Clinton Missed Chance at Greatness?

EIB ^ | Rush Limbaugh

[VinnyTex]

When the first sentence of a column begins, "Lucky though he was, Bill Clinton never had his shot at greatness," what exactly do you interpret that to mean? Chris Matthews wrote it, and proceeded with the following two sentences. "He could lower the jobless rate, balance the budget, console us after the Oklahoma City bombing. But he never got the opportunity George W. Bush was given this Tuesday: the historic chance to lead."

		Are you interpreting this the way I am? He seems to be lamenting the fact that Bill Clinton never had a national tragedy in which to display his magnificent leadership characteristics. As though George W. Bush is thanking God and his lucky stars that thousands of Americans are dead so that he can get a couple of favorable columns from Johnny Apple of the New York Times and Howard Fineman of Newsweek? This is just so typical of how some in the media look at news and what they think the purpose of a news event is. It's all about them! It's all about an opportunity for them to shine and look good. I guess I shouldn't even be surprised by this, but I am nevertheless disappointed. The fact that presidential greatness is measured by a president's handling of great challenges is true. But that's not the same as saying in the context of recent events that Bill Clinton was unlucky because, in essence, this carnage didn't happen on his watch and thereby give him his chance at greatness. I mean, what are we supposed to do here, be sorry that the terrorists didn't hit when Clinton was president so he'd have his chance at greatness? This is just Bush's dumb luck? Why, Clinton might finally have had a chance to win the Nobel Peace Prize had the terrorists done this nine months ago? The simple fact of the matter, Chris, is that they did do this before. They hit us in Africa. They hit us in Saudi Arabia. They hit the USS Cole. And Bill Clinton didn't do anything about it. Bill Clinton, in fact, bombed innocent people on the day that Monica Lewinsky was testifying before her grand jury. This is outrageous. This is simply unbelievable.

		Sunday night, on 60 Minutes, Lesley Stahl reported that in 1998 Bill Clinton issued a directive allowing the use of force to apprehend Osama bin Laden, and that one such effort had been tried but failed. She said that Clinton decided that there was a self-defense exception to the legal prohibition against assassination. Dan Rather, to his credit, asked Stahl why this is coming out now. She said she didn't know why, but assumed that her sources didn't want the public to think that Clinton was asleep at the wheel back then while bin Laden was going bonkers. So you've got damage control going on by Bill Clinton right now. Very interesting. The Associated Press reported last week that Clinton passed up an opportunity at the end of his administration to take another military whack at bin Laden. The Washington Timesand others have reported that in 1995 Clinton restricted the CIA's human intelligence capabilities by prohibiting the CIA's use of any spies who had dirty hands. We're not going to do business with former terrorists, in essence, is what Clinton said, which would make it impossible to infiltrate these groups. And there's more, which I point out in the audio link below. It's unfortunate that national security was never a priority in the Clinton administration. They cut the defense budget below acceptable levels, and as recently as two weeks ago, the Senate was preparing to hold back the defense appropriations bill for partisan political purposes. Think about that.

[hayseed]

He used to have penis envy, now he's got Bush envy!!

God Bless President Bush!!

[Paranoid-Pessimist]

He seems to be lamenting the fact that Bill Clinton never had a national tragedy in which to display his magnificent leadership characteristics.

Bill Clinton WAS the national tragedy!!!

He didn't need a crisis -- he's a CARRIER!!

[PsyOp]

I believe that statement is a double negative, like: He don't have no legacy.....

[Political Junkie Too]

There was an annual Easter Egg Hunt at the White House about three years ago, and reporters were there for the photo-op of Clinton and The Children playing on the lawn on Sunday.

As he was walking by the reporters, Sperry started asking political questions about the scandals at the time. Clinton got beet red and was spitting with anger as he poked and yelled at the guy, and then he had him banned from returning to the White House again. He's over at WorldNetDaily now.

Clinton was also red during the Monica depositions, but nobody commented on it at the time. You can definately tell when he gets angry.

-PJ

[PsyOp]

And lets not forget the pictures of Hillary hugging Mrs. Arafat and getting those Jamaican (or was it Haitain?) terrorists pardoned. They've never met scum they couldn't identify with.

[Irma]

Clinton has that biological response that he turns beet red when he's angry. It's
an autonimic response that he can't control.

Yes he does!

The Notebook: Primary Colors, Part II

The primary color is red

               President Clinton expresses emotion in
               many ways--the set of his jaw, the bite
               of his lip--but when he feels something
               strongly, what he does more than
               anything else is turn red.

TESTY: "A testy President
               Clinton yesterday again balked at answering
               questions about his relationship with Monica
               Lewinsky...'I have given all the answers that
               matter, and I don't have anything else to say at this
               time,' said a red-faced Clinton."
               --New York Post, March 6, 1998
~SNIP~

ARDENT: "Willey later remarked to a friend that
               she knew Paula Jones must have been telling the
               truth...because both women observed the same
               physical characteristic about Clinton: His face
               turned beet red."
               --Bulletin News Network, March 2, 1998

MAD: "His face flushed...Clinton said, "I want to
               say one thing to the American people...I did not
               have sexual relations with that woman, Ms.
               Lewinsky."
               --Patriot Ledger, Jan. 26, 1998

[Political Junkie Too]

I think you're on to something.

The Clinton Lie Detector!

-PJ

[BeAChooser]

Re: #96. Bush gave the BEST speech I could imagine. Just the right message. Just the right tone. But look at the Clintons. Both of them. They are SICK.

[Irma]

Doesn't Hillary have the ugliest expression of disgust you've EVER seen? UGH!

[Miss Marple]

Hi, deport. Rintense had that picture on her "Day in the Life" thread on Friday or Saturday. We who post on that thread pretty much agreed that the look is envy, along with guilt. Possibly throw in hatred as well.

I am glad that President Bush has called this a war between good and evil. I actually think the war began last summer, and the decisive battle was in Florida.

By the way, King Abdullah of Jordan, who is backing the US, used those exact words this morning on Fox News.

Good vs. evil.

[Howlin]

And just for fun -- and so we won't forget:

[Political Junkie Too]

YES!!!

-PJ

[Miss Marple]

By the way, the entire column is posted on FR, twice. Be sure you read it. I fired off the most scathing e-mail I could muster, because not only does he make this stupid comment about Clinton, but he acts like the hijacking was the fault of the pilots!!

I hope he gets a lot of flack for it. Matthews will never be on in my house again.

I bought stock in Murdoch's company, parent of Fox, today. I told my husband I was not going to bother to switch unless there was something really important on CNN. And it would only be on-site coverage, no commenting.

[WVNan]

I'm very good at "reading" faces. Judging from both these photos, I would venture to say that Dubya has more to fear from the "evil one" than he does from OBL. There is pure hate in those eyes.

[nkycincinnatikid]

He really did miss his chance at greatness, he could have been the first Chippendale dancer to need to wear pasties and carry change for a dollar.

[Miss Marple]

I agree. I am praying for him all the time. I am so glad this was caught by the photographer.

I hope O'Neill gives the Secret Service around X42 hazardous duty pay. And I hope they SPY on him all the time. Hillary as well.

I have known that Clinton hated W ever since the conventioin. Remember that nasty speech he made on Cape Cod about "frat boys" and "daddy?" I have never forgotten it, because it revealed his true hatred for the Bush family. It is the only time I ever saw Dad Bush really mad, because of the comments about his son.

This is a war between good and evil, and some of the evil is sitting right there in that picture.

[oyez]

Depends on what your definition of what "greatness" is. So Clinton got his chance, so what? Doesn't our current situation require something more important than bring up Bill Clinton. Clinton and his cult of personality are not going be helpful in our national resolve.

[Irma]

I starting getting FOX a little over a year ago and I have hardly *ever* switched channels since. I used to watch MSNBC before I got FOX when John Gibson, Laurie Duhe and many of the FOX anchor people were there. It has REALLY gone to the dogs now that they lost so many good people IMO.

I think Chris Matthews must be still holding out hope for a McCain presidency. He's waaaay out of line here.