Monday digest
- Bill Clinton has officially joined the ranks of Richard Nixon, Brian Mulroney, Alfonso Gagliano and David Dingwall as one of the most thin-skinned ex-pols of all time. Willie basically lost his shit by going on a petty, wild-eyed, hyper-partisan, paranoid tear on Fox News Sunday yesterday when asked to respond to those who say he could have done more in the eight years he was in office to prevent 9/11 (videos here). This is conduct very unbecoming of an ex-President, but again, it reminds us that above all else, Clinton's obsession with his legacy is what drives the man most of all. Moral of the story? The more one cares about being seen as a statesman, the less likely one is to become one, no matter how many photo-ops on behalf of the latest cause-du-jour one takes part in.
An excerpt from this article provides a much-needed reality check:
Before anyone starts taking our most recent ex-President too seriously, let's review the bidding. Clinton wasn't the President who ordered the armed forces to go after bin Laden without reservation, to get him "dead or alive." He wasn't the one who sent thousands of troops after al-Qaeda and nations that harbor and support terrorists.
Instead, President Clinton responded to attacks on our troops in Somalia by withdrawing, and responded to attacks by al-Qaeda on our embassies in Tanzania and Kenya by bombing the aspirin factory of an innocent pharmaceutical firm in Sudan. He reacted to al-Qaeda's bombing of the USS Cole by lobbing a few cruise missiles at empty tents in the desert. He turned down Sudanese offers to cooperate in tracking down and capturing bin Laden.
The bipartisan 9/11 Commission concluded that - far from doing more than anyone to kill the brutal murderer who now is the international face of terrorism - President Clinton had flatly refused to allow the military or CIA to kill Osama bin Laden. Clinton's instructions were that bin Laden should be taken, if at all, alive not dead. CIA officials reported that this instruction cut the chance of success in half.
That is not to say that the Clinton Administration wasn't in a better position to eliminate bin Laden. Evidence before the Commission showed that the Clinton Administration had live footage of Osama bin Laden at a camp in Afghanistan in the Fall of 2000, a year before the 9/11 attacks, but didn't act. NBC's Tom Brokaw, playing the tape on-air in 2004, noted rightly that this was an enormous opportunity lost. Having gotten bin Laden in your sights isn't something to brag about if you weren't willing to pull the trigger.
More factual analysis here.
- Has this man no soul?
- The federal Conservatives have made a $13 billion dollar payment on Canada's debt and have also trimmed government spending by a billion over two years. While hardly radical surgery, this is definitely a step in the right direction. With more moves like this, expect to see even more "Help Wanted" signs and new subdivisions going up all across Canada.
posted by Road Hammer @ 9:46 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
A bunch of BS just like the 9/11 commission report was, eh boys?
What part of calling out Slick Willie equates to love for Chris Wallace?
You mushy mouthpieces are far too partisan for your own good. Putting Clinton on a pedestal and accusing the former dean of Boston U's law school of spinning? Now that's rich.
Or did we even make it to the bottom of the article?
I don't recall it being savaged by "the right" when released, but when you're a central planner, even Bob Rae is a frothing-at-the-mouth conservative.
I also don't understand socialists who use Bill Clinton to bash "the right" when he committed such heresies as:
a) declaring "the era of big government is over";
b) doing nothing on Kyoto;
c) reforming welfare;
d) balancing the budget;
e) expanding free trade world-wide;
f) signing the Defense of Marriage Act; and
g) bypassing the UN on Bosnia. among other things, just to name a few.
Or perhaps Bush/Fox Derangement Syndrome makes one susceptible to periods of amnesia and historical omission?
I would also put forward the thesis that among Canadians, the stronger one's negative opinion on Fox, the less likely they are to even be a subscriber. How can one be so convinced of its nefarious agenda if they don't even tune in?
Anyways, none of this changes the fact that Bill Clinton colossally embarassed himself on Sunday. His successor could teach him a thing or two about dealing with tough questions (not to mention character assassination and personal ad hominem attacks).
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