|
|
|
|
- G e n d e r G a p p e r s T M
CRAZY EIGHTS
 At
no time in history has any family, especially a First Family, been so demonized
and subjected to such abject hatred as the Clintons -- President
Bill, Senator Hillary and daughter, Chelsea. It started prior to Bill's
election and still continues, a year after his leaving office at the end
of eight years. [See The Hunting of the President: The
Ten-year Campaign to Destroy Bill and Hillary Clinton by Joe Conason
and Gene Lyons.]
The Republicans erroneously blame Clinton for the terrible events of 9/11, but concerning terrorism and bin Laden, it is a matter of record that the policies of President Clinton during his 8 years were continued by the Bush administration for the first 8 months in office. They only changed following 9/11. In fact, both Clinton and Bush sent Afghanistan $$millions -- Clinton in 1999 and Bush in 2001 only three months before 9/11. The outstanding reason for the hatred by the Republicans is because Bill Clinton kicked a lot of their asses during his presidency. Despite their most devious dirty tricks and outright lies, they could not unseat him before his term ran out. Now they seem bent on destroying his legacy as a president, his family, his friends and his supporters by claiming that he did nothing for 8 years. We remember those 8 years as a time when the economy sang. Clinton reduced the huge deficit left by Reagan/Bush1. The stock market climbed, inflation fell along with unemployment, and welfare rolls were reduced. Clinton appointed two excellent Supreme Court judges, posted reductions in drug abuse, teen pregnancy and crime. He championed and moved through Congress the motor voter bill and family leave. He protected Social Security, a woman's right to choose and Medicare. Abroad, Clinton worked diligently to make friends of old enemies, following up on President Carter's efforts to bring peace to the Israeli and Palestinian people. Despite the continued attacks on him from his own country, the rest of the world generally admired him. He fostered international trade and supported global civil and reproductive rights for women. It took only 8 months for the Bush administration, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft and Powell ("CRAP") to start unraveling the 8 Clinton years of peace, prosperity and environmental protection. Bush came into office via the Supreme Court although Al Gore got the majority of votes. Despite this, he proceeded as if he had a mandate from the voters. BushCRAP pushed a tax relief bill for his corporate sponsors through the Congress. It was called Economic Stimulus. The stock market tanked and the economy headed for the toilet, while unemployment rose. BushCRAP reinstated Reagan's Star Wars program, approved the drilling for oil in Alaska's Wildlife Refuge and viciously reversed many of Clinton's initiatives protecting our health, welfare and environment. In those 8 months, BushCRAP turned its back on the Middle East, gave the middle finger salute to Britain and Europe, bent over and touched its toes for the Chinese, then managed to sink a Japanese boat and blow a missionary's plane out of the air. Dubya promised during the presidential campaign to avoid tapping Social Security except in cases of war, recession or a national emergency. When all three happened, he crowed like a rooster. "Lucky me. I hit the trifecta,'' he proudly told budget director Daniels shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks. Then, following the September Surprise, after they had stopped running and hiding, BushCRAP united most of the country in a war of retribution. The effectiveness of this war depended on the very military force that Clinton had built up while in office; the very military components and strategy that Clinton^'s people had made so effective; the very military that the Republicans criticized so loudly and so often throughout his 8 years in office. Truly Clinton messed up his personal life but he was a firm "protector and defender of the Constitution." He did not violate his oath of office. Republicans still endeavor to exacerbate the situation by claiming that he hurt children by his personal actions "because a president is a role model." Shortly after moving into the White House, Dubya demonstrated what a poor role model really was. On several occasions, he publicly bragged about goofing off and getting low grades in school. He boasted about how those actions and his low scores got him elected president. Add to that his fractured syntax and unbelievable English (unless he is reading from a prepared script) and it's no wonder why kids laugh at him and say, "Why bother to study? He didn't." After only a year in office BushCRAP violated the oath to "defend and protect" by mounting attacks on the Constitution. Under the guise of war expediency, they muscled a bill through Congress mislabeled "The Patriot Act." They ordered presidential documents to be sealed from the people. They supported military tribunals and allowed officials to "listen in" on privileged lawyer-client conversations. They fostered a climate of hate and suspended free speech the right to dissent. The harm for today's and future generations of children may be immeasurable if the BushCRAP military junta/dictatorship is allowed to supercede the rights and protection of the Constitution. Republicans must come to realize that they cannot continue to blame all of their mistakes on Former President Clinton. There is plenty of tar and feathers to go around. 2002-001
|
