Credit military success to Clinton's policies, not Bush's defense spending spree

The Philadelphia Inquirer ^ | April 10, 2003 | Matt Miller

[Jhoffa_]

Clinton probably wrote this "opinion piece" and the ever-helpful Miller would cheerfully publish it under his name.

Or was directed to write it..

You KNOW that after yesterday Clinton is seeing RED.

All those kudo's Dubya is getting? By all right's, those should have been Clinton's kudo's.

They didn't go to him though because he chose to waste 4 days worth of million dollar munitions and fold his tent on Iraq when the inspectors were thrown out. He didn't choose the course Dubya has.

It's gonna pay off big politically and Clinton has got to be seething about the "big one" that "got away" It would have pushed Gore over the top, established him as a truly world class diplomat and quite possibly got him the Nobel Peace Prize. But he blew it.

Yeah, I would say there's nothing coincidental about this article at all. Probably came right from the top, just like you say.

[Billthedrill]

Actually, I can speak to the issue you bring up, at least in a small way. I was in Japan when the first Gulf War began, working for the DoD. I spent four straight weekends with active-duty friends headed for Desert Shield (anybody remember Desert Shield?), in the electronics district of Tokyo, Akihabara. We were looking to purchase every available off-the-shelf GPS receiver since Clinton funding cuts had made that nascent technology unavailable to many of the guys on the line.

I spent evenings in O and NCO clubs trying to translate the instructions. My Japanese was nowhere NEAR up to it...ended up begging for help from the sweet little Mama-sans who helped run the places. There's an irony there...

[Jhoffa_]

Oh my..

Certainly doesn't sound like Clinton was our high tech savior.

It's going to be interesting to see if this article is picked up by the mainstream press. I don't know enough about this kind of thing to pick it apart, piece by piece.. But I would certainly enjoy reading the words of someone who could.

Thanks for your reply.

[Dr.Deth]

Columnist Matt Miller is a senior fellow at Occidental College in Los Angeles and host of "Left, Right & Center Lefter, & Leftest"

[an amused spectator]

Just like Dan Rather, U.S. News & World Report economics reporter Matthew Miller believes Ken Starr's inquiry into perjury and obstruction of justice can be dismissed as a probe of his "personal life" which Clinton should not have to answer for. As for Lucianne Goldberg, Millers considers her a less than reliable source.

Here's the relevant exchanges between Miller on Chris Matthews as caught by MRC news analyst Geoffrey Dickens on the July 14 Hardball on CNBC.

Chris Matthews: "Do you think it is surprising that anything else would have happened if the President after six months has refused to tell us what happened. After having promised us he would. He promised he would. He didn't have to promise but he said, ‘I'm going to give you more rather than less, sooner rather than later,' and henceforth from that there wasn't a peep out of him."

Miller: "I know that you sincerely hang a lot on that presidential statement. I guess I don't think it's the President's obligation to tell us about his personal life like this."

Miller: "Look I'm not saying that Ken Starr is a zealot or somehow a you know, a weird guy who is hellbent just on getting the President. I think Starr is an honorable man who has lost his perspective. Which can happen, it's an occupational hazard for independent counsels when they are set after a person instead of after a crime. And I think as Starr gets closer to the prospect of having to indict a young woman, Monica Lewinsky, for the purpose of trying to get to a President, again all over concealing an affair, he himself will realize that there are better courses to..." [interrupted]

Matthews: "It's not all over concealing....No, that's a misstatement Matt because the evidence now, and every evidence we have, we don't have complete evidence, the evidence is that these tapes show Monica Lewinsky describing an effort to suborn her perjury in the matter of Kathleen Willey, a sexual harassment case mattered not a matter involving her and the President. You guys keep saying it the same way. This is the lingo but it's not true."

Miller: "You're relying on Lucianne Goldberg as your authority. That's nuts!"

[cmsgop]

Billthedrill is a good guy. You should try his beer. It's Outstanding!!!!!

[Melinator]

Clinton's Military bombed the Serbs for 78 days(?) to prevent them from fighting the Albaninan Muslim terrorists and organized criminals intent on taking Kosovo. Clinton's Military (are you listening Wes Clarke?) bombed cities and infrastructure from 15,000 feet, killing civilians almost exclusively. By the end of the campaign Clinton's Military had killed 13 tanks and some equally miniscule number of other military assets. Thousands of civilians were killed and their entire country was smashed into rubble and toxic chemicals, so that Mad Maddie could help the Muslim terrorists steal Kosovo from the Serbs.

That was Clinton's Military. Bush is not a murdering criminal like Clinton or Saddam. His military reflects that fact.

[Jhoffa_]

Hey, with a stellar endorcement like that from you he must be tops..

I am convinced.

[Melinator]

So what? It's not like he invented the internet or something.

[Mo1]

What kind of crack has this guy been smoking?

[Temple Owl]

I saw that story in the Inquirer and almost puked. They bled the military and are now trying to take credit for its success.

[Temple Owl]

I think it is the work of "Baghdad Bob."

[Lauratealeaf]

Well here are the DNC's new talking points. I first heard it from one of the beltway boys, then Alan Combs, and now here.

And yes, some idiots will swallow anything.

You are right. I heard Morton Kondracke spout that line of DNC crap the other night and knew it had to be DNC talking points. And here comes Matt Miller, always willing to spread the crap around. So, now we know how they are planning to spin the victory in Iraq.

[FLCowboy,]

The reality is that Bill Clinton's defense budgets roughly tracked the blueprint left by then-defense secretary Dick Cheney in 1992.

Then it is really George Herbert Walker Bush's army that George II was using. All Bill Clinton did was to be a caretaker, and a da** poor one at that.

[Farnham]

Tell ya what,

If Clintonistas want to claim Dubya should give him credit for the state of the military he inherited....

Let's hear them give Bush 41 and Regan credit for the economy Clinton inherited.

At least that one would be the truth.

[TomGuy]

If Clinton's military was so great, why didn't Clinton use it to take care of Bin Laden? Why didn't Clinton use it to take care of Iraq? Heck, Clinton couldn't even take care of Mogadushu, which was a humanitarian food effort, without turning it into an embarrassing disaster.

[Miss Marple]

You are exactly right. I heard Barney Frank spew this garbage two or three days ago. It was so patently Clintonian that I absolutely noticed it and commented about it on the live thread last night when Alan Colmes used it.

Now here we have a column with the same garbage.

Clinton talking points, and we neeed to perform whack-a-mole on this one. Next thing you know Clinton will be showing up at Bethesda or Walter Reed with cameras in tow.

[tophat9000]

The only thing Bill Clinton ever increased for the military was for more "Hummers"

An that was due to a misunderstanding

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Whack-a-mole...LOL!

Here's a true story (I've only repeated it a few dozen times): on Dec. 18, 2000 the Electoral College elected George W. Bush President of the United States. The following day, Wee Willy Wanker went to the UN and asked that new, tougher sanctions be placed on Afghanistan if the Taliban didn't hand over Osama Bin Laden in 30 days. Guess what day Kofi and the UN issued the threat? Dec. 20, 2000. He knew it would anger the Taliban and pulled all UN workers out of Aghanistan the same day. Dec. 20, 2000 + 30 days = GW's Inaugeration Day.

Wee Willy intentionally angered the Taliban because Gore lost the election.

Sorewankerman.

Whack 'em whenever and wherever they pop up.

[TopQuark]

My mistake too: it's so blatant, stopid, and cowardly in its rush to steal the glory --- I thought it was a parody!