Posted on 11/11/2005 6:55:31 AM PST by Senator Goldwater
HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. - Former president Bill Clinton called Congress' impeachment of him an "egregious" abuse of the Constitution and challenged those who say history will judge him poorly because of his White House tryst with Monica Lewinsky.
Speaking at an academic conference examining his presidency here Thursday, Clinton challenged historian Douglas Brinkley's comments in a newspaper interview that Clinton would be deemed a great president were it not for his impeachment.
"I completely disagree with that," Clinton said in his speech at Hofstra University. "You can agree with that statement, but only if you think impeachment was justified. Otherwise, it was an egregious abuse of the Constitution and law and history of our country."
Clinton was acquitted by the Senate of perjury and obstruction of justice at his 1999 impeachment trial, which he argued was not about what he called his "misconduct."
"Now if you want to hold it against me that I did something wrong, that's a fair deal," he said. "If you do that, then you have a whole lot of other questions, which is how many other presidents do you have to downgrade and what are you going to do with all those Republican congressmen, you know, that had problems?"
Clinton touted what he called the achievements of his eight-year presidency, from Middle East peace initiatives to turning around the U.S. economy.
His remarks were cheered loudly by the audience.
Clinton said his administration's failures included its slowness to act to halt the genocide in Rwanda and the decision to allow federal agents to raid a cult leader's compound in Waco, Texas. Nearly 80 cult followers died in a fire during the 1993 confrontation.
"We should have waited them out," he said.
The presidential conference is the 11th to be held at Hofstra; the first in 1982 examined the presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Clinton piously signed the law that gave a women to ask the questions of a mans personel life in a sexual harassment suit.
Hoisted on his own petard?
The impeached POS needs to be denounced regularly.
I disagreed with Brinkley as well. Clinton wouldn't be considered a great president even without the impeachment.
He should be remembered as the president that squandered our military and sat idly by while terrorists repeatedly attacked us, culminating in the planning and setup of 9/11.
And I'll personally hate him for making my 12-year-old daughter have to understand what a blow job is for her history class.
Clintons TWO greatest accomplisments:
1. North Korean Threats
The Great Leader of the North, and his father before him,
had made daily threats against yhe U.S. for the past 55
years. Clinton stopped these threats, at least
temporarily, by sending Halfbright to negotiate.
Presto....nuclear power plant....nuclear weapons.
2. China's Inability To Get Satelites Into Orbit
Clinton sent Hughes and Loral representatives to aid
the Chinese. Whats the word "detente"?
Presto...the Chinese can now stage rockets, and last I
heard, were talking about going to the moon.
THANKS BUBBA
Let's be more explicit...
The First Rapist also began taxing Social Security payments for the first time ever (the real ones, not the welfare ones), plus not only instituted the most massive income tax increase ever, but made it retroactive, another historic first.
(But not in the way he intended it)
The Cult of Clinton
Even a butthead like you should understand...YOU disgraced the Office of the President of the United States of America and displayed your worthless morals for all to see.
Then, you LIED about it!! You lost the Trust of everyone...except your own mindslaves.
This is how WE see you!! So STFU!
Who but Mr. Sleaze himself would call a conference of former advisers together so he could announce to the press that "I, BillyJeff Clinton, was a Great President"?
Saw the story on MSNBC website here:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10000996/
Take a look at the first related story:
"Condoms named after Clinton and Lewinsky"
That's his legacy forever more.
When I started to read the article I thought no one has a clue.
Lets look at the core differences between Bubba and President G.W. Bush.
Bubba was a mental 5-year old party animal who had absolutely no personal accomplishments of any note before he got into the White House. His education, work history, personal history, everything that he had accomplished, the “works”, added up to a very small number (5 on a scale of 75 (100 is your total life experience when you die) this process adds for positive accomplishments and subtracts for bad deeds. At age 50 you should be half way to a 100 since you have only 30 odd years of legally independent life accomplished (20+30+30 = 80, that's about right).
President G.W. Bush was a mature individual who had many positive accomplishments and a few negative ones. His education finished with a highly prized MBA from Harvard (there are hundreds of successful businessmen who wish that they could make that statement and actively envy those that can); he flew single-seat fighters for the USAF (granted in the TANG) that put him in the top 1 or 2 % of all Air Force officers (as a navigator I was in the top 15 - 20 %), he successfully ran a private, for profit, business, owned a major league baseball team, and the list goes on. There were negatives too but you have to dig for them. Using the same logic as I did for Bubba above GWB had score in the high 60’s before he was elected in 2000. (Ronnie was in the high 80’s when he was first elected.)
So what was the impact?
Bubba’s supporting staff, both private and legally mandated, were filled with people that were no better than him. That’s right no better than Bubba. What weak leader, and Bubba knows who and what he is in his private heart of hearts, is going to have a person better than him working as a subordinate? We had a weak President supported by a bunch of weak people.
GWB’s supporting staff, both private and legally mandated, are filled with people that are at least as good as he is. That’s right, to be on GWB’s staff that have to be at least as good as the President using his grading scale based on his life experience!
What a difference between “from no better than me” and “at least as good as I am”. Which statement gets you a better quality person?
And that, IMHO, is the real difference between the two Presidencies and the men themselves.
as opposed to HIS Egregious Abuse of the WhiteHouse, the Military and the American People??? please...
I thought he said that the impeachment was a "badge of honor"
"an 'egregious' abuse of the Constitution"
For 8 years - and continuing - the whole Clinton administration was an "egregious abuse of the Constitution".
Agreed about Clinton's staff and cabinet. Reno, Christopher and Albright at State, Jocelyn Elders, Robert Reich, Ron Brown, Web Hubbell (???) as the Assistant to Reno, Begala, DeeDee Meyers, the list goes on and on. No character among the lot. After he made them publicly back him up in his Monica denials, they all should have resigned when it was revealed he was lying!
There is something terribly wrong when the former POTUS,
has to continue railing about how poorly he was treated some seven or eight years ago.He could help unite this country,but instead continues to "stir the pot". What a life
he must have. Poor boy.
""If you do that, then you have a whole lot of other questions, which is how many other presidents do you have to downgrade and what are you going to do with all those Republican congressmen, you know, that had problems?"
So everyone else lied under oath to deny women whom they harrassed a fair trial?
Douglas Brinkley is from the lickspittle school of court historians when it comes to Democrats. He's also a big admirer of Jimmy Carter.
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