A Fresh Appetite for an Ex-President

[kskiska]

Democratic Hopefuls Say They Would Welcome Bill Clinton's Aid on Campaign Trail

INDIANOLA, Iowa, Sept. 13 -- There were seven presidential candidates and thousands of Democratic activists assembled on a muddy field here this afternoon, but the red and white placards told the story: "Welcome Back Bill," they said. "We Miss You."

They were referring, of course, to former president Bill Clinton, who was the featured speaker at the annual political steak fry hosted by Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin (D) and a politician who still looms large over his own party, almost three years after he left office.

In the 2000 campaign, Democrat Al Gore largely shunned the man who had picked him to be vice president in 1992, concerned about the fallout from Clinton's private life and political scandals.

But today, Democrats prepared to embrace him as a hero. "I'd vote for him again," said Barbara Anderson, who attended with her husband and family. "He's a people person, and we need more of that."

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6668-2003Sep13.html

[Hailtothechimp]

1. I saw him on C-SPAN. He was great.

None of the candidates now running are in his league. And he's got more political skills in his little finger than all the GOP combined. Listen to Bill, do as he suggests, and we'll be just fine.

To hear him talking about Bush's tax cut for him, and the tradeoff it means for after school programs, student loans, police on the streets, etc. is a winning formula. It gets the bastards where they live.

[xJlM]

2. He was very good

I was really happy to catch that one. Tom Harkin was in his top form, and Bill didn't pull any punches. I didn't tune in in time to catch what any of the candidates had to say, but President Clinton was more than worth it.

[liberalnurse]

5. Where was Al Sharpton?

I can't imagine him missing out on a good picnic.

[uberotto]

7. What I liked the best about Clintons speech....

is how he kept saying that Bush gave him a tax cut. You know that had to really piss off some of the repub's who might have been watching.

To some of the more devout repubs that I know, the though of anyone, even their beloved jr. bush, doing anything that benefits a Clinton is simply not allowed and is not easily forgiven...

[Pallas180]

4. Watched & listened to Big Dawg with joy-if you noticed he was durn angry.

But that man has a way of getting his point across, with his
stories and feigned humor....and you just understand what it's
all about.

Didja catch his attack on Rehnquist? First time he's ever done
that. So much for Rehnquist boycotting Bill's State of the Union
speech and throwing the election....and Big Dawg made it very clear
that it was thrown.

I just adore that President. He's the last legitimate President so
far elected in this country!

[aquart]

14. Suddenly I really want to see a transcript of that speech.

You guys with cable get all the good stuff.

[madaboutharry]

3. The whole impeachment era

is now being seen in its real context. When Hillary Clinton said Bill Clinton was the victim of a vast right wing conspiracy she knew of what she spoke. The impeachment atrocity, the 2000 selection, the redistricting battles in Colorado and Texas, and this circus in California are all cogs in the wheel of the republican march towards a one party system. There is now the beginnings of a movement to recall the democratic Governor of New Jersey. I think that people are finally beginning to see, well, maybe what some may call a PATTERN. Bill Clinton is going to be in their face throughout the entire upcoming election and I for one am going to love every minute of it.

[UnapologeticLiberal]

9. New Jersey has a recall process

I have lived there since I was three and never knew that! This is not good news...McGreevey is pretty unpopular...or at least he was when I left. I just talked to my mom and she said she had not heard anything about it...and she is usually pretty aware of what is going on.

[madaboutharry]

10. My mom let me know about it

It is being whipped up by right wing radio. The recall process in N.J. in more complicated than the one in California. They need signatures of 2/3 of the voters who voted in the last election. It will never happen, but the fact remains this is now becoming a process sought by republicans to undo elections.

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[SharonAnn]

8. Hmm, I think you're in the wrong place. This is "Democratic

Underground".

You sound like you'd be a lot happier somewhere else.

[Norton]

11. Yes, he's in the wrong place...

Bill played the right-wing mf's like a pin-ball machine for eight years straight and I hope Hillary gets her turn at it. Clinton is the
"Holy Grail" of what's right with this country and made America beloved around the world. Bush and Co. is exactly the opposite...
the destroyer of our credibility, respect, and accomplishments over the last 200 +years. We look like asses now. Anyone who can't stomach the fact that Mr. Clinton's face should be carved on Mt. Rushmore can bite me. That sounds juvenile, but I AM trying to relate to idiots! Eight years of global enlightenment and prosperity shall not be trivialized or forgotten. Thank you Mr. Clinton.

[Voltaire99]

13. Trashing welfare is the Holy Grail?

Reducing civil liberties is the Holy Grail?

Bombing Serbian citizens and Sudanese pharmaceutical factories is the Holy Grail?

Lying to you, me and his family is the Holy Grail?

C'mon: Clinton was a nice enough fella, and supremely better than the present moron. He was also savaged unfairly by the right wing. But let's try not to get overly sentimental. He was in many ways the DLC incarnate (being one of its progenitors), and he had nothing whatsoever to do with "global enlightenment," whatever that scary paternalistic phrase is supposed to mean. You will also have heard at least something about the stock market bubble that pleasantly occurred while Clinton (whom I twiced voted for) was in office; its expansion and bursting occurred independently of the Big Dog, as even he will admit.

Reading Michael Moore's essay on Clinton in "Stupid White Men"--for starters--will surely help you with the temptation to paper over Bill's many and profound deficiencies.

[aquart]

15. Michael Moore, the Nader man?

Yes, I will certainly take Mr. Moore's opinion of the worth of a man.

You praise Moore. I'll remain thrilled that we bombed the Serbs. I understand from a friend in DC that Bill wanted to do it years earlier, but couldn't get Europe to agree. So the Serbs rounded up men by the thousands and bussed them off to mass graves. Pity they got bombed for that. Damn shame. The UN people who had to stand by and watch those men separated from their families and carted off threw their berets in the dirt when they reached home.

But let's all weep for the Serbs.

[shrike]

26. About the pharmaceutical factory

I think that whole issue's a bit more complicated than we've been led to believe. According to Sid Blumenthal Bin Laden was a silent partner in the company that owned that factory and even housed one of its managers in an apartment he owned. I remember also some major media articles describing how the company hired some of the best P.R. firms in Washington to heap ridicule on the Clinton administration for bombing their factory. (They were probably hoping for some reparations in return for shutting up.)

[True_Blue]

39. al-Shifa was producing chemical weapons

5th paragraph:

As everyone well recalls, the administration took what might charitably be called a shellacking for the attack on al-Shifa, both in the press and from some members of the Congress. It was widely alleged - and believed - that the administration had erred in striking Khartoum, that there was insufficient evidence for the attack and that other motives may have been at work. What has not been widely discussed is the vindication of the strike that appeared last year during the embassy bombings trial in New York, at which the star witness, an al-Qaeda defector, repeatedly noted on the stand that Osama bin Laden's organization was working to produce chemical weapons in Khartoum. This testimony was completely overlooked by the press.
http://www.csis.org/hill/ts020416benjamin.htm

[shrike]

41. thanks for that post

I've been wondering about the full story of that attack. Looks we were hoodwinked (by the media and right-wing) again.

[The Zanti Regent]

32. TELL THAT TO MY NEPHEW!

Bush and Michael Moore sent my nephew to Iraq and all he got was a bullet that severed his spinal cord.

I blame Bush and his *uck buddy Nader for that.

[tlb]

16. Yes, it's called Democatic Underground. Not Clinton Sycophant's R Us.

Bill CLinton's most formidable accomplishment was to transform a two generation long democratic dominence into a minority position.

No principle was worth defending other then the principle of Bill Clinton. Now Hillary offers more of the same as the Clark stalking horse is untethered to disrupt the non DNC/DLC approved candidates such as Dean.

I still think Susan Estrich had it exactly right when she asked the question whether the Clintons wanted a Bush win in 04 to set Hillary up for 08.

The Clintons were and remain the worst disaster for this party since the Civil War. I reject any notion that to be a democrat, one must be a Clinton cultist. Nor do I see any forum rules that says one must be such before they can express an opinion here.

By the way, it was Tony Blair who dragged " the big dog " into Kosovo. To this day I have yet to understand how NATO had jurisdiction over the Yugoslavian Civil War.

[Skidmore]

18. Are you the one and only TLBSHOW from

Freeperville and Capitol Grilling, AKA disillusioned Bushista?

[tlb]

20. Been asked that before.

Nope. Sorry.

[shrike]

25. Huh?

Two-generation long democratic dominance? I must have been living abroad and not known it.

[alfredo]

27. He did enough to derail the impeachment.

It also put a very negative image of the GOP front and center. So bad that they had resort to cheating to win in 2000 and 2002.

[BensMom]

12. From the Omaha Paper

In Iowa, Clinton builds case against Bush

.........."Clinton, still the Democrats' most articulate spokesman, used an Iowa Democratic rally to build the case against his successor - George W. Bush. The Bush administration governs by ideology, Clinton said, and doesn't understand that the practical response when you're in a hole is to "stop digging." The audience alternately laughed, cheered and fell silent as Clinton spoke."..............



http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_np=0&u_pg=36&u_sid=855310&PHPSESSID=01f7e66d03840dfd2c99022502848698

[Toucano]

17. I was angry at Bill for awhile

for a lot of different reasons. But with the perspective of time, I've gotten over that. Forgiven, but not forgotten. Weren't we better served by a man who could make the wrong choice and regret it than by the man who refuses to even see the choices?

Don't forget what every Democratic candidate should know!

He wrote the playbook on defeating republicans and delivered us from 12 years of republican presidents. The current crop should study him and learn from him. Like him or not, he's an indisputable winner.

[Flubadubya]

19. Excellent post dralston...

Thank you for pointing out the proper perspective here. Clinton bashing for sport looks absolutely trivial when comapred with the enormous sins of the present administration and the lack of scrutiny they are being given by both the American media and the public at large. We have many "gnat strainers" here, but please don't let that deter you. You have wonderful insight, my friend... so:

A great big hearty WELCOME TO DU to YOU!! :bounce: :party: :hi: :party: :bounce:

[tsipple]

21. Who Stood on Stage with Big Dog?

I think most DUers believe -- I know I do -- that Al Gore's running away from Bill Clinton cost him the election. I do believe the eventual Democratic nominee must embrace Clinton in 2004, and to rely on him to help motivate voters and raise money, among other things.

So here's the list of Democratic candidates who would be seen on stage with Bill Clinton:

Braun
Dean
Graham
Kucinich

Here's the list of those who were not on stage but did speak or attend:

Edwards
Gephardt (did not speak)
Kerry

Here's the list of those who did not attend:

Lieberman (Sabbath)
Sharpton

If I have any errors in these lists, PLEASE let me know.

For the record, Gephardt is quoted by Reuters at the event calling Clinton "a heck of a president." He did not speak to the assembled crowd. AP writes: "'Bill Clinton was a great pesident for the economy,' said Gephardt, who said he would eagerly campaign with Clinton if he gets the nomination. 'Absolutely, he's going to help me beat George Bush.'

AP reports: "Howard Dean said he would welcome Clinton's help in campaigning should he win the nomination. Clinton is 'a larger-than-life figure,' Dean said. When you look at what's happened to the country economically since then, Clinton looks pretty good.'"

Re: Edwards, AP writes: "Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina said Clinton campaigned for him in 1998 when he entered the Senate. 'I stood with Clinton, and it worked,' Edwards said. 'He led the greatest period of economic expansion in history and we ought to be proud of him.'"

AP on Kerry: "He said he speaks often with Clinton. 'He's available to everybody,' Kerry said. 'I like the advice I get.'"

[Gin]

22. Butthead * has been great for Clintons legacy....funny how things happen..

I miss you big dawg!

[caledesi]

43. Edwards and Kerry spoke.

And they were really good, esp. John Edwards.

[vonZapfenau]

23. The 10 Worst Things Clinton Did

1. Kosovo
Clinton made things far worse, turning a disaster into a catastrophe. First by arming, funding and training the KLA, the most violent, corrupt and extreme faction in Kosovo - while turning his back on the pacifist movement of Ibrahim Rugova, which had far more popular support. Then there were the negotiations at Rambouillet, which as one State Department official put it at the time, “deliberately set the bar too high.” The Clintonistas hoped that a week or so of airstrikes would force Yugoslavia to comply with our demands for a NATO occupation force. Instead the week turned into 78 days of increasingly brutal bombing of Yugoslavia’s civilian infrastructure, along with far more refugees and casualties than before we got involved.

2. Welfare Reform
Clinton liked to brag about how successful welfare reform has been, as welfare rolls declined across the country. But the welfare rolls always rise and fall with the unemployment rate. Child poverty has not decreased along with the welfare rolls. Signing the welfare reform bill was a cowardly capitulation, and vetoing it would have reduced his 1996 margin of victory over Bob Dole by only a few points. We’ll all live to regret it.

3. Civil Liberties
Mr. Bill signed off on a whole series of “anti-crime” and “anti-terrorist” legislation which pretty much gutted what was left of the Fourth Amendment, along with the right to a writ of habeas corpus - long before John Ashcroft came along.

4. Telecom ’96
Even Bob Dole recognized the Telecommunications Act of 1996 for what it was - a massive load of corporate welfare. Over $70 billion worth of broadcast spectrum was handed over free of charge from the taxpayers of America to the broadcast industry. And by removing restrictions on how many radio outlets one company can own, Telecom ’96 set off a feeding frenzy of mergers and acquisitions in the media market that has yet to abate.

5. Monica
If Mr. Willie hadn’t been tempted to try splitting legal hairs in front of a federal grand jury, we could have been spared the whole thing. Sure, the waste wasn’t all Bill’s fault - that grand jury should never have been asking about his sex life in the first place, and that lawsuit should have been dismissed long before. But he disgraced his reputation forever by lying under oath, and by looking us in the eye, Nixon-like, and denying the obvious.

6. Aspirin Factory
The promised “proof” of the supposed connection to Osama bin Laden never arrived, which means that Clinton was essentially lobbing missiles at one of the poorest nations on the planet for no good reason. He killed more civilians with other operations (see below), but he never wielded force more indefensibly.

7. Iraq Sanctions
Since the end of the first Gulf War, our sanctions against Iraq (combined with the after-effects of our bombing campaign) killed more than 1.25 million Iraqi civilians, half of them children. Our sanctions of mass destruction only served to strengthen Saddam Hussein’s grip on power, while weakening and killing off anyone who would oppose him.

8. Timber Policy
His infamous Option Nine allowed clearcutting in threatened habitats, and his appointed Forest Service officials approved more timber sales than any administration in history (to date). The final straw came when Clinton signed the GOP-backed “salvage rider” in 1995, which doubled the previous year’s timber sale on federal lands, exempting it from compliance with environmental laws or the Endangered Species Act.

9. Soft Money
Okay, Bill Clinton didn’t invent the soft money loophole; he just raised it to an art form. By channeling unlimited contributions to the Democratic Party instead of to his 1996 campaign, Clinton opened the floodgates. As the saying goes, the real scandal in Washington is what’s legal.

10. Trade Policy
By cutting deals with the then-minority GOP to pass NAFTA, Clinton alienated labor, environmentalists and progressive voters in general, many of whom were alienated enough to sit out the 1994 elections - thus making the GOP a majority. Clinton went on to negotiate the even more odious WTO treaty, now being used to dismantle environmental regulations worldwide.

[demgrrrll]

24. We have the worst pResident in history squatting in the White House and

you want to beat up on Clinton? Time to shift your focus, sport.

[DemonFighterLives]

29. Really, that top ten list is terrible

It reads like a Freeper, Limblob list.
I got to see some of the Cspan thing with Bill and He was great. We have nothing like him in the current Dem crop and surely nothing near to him in the Misadsministration holding all the power.
Big dog rules! :bounce: :grouphug:

[vonZapfenau]

33. Hey, don't hold back

... tell me how you really feel.

maybe you haven't noticed, but Freepers don't give a good goddamn about Mexican peasants forced off their land, corporate welfare for broadcasters, dying Sudanese without medicines, our national forests, or especially the well-being of the Iraqi people.

Now if we're going to replace the worst pResident in our history, we have to be clear and articulate about what we're replacing him with. Silly me, I thought DU was a place where we could discuss that.

So it you have any substantive rebuttals to my critique of Clinton Administration policies, I'd be happy to hear them. Or, you could just call me nasty names.

I guess I don't get my "welcome to DU" post today.

But hey, here's the Big Dog's ten best. Peace out! :shrug:

1. Suspending the gag rule
2. Family Leave Act
3. 1993 economic package
4. Setting aside new National Monuments
5. Portability of health coverage
6. Americorps
7. Apologizing when he was wrong
(a rarity among politicians)
8. Diversity in appointments
9. Peace negotiations
10. Repeatedly humiliating Newt

[DemonFighterLives]

38. A little touchy aren't we

I know of no nasty names that I have used on this site or any other for that matter. I thought that the list read as a Clinton hater list - very typical. Bill of course never did everything right.
You may have noticed, I'm new here as well. But welcome to the site anyway.

[vonZapfenau]

40. welcome to you too

as far as I can tell, "Freeper" is about the nastiest thing you can call somebody around here.

[vonZapfenau]

31. No, just beating up on myopic Clinton groupies

IMHO, y'all are asking for it by beating up on anyone who dares to dissent. I voted for Clinton and I'll be out ringing doorbells for anyone the Democrats nominate next year. But my point, and I do have one, is that we have to do better than warmed-up GOP Lite policies if we're going to energize the base.

And maybe if Clinton's veep had done that, the Usurper would still be reaming the Texas electorate.

[demgrrrll]

34. Hey, sounds like a real constructive use of your time.

flail away, sport.

[vonZapfenau]

35. Actually it is..

...if we're interested in learning from our mistakes and building on our successes. I get the feeling that not everybody is....

[SammyWinstonJack]

37. Good, real productive

Bash Clinton. Yeah that's the ticket. :argh: Just visited a web site that gave 1000 reason to dump the Chimp in Charge, truly horrible things he has done since he stole the Presidency. I think we and the World would be better served by focusing on the removal of the lying cheating miserable failure, rather than bashing Clinton. I might also add that I would take all of Clinton's fault over the miserable failure we now have who is on a fast track to bankrupt this Country and destroy the better part of the World.

[usrbs]

42. Where is Rwanda on that list?

I think letting the massacre happen should count as number one. Not only for him - the whole world, us included, let this happen.

And what about the shameful execution of the brain damaged prisoner when he was a governer running for president?

Of course, any of the current crop of Republicans would have done everything Clinton did and more, with very little (or zero) on the positive side.

I saw him on CSpan, he was GOOD!

[KTM]

28. People still love Bill

Watched it on C-cpan... cant find any video yet... Bill had throngs of fans.



Cnn Inside Politics

[VolcanoJen]

30. Official "Clinton In Iowa" Thread!

:dem:

[swinney]

36. GREATEST OF TWENTIETH CENTURY.

Bil Clinton is so competent it is scary. How much does he know?

Why doe she know so much?

BECAUSE HE SPENT HIS ENTIRE LIFE STUDYING GOVERNANCE. ALL.

HE KNOWS ABOUT PAST ADMINISTRATIONS. HE KNOWS ABOUT PAST CONGRESSES.
HE KNOWS ABOUT ALL NATIONS.

HE KNOWS WHAT HAS SUCCEEDED. HE KNOWS WHAT HAS FAILED.

HE HAS A GREAT MIND BECAUSE HE WORKED TO DEVELOP IT.

REMOVE SEX AND BILL CLINTON HAS MORE CHARACTERISTICS OF JESUS CHRIST THAN ANY LEADER IN OUR HISTORY.
from unbiased clarence [e-mail]

[ElsewheresDaughter]

44. bush is DAMN LUCKY that there is the 22 Ammendment!

[kaitykaity]

45. That headline flat f*cking pisses me off.

"Fresh Appetite"? What kind of appetite?
These bastards in the media allude to
Clinton's sexuality any way they can, and
it makes me sick to my stomach.

So what if women want him? BFD. Give it
a rest already.