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Peggy Noonan: Just Friends (Bush Sr's newfound affection for Bill Clinton is just creepy)
The Wall Street Journal ^ | Thursday, August 18, 2005 | Peggy Noonan

Posted on 08/19/2005 4:41:00 AM PDT by presidio9

Newt and Hillary pose on the Capitol steps showing a teasing delight in each other's company as they back, together, a new health-care scheme. John McCain and Hillary pose laughing with reporters and showing bipartisan closeness as they leave together on a fact-finding trip to Alaska. I saw the latter picture yesterday on the news, remembered the former, and thought of a conversation with a group of conservatives from throughout the country a few weeks ago.

The subject turned to the growing friendship between the Bush seniors and Bill Clinton. They had famously bonded big-time during their tsunami fund-raising efforts, and Barbara Bush is reported now to call Mr. Clinton "son." Mr. Clinton has been up to Kennebunkport this summer to play golf with his fellow former president, go boating, and have a private dinner.

In our conversation someone called the growing chumminess "creepy" and asked what I thought of it. I said I found it creepy too. What, I was asked, did I think was behind it? Why are Mr. Bush senior and Mr. Clinton so publicly embracing each other, yukking it up for the cameras and complimenting each other?

Because it serves their individual needs and interests, I said. They both get real benefit out of it while appearing to be ignoring their own interests. That's a great twofer.

What does Democrat Bill Clinton get out of cultivating the Republican Bushes? He gets public approval from a man most of the country sees as personally upstanding. When Mr. Bush puts his arm around Mr. Clinton, he confers his rectitude. Democrats won't mind it, and independent voters will like it. In receiving the embrace of the patriarch of such a famously Republican family, Mr. Clinton looks like someone who is, by definition, nonradical, mainstream, not too unacceptably odd and

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


TOPICS: Editorial; Miscellaneous; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: again; bush41; peggynoonan; x42
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1 posted on 08/19/2005 4:41:02 AM PDT by presidio9
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To: presidio9

Creepy, no. Sick, disgusting, and very scary is a start.


2 posted on 08/19/2005 4:43:43 AM PDT by mtbopfuyn (Legality does not dictate morality... Lavin)
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To: presidio9
Lately, I have been finding Peggy creepy.
3 posted on 08/19/2005 4:44:18 AM PDT by Shawndell Green (Mecca delenda est!)
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To: Shawndell Green
Honestly, I don't think Clinton has exactly been a fixture at Kennebunkport. This is much ado about nothing. And Barbara Bush's comment on calling him "son" smacked of sarcasm, to me.

It's August. Apparently nutty stories are not confined to the leftists in the press. Why isn't Peggy writing about Able Danger, World Youth Day..... something actually happening NOW?

4 posted on 08/19/2005 4:49:59 AM PDT by Miss Marple (Lord, please look after Mozart Lover's son and keep him strong.)
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To: Miss Marple

Maybe when she said Son she said the other three words under her breath.


5 posted on 08/19/2005 4:52:05 AM PDT by MudSlide
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To: presidio9

The Libs think Clinton is helping GHWB improve his image.


6 posted on 08/19/2005 4:55:33 AM PDT by Loyal Buckeye
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To: presidio9

This is another Rovian plot.

If you embrace Bill it suggests that all the evil we associated with him were all because of Hillary. This 'relationship' with the Bushes marginalizes her.


7 posted on 08/19/2005 4:57:29 AM PDT by parcel_of_rogues
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To: presidio9
"Rivers and seas boiling! … The dead rising from the grave! ... Human sacrifice! Dogs and cats living together!" Dr. Peter Venkman....Ghostbuster
8 posted on 08/19/2005 4:59:42 AM PDT by Vaquero (An armed society is a polite society.......Heinlein)
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To: presidio9

Perhaps it's just one of the ways they try to carry God's message to the sinners in hope of having a positive impact. Jesus hung around the human trash because they needed His help and influence more than others (the sick need the doctor, not the well). Let's just pray is has some effect.


9 posted on 08/19/2005 5:01:52 AM PDT by trebb ("I am the way... no one comes to the Father, but by me..." - Jesus in John 14:6 (RSV))
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To: Vaquero

Ah yes... the Venkman Factor!


10 posted on 08/19/2005 5:02:52 AM PDT by johnny7 (“Hi Lloyd. A little slow tonight, isn't it?”)
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To: presidio9

It reminds me of the old insult, "You will either die on the gallows or of a loathsome disease." The rejoinder was, "It depends on whether I embrace your principles or your mistress."

The Clintons should be avoided at all times. They crave acceptance and do not deserve it.

McCain is another disgrace (a perpetual one at that) going on a tree-hugging junket with Hillary.


11 posted on 08/19/2005 5:03:13 AM PDT by sine_nomine (Protect the weakest of the weak - the unborn babies.)
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To: presidio9
What bothers me about the fervid friendship of the Bushes and Mr. Clinton--and the media celebration of it--is the faint whiff of superiority, a sense they radiate that all those slightly icky little people running around wailing about issues--tax reform, the relation of the individual to the state, the necessary character of a president--and working the precincts are somehow . . . a little below them. There is an air of condescension toward that grubby thing, belief. Those who hold it are not elevated, don't quite fit into the high-minded nonpartisan brotherhood. When in fact the people doing the day-to-day work of democracy, and who are in it because they are impelled by deep belief and philosophy, are actually not below them at all, and perhaps above them. Not that they're on the cover of People hugging, but at least they're serious.

It is the suggestion, or the suspicion, that these men have grown close because they are not serious, were never quite serious, that grates. That makes one wonder. That leaves some Republicans, and I have to assume more than a few Democrats, scratching their heads when they see Newt smiling with Hillary, and John McCain giggling with Hillary. It leaves you wondering: Why are these people laughing?

Noonan pretty much captures the essence of modern politics, where ideological differences are only skin deep -- until elections roll around, of course, and all those "icky little people" must be persuaded there is actually some reason to vote.

12 posted on 08/19/2005 5:12:03 AM PDT by browardchad
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To: presidio9

Maybe Bush I is longing for a BJ and wants to learn the intricacies of Cigar dipping?


13 posted on 08/19/2005 5:22:32 AM PDT by funkywbr
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To: funkywbr

Maybe Bush I will be seeking the Republican presidential nomination. He is eligible to serve another term.


14 posted on 08/19/2005 5:26:19 AM PDT by HuronMan
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To: Shawndell Green; All
Lately, I have been finding Peggy creepy.
When it comes down it, she's a Lit Chick. The type who draws little, smiling daisy faces on her lower cap i-s, sends her spare change to "Save the Children" anonymously and daydreams Victorian romance novels then sighs. Color me brutish for noticing, she's also carrying some serious milk money.
15 posted on 08/19/2005 5:26:43 AM PDT by olde north church (Man enough to pay for my own sins.)
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To: presidio9

They're ALL starting to creep me out.


16 posted on 08/19/2005 5:26:57 AM PDT by Liberty Valance (Why? Ask Jamie Gorelick)
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To: mtbopfuyn

Maybe Bill recognizes something he's missed his entire life. NORMALCY


17 posted on 08/19/2005 5:34:52 AM PDT by CajunConservative
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To: Loyal Buckeye

I prefer the son over the father.


18 posted on 08/19/2005 5:37:05 AM PDT by Unicorn (Too many wimps around.)
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To: Miss Marple
#4...guilt by association, according to Peggy.
What disturbs me the most is it's coming from Peggy.

Why?...

...a poster once noted, not too long ago, that maybe Peg is a bit disgruntled because she didn't get the 'speech writing postition' for President Bush, and was recently filled by someone else.

Piling on Bush....when, like you said, Able Danger is gaining steam.

19 posted on 08/19/2005 5:37:38 AM PDT by Guenevere
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To: presidio9

Like they say, keep your friends close and your enemies closer. I don't think that there is true friendship between the Clintons and Bushs. The Bushs are too smart for that. IMHO


20 posted on 08/19/2005 5:55:15 AM PDT by toomanygrasshoppers
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