Bush's Carrier Visit Contrasts with Clinton's

NewsMax.com ^ | 5/02/03 | Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff

[kattracks]

The left is livid at the political masterstroke that was President Bush's visit to the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln on Thursday - with some complaining it was a cynical misuse of military personnel and equipment.

But Bush isn't the only president to attempt to use the powerful imagery of a flight deck lined with saluting troops to burnish his image as commander-in-chief.

In fact, Bill Clinton tried to do the same thing in March 1993, when he and his White House entourage visited the USS Theodore Roosevelt.

However, instead of creating the inspiring image of a commander-in-chief adored by his troops, the Clinton gang managed to leave just the opposite impression, by looting the Roosevelt for souvenirs like it was a cheap Holiday Inn.

"I think I need to be here because I'm commander in chief," Clinton told reporters, as his aides ventured below decks and swiped towels, bath robes and other Navy accouterments embossed with the Roosevelt's name and call letters.

"The trip supplied television footage of Clinton in a green flight jacket watching fighter jets catapult off the carrier, of Clinton saluting a guided missile destroyer as it sailed by, of Clinton in a USS Theodore Roosevelt cap addressing the crew on the hangar deck," reported the Washington Post the next day.

It also supplied Clinton aides with a treasure trove of priceless military memorabilia - taken in the same spirit, no doubt, that Clintonistas would invoke eight years later when they trashed the White House on their way out the door.

Even before it became known that Clinton aides had helped themselves to everything that wasn't nailed down, the Roosevelt's crew sounded less than impressed by the president's visit.

"Maybe we can call this his military service," the carrier's Cmdr. Bill Gortney told Newsweek. "Three hours is more than he had before."

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:

Clinton Scandals

[Caipirabob]

LOL! The big difference between Bush on an aircraft carrier and Clinton is that they'd be assisting Bush in a landing to come aboard, where in Clinton's case they'd be using the catapult sans aircraft to help Clinton leave.

[netmilsmom]

Thank you Holy Jesus that we now have class and not crass in the White House.

[just me]

Even before it became known that Clinton aides had helped themselves to everything that wasn't nailed down,

I wonder if that is in Hillary's tell all book. Along with all the treasures they stole from other government offices.

[PogySailor]

"Maybe we can call this his military service," the carrier's Cmdr. Bill Gortney told Newsweek. "Three hours is more than he had before."

LOL! That made me choke on my bran muffin!

[YankeeReb]

I remember reading that the bent one's first reaction when he was touring the Roosevelt was "Wow! There really isn't a lot of space on these things." Right then and there I knew that Billy Blyth didn't have a clue about the military he was commander and chief of.

[kattracks]

ping

[trebb]

The title said it all - you can contrast Bubba and the Prez, but there is no comparison.

[AppyPappy]

The rest of us knew long before then. And then he proved it by raiding the military budget to pay for "peacekeeping" missions.

[Movemout]

Truthfully, I don't think Klintoon would have had the guts to participate in a carrier landing. If he had, the press would have fawned over his remarkable bravery and PR skills.

[snippy_about_it]

lol.

Now you ought to know better than to be eating while reading ANYTHING with clinton in the title. You'll either choke or worse!

Be careful, and thank you for your service. :)

[piasa]

"Maybe we can call this his military service," the carrier's Cmdr. Bill Gortney told Newsweek. "Three hours is more than he had before."

LOL! That made me choke on my bran muffin!

Ah, I see we have something in common: You're looking at a high-fiber computer screen!

[roderick]

An old shipmate of mine told me that the crew's reception of Slick was almost embarassing. At the end of his speech the clapping was less than a pro golfer would expect for three putting. He was held in contempt then as now.

[meenie]

Clinton's claim to fame was using Air Force one to block LAX for two hours to get a hairdo.

[Chairman_December_19th_Society]

"Three hours is more than he had before."

ROTFLMCO!!!!

But you owe me a new monitor, coffee all over this one...

[Pharlap]

Another Democrat president once said: "ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country". A good line. The Clintons just got it backwards. They took what they could from the country and gave nothing in return.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Clinton has never been a brave man... that would require conviction and strength. You know, I hadn't looked at it that way, truly. I always see GW as a strong, brave man. And really, he was brave to ride on that plane. The pilots are extremely capable people, and I know GW had confidence in the the pilot and the landing. However, it is a challenge to land on a carrier. GW showed the world that he believes in the ability and strength of our military, and that every day, we put our very lives in their hands, as they protect us in the War on Terror. His arrival on the Lincoln showed that he appreciates the military, and is thankful for their service.

[Movemout]

Thank you for your reply, Pan Yans Wife. Klintoon showed his true colors when he conned the ROTC out of money to pay for his college education and then wrote a letter to the Colonel in charge to abdicate his responsibility to serve in the military because "he loathed the military." How he ever came to be president will be a great mystery to future historians. It is an anomaly of the first order.

[mass55th]

"...eight years later when they trashed the White House on their way out the door."

Not to mention the looting of the White House by the Clintons just before they left. With a crime pattern like this, these people should be convicted as three time offenders, tossed in the brig and the key thrown away.

[mass55th]

And then he proved it by raiding the military budget to pay for "peacekeeping" missions.

Some "peacekeeping" missions. He couldn't even provide the troops with the heavy armor they needed to do the job in Somalia...a job I might add that was directed by the U.N.