How much did chasing Clinton's penis take away from our fight on terroris

[heidiho]

There is a question I want to see asked today. How many hours, how many millions of dollars and how much presidential time and energy went into defending Clinton from right-wing attacks.

I believe it was significant. Will anyone ask it or has anyone asked it yet on this panel?

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

1. a bj is so much more important than fighting terrorism

don't you know that? </sarcasm>

[kentuck]

2. But it didn't stop there...

After they were successful in impeaching Clinton, they were also successful in getting all of Clinton's initiatives overturned, some by executive order, including his plan to fight bin Laden and the terrorists in Afghanistan, with drone planes and keeping subs and missiles close by to attack on notice. Bush withdrew all those assets.

[grannylib]

3. excellent question...

but of course, it IS all his fault; he HAD to be investigated; why, if this kept up, interns could be exploding semen all over Washington, now there's an imminent threat to our nation if ever I heard one....

[Mandate My Ass]

5. ROFL

"interns could be exploding semen all over Washington..." }(

Sounds like a sticky situation.

[grannylib]

9. I just get this image of a bunch of Monica clones, in blue dresses,

blowing up like balloons and popping goo all over....

[DenverDem]

4. This was a long term conspiracy by the wrong wing

calculated to demonize liberalism while facilitating the attack on America. This a pattern of treason that began with the raygun administration, progressed through newtism and culminated with the pnac neo-cons completing the destruction of a free America. The deregulation of the media by raygun made it possible for the non stop prevaricating propaganda that has hypnotized and demagogized the weak minded sheeple into believing the jingoistic hype.

[catzies]

6. Ding ding ding! We have a winner!

RIP, Fairness Doctrine. x(

[LEW]

7. I'm glad you brought this up

Because all the people who have testified have stated that going to war before 9-11 would probably not have happened. I keep thinking ok what was going on at that time and I keep coming back to the repubs fixation on the Clinton and the impeachment. I remember they kept saying Clinton was using terror as a way to remove attention away from him. This has been brought up also, in the testimonies.

[grannylib]

10. Yup, they accused him of the 'wag the dog' thing, and just look at them

now, using every distraction they can think of to try to make us look the other way while they run this country into the ground...

[burythehatchet]

8. Its a question that I asked myself when all the BS was going on

How the heck can a president do his job if he has to fight Gingrich, Scaife, DeLay, the friggin House Managers (remember that inept crowd?)

Yes I wonder if the elves, including Mr. Ann Coulter, and Lucianne, and horseface Linda Tripp, (and on and on) feel any responsibility. Sorry stupid question.

[SoCalDem]

11. The overall tenor of the time was POISONOUS..

and it was by design.. They wanted Clinton be be ineffective.. They stripped him of any authority, because, by setting the parameters, he could NOT suggest anything bold, or he would have been accused to trying to "change the subject".. This was not accident folks..

They would have spent 200 Million if they had needed to.. They wanted him compliant,apologetic, and weakened.. No one in the republican house or senate would have listened to ANYTHING he had to say..and if NY would have been attacked during Clinton's term, they would have said.."See we told you"..

Unless we gain control of at least one chamber in the fall, it will be the same for Kerry if he wins..

Republicans do NOT just accept the fact that they lost, and then plan for the next election.. They set out immediately to retaliate against the winner, to punish them for winning..

[9215]

12. I think that the CIA undermined

Clinton with bogus info to make him look foolish.

[SoCalDem]

14. Tenet was no friend of Clinton

One thing I fault Clinton for is THIS..

He was too eager to appear bi-partisan and had people in his administration who were not loyal to him and his admin..

I don't think that Reno was the best choice for atty gen
Tenet was surely not the best choice for CIA
Cohen was not the best choice for secy def

He thought he was being bi-partisan, but he set himself up for treachery

[keithyboy]

15. Neither Tenet nor Freeh liked Clinton.

The only problem with Clinton appointees as I can tell looking back, is that most were not as ruthless as the appointees of Republicans. Most Clinton appointees came into office with the misguided notions that they could make a positive difference and give good, honest public service a chance. How naive.

[9215]

19. I have lost some info I had on Poppy

Bush being in regular contact with the CIA all through the 90's. This is his prerogative as a former President but, according to what I read no other President, has exercised this prerogative.

What happened here could turn of some tid-bits.

[SoCalDem]

21. Found this one link so far

Now that Bush Junior occupies the White House, Bush Senior receives frequent CIA briefings (his prerogative as a former president). "In July 2001, Bush personally contacted Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah to ‘clarify’ his son's Middle East policies. Also during the summer of 2001, Bush forwarded his son a North Korea policy plan penned by ‘Asia expert’ and former ambassador to Korea, Donald Gregg. Gregg is a 31-year CIA veteran and the elder Bush's former national security adviser whose expertise involved participation in the Vietnam-era Phoenix Program (death squads), Air America heroin smuggling, ‘pacification’ efforts in El Salvador and Guatemala, the ‘October Surprise,’ and the Iran-Contra operation (for which Gregg received a Bush pardon in 1992)." (20)

(19) Steve Lohr, "Gerstner to Be Chairman of Carlyle Group," New York Times, November 22, 2002

[9215]

22. Thanks, this is something that could be explored

further. It does suggest that Gregg and Poppy were working together prior to Bushboys taking the throne. What the felonious Gregg was doing in the capacity of an "Asian Expert" also would be nice to know. I assume it wasn't in an official capacity based on his, uh, er... resume. This could be a lead to a much broader involvement of Poppy and the BFEE in "unofficial" intelligence work. IMO this is very important to understand how Clinton's intel may have been impacted by Poppy's involvement. I assume that the BFEE was not interested in seeing Clinton succeed in his foreign policy, IMO the BFEE would have done anything they could to give him a black eye, including compromising national security.

This is a potentially huge issue IMHO. Did Poppy undermine Clinton's intelligence on terrorism during the 90's with his own "informal" intelligence network? Clinton missed the targets in the Sudan and, if I remember correctly, accidently hit a hospital.

But what is potentially explosive is what kind of info Clinton was getting on Iraq? Throughout the 90's we have some real crazy intel on Iraqi WMD's, but it seems clear that this was all BS. Who kept this bogus info alive? Why?

[cmf]

13. I actually had a RWinger say to me

That if "Clinton hadn't been so obsessed with his penis, 9/11 would not have happened."

I let her have it. WTF? It's the repugs who were obessed with his penis. All of the impeachment stuff effectively tied his hands from doing anything!

[leftofthedial]

16. THIS, not Clarke's book

is the elephant in the room.

this is why more direct proactive action against al Qaeda was politically impossible prior to the coup of 2000.

[cally]

17. I don't believe that 9/11 or the Iraq war

would have happened without the impeachment. Everytime Clinton took military action, he was accused of trying to distract from the impeachment. I think he would have gone into Afghanistan but felt that he couldn't because of lack of support from the Republicans.

I think Clinton felt he couldn't fire Freeh and Reno but he should have. I blame them both for much of this.

[RobinA]

18. I Agree

and have thought this since 9/11 evening. I don't even blame W as much for 9/11 as I do the whole Monica/impeachment/Whitewater fiasco promulgated by the Repub establishment at the time.

[Ysabel]

20. Poison and Penis's - this thread...

reminds me of a headline here in wisconsin from years ago...

poison pens and penis's...

did you all know tommy thompson has a sword for a penis...?

headline frontpage - typo - wisconsin state journal:

THOMPSON'S PENIS A SWORD

(had to do with his line item veto power)...