Posted on 06/25/2003 2:21:35 AM PDT by kattracks
Chicago (CNSNews.com) - Former President Bill Clinton said "extreme conservatives" are in now in control of the White House, Congress, much of the federal judiciary system, and a growing share of the media.
Clinton made the remarks during a keynote address to Jesse Jackson's 32nd annual Rainbow/PUSH Coalition Conference in Chicago on Tuesday.
Clinton warned the crowd of Jackson supporters to never stoop to the "demoniz[ing] tactics of right-wing talk-show hosts."
"Let us never demonize or give up on those who disagree with us. We don't want to become like the right-wing talk-show hosts, hammering our adversaries into cartoon characters and denying their humanity," Clinton told the conference.
Clinton said the guiding principle of his political life has been an attempt to emulate the Founding Fathers' goal of forming "a more perfect union." Striving for that goal helped him achieve an "amazing and completely improbable life," he said.
"Sometimes I think I have no idea how I got to be president, and I am sure the people who oppose me don't either," he commented.
Clinton lambasted President Bush for cutting taxes and cutting numerous social programs, including an after school program that Clinton launched during his presidency.
"We are going to put half-a-million [children] out on the street, so I can get my $80,000 [tax cut]," Clinton said, referring to the amount he expects to save under the Bush tax-cut plan. President Clinton reportedly earned $9.5 million in 2002 in speaking fees alone.
'They ought to audit me'
Clinton bragged that he loved paying taxes.
"I must be the only person in America that every time -- I pay the maximum tax rates -- every time I sign that tax form, I smile. I thank God I live in a country that gave me a chance to make the money I do," Clinton said.
In addition to his professed fondness for paying taxes, Clinton said he wants to be audited annually. "I think they ought to audit me and everyone in my income group every year, because if I make a mistake, I actually think they can make some real money out of me and I want to pay what I owe," he declared.
"Most people I grew up with in Arkansas never made that much money in a year," Clinton said, again referring to the extra $80,000 he estimates he'll receive under the Bush tax-cut plan. "They worked just as hard as I did and paid their taxes and served their country in the military, raised their children and did everything they could to be right," he lamented.
Clinton reaffirmed his support for affirmative action and said the Bush administration's policies "may extend forever the need for affirmative action."
Clinton's analysis of the 2002 mid-term election was blunt.
"We lost the last Congressional elections -- my party did -- because their people wanted to vote more than our people," he said.
He then urged the crowd to flip the Rainbow/PUSH name, to help make a political difference in 2004. "You are America's rainbow. Push, push," he said.
'A liberal idea'
Clinton thanked Jesse Jackson for his "constant personal friendship to me, Hillary and Chelsea in the years I was president." Jackson counseled Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal and impeachment proceedings in Clinton's second term.
For his part, Jackson seemed gleeful that Clinton was "in the house," and he held up the former president as the embodiment of the American dream.
"America is a liberal idea. America is a dream possible. A great source of that dream today, brothers and sister, is President Bill Clinton," Jackson said to a standing ovation.
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E-mail a news tip to Marc Morano.
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Hey Bill, will you pay my taxes, too?
It'd be fun, seeing how the peons live. Also I wonder if the IRS would let you stand in for me at any audits.
--Boris
It all depends on what your meaning of the word "perfect" is.
From what I can tell, in clintoons dictionary, Soviet is a synonym for perfect.
I suppose it really upset him when Hillary wrote off his donated underwear then.
No. You had no idea how to BE president, you dimwit.
Coming from the Toon, this is pretty funny.
Clinton said the guiding principle of his political life has been an attempt to emulate the Founding Fathers' goal of forming "a more perfect union."
Then why eight years of addressing us by "designated community"? I never heard one speech that didn't have a laundry-list attached. The black community, the Hispanic community, the gay community, the single mothers, the working families, the immigrants...that wasn't uniting, that was dividing.
Get into your various designated group, y'all, so we can keep track of you easier tax the asas off the productive class better serve your particular "community"'s needs, as we determine them.
1. His popularity is falling and he is bringing out the old "evil talk radio" canard that saved his bacon before. This also explains why he is at Rainbow/Push; the black constituency has always been his refuge when times get bad.
2. He thinks he has a foolproof way to get his illegal money into the country, which I contend comes from bogus foreign speaking fees which serve as a laundering mechanism for moving his bribe money into his US accounts. He is daring the President to audit him, thinking he won't get caught.
3. Legitimate domestic speaking fees must be shrinking, and he is bragging about how much money he makes so that organizations will think his fees are justified.
4. I like how he has come out with an explanation for why every candidate he campaigned for in 2002 went down in flames...it is the Democrats fault!!! Ha!
A fool and a buffoon, who made the US a laughing stock during is administration.
And I can hardly wait to do it again, Bubba!
Those auditors are babes!
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