FREEPERS JOINING CLINTON PROTEST AT UT-AUSTIN WED. [49,000 UT Students Do NOT Join Anti-war Protest

Heart of Texas Chapter of FreeRepublic.com | 02-08-03 | TXBubba

[TXBubba]

February 8, 2003 For Immediate Release Contact: Brendan Steinhauser

NEWS ADVISORY - DRAFT FORM

YCT, UT College Republicans to Lead Protest of Bill Clinton UT-Austin Lecture on Wednesday.

Austin, TX - Today, the Young Conservatives of Texas (YCT) and the UT College Republicans announced they will protest a lecture by former U.S. President Bill Clinton on Wednesday, Feb. 12. The lecture, which is cosponsored by the UT College of Liberal Arts, will be held at the Frank C. Erwin Center, 1701 Red River St. at 6:45 p.m. Community groups such as the local chapter of Free Republic and activists in the Williamson County Republican Party will also participate in the protest.

YCT officer Brendan Steinhauser stated, "There are many good reasons to protest President Clinton, but clearly the most compelling is his administration's dereliction of its duty to protect U.S. national security. Clinton allowed Saddam Hussein to rebuild his military and violate U.N. agreements with impunity, signed a non-proliferation agreement with North Korea with no enforcement mechanism and then stood idly by while this rogue regime violated its terms, and, perhaps worst of all, failed to respond to Al-Qaeda's terrorist attacks on the U.S. preceding 9/11. The Clinton administration was grossly negligent in failing to respond to the terrorist attacks on the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, on the World Trade Center in 1993, and on the USS Cole in Yemen."

Steinhauser explained, "Clinton's shameful record of impotence and appeasement in the face of attacks on America has and will continue to exact a heavy toll on Americans. The Bush administration is now being forced to clean up the international mess of terror and weapons of mass destruction that eight years of a spineless and gutless administration has left behind. Moreover, it must do so with a military that is still recovering from Clinton's irresponsible cuts."

One former Clinton administration official told reporter Joe Klein "Clinton spent less concentrated attention on national defense than any another President in recent memory." Clinton’s political advisor Dick Morris flatly charged, "Clinton’s failure to mobilize America to confront foreign terror after the 1993 attack [on the World Trade Center] led directly to the 9/11 disaster." According to Morris "Clinton was removed, uninvolved, and distant where the war on terror was concerned."

Steinhauser noted, "The Washington Post reported that, the Sudan proffered a deal to extradite Osama bin Laden to the United States in 1996, but the Clinton administration declined because it did not think it had enough evidence to prosecute Bin Laden in a U.S. court of law. Perhaps that is true due to the bleeding-heart liberals Clinton appointed to the federal judiciary. However, based on bin Laden's war crimes against the U.S. even at that time, a military tribunal would have been appropriate and, in retrospect, could have saved the lives of 3,000 innocent Americans."

By Clinton’s own account, Monica Lewinsky was able to visit him privately more than a dozen times in the Oval Office. But according to a USA Today investigative report, the head of the CIA could not get a single private meeting with the President, despite the Trade Center bombing of February 26, 1993 or the Al-Qaeda killing of 18 American soldiers in Mogadishu on October 3 of the same year." James Woolsey, Clinton’s first CIA director, says he never met privately with Clinton after their initial interview. When a small plane crashed on the White House grounds in 1994, the joke inside the White House was, ‘that must be Woolsey, still trying to get an appointment.’"

Protestors outside the Erwin Center will distribute hundreds of copies of a pamphlet authored by commentator David Horowitz entitled "How the Left Undermined National Security," (http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=4401) to attendees as they enter the building. This broadside provides a detailed history of the Clinton administration's abject failure to respond to the terrorist attacks on America that preceded 9/11.

Additionally, protestors will point out Clinton's long record of domestic fiascoes. Steinhauser noted, "Clinton's radical environmental policies stymied domestic energy production, a partial cause of the rising gas prices we are paying now. If Clinton hadn't stood in the way, we could be drilling in the Alaskan tundra right now instead of being held over a barrel by a cabal of totalitarian Middle East regimes. Clinton's veto of the ban on partial birth abortion has sentenced untold numbers of children to death by infanticide. Finally, if Bill and Hillary had their way, we would be living under a system of socialized medicine with rationed care, long waiting lines, and a shortage of doctors"

The Young Conservatives of Texas, a non-partisan conservative youth organization, has been fighting for conservative values for more than two decades in the Lone Star State and publishes the most respected ratings of the Texas Legislature. YCT has chapters at Texas A&M University, West Texas A&M, Baylor University, the University of Texas, Texas Tech, Southern Methodist University, and in the Houston and Washington, DC areas.

[Terridan]

I'm sorry for living here out in Kalifornia and unable to be there! My spirit will be with you though, and give'em hell!!! Best wishes...
Terri

[DrewsDad]

Here are my photos from the freep. I'll try to post the thumbnail pics on the After Freep thread or news article thread(assuming someone posts one.)

[hocndoc]

Bravo, all the HOT Freepers!
Had to work tonight, but I was thinking of you and praying for your safety and hoping you had fun!!

[Republic]

Details!!! WE need DETAILS!!! But...grrrrrrrreat photos...the signs were terrific!

[ffusco]

Umm... Hey (wink)

What's your sign?
Come here often?

Buy you a drink?

[Gracey]

Check out post 202

[mountaineer]

Clinton speaks on campus
Clinton denounces Bush's tax plan, warns of N. Korea
By P. Ryan Petkoff (Daily Texan Staff)
February 13, 2003

Former President Bill Clinton emphasized an additional focus on North Korea and called President Bush's tax plan "the worst mistake the country has made" in the past 10 years during a speech Wednesday at the Frank Erwin Center.
"We cannot keep these commitments and continue giving tax cuts to people in my income bracket," Clinton said to several thousand attendees of the speech, which was part of the Liz Carpenter Lectureship series.

His speech lasted just over an hour and was followed by a brief question and answer session.

North Korea, Clinton said, needs U.S. aid as well as additional diplomacy to ward off future tensions.

"[North Korean officials] think the only way they'll get any attention is to do something terrible," Clinton said. "We have to break this psychology."

On the issue of Iraq, the former president said that though the Bush administration has no legal constraint requiring a return to the United Nations for war approval, an additional U.N. consultation could null discontent in France and Germany.

Clinton also encouraged an increase in the acceptance of diverse cultures to promote positive integration - the core theme of his speech.

"We have to build a world with more friends and fewer enemies," he said, urging listeners to expand the "definition of who is 'us' and shrink the definition of who is 'them.'"

He went on to beseech students who disagree with the current administration to vote and hold their public officials accountable.

"If you don't like it, you've got to show up and be counted," he said. "You shouldn't pretend that these elections don't have consequences."

The only political item on which Clinton said he would give a candid opinion was the Bush tax cut, a plan he said served only the rich.

The former president called for a typically Democratic economic policy and said the proposed Bush budget didn't add up.

High-profile Texas Democrats - including Tony Sanchez, former gubernatorial candidate and Laredo businessman, and Molly Beth Malcolm, chairwoman of the Texas Democratic party - stood and applauded Clinton's economic critique.

The rest of the crowd, which waited 45 minutes past the scheduled start time of 6:45 p.m., amused themselves with chants of "Texas fight" and "We want Bill," as well as a brief attempt at the wave.

Eric Meachem, a local engineer, said he enjoyed the talk and that the former president highlighted the important issue of inclusion.

"It was a very good speech," Meachem said. "The most important thing I got out of it was the part about everybody working together in unity across cultures."

Wednesday marked Clinton's second public appearance at the University. The first coincided with the Million Man March in 1995.

Clinton waived his usual $100,000 fee as a personal favor to UT alumna and former press secretary to Lady Bird Johnson, Liz Carpenter. Carpenter, whose free distinguished lectureship series is in its 20th year, ribbed the president for nearly five minutes before relinquishing the floor.

"I didn't know I was going to come here and get abused by Liz Carpenter," Clinton joked.

http://www.dailytexanonline.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2003/02/13/3e4b52993c10b

[mountaineer]

Texas conservatives, Republicans protest Clinton speech
By Rachna Sheth (Daily Texan Staff)
February 13, 2003

Former President Bill Clinton's appearance in Austin on Wednesday met with fervent opposition from area conservative Republicans, who staged a protest outside the Frank Erwin Center.
Members of the Young Conserv-atives of Texas, the Williamson County Republican Party and the FreeRepublic.com online forum held up signs amid a crowd waiting to hear the former president speak. Their posters focused on what they considered Clinton's political misdeeds with slogans such as "Remember Elian?" and "The Price is Right: A 'free' speech from Bill Clinton."

"He shouldn't come to Texas," said David Rushing, a protester and a law student from Southern Methodist University. "Texas has never voted for him, and he isn't welcome here."

On behalf of the participants, protest organizer Brendan Steinh-auser said he believes the former president ruined America, blaming Clinton for allowing nuclear proliferation in North Korea and causing the Sept. 11 attacks by foregoing an offer by the Sudanese government for Osama bin Laden's extradition.

Gwen Hodges, a self-described former liberal and UT alumna, returned to campus to stand with signs supporting President Bush and the Republican Party.

"If Bill Clinton were a Republican, he would have resigned instead of sitting through the impeachment trial," Hodges said. "We [Republicans] are the type of people that if we mess up, we step aside from the leadership role."

But the protest spawned intense conversation between Republican supporters and citizens. While the protesters declared support for President Bush and his case for military action in Iraq, they denounced Clinton for compromising national security. Thor Harris, a passer-by and Austin resident, stood up for the liberal and left-wing arguments.

"You know why 9/11 happened?" Harris said. "Because of the Texas oilmen in the Middle East. There are innocent people there who are going to die. You want more 9/11s? Bomb Iraq."

A Republican protester yelled back, "I wouldn't give a piss about 100 of their people over ours. I'm concerned about Americans and American security."

Startled spectators moved away from the altercation but continued cheering for the side they supported.

Steinhauser criticized what he considers the liberal slant of the UT campus.

"Liberal views are a criterion for the faculty and students on this campus," he said.

While most students agree that the campus is relatively liberal compared to the rest of Texas, few deny the conservative presence.

"This is Texas," said Tanuja Parachuri, a business freshman. "There are always going to be a lot of Republicans."
http://www.dailytexanonline.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2003/02/13/3e4b5272ce8cb

[mountaineer]

Mark McCaig, a Texas A&M finance sophomore, protests former President Bill Clinton's speaking engagement outside the Frank Erwin Center Wednesday night.

[Gracey]

Good posts.

[Charlie OK]

I vote this one for the best.

Number 6 of the webshots if this picture doesn't show up...

[TXBubba]

After Action report found here:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/842017/posts

[TXBubba]

Ping

[Gracey]

Thanks for blowing up that GREAT sign, done by DrewsDad. I'm holding it while he's taking the pic.

He usually has some of the best ideas for signs.

I'd say it's the BEST, also.

[DrewsDad]

I added several more photos to make it fair instead of biasing it toward my signs. I missed taking pictures of several good signs as well. Maybe we can get sign holders so I can just go around taking pictures.

[potlatch]

Umm... Hey (wink) What's your sign? Come here often? Buy you a drink?

A WINK back attcha ffusco!! That 'made' my day and is the most flattering reply I've ever had!!

I'm a blond 'LEO', married with 4 children, but will still enjoy talking with you! I'm here every night.

[ffusco]

I'm glad you saw the humor! Glad to keep in touch!

[potlatch]

BUMP!!

[Gracey]

I haven't stopped laughing at this pic....