Saturday, September 23, 2006
Grim Reminder of the Past Also Welcome Reminder of Present
Fox News is showing a teaser, available also on YouTube, of its upcoming interview with St. William of Dogpatch. The specter of Slick W shaking his finger at the camera in moral indignation over the fecklessness of "right wingers" who dare criticize his presidential potency is, to say the least, a contrasting reminder of the fresh wind that has blown since January of 2001.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Well, that's true, Doctor. But he's actually right... he took a substantial amount of abuse from Rs during his presidency for pursuing bin Laden... words like "smokescreen" were used frequently to imply he was only pursuing Osama in order to get the Lewinski news off the front page.
I don't like the guy either, but he's not wrong in this case.
- Micah
Actually he is. Distracting the public from his affairs was the only reason he bothered to concern himself with Osama. The R's were not responsible for the Lewinski news being on the front page. It's not like they forced him to have that affair, and remember this behavior was not limited to Ms. Lewinski or to his presidency.
Mr Clinton has only himself to blame.
My point here is not to defend Clinton, kevin. The guy is indefensible. My point is that any republican going back and saying "It's his fault that we're in this mess" is self-decieved. Just so we're clear, I thought Clinton should have been impeached. But that doesn't change the fact that politically, he was damned if he did (pursue bin Laden) and damned if he didn't.
Your statement that distraction was "the only reason he bothered to concern himself with Osama" is just plain silly. It may be the case, but you certainly don't know him well enough to say one way or another. And there's no way to tell. If he'd worked harder to catch Osama, Rs would have screamed all the louder that it was a smokescreen. If he didn't work as hard, Rs wait until now and then scream. From his perspective, it's a no-win situation.
Again, let me be clear. I'm not defending Clinton. I'm rebuking you.
- Micah
Actually, it's very difficult to find Republicans who at the time complained that Clinton's cruise missles into the Sudan and Afghanistan were a smokescreen merely because he took action. They complained about the timing, and they complained that these were just token cruise missles,an isolated and impotent action, and so offered the smokescreen interpretation. Had Clinton taken more consistent and robust action, he doubtless would have had the support of the Republican Congress, though to their shame they didn't call for action very loudly or consistently.
But any lapse of memory on this point is far less than Clinton's own. In the interview he cited Richard Clarke repeatedly, but Clarke's own book makes the very points the Clinton was trying to deny.
Dick Morris yesterday remarked that those who have worked for Clinton know that he becomes most abusively indignant when someone has him dead to rights on a mistake or a lie.
Post a Comment