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Why Did So Many People Hate Bill Clinton? An Exchange Among Conservatives
History News Network ^ | July 25, 2005 | By David Horowitz, Paul Gottfried, Larry Schweikart and Gene Kizer

Posted on 07/25/2005 4:35:49 AM PDT by johnny7

In a recent essay in the NYT Book Review of John F. Harris's The Survivor: Bill Clinton in the White House, Alan Ehrenhalt speculated about the reasons Clinton was so disliked. This sparked a rigorous debate on Richard Jensen's list, ConservativeNet. Below, a sampling of opinion.

Alan Ehrenhalt's Review

Millions of Americans despise Bill Clinton. They have done so since he became a presence in national politics in the early 1990's, and they continue to do so today, more than four years after his retirement from public office.

(Excerpt) Read more at hnn.us ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: impeachedx42; sinkemperor
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To: CT

> In fact, Free Republic was the follow-on to the original curtain watcher, the Whitewater discussion group.


alt.current-events.clinton.whitewater
Were you there too? I found my way to FR soon after.

Shortly after the '92 election, I congratulated a friend from Little Rock on the election of his fellow Arkansan. To my astonishment, he became almost apoplectic as he spat out the words, "That Hillary Rodham...YOU JUST WAIT!!"


121 posted on 07/25/2005 8:10:43 AM PDT by cloud8
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

I believe we owe that not to "brilliance" on the part of Clinton, but to Ross Perot and those fools who voted for him.


122 posted on 07/25/2005 8:11:22 AM PDT by RightWingConspirator (Glad that Ted the Boorish Drunk, Hitlery the Witch and John Fonda/Fraud Kerry are not my senators.)
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To: johnny7

Did? I think "Do" is more appropriate.


123 posted on 07/25/2005 8:12:16 AM PDT by ampat
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To: CT
Occasionally, if one was attentive, they would get a peek behind the Clinton curtian. There they would see the Purple Rage, and the working of a spoiled child that needed constant watching.

You've touched on a major factor in diagnosing the Clinton personna. His 'way' with women was learned from his dealings between his mom and grandma. His behavior TO women was gleaned from the gutter.

124 posted on 07/25/2005 8:20:08 AM PDT by johnny7 (Racially-profiling since 1963)
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To: ChiefJayStrongbow

Great summary of a sorry individual, but you left out the
worst thing he did to America and the whole world...

He empowered Hillary!!!!

She is the most dangereous woman in the world. If you think
Bill was bad, just imagine her as President. You should also
remember the creeps Bill put into powerful positions. Joyceln
Elders comes to mind. They will all be back plus other generations of degenerates.


125 posted on 07/25/2005 8:33:58 AM PDT by hdstmf
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To: MAWG

You have such wonderful way with words!


126 posted on 07/25/2005 8:44:41 AM PDT by hdstmf
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To: esopman

"The colossal tragedy is that the fourth estate could not, would not see and tell the truth about him."

Colossal tragedy for the democrats, you mean. The longer the dems live in denial about the damage the Clintons did while in office and the longer they make clear their profound hope that we're all either 1) stupid 2) morally bankrupt or 3) possessed of incredibly bad memories, the more they will continue to lose elections.

Their tragedy is that the baby boom generation grew up and got a clue just as the dems were starting to enjoy the fruits of their socialist ideologies. Too bad for them.


127 posted on 07/25/2005 9:00:12 AM PDT by CaliGirlGodHelpMe
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To: johnny7
Billary is a couple that makes the sacrament of marriage a mockery and shoves it into your face at the same time.

Each clings to a shredded union just to see what political gain and power can be garnered from it.

Each aspires to high and noble positions in this great nation. Each is a sorry, pitiable statement of what honest leadership and moral character should be.

Billary is also a sorry example of the character of Americans who idolize them and would follow them straight to hell.

Leni

128 posted on 07/25/2005 9:01:58 AM PDT by MinuteGal
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To: johnny7

Some stains can never be removed.


129 posted on 07/25/2005 9:24:13 AM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... "To remain silent when they should protest makes cowards of men." -- THOMAS JEFFERSON)
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To: NormsRevenge

The term 'Old Crusty' comes to mind.


130 posted on 07/25/2005 9:31:48 AM PDT by johnny7 (Racially-profiling since 1963)
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To: Luigi Vasellini

May I add , nukes in North Korea.


131 posted on 07/25/2005 9:34:33 AM PDT by TASMANIANRED (Democrats haven't had a new idea since Karl Marx.)
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To: bvw

That is such a good one, isn't it? LOL!


132 posted on 07/25/2005 9:48:51 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (Save The Earth. It's The Only Planet With Chocolate.)
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To: RightWingConspirator

Yep. I remember the voting circumstances well. Let's just make sure that doesn't happen in 2008.


133 posted on 07/25/2005 9:51:19 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (Save The Earth. It's The Only Planet With Chocolate.)
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To: johnny7
It's not true that Clinton-hatred exceeded Bush-hatred, certainly not if intensity is what counts. Some people now have a real hatred of Bush that exceeds what many of us felt for Clinton. It's a mixture of the hostility that liberals have for every Republican President (Nixon, Reagan, Bush's father) with anti-war feeling, the idea that Bush doesn't deserve the office and the distrust of Texanism that was seen in the Johnson years.

Dislike for Clinton was, at least in the beginning, largely personal, but it wasn't hard to explain. Clinton looked very sleazy, smarmy, slick, and slippery. And he was. Add to that his conduct during the '60s and '70s, and the general suspicion of Arkansas's corrupt politics, and that's as good a recipe as any for wariness and active dislike. He did look like he didn't deserve the Presidency, but that turned out to be a pretty good indication that he'd act in ways that would bring the office into disrepute.

Ehrenhalt wants to keep discussion of hostility to Clinton in a personal and subjective channel, and argue that objectively Clinton was a good President. To do so, he avoids specifics. That's a funny way to write a review: to focus on Clinton-hatred and simply assert that it was wrong-headed, mistaken, and vile without going into any of the details of what actually happened in the Nineties.

In fact, it's a pretty wretched review of the book, so far as actual substance is concerned. But you can see the logic. Judge politicians against their worst press, and they're bound to come up looking better than that, even if they weren't much of anything.

A little discussion of what Clinton actually did in office would have been appreciated. Without it, Ehrenhalt comes off as a stereotype liberal who can't get away from emotions and the ingrained idea that the good people are on his side and the bad people are on the other. That's really unfortunate.

I suppose on domestic issues and the economy Clinton did turn out to be better that we'd expected. The Internet boom helped him a lot, but at least he didn't screw it up. Foreign and defense policy, though, are another matter, and anyone who looks at Clinton's record there will be less inclined to consider his presidency a success.

134 posted on 07/25/2005 10:19:10 AM PDT by x
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To: johnny7

135 posted on 07/25/2005 11:10:34 AM PDT by al baby (Father of the Beeber)
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To: cloud8
alt.current-events.clinton.whitewater

Were you there too? I found my way to FR soon after.

In a word, YES.

Prodigy is where I first met so many of the great people that makes FR possible, including Jim Rob and hundreds others.

136 posted on 07/25/2005 11:11:20 AM PDT by CT
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To: johnny7

137 posted on 07/25/2005 11:14:54 AM PDT by al baby (Father of the Beeber)
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To: SeaBiscuit

Breyer & Ginsburg, Don't Ask Don't Tell, Mogadishu, WTC '93 - Bin Laden, Waco, Gonzales, Government Shutdown, Oral Sex w Intern in the Oval Office, Kosovo...


138 posted on 07/25/2005 11:25:15 AM PDT by Theophilus (Save Little Democrats, Stop Abortion)
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To: johnny7

Because he was fake. Fake caring. Fake national defense. All appearance and no substance. And of course, the hatred of everyone and law breaking. Oh, and draft dodging! Oh, and adultry. Well, and rape, of course. And assault. Yea, lying, too. Fake tears. Fake marriage. Fake leadership. Fake accomplishments. Oh! And...


139 posted on 07/25/2005 11:28:57 AM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion
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To: ChiefJayStrongbow

bump!


140 posted on 07/25/2005 11:35:47 AM PDT by CharlieOK1 (See http://www.alisrael.com/tamuz/ for what should happen to Iran)
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