Posted on 09/14/2003 9:34:04 PM PDT by sdk7x7
Former President Bill Clinton, seizing the Democratic stage, offered one of his strongest denunciations of President George W. Bush since leaving office as he tried to rally Democrats here around candidates who have yet to stir the excitement he did in 1992. . Speaking without notes or a prepared text on Saturday night, Clinton invoked the circumstances of the 2000 presidential election as he argued that the Bush administration had squandered the domestic and foreign policy gains he had made in his eight years in office. . "That election was not a mandate for radical change, but that is what we got," Clinton said, adding, "We went from surplus to deficit, from job gain to job loss, from a reduction in poverty to an increase in poverty, from a reduction in people without health insurance to an increase of people without health insurance." . The former president said that Bush had wasted an opportunity to unite the country and enhance its international standing in the days after the Sept. 11 attacks. . "Instead of uniting the world, we alienated it," he said. "And instead of uniting America, we divided it by trying to push it too far to the right." . The setting for Clinton's rare public speech on the American political scene was the annual steak fry held by this state's senior senator, Tom Harkin. It was attended by seven of the nine Democratic presidential candidates. . Six of them also spoke to the crowd on Saturday night, but Clinton's speech, even though it was arguably not one of his strongest performances, almost entirely obscured their words and served instead to underscore the contrast between the political skills of Clinton and those of this year's crop of candidates. . Indeed, two of the best-known Democrats, Senator John Edwards of North Carolina and Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, left the stage about 15 minutes before Clinton arrived, citing scheduling conflicts. . Clinton seemed aware of the danger that his presence might overshadow the 2004 contenders, or highlight their shortcomings, and he went to great lengths to dispute the notion that the Democrats were putting up a weak field this year. . He went out of his way to praise eight of the nine candidates. . The Reverend Al Sharpton of New York, who was not here, was the only one not to receive any mention from Clinton. . "I like this field - I get tired of people saying the field can't beat the incumbent president," said Clinton, adding: "When somebody tells you the people who are running for president aren't big, they just mean they aren't famous yet." . Clinton used his own economic situation to mock Bush's tax cut. . Clinton said he might, as a very wealthy former president living in Chappaqua, New York, be paying more taxes than just about anyone else in America. "I get my tax cut, and they are going to take 300,000 poor children and kick them out of after-school programs," he said. . The candidates and the host, Harkin, fell over one another to praise Clinton and dispel any idea that Clinton, who was impeached but not removed from office, was not welcome in Democratic circles. . Harkin even praised Clinton for bringing rain to this drought-afflicted region, though the rain stopped the moment Clinton took the stage. And the audience was dotted with signs reading, "Welcome back, Bill," and "We Miss You." . Edwards, who has patterned his campaign after Clinton's 1992 race, even appropriating some of Clinton's language, said, "I am tired of Democrats walking away from Bill Clinton and Al Gore, who led the greatest period of economic growth in our country's history." . And Kerry, speaking before Clinton, took notice of the former president's propensity for lengthy speeches at public gatherings, a propensity that Kerry shares. "I saw in the program that Bill Clinton is going to speak for about 20 minutes," he said. "And in that 20 minutes, if that's what you believe it is, he's going to deliver more common sense and more sense of the country than George Bush has in two and a half years." . Clinton, in fact, spoke for 22 minutes. His voice was hoarse and strained, and his speech wandered at times, as his crowd grew restless. . Wearing blue jeans and cowboy boots, and appearing thinner then he had at any point in the White House, Clinton took the stage to the sound of his 1992 campaign theme song, "Don't Stop (Thinking about Tomorrow)" by Fleetwood Mac. And when he was done, Clinton did as Clinton always does at these kinds of events: He stayed behind to shake every hand he could find, lingering for nearly an hour as the Iowa sky turned dark behind him. . The New York Times INDIANOLA, Iowa: >en<>res< Former Presi$-$ Former President Bill Clinton, seizing the Democratic stage, offered one of his strongest denunciations of President George W. Bush since leaving office as he tried to rally Democrats here around candidates who have yet to stir the excitement he did in 1992. . Speaking without notes or a prepared text on Saturday night, Clinton invoked the circumstances of the 2000 presidential election as he argued that the Bush administration had squandered the domestic and foreign policy gains he had made in his eight years in office. . "That election was not a mandate for radical change, but that is what we got," Clinton said, adding, "We went from surplus to deficit, from job gain to job loss, from a reduction in poverty to an increase in poverty, from a reduction in people without health insurance to an increase of people without health insurance." . The former president said that Bush had wasted an opportunity to unite the country and enhance its international standing in the days after the Sept. 11 attacks. . "Instead of uniting the world, we alienated it," he said. "And instead of uniting America, we divided it by trying to push it too far to the right." . The setting for Clinton's rare public speech on the American political scene was the annual steak fry held by this state's senior senator, Tom Harkin. It was attended by seven of the nine Democratic presidential candidates. . Six of them also spoke to the crowd on Saturday night, but Clinton's speech, even though it was arguably not one of his strongest performances, almost entirely obscured their words and served instead to underscore the contrast between the political skills of Clinton and those of this year's crop of candidates. . Indeed, two of the best-known Democrats, Senator John Edwards of North Carolina and Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, left the stage about 15 minutes before Clinton arrived, citing scheduling conflicts. . Clinton seemed aware of the danger that his presence might overshadow the 2004 contenders, or highlight their shortcomings, and he went to great lengths to dispute the notion that the Democrats were putting up a weak field this year. . He went out of his way to praise eight of the nine candidates. . The Reverend Al Sharpton of New York, who was not here, was the only one not to receive any mention from Clinton. . "I like this field - I get tired of people saying the field can't beat the incumbent president," said Clinton, adding: "When somebody tells you the people who are running for president aren't big, they just mean they aren't famous yet." . Clinton used his own economic situation to mock Bush's tax cut. . Clinton said he might, as a very wealthy former president living in Chappaqua, New York, be paying more taxes than just about anyone else in America. "I get my tax cut, and they are going to take 300,000 poor children and kick them out of after-school programs," he said. . The candidates and the host, Harkin, fell over one another to praise Clinton and dispel any idea that Clinton, who was impeached but not removed from office, was not welcome in Democratic circles. . Harkin even praised Clinton for bringing rain to this drought-afflicted region, though the rain stopped the moment Clinton took the stage. And the audience was dotted with signs reading, "Welcome back, Bill," and "We Miss You." . Edwards, who has patterned his campaign after Clinton's 1992 race, even appropriating some of Clinton's language, said, "I am tired of Democrats walking away from Bill Clinton and Al Gore, who led the greatest period of economic growth in our country's history." . And Kerry, speaking before Clinton, took notice of the former president's propensity for lengthy speeches at public gatherings, a propensity that Kerry shares. "I saw in the program that Bill Clinton is going to speak for about 20 minutes," he said. "And in that 20 minutes, if that's what you believe it is, he's going to deliver more common sense and more sense of the country than George Bush has in two and a half years." . Clinton, in fact, spoke for 22 minutes. His voice was hoarse and strained, and his speech wandered at times, as his crowd grew restless. . Wearing blue jeans and cowboy boots, and appearing thinner then he had at any point in the White House, Clinton took the stage to the sound of his 1992 campaign theme song, "Don't Stop (Thinking about Tomorrow)" by Fleetwood Mac. And when he was done, Clinton did as Clinton always does at these kinds of events: He stayed behind to shake every hand he could find, lingering for nearly an hour as the Iowa sky turned dark behind him. . The New York Times INDIANOLA, Iowa: >en<>res< Former Presi$-$ Former President Bill Clinton, seizing the Democratic stage, offered one of his strongest denunciations of President George W. Bush since leaving office as he tried to rally Democrats here around candidates who have yet to stir the excitement he did in 1992. . Speaking without notes or a prepared text on Saturday night, Clinton invoked the circumstances of the 2000 presidential election as he argued that the Bush administration had squandered the domestic and foreign policy gains he had made in his eight years in office. . "That election was not a mandate for radical change, but that is what we got," Clinton said, adding, "We went from surplus to deficit, from job gain to job loss, from a reduction in poverty to an increase in poverty, from a reduction in people without health insurance to an increase of people without health insurance." . The former president said that Bush had wasted an opportunity to unite the country and enhance its international standing in the days after the Sept. 11 attacks. . "Instead of uniting the world, we alienated it," he said. "And instead of uniting America, we divided it by trying to push it too far to the right." . The setting for Clinton's rare public speech on the American political scene was the annual steak fry held by this state's senior senator, Tom Harkin. It was attended by seven of the nine Democratic presidential candidates. . Six of them also spoke to the crowd on Saturday night, but Clinton's speech, even though it was arguably not one of his strongest performances, almost entirely obscured their words and served instead to underscore the contrast between the political skills of Clinton and those of this year's crop of candidates. . Indeed, two of the best-known Democrats, Senator John Edwards of North Carolina and Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, left the stage about 15 minutes before Clinton arrived, citing scheduling conflicts. . Clinton seemed aware of the danger that his presence might overshadow the 2004 contenders, or highlight their shortcomings, and he went to great lengths to dispute the notion that the Democrats were putting up a weak field this year. . He went out of his way to praise eight of the nine candidates. . The Reverend Al Sharpton of New York, who was not here, was the only one not to receive any mention from Clinton. . "I like this field - I get tired of people saying the field can't beat the incumbent president," said Clinton, adding: "When somebody tells you the people who are running for president aren't big, they just mean they aren't famous yet." . Clinton used his own economic situation to mock Bush's tax cut. . Clinton said he might, as a very wealthy former president living in Chappaqua, New York, be paying more taxes than just about anyone else in America. "I get my tax cut, and they are going to take 300,000 poor children and kick them out of after-school programs," he said. . The candidates and the host, Harkin, fell over one another to praise Clinton and dispel any idea that Clinton, who was impeached but not removed from office, was not welcome in Democratic circles. . Harkin even praised Clinton for bringing rain to this drought-afflicted region, though the rain stopped the moment Clinton took the stage. And the audience was dotted with signs reading, "Welcome back, Bill," and "We Miss You." . Edwards, who has patterned his campaign after Clinton's 1992 race, even appropriating some of Clinton's language, said, "I am tired of Democrats walking away from Bill Clinton and Al Gore, who led the greatest period of economic growth in our country's history." . And Kerry, speaking before Clinton, took notice of the former president's propensity for lengthy speeches at public gatherings, a propensity that Kerry shares. "I saw in the program that Bill Clinton is going to speak for about 20 minutes," he said. "And in that 20 minutes, if that's what you believe it is, he's going to deliver more common sense and more sense of the country than George Bush has in two and a half years." . Clinton, in fact, spoke for 22 minutes. His voice was hoarse and strained, and his speech wandered at times, as his crowd grew restless. . Wearing blue jeans and cowboy boots, and appearing thinner then he had at any point in the White House, Clinton took the stage to the sound of his 1992 campaign theme song, "Don't Stop (Thinking about Tomorrow)" by Fleetwood Mac. And when he was done, Clinton did as Clinton always does at these kinds of events: He stayed behind to shake every hand he could find, lingering for nearly an hour as the Iowa sky turned dark behind him. . The New York Times
In other words..."these guys suck! Don't y'all want Hillary and my sycophant psycho Wes Clark instead"?
Kinda hard since he's covering it up too.
Are you serious .. she said that???
This stuff has got to stop .. unbelievable
Scary, huh?
Ummmm......Does he mean The Clinton Bubble (that burst in March 2000) and firing 2 million dollar cruise missiles in order to hit ten dollar tents after al Qaeda attacked the USS Cole?
Lord, that is one embarrassing job of "professional" journalism...
Rare Mover
Candidate George W. Bush warned voters of the coming recession. The Clinonistas said that Gov. Bush shouldn't say such things because he was "jinxing" the economy. The Clinton economy was a sham and it had been debt ridden for years (the I.O.U.s came due).
"Instead of uniting the world, we alienated it," he said. "And instead of uniting America, we divided it by trying to push it too far to the right."
Following the lead of the rest of the world is not a foreign policy. We are a soverign nation and our President is accountable to our citizens. In WWII, Europe went fascist (Spain, Italy, Germany) and some countries were conquored while others remained "neutral" in the midst of pure evil. We aren't lemmings and shouldn't try to win any popularity contests by doing what all the other kids are doing.
Six of them also spoke to the crowd on Saturday night, but Clinton's speech, even though it was arguably not one of his strongest performances, almost entirely obscured their words and served instead to underscore the contrast between the political skills of Clinton and those of this year's crop of candidates.
A bad speech from a former president can still get ink he has the "right" tone when it comes to conservatives.
He went out of his way to praise eight of the nine candidates. The Reverend Al Sharpton of New York, who was not here, was the only one not to receive any mention from Clinton.
Uh, there are 10 candidates for the Democrat Presidential nomination. Lyndon LaRouche is in the running even if they don't like to acknowledge him.
Edwards, who has patterned his campaign after Clinton's 1992 race, even appropriating some of Clinton's language, said, "I am tired of Democrats walking away from Bill Clinton and Al Gore, who led the greatest period of economic growth in our country's history."
And I'm sick and tired of seeing the Democrats appropriate credit for the greatest period of economic growth away from the policies of Reagan and Bush (the US economy was already in recovery before Bill Clinton took office despite their claims of "worst economy in 50 years"). What was the policy that Bill Clinton set in motion that caused that economy? Retroactively raising taxes?
(Kerry said...)"And in that 20 minutes, if that's what you believe it is, he's going to deliver more common sense and more sense of the country than George Bush has in two and a half years." Clinton, in fact, spoke for 22 minutes. His voice was hoarse and strained, and his speech wandered at times, as his crowd grew restless.
Doesn't sound like the speech was as riviting as some would like to make it out to be.
Liars-- and Sleaze, Incorporated... ( my files on the clintons and friends )
-Some old strange clinton "stuff"--
-The Atomic Genie- what we know about North Korea's Nuclear program--
Madison Society - Slick Willy
... THE CLINTON TIME LINE. The Etherzone provides, in one location, all the events
of the Clinton Ongoing Corruption from 1977 through 2000. Read more. ...
CLINTON'S ROGUES GALLERY:
... And that gets to my second chart, Mr. Speaker, which is the time line.....Up until
1993, Mr. Speaker, under Democrats and Republican Presidents alike, there ...
The Cost of Life (Clinton/Gore Sellout of Security for Campaign Contributions) **FR EXCLUSIVE** #2
DOWNSIDE LEGACY AT TWO DEGREES OF PRESIDENT CLINTON
CIA Officials Reveal What Went Wrong Clinton to Blame
Is Bill Clinton Responsible for September 11?
Catastrophic intelligence Failure - Clinton's Bin Laden GATE
-The number of "suicides" for people linked to this and other Clinton-related cases--
-Women in the Clinton Era: Abuse,Intimidation and Smears--
-SEND JUANITA BROADDRICK VIDEO TO THOSE WHO WANT CLINTON TO SPEAK--
Nothing phony about response to Hillary at fete
Hillary's delegates spit on and taunt Police Honor Guard at her Convention
-Sen. Hillary Clinton--NewsMax.com Hot Topics--
-All Hillary, all the time...--
1. The Clinton's are pro-abortion. Our children deserve better.
2. The Clinton's are against school vouchers. Our children deserve better.
3. The Clinton's are against our ballistic missile defense system. Our children deserve to be protected from rogue North Korean nuclear missiles.
4. The Clinton's want Americans to be subjected to the International Criminal Court, which has no Bill of Rights, no right to see your accuser, no jury, and no appeal. Our citizens deserve better.
5. The Clinton's want the Kyoto Treaty on Global Warming to become law. That treaty will eventually lead to the prohibition of gasoline-powered automobiles. We deserve better than to return to the pre-industrial age.
This is the thing that drives me crazy the most. All the time, we hear about the economy while Clinton was in office, but we never hear about what Clinton supposedly DID in order to create the situation.
To me, a layman, it is crystal clear what Clinton did -- he got elected during the early days of the Internet IPO/high-tech revolution, and rode the market wave caused by belief in the false dream of thousands upon thousands of overnight millionaires.
His term came up just as the country was waking up from that dream. What could his successor possibly have done to bring the days of TheGlobe.com IPOs back?
Clinton quoting Truman ... disgusting --- trailer trash !
A capsule illustration of these different political ambitions can be found in the book Primary Colors , which describes, in thinly veiled fiction, Bill Clinton's road to the presidency. Primary Colors is an admiring portrait not only of the candidate, but of the dedicated missionaries-the true believing staffers and the long-suffering wife-who serve Clinton's political agendas, but at the price of enabling the demons of self.
These staffers-political functionaries like Harold Ickes and George Stephanopoulos-serve as the flak-catchers and "bimbo eruption"-controllers who clean up his personal messes and shape his image for gullible publics. But they are also the idealists who design his message. And in the end, they enable him to politically succeed.
It is Primary Colors' insight into the minds of these missionaries that is revealing. They see Clinton clearly as a flawed and often repellent human being. They see him as a lecher, a liar and a man who would destroy an innocent person in order to advance his own career. (This is, in fact, the climactic drama of the text). Yet through all the sordidness and lying, the personal ruthlessness and disorder, the idealistic missionaries faithfully follow and serve the leader.
They do it not because they are themselves corrupted through material rewards. The prospect of fame is not even what drives them. Think only of Harold Ickes, personally betrayed and brutally cast aside by Clinton, who nonetheless refused to turn on him, even after the betrayal. Instead, Ickes kept his own counsel and protected Clinton, biding his time and waiting for Hillary. Then joined her staff to manage her Senate campaign.
The idealistic missionaries in this true tale bite their tongues and betray their principles, rather than betray him. They do so because in Bill Clinton they see a necessary vehicle of their noble ambition and uplifting dreams. He, too, cares about social justice, about poor people and blacks (or so he makes them believe). They will serve him and lie for him and destroy for him, because he is the vessel of their hope.
Because Bill Clinton "cares," he is the vital connection to the power they need to accomplish the redemption. Because the keys to the state are within Clinton's grasp, he becomes in their eyes the only prospect for advancing the progressive cause. Therefore, they will sacrifice anything and everything-principle, friends, country-to make him succeed.
But Bill Clinton is not like those who worship him, corrupting himself and others for a higher cause. Unlike them, he betrays principles because he has none. He will even betray his country, but without the slightest need to betray it for something else-for an idea, a party, or a cause.* He is a narcissist who sacrifices principle for power because his vision is so filled with himself that he cannot tell the difference.
But the idealists who serve him-the Stephanopoulos's, the Ickes's, the feminists, the progressives and Hillary Clinton-can tell the difference. Their cynicism flows from the very perception they have of right and wrong. They do it for higher ends. They do it for the progressive faith. They do it because they see themselves as having the power to redeem the world from evil. It is that terrifyingly exalted ambition that fuels their spiritual arrogance and justifies their sordid and, if necessary, criminal means. [End Excerpt]
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.