 29, before he was born, and the death at relatively young ages of several other male relatives. "I remember very distinctly the day I lived to be older than my father, so I always thought of life as a gift and I never saw death as a stranger."
"I think the funny reason was, it's the first time I've had any time off since I was 21, and I was delighted to be forced to stay home and read books and watch baseball," he said.
And, he said, "it made me feel overwhelmingly grateful that one more time I got another chance at life."
Clinton said he would "do what I can to help Hillary" with her political life and "say what I think about political issues."
"But, I mainly want to work as a public servant and I'm determined to do that," Clinton said.
The former president said he wanted to continue his work to combat the spread of AIDS in poor nations and also to help end conflicts often related to religious differences in such areas as the Middle East and Northern Ireland.
"The other thing I am determined to do is never again work as hard as I did. Almost nobody can work that hard. God gave me a great body and a strong constitution," he said. "I was lucky, but I want more free time now."
He certainly had that during a forced recuperation that was not broken until he began campaigning for Kerry eight days before the election. Clinton said he spent his time stopping to smell the roses.
"It's amazing, I go walking now and I can pass a hundred trees and when I am done I can tell you the state of the leaves on 60 of them. I notice things I didn't notice before," the former president said.
Public service and politics just takes up so much time, he said.
"You lose the balance and rhythm of life, and I was certainly guilty of that at various times in my life," Clinton explained.
The former president, for want of a better phrase, said he had turned over a new leaf.
"I'm going to read more books and look at more trees, and spend more time with people I love and care about," he said. "And, try to just be grateful every day."
Abstinance works.
And still can't see the forest...
Bill Clinton. Full-time BS artist.
Oh, no, let's issue an Intern Alert.
Must be by himself a lot.
Don't we all know.
You enjoyed and appreciated your morality while millions had to suffer because of it.
For twelve years we've watched this TV drama played out in real time.
Will the next four years be the final season, with the 2008 election being the finale of that season? Or will the Clinton's contract be renewed?
Stay tuned.
Yeah, unfortunately it isn't the U.S. Constitution.
The closest thing to honest rhetoric one could possibly hope for from "Der Shlickmiester"!
Great body?? Keerist he just went through bypass surgery!
Strong constitution? To what is he referring to? Sinks and Monica?
Again, he was appropriate in his rhetoric by saying he was "lucky"!
As long as HE has the right to promote the spread of it stateside through personal action....
"The good news is I can say whatever I think. The bad news is, since I'm not president, nobody listens anymore," he said with a laugh, glossing over the fact that he earns millions of dollars annually for giving just such speeches."
Nobody can say it better! Pretty much sums up what power is all about to him and her. I talk you will listen!
"The good news is I can say whatever I think. The bad news is, since I'm not president, nobody listens anymore," he said with a laugh, glossing over the fact that he earns millions of dollars annually for giving just such speeches."
As long as this POS can draw a breath, we'll never be rid of him. Why won't past Democratic Presidents ever STFU? We can't get rid of Clinton, we still can't get rid of Carter. Gawd. They're like something dead and stinking under the front porch.
(Yeah, I'm in "a mood" today.) LOL!
Unfortunately for us, his sights were set on pizza, young interns, cigars and how to dodge flying dishes launched from the hands of Hillery, his loving wife...
Welcome to the crowd! : )
Klintoon is the first president in the modern era who continues to put the spotlight on himself (although Carter has stepped into his own self-made spotlight this election cycle) after out of office.
Traditionally, Presidents stay at the sidelines, providing advice QUIETLY on the sidelines, while writing their memoirs and using their Libraries to assist historians. As usual, the New Left thinks the old rules don't apply to them (just as Mr. Heinz-K campaigned during the RNC).
You can't help but notice the trees at Hamilton College. Beautiful campus.
I,I,I,I,I,I,I,I,I,I
me,me,me,me,me,me,me
There is not one doubt in my mind that long after this self-reverential creep is gone, future generations will regard him as an evil huckster out for aggrandizement and indifference to national security and domestic issues except for how they could further his own selfish aims at the expense of the welfare of the Nation.
please go play in traffic Bill....you are STILL a lying, coward, traitor, pig, raptist......
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