September 26, 2006
From behind the benign façade and the tranquilizing smile, the real Bill Clinton emerged Sunday during Chris Wallace’s interview on Fox News Channel. There he was on live television, the man those who have worked for him have come to know – the angry, sarcastic, snarling, self-righteous, bombastic bully, roused to a fever pitch. The truer the accusation, the greater the feigned indignation. Clinton jabbed his finger in Wallace’s face, poking his knee, and invading the commentator’s space.Morris then goes on to poke holes in many of the former President's assertions that he made in that interview. As someone who was once a close confidant and adviser, Morris is nonetheless comfortable sharing his experiences with Clinton. He parted ways with the Clintonistas years ago and no longer fears Bubba's wrath.But beyond noting the ex-president’s non-presidential style, it is important to answer his distortions and misrepresentations. His self-justifications constitute a mangling of the truth which only someone who once quibbled about what the “definition of ‘is’ is” could perform.
On a related note, The Anchoress has a rather lengthy and well written analysis of Clinton's "daddy" issues - a must-read.
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September 25, 2006
First, Hugh Hewitt has - in my opinion - the best assessment on this bizarre incident:
Bill Clinton's record vis-a-vis Osama cannot withstand even two minutes of sharp questions-and-answers. He's obliged to tightly control every encounter with the press, denounce every serious work of history, obfuscate by pointing to meeting after meeting or to non-sequitors like the fact that no one knew at the time that Osama was connected to Mogadishu (but when, Mr. Clinton, did you become aware of his connection), legal tap dancing --the FBI and CIA wouldn't let me do it-- and the worst of all, chest thumping about how he'd be waging the war if he was still president.Bottom Line: Suck it up Bill. It's not all about you. The ball was dropped on terrorism for almost two decades before you came along. Be a man. Take some responsibility and - for God's sake - get over yourself and your precious legacy. It's really pathetic.Whatever Clinton hoped to accomplish with this childish filibuster and tantrum, it guaranteed the opposite: No such fury is required when the facts are on your side. You don't have to control every encounter and explode with anger and accusations when asked if you would like to comment on a new book.
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September 22, 2006
Michael Dukakis: Lloyd. How's that martini treating you?It's been eighteen years since that hilarious sketch, but for Democrats some things never change.Lloyd Bentsen: Not too badly, Mike. I wish the polls were treating us a little better.
Michael Dukakis: Well, Lloyd, we represent unpopular and discredited views.
Lloyd Bentsen: Mike! Now that it's all over, you can tell me. You were gonna raise taxes, weren't you?
Michael Dukakis: Well, you bet I was! Through the roof! But now.. I won't get the chance.
- Dukakis After Dark
SNL 11/5/88
The President launched a second front in his campaign offensive on behalf of GOP Congressional candidates - "They will raise your taxes".
No idle threat, this is a statement of fact. Democrats all along have been assailing "Bush's tax cuts for the rich", ignoring the reality that everyone who pays taxes has benefited - and has felt that benefit in their personal situations. Voters understand this only too well. High gas prices this past year have reminded Americans how tough even a small bite into their discretionary income can be. It also ignores the fact that the President's tax cuts have led to a booming economy, low unemployment and reduced deficits.
To borrow a cliche from Forrest Gump: Democrats and taxes go together like peas and carrots. It's always been standard operating procedure for them. But the President is reminding voters what happens if the Dems take the House, and if Charlie Rangel becomes Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee: repeal of the tax cuts of the past five years, which means tax hikes.
It's not speculation, it's the truth. And it's a winner for the GOP. Expect to hear it between now and November 7th again...and again...and again...
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September 15, 2006
The Democrats' mistake--ironically, in a year all about Mr. Bush--is obsessing on Mr. Bush. They've been sucker-punched by their own animosity.Back in 1984, former VP Fritz Mondale asked his fellow Presidential candidate Gary Hart, "Where's the beef?""The Democrats now are incapable of answering a question on policy without mentioning Bush six times," says pollster Kellyanne Conway. " 'What is your vision on Iraq?' 'Bush lied us into war.' 'Health care? 'Bush hasn't a clue.' They're so obsessed with Bush it impedes them from crafting and communicating a vision all their own." They heighten Bush by hating him.
One of the oldest clichés in politics is, "You can't beat something with nothing." It's a cliché because it's true. You have to have belief, and a program. You have to look away from the big foe and focus instead on the world and philosophy and programs you imagine.
Mr. Bush's White House loves what the Democrats are doing. They want the focus on him. That's why he's out there talking, saying Look at me.
Because familiarity doesn't only breed contempt, it can breed content. Because if you're going to turn away from him, you'd better be turning toward a plan, and the Democrats don't appear to have one.
Which leaves them unlikely to win leadership. And unworthy of it, too.
He could just as easily ask the same question of his party, twenty-two years later.
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September 11, 2006
However, Confederate Yankee made a post today that expressed exactly what I was thinking but in a more eloquent manner than I ever could. Here I share a portion that really nails it.
"Five years later, American Democrats have more hate in their hearts for their own President than they do for the terrorists that killed almost 3,000 of their countrymen. They refuse to confront terrorism. Some would rather blame America and the world they think they understand, rather than face up to the fact that the world we all thought we knew was just an illusion. They are in catastrophic psychological denial, and cannot face the fact that "the other" they have spent their lives providing moral equivalence for were the ones who attacked our country.And these are the stakes heading into November 7th.It is so much easier to blame Bush than face the fact that we were attacked because we are the beacon of freedom for the world, and the greatest threat to radical Islam. It is so much easier to blame Bush, than realize that decades of denial led us to that horrific moment. If they can only blame Bush for that day—and every day since that their worldview has been shown to be vapid, self-serving, and a fraud—then their denial can go on, and "reality-based community" can continue to live in a world that has refuses to learn, to adapt, to change.
The Left refuses to learn from 9/11 and knows no way forward. It is why they grasp so insistently to the past, clinging to what was and what might have been, instead of moving forward to forcefully determine what should be and what must be done to secure our freedoms for the future. It is they that childishly insist for the "Perfect War" theory, stating a belief that any war not fought with perfect foresight and accuracy is wrong, while knowing securely no war has ever met their standard.
They show that they hate the present and don't understand the lessons of the recent past. They strive for stagnation and stasis and blaming ourselves, but they offer no hope for the future.
They blame Americans for radical Islamic plans for world domination. They vilify our troops instead of the terrorists they fight. They attack western governments fighting for freedom instead of eastern governments and the terrorists they sponsor that are fighting for oppression and destruction of our way of life.
The Left offers America and true liberalism a death sentence, seeking to repeat the failed policies of 30 years in denial.
We will not listen to them again.
That, perhaps, is their greatest fear of all."
Read the whole post here.
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September 07, 2006
This is a good thing.
Democrats are gnashing their teeth over what they see as an attempt to smear their hero, President Clinton. It is important for Americans to watch this docu-drama, but not to assign blame for the 9/11 attacks. There's plenty of that to go around.
No, as Hugh Hewitt (who has seen it) points out, the most important reason to watch is to remind us about what it is we are fighting against and how serious the threat is. Those who now howl about the tarnishing of the Clinton legacy fail to grasp this:
Rather the mini-series is the first attempt --very successful-- to convey to American television viewers what we are up against: The fanaticism, the maniacal evil, the energy and the genius for mayhem of the enemy."It is all about them" - yeah, that pretty much summarizes the Clintonista perspective. It's not about national security, it's about trying to preserve some kind of legacy for the man who "feels your pain".In the self-serving complaints about this scene or that take delivered by Richard Ben-Veniste and other proxies are replayed again the deadly narcissisms of the'90s. The program's great faults are --they say-- in the inaccurate portrayal of Bill Clinton and his furrowed brow and continual efforts to track down bin Laden.
It is all about them, you see. Just as it was in the '90s. To hell with [FBI Agent John] O'Neill or the victims of 9/11, and forget about the worldwide menace that continues to nurse its hatred, though now from caves and not compounds.
Not a word from these critics about the program's greatest strength, which is in the accurate rendering of the enemy, and the warning it might give about the need for continual vigilance.
"If only those attacks had come on my watch, it would've been my big moment in history. And imagine all the grieving ladies that I could've groped...er...I mean hugged."
Former White House aide Bruce R. Lindsey, who is now the head of the William J. Clinton Foundation, had this to say:
"It is unconscionable to mislead the American public about one of the most horrendous tragedies our country has ever known."Guess he forgot to tell Michael Moore.
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H/T: the Llamas (who wisely advise that you keep your mouth free of food and drink while viewing) ;-)
UPDATE (5:15pm):
Ha! That was from the RNC for real. LOL!! Love it.
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September 05, 2006
Some posts, however, are too priceless to pass up. Like this one. Enjoy!
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