I don't watch Fox News. I can raise my blood pressure in healthier ways. So I missed Bill Clinton's absolute destruction of Chris Wallace and the right wing attacks on his bin Laden strategy. It would have been better live than the climax of El Dorado ! (That's the one where he gets the bad guy with one arm crippled due to an old bullet pinching the spine in the first part of the movie; the girl who shot him kills Jason the villain as played by Ed Asner...)
If you missed it, Think Progress has it. Wallace has the reputation -- unearned -- of being an articulate and moderate Foxite...Clinton bells the cat, and goes back to the ground truth. He does it in an articulate, unafraid and direct manner, and names names. He points out that he had a comprehensive strategy for terror, had plans to go in and get bin Laden if he could have gotten some basing rights from Pakistan and Uzbekistan but couldn't; and, points out something I didn't know that George Medal of Freedom Tenet couldn't certify that bin Laden was behind the Cole Attack.
So he points out that he did in fact go after bin Laden and failed to get him, and in that sense he didn't do enough. But then, he cites Richard Clark and points out that the Bushies demoted him, pushed terror off the map and condemned the Clinton administration for wasting time on terror. This is AXE, not Clinton's thinking; but even if he was distracted by the Lewinsky affair (an assertion that the record does not support, by the way) he did more to get the bastard with Ken Starr crippling him than Dubya did...or has done, since Tora Bora.
But what was really striking was that he let his anger show, and then wouldn't let the weasel take over
the conversation. Wallace looks like he's being slapped, but keeps that Digby O'Dell-friendly Undertaker (YEssssssss...I'll just be shoveling along now...) smirk on his face. Ergo, it's a bad botox job. He was angry, but he was logical and precise. So in addition to being the best politician in the last 100 years (although one has to wonder about FDR) he is also one of the brighter people to sit in that office.
First of all, comparisons are odious. Bush would probably make Warren Harding look not so bad if he followed him in office. ("Well, Harding was a crooked SOB and totally incompetent, but at least he died...) Joun Adams (Well, he did try to undermine the constitution, but he was probably clinically insane at times and did make a lot of contributions; and had the grace to say "Jefferson still lives...")
Next, when the last 200 years of Irish history are considered, the name Parnell comes up. Parnell was brilliant, canny, and had home rule for Ireland locked in and achievable in the 1870s. He also had a mistress in Catholic Ireland. Outed for being a practicing heterosexual, he was driven out of politics. The Brits locked in their minds the most important and most contentious of their trophies in the empire (More Irishmen suffered and died in battle for King and Country than ever died fighting for Ireland, by the way) and the Irish Republican Brotherhood, Sinn Fein, Easter 1916, Michael Collins and the rest followed with a drumbeat of regularity.
So, why damn Ken Starr? Well, first of all, why not? If nothing else, the Lewinsky affair proves that Tiffany is a fickle bitch -- in fact, Monica reminds me of Tiffany without the viciousness. Unable to prove anything he was mandated to prove, Starr goes on the evangelical witch hunt of the 20th century, and Clinton has to waste two years and a lot of credibility fighting nonsensical charges. Sanctimonious assholes like Joe Livermann and Newtin' Tootin' Gingrich go after him; he finds himself impeached over...lying to the grand jury about Monica. They lose, of course; he makes a fortune; Hillary gets New York; Socks and Barney are taken out in Republican plots.
Another Parnellian twist...Kenny boy Starr did it with an informer. That is an Irish tradition, by the way...if someone actually can make a difference, find a weakness and some scumsucker will seek pay or glory to show it to the world. The weakness is normally irrelevant by the way; we don't worry about Bush's prevarications about cocaine, the DUI, or anything else because his weaknesses are so visible and relevant. I'm trying to think of a dumber demogogue and ruler...
Hey, readers. Those of you not obsessed with boobs. Well, hell, you too -- who's your nominee for wing-nut twit who ran a major empire or country who was dumber and less effective than Dubya Say-Wha? Winner gets a copy of Agi's visual representation of Tiffany...
One other thought, related to El Dorado. The Duke had Robert Mitchum at his side who was channeling Dean Martin from Rio Bravo. He also had James Caan. If Al Gore had had half the balls of Mitchum's character and half the loyalty of Caan's (or 1/4 of the balls of the real Robert Mitchum) things would be a lot different today. Bill Clinton will represent the high point of hope and lost potential; George W Bush will represent the true beginning of the end...
I think I would suck Clinton's right about now.
the mind is the most powerful sex organ. Bill Clinton must be great in bed, because he sure out FoXed that fucking eunich Chris Wallace. I bet Clinton didn't even get hard using the 4 braincells he needed to shut Wallace up.
Dubya must have been neutered. my fellow Americans, kill yourselves. you voted in an image. your ideal LEADER.
the best of us don't need to be led. you fuckers voted as if your life depended on it. pshah.
can I quit the human race?
Posted by: mr.fun | 25 September 2006 at 06:49 PM
I'm actually working on beefing up my criminal record in order to further qualify myself for higher office. Unfortunately I'll never approach Bush, Cheney, or DeLay when it comes to corporate malfeasance or ethical violations, but you can't have it all.
Indiscretions of youth ... in your THIRTIES?!?
Posted by: Alex Brant-Zawadzki | 25 September 2006 at 09:03 PM
People.... PEOPLE!!! I think we ought to all take a deep breath, relax, and allow the GOP and FOX News to write the history books. I'm sure they'll be fair and balanced.
Now if you'll excuse me, I just purchased one of those Do-It-Yourself Lobotomy Kits, and I have to Windex the bathroom mirror.
Ahhhh..... That's more like it. Heroic, Brilliant, Courageous George W. Bush... Fighting terrah singlehandedly. He's 47 feet tall, hung like a horse, and has the strength of 90 men...
Posted by: e_five | 26 September 2006 at 08:41 AM
Its obvious. All politicians are corrupt, all politicians do side deals for money and do not give a damm abount nothing else.
why not just have some fun and forget about it all?
best online casinos
Posted by: kkmedia | 07 January 2008 at 12:46 AM