Posted on 10/18/2002 10:42:00 PM PDT by kattracks
Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-NY, blew his stack during a radio debate with Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., on Thursday over charges that ex-President Clinton gave North Korea the bomb - growing so agitated at one point that his cursing had to be bleeped from the air.
Reacting to a report released in February by Rep. Christopher Cox, R-Calif., charging that the Clinton administration's decision to fund North Korea's nuclear energy program netted the rogue state enough plutonium to produce 65 nuclear bombs, Ackerman told nationally syndicated radio host Sean Hannity:
"First, those numbers at the end are absolutely untrue - scientifically impossible. Not from a lightwater reactor." The New York Democrat then asserted, "The Cox report (on Korea) is much discredited, by the way. There are other reports that contradict it which have been put out."
Undeterred by Ackerman's claims, Rep. Burton insisted it was a serious mistake for the Clinton administration to bankroll North Korea's nuclear program, telling Hannity, "They were not our friends. We should never have taken that step in the first place."
But the debate grew particularly heated when Burton compared the ex-president's North Korea bomb blunder to the Clinton administration's Chinagate scandal.
"During the time that Clinton was in office the security was so lax that almost every one of our nuclear secrets was stolen by the Chinese Communists," the Republican complained.
"So now every American man, woman and child is more at risk than they've ever been before," he added. "The blunders that took place in that administration were legion and I don't know how Gary can defend them."
The remark seemed to irk Ackerman, who responded heatedly, "There seems to be a whole industry building up bashing Bill Clinton. I think you guys have to move off of it."
When Hannity refused to change the subject, Ackerman remarked, "I don't know if you've seen the bulletin but we have a new president and a new administration."
But Rep. Burton continued to draw parallels with the Chinagate scandal.
"President Clinton received money for his campaign from the head of the Chinese military intelligence agency," he contended. "He got $300,000 from this fellow and we had testimony from our committee that verified that."
"Danny, c'mon. Give me a break," Ackerman shot back.
"Let me say this," the New York Democrat added moments later. "I think (Clinton) was one of our great presidents. I think you guys are just trying to smear him to cover-up for the inadequacies of the administration succeeding him."
Ackerman then blamed President Bush's "hatred" of Clinton for his decision to scuttle what he said were successful talks with North Korea, causing Pyongyang to "go ballistic."
"This president came into office and the first thing he did in foreign policy is start to reverse everything that Bill Clinton did," he charged. "Hating Bill Clinton was an excuse for foreign policy in his mind."
"I'll tell you one thing he's not doing," Burton shot back. "He's not bombing aspirin factories over in the Sudan. He's going after real terrorists now. He's not letting somebody like Osama bin Laden run around after he attacked the World Trade Center the first time."
The remark sent Ackerman through the roof.
"I can't believe this unmitigated B.S. of trying to blame Bill Clinton for bombing the World Trade Center," he protested. "Have you guys no morals, have you no scruples, have you no conscience?"
At that point the New York Democrat blurted out an obscenity that Hannity was able to catch with the station's seven second delay.
"That's the first time I've had to dump a congressman for cursing on the air," the radio host announced, before telling Ackerman, "I want you to know politically I just saved you from a big controversy."
Listen to NewsMax.com's exclusive audiotape of Bill Clinton admitting last February that he turned down Sudan's offer to extradite Osama bin Laden to the U.S.
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
And into orbit with the rest of the rats.
Send the scum into the sun
As the Great Reagan said himself about Clintonism, "Don't inhale".
I'll never forget those who defended the impeached one, Gore, Geppie, Hillary of course, who was hanging on for dear life so she could get her shot at ruling us. Take a look at the man's face here--shocking. I hope he didn't have a dog to kick around then. (This was on the very day he was impeached.)
Man, I get so tired of hearing that same response from the libs. His economic policy was to give us the largest tax increase in history. Please explain how that puts more cash in my bank account?
I thought that Kathleen Kennedy Townsend was involved in that as well?
Clintons economic policy was kind of similar to the problem solving methods used by one of my ex-supervisors. He would just go home at night without taking any corrective action, believing everything would be fine when he came to work the next morning. He only lasted as long as he did because he was the owners son.
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.