DNC chief tells whopper about Clinton

WorldNetDaily.com ^ | Tuesday, August 13, 2002 | Paul Sperry

[JohnHuang2]

WASHINGTON -- Here we go again.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe, long-time fund-raising pal of ex-President Clinton, told a whopper Sunday about his old boss on ABC's "This Week," while attacking President Bush as part of a GOP-bashing campaign before the midterm elections.

McAuliffe maintained that, unlike Bush, Clinton took the high ground and didn't "blame his predecessors" for the economic woes he inherited in 1993.

"There are 1.6 million Americans today who have lost their jobs since George Bush became president. And what does this administration do? All they do is blame others," he told ABC's Sam Donaldson.

"When Bill Clinton became president, he had a 7 percent unemployment rate. We were in a recession (and) he had the largest budget deficit in the history of our country," McAuliffe went on.

"Did he blame his predecessors?" he said. "No, he got to work. He brought Democrats, Republicans together."

His statement is demonstrably untrue, yet Donaldson left it unchallenged and quickly moved on to the next question ("Let's talk about your party, the Democratic Party. Joe Lieberman ...").

Luckily, Lexis-Nexis -- the database that archives old media articles and transcripts of speeches and press conferences going back decades -- doesn't have as short a memory as Donaldson or McAuliffe.

Here are just a few of the many complaints that Clinton, as both president and candidate, made about what he called the "failed" economic policies of his Republican predecessors, Presidents Bush and Reagan (who, it should be noted, implemented markedly different fiscal policies during their terms, despite Clinton's attempt to link them together as one seamless policy over their combined 12 years).

• "Twenty-one months ago, I moved to Washington. Remember the challenges we faced when I went there? We'd had four years of the slowest economic growth since the Great Depression, four years in which Pennsylvania lost 8,300 jobs," Clinton reminded party faithful at an Oct. 31, 1994, fund-raiser for Pennsylvanian Democratic candidates.

  "We were dealing with 12 years of trickle-down Reaganomics, which exploded our deficits and sent our jobs overseas, and divided our people," Clinton added.

• Clinton piled it on a month later in a Dec. 2, 1994, speech to the National League of Cities: "We've worked too hard to build an economic recovery and a job strategy, and to reduce this deficit that 12 years of irresponsible, explosive spending left us."

• Clinton had kicked off the year with the same negative theme, lecturing Republicans in Congress in his Jan. 25, 1994, State of the Union speech: "For the 12 years of trickle-down economics, we built a false prosperity on a hollow basis.

  "Our national debt quadrupled," he added. "From 1989 to 1992, we experienced the slowest growth in a half-century."

• On July 28, 1993, Clinton told reporters gathered at the White House: "For 12 years, we have followed a path that worked in the short run, but caused us great grief in the long time -- and that is supply-side economics, which basically says we're going to cut taxes and increase spending.

  "It took us from a $1 (trillion) to a $4 trillion debt (and) a huge deficit," he added.

• On July 17, 1992, candidate Clinton told a crowd outside his hotel in York, Pa.: "We are in the grip of a failed economic program."

  "Trickle-down has had 12 years," he added. "I'm tired of it. We're not going to do the same thing for four more years."

• In announcing his candidacy in Little Rock, Ark., on Oct. 3, 1991, Clinton said: "For 12 years, the Republicans have been telling us at the national level that America's problems are not their problems. They have washed their hands of responsibility for the economy."

• Then there's Clinton's statements in his "Putting People First" campaign pamphlet: "For twelve years, the driving idea behind American economic policy has been cutting taxes on the richest individuals and corporations and hoping that their new wealth would 'trickle down' to the rest of us.

  "This policy has failed," he said. "The Republicans in Washington have compiled the worst economic record in 50 years."

Referring to other incendiary statements McAuliffe made about Bush in a DNC speech over the weekend, Republican National Committee Chairman Marc Racicot said his counterpart is prone to "hyperbole," but stopped short of calling him dishonest.

"He is incredibly inaccurate," he told the Sean Hannity radio show Monday, "and sometimes almost reckless."

[rkrtgw]

oooppps, I misunderstood your analogy. Thank you for clearing it up.

And yes its my Trophy and you can't have it ....until the next Super Bowl .....Maybe ....LOL

[1rudeboy]

This is an open question to the forum, and mildly off-topic:

I was in a discussion with a friend from overseas and mentioned that US presidents (traditionally) do not criticize their successors. I offered Bill Clinton as an exception. My friend was sceptical. Can someone point me toward a resource that details Bill Clinton's attempts to interfere with the current administration's policies since he left office?

[weegee]

Challenge your skeptical friend to identify instances of former presidents criticizing their successors. He seems to believe that it happens and that Bubba is not the distastful exception.

[1rudeboy]

But he's from overseas, and I can hardly expect him to be that familiar with our process. Thanks anyway.

[Howlin]

Can someone point me toward a resource that details Bill Clinton's attempts to interfere with the current administration's policies since he left office?

I refer you to The New York Times and Time Magazine -- any copy will do. :-)

[Libloather]

My two cents...

How come your "two cents" usually comes out to be, on the average, at least a Lincoln and change?

[Rome2000]

"He is incredibly inaccurate," he told the Sean Hannity radio show Monday, "and sometimes almost reckless."

Racicot is clueless and needs to resign.

It's hard toi believe, but he is worse than the last RNC Chairman.

The rats use propganda better than Goebbels and the Nazi's and will lie, cheat, murder, and steal to gain and keep power.

The GOP is pathetic at getting it's message out.

The RNC leadership should be replaced immediately with people that understand the concept of presenting a united front and coherent simple message for the simpletons across the land that call themselves moderates.

The RNC fights like the French.

[eddie willers]

You need to watch more South Park.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Actually, I mean Stan, Kyle, Kenny, and Eric from South Park. One episode, entitled "Mecha Streisand" had the kids "Rochambeauing" each other for various items. I don't remember the exact rules, but each "Rochambeau" had one of the contestants ending up with really sore nads.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

And yes, I want Clinton to be the sore one...

[DennisR]

As usual, the Dem-Lib-Commie-Soc-Utopians are rewriting and retelling history according to the mental disease that seems to plague them. They are so pitiful...