[Nightstalker]

You are probably right. However I doubt many Republican thought Nixon would engineer a rapproachment with China or Reagan would triple the national debt either.

[Alberta's Child]

You've got to be kidding. Corporate America has long looked upon China as a major consumer market waiting to be exploited.

And any issue related to the national debt has to be viewed in perspective -- for many Republicans, enormous budget deficits were simply the "cost" of winning the Cold War.

Let's face it: Clinton owes his career to Ronald Reagan, for the U.S. would never have tolerated such a hollow, sociopathic character as president during the Cold War.