Arianna blasts Clinton

[BrklynLiberal]

Bill Clinton, Suck-Up-in-Chief

What the hell was Bill Clinton thinking, standing there next to President Bush and providing verbal cover for the administration's ludicrous claims that the problems plaguing New Orleans were unforeseeable?

He even defended the administration's catastrophic response to Katrina. When asked on CNN whether the federal response was fast enough, Clinton bobbed, weaved, and fell back on this utterly absurd claim: "You and I are not in a position to make any judgment because we weren't there." C'mon, Bill, "...we weren't there"? I know this sucking up business is hard, but you've got to do better than that.

<snip>

But it's mighty hard to have a teachable moment when you have Bill Clinton, still the reigning symbol of the Democratic Party, failing to connect the dots between the Bush administration's chronic abandonment of the poor and its recent abandonment of the poor in the Big Easy -- as well as the dots between the war in Iraq and the undermining of our security here at home. And as if all this wasn't enough, there he was defending the indefensible. "I'm telling you," he said in a White House sit-down with CNN (along with Bush, Sr.), "nobody thought this was going to happen like this...they had problems they never could have foreseen." Which is absolutely, incontrovertibly, and provably untrue (many, many times over). And he is too smart not to know it.

Instead of acting like a Bush lapdog and gratefully accepting his role as Co-Disaster-Fund-Raiser-in-Chief, imagine the impact Clinton would have had if he had stepped up and made the connection between the increase in poverty and the stagnation in incomes for the fifth straight year and the post-storm suffering among the poor in New Orleans. Or imagine if he had spoken out about how the GOP's beloved new bankruptcy bill is going to further the misery of those ruined by Hurricane Katrina.

Chances to radically shift the national debate, alter the nation's perspective, and rearrange our priorities don't come along very often. President Bush squandered the teachable moment provided by 9/11, calling us not to national service but to shopping. Bill Clinton is now making it harder to use the current disaster as a wake-up call about the pent-up anger bubbling just beneath the surface of our country, about the Other America largely hidden from view, and about the urgent need to redefine national security.

<snip>

And now providing cover for George W. Bush and undermining this teachable moment. Again I ask: What the hell is he thinking?

more...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/bill-clinton-suckupin_b_6716.html

[madaboutharry]

1. She always cuts to the chase

Yeah, what the hell is wrong with him. I always believed he would never forget where he came from. Now he is just another rich white guy.

[inthebrain]

2. I love this woman!!!!!!

I hope Californians are lucky to one day have this woman as governor.

She is a beautiful human being!!!!

It's an honor to have her as an ally!!!

[phiddle]

3. Either the BFEE has Clinton by the short hairs,

or Poppy promised him that his wife can be the next president.

[yurbud]

21. probably the Hillary one--why else stroke someone who gave him

such a beat down his whole presidency (and AFTER)?

[TomPainesBones]

4. They've got something on him

I'm convinced now.

I hope he reads this though.
I'm sure it will get to him.

[OKDem08]

5. it's not just 'bubbling just beneath the surface of our country'

it is on the surface...a large tsunami-like catastrophe for all to see!

[xray s]

6. Here is what I don't get about Clinton

BushCo, their ratfucker Rove and his rightwing media machine humiliated Clinton by dragging explicit details about his sex in front of his wife, his daughter and the whole damn world. They tried to get him impeached over it (Don't you think for a MINUTE they didn't have a hand in it!)

If I were Clinton and in the same room as Bush and Poppy you couldn't stop me with a bulldozer from kicking their ass.

But Clinton goes fishing with Poppy and carries water for W.

Go figure.

[kodi]

7. Clinton wants his wife to be president.

And sticking it to Bush now would result in bitter attacks on her by busheviks.

I smell a deal is being made between the Bush family and the Clintons.

If Clinton doesn't knock the fool in the White House now the Bushs will give only luke-warm support to any GOP presidential candidate in 2008 who runs against Senator Clinton.

Clinton is selling us out so his wife can be president.

[phiddle]

8. You know that the country has gone mad when

Newt Gingrich will criticize a Republican President's fuckup and Bill Clinton won't. See
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1748044

[beetbox]

Why did people ever believe in Clinton?

Cult of personality. He has always been supremely charming ass clown for the Corporate War Machine. Just a very convincing errand boy.

When will the people in this country see what the fuck is and has been going on?

[Lindacooks]

25. Because of eight years of ECONOMIC PROSPERITY,

what's the matter with you? If you can't see the difference between the 90s and now, you're either filthy rich or spewing reich wing talking points.

[Andromeda]

33. Let me guess:

You are not now nor have ever been a member of the Democratic party.

How old were you when Bill Clinton was president? Two? You don't know what the hell you are talking about.

Corporate War Machine? I'm afraid you have mistaken Clinton for General Norman Schwartzkopf. Clinton was never a warmonger or anybody's errand boy.

For eight years the Republicans POUNDED Bill Clinton, trying to bring him down and they almost succeeded. He fought them and won. He used his intelligence and his political skills to beat them.

Never said he was perfect but he's the best Democratic president since JFK and he was elected TWO terms. We should be so lucky to have another Bill Clinton for president.

[happyslug]

9. Reminds me when the Democrats replaced Cleveland with Bryan

Cleveland like Clinton was a member of the "Moderate" wing of the Democratic Party of his period (Cleveland was President 1884-1888 and again 1892-1896) but than the Democratic Party turned to the left in response to the Greed of the GOP.

Now when I was in Grade School my History book mentioned that over the next four Presidential Elections the Democratic Candidate received less vote each time (I.e. the Democratic Candidate received less votes in 1908 than the Democratic Candidate did in 1904 who received less votes than the Candidate in 1900 who received less votes in 1900 than he did in 1896). While true, the GOP winners in those same elections ALSO RECEIVED LESS VOTES and the percentage to the Democrats increased each election (The Decline in the Number of Votes is tied in with the spread of Segregation, which while started right after the Civil War expanded rapidly only in the 1890s AND the spread of Civil Service which meant less people had to vote just to keep their jobs).

In many ways Clinton is like Cleveland, a "me-to" Democrat i.e. backs many of the same programs as the GOP, but is a Democrat. The Democratic Party had been such a "Me-To" party from the impeachment of Andrew Johnson in 1867 till 1896. In 1896 the Democratic Party decided to go with a candidate that advocated an economic policy that would help the lower and working classes even if it meant the Upper Classes lost some of its wealth. While William Jennings Bryan is today best remembered for his participation in the Scopes Monkey Trial (Where he joked it was the first time he was with the Majority in his entire political life) other than evolution he was a firm believer in almost all of the liberal causes of his day (Including Women's right to vote, Women's rights, Direct election of Senators, Progressive Income tax etc). For this Bryan was the most attacked American in History. In many ways the reports on him in Scopes was just a continuation of the over 30 years of attack by the GOP press on him.

Back to Clinton, Clinton is like Cleveland a "Moderate" that did NOT want to rock the boat. He wanted some moderate change (i.e. What we call Civil Service today was expanded under Cleveland having been introduced on a very small scale in the previous administration which hoped that small experiment would be enough, but Cleveland expanded Civil Service thus cutting back the GOP hold on the Government).

Bryan and his followers (Which included Clarence Darrow who ran as a Democratic Congressional Candidate in 1900 when Bryan ran for President) rejected the me-toism of Cleveland and pushed for what the GOP considered "Radical" Reforms. Against this tide of Radical reforms the GOP called out all of its resources, including the papers, employers and conservative nut-cases. Bryan like anyone had his weaknesses (His rejection of Darwinism do more to the use by Social Darwinism of Darwinism to justify Social Darwinism than any real rejection of Darwinism a distinction the GOP made an effort to ignore)
his support for prohibition, and his tolerance of Segregation in the South (Through Bryan himself supported rights for Blacks, he needed the south to win election so like most politicians when it comes to a difficult political choice, he fudged the issue).

Bryan was feared by the GOP for his Strength, he was the best speaker of his time, a time before Radio let alone Television (During the Scopes trial he commended the Defenses on many of their Speeches in defense of Darwinism and the right to teach science, but not Darrow, Bryan seems he felt he held his own against Darrow, remember Bryan was the person being questioned and as such at a huge disadvantage compared to the Questioner, Darrow, furthermore while the Play "Inherit the Wind" did lift whole sections from the cross of Bryan, it also left out whole sections, so to get a good idea of what happen go to the actual transcript of the Trial NOT the script of "Inherit the Wind". As to speeches even during the Scopes Trial he was making 2-3 Speeches a WEEK in addition to the Scopes Trial, a pace no one else really ever tried, and you wondered why he died five days after the trial).

In many ways Bryan took the me-to Democratic Party of his time period and re-made it into the progressive party of Wilson and FDR. When Bryan died in 1924 the Democratic Party was set to become the majority party based on its advocacy of reform and that Government exists to help people. Clinton is clearly today's Cleveland who is our Bryan? We need a Bryan. Right now it looks like Dean will be the 21st century Bryan (and the reason the GOP is attacking Dean more than Kerry or Clinton). I have problems with Dean (as I have problems with Bryan) but taken as a WHOLE Dean can be the person that gets the Democratic Party to be the reform party of the 20th Century.

[Spinzonner]

10. Bill Clinton is an Attention Addict

abd maybe even an Attention Whore at times.

Having been President, I don't think he can live with the idea of fading away into even a semi-obscurity. He's no Truman, Eisenhower, or even Jimmy Carter in that regard.

And, as someone else suggested, I think he's trying to position the Clinton name as acceptable to liberal or moderate Republicans (such as there might be) through some identification with the Bush family - at least the non-convicted, non-neocon branch.

If Hillary gets elected Prez, he get's to be unofficial Ass't President - or so he probably expects.

[OneBlueSky]

11. precisely my sentiments . . . every day, the feeling gets stronger . . .

and stronger that Clinton is maneuvering for a stake in the Carlyle Group . . . something to make him part of the REAL power elite, and set him up for life in the process . . .

[Boo Boo]

12. Clinton stating that "nobody thought it would happen like this"

is a flat-out falsehood. Whether or not he's lying is an open question, I guess, but things are unfolding exactly as I would expect in the absence of an effective response by the Feds. I really resent the role Clinton has played in propping up George Bush. People have a right/need for good information (the truth), and bullshitting them is inexcusable.

[pippin]

13. When will democrats realize

the Clintons sold the party down river with their so called "moderate" agenda? Both of them in my view are fundamentally republican wanna be's. Just as Tony Blair is regarded as *'s poodle, Clinton can now be certified as our own presidential canine of choice.

[chaumont58]

14. I got to agree with most of the replies to this thread

I was a hardcore Clinton supporter. He didn't do anything that bothered me when he was President, and the results regarding moving people above the poverty line were what I want a Democratic President to do. But, his support for the Iraq War ends any residual feelings I have for him. The Iraq War is an abomination. It can not be justified under any circumstances. 1800 American soldiers are dead, unnecessarily. Thousands of Iraqis are dead, unnecessarily. Anyone, regardless of what they have done in the past, is forever beyond the pale if they supported that incursion into madness. Mrs Clinton, or any DLCer won't get my vote, nor any money to support her candidacy. Cutting off my nose to spite my face? Could be, but certain things are non-negotiable.
On edit added: I wouldn't be surprised if one day, soon, he pulls a Zell Miller or Richard Shelby. "My party left me!"

[shrike]

17. What you said

I separate the Clinton president from Clinton 2005. I will always be grateful for the Clinton presidency. It allowed me to get ahead after years of struggling under Reagan and Bush I. I will never forget it. But everyday, in every way, Clinton 2005 seems to be going out of his way to sell us down the river.

[burythehatchet]

15. HRC will NEVER get the Dem nomination

and I was one of her biggest supporters

[DrZeeLit]

16. I sooooo AGREE with you! More and more she is breaking my heart...

and I cannot see myself voting for her or even supporting her.

This middle-of-the-road b.s. has GOT TO STOP!

I'm waiting for a candidate with the BALLS TO TELL THE TRUTH and KEEP ON TELLING IT.
Someone who doesn't give a flying f**k if the machine smears and even if it does, STILL TELLS THE TRUTH.

Pleeeeezzzzeeee! Who is gonna step up to the plate?

Not Hilary. Sad to say. Sad, sad, sad.

We need a VOICE, to begin with, maybe Mario Cuoma can speak (not run).
Then, the vaccum needs to be filled with a presence and REAL person.

But not Hilary. The Clintons are soooo last century.

Damn. Down the drain.

[yurbud]

23. Hillary seems to be playing "bad cop" on this, attacking oil price gouging

I would rather see both going after this.

They may (at most) be waiting until after the disaster subsides, but as Arianna said, the "teachable moment" for the public will be past by then.

[MidnightWind]

38. That may be exactly what BC wants. . .

I wouldn't be surprised at all. Whatever. . . my admiration of him has gone down drastically in the last several days. How dare he assist the enemy in covering for Shrub's sorry ass!

[IChing]

18. I agree he a Benidict Arnold to his party and supporters

Benedict Arnold was a hero at one time in the revolutionary war but went over to the british after having court problems and health problems.
I used to admire him but no longer

Clinton that is.

[Stuckinthebush]

19. What would Jimmy do?

That is my standard for an ex-president. A no bullshit, straight talking human. Carter is my man.

Bill hasn't done that.

[Demeter]

20. I Don't Know What Either Clinton Is Thinking

Maybe Bill and Hillary have been replaced by Pod People. No other explanation works.

They ought to be leading the revolution, uprooting the GOP which trashed this beautiful country they worked so hard to build for 8 thankless years.

You can't kill the GOP-fostered ignorance of the sheep with kindness--it takes sunshine, fresh air, soap and water, and large doses of the TRUTH.

[yurbud]

24. possible explanation: economic hitman scenario

join our team or we make your life difficult--or end it.

[yurbud]

22. only possible positive explanation: get power FIRST, teach & fix AFTER

I do not in any way agree with this as a strategy.

I think it would be far more effective to "connect the dots" publicly as Arianna implies because that will scorch the earth for reselling conservative snake oil a hell of a lot longer.

By being polite, even if Dems win, the GOP will be able to come after them again that much sooner, because the public hasn't been shown how destructive the GOP program of returning to a Third World plantation economy is.

[Lindacooks]

26. I WILL NOT BASH BILL CLINTON.

Remember, the FEMA after 9/11 was Clinton's.

The FEMA after Katrina was all Bush's. There is NO WAY ANYBODY should be criticizing ANYBODY but Bush and his evil empire.

[leetrisck]

27. I agree - this is republican talk-fall right into it every time

He's probably the greatest President our Country has ever known - we just don't seem to know it yet. Can't believe how gullible we can be. republicans stick together no matter what - Democrats don't. How on earth can people turn on Clinton over something like this. Beyond me but then who knows what makes people tick. We had Clinton and we allowed the republicans to kill him - now look what we have.

[Usrename]

28. Besides, he's going to the UN

We got some splanin to do!

[Larkspur]

29. This is why I want Al Gore for Prez in '08. Bill will have Hillary

fornicating with the Neocons alongside him.

[paulk]

30. Why, in the face of the Bush admin. catastrophic failure's regarding

the Katrina debacle, is Arriana wasting her time trashing Bill Clinton?

Aren't there more worthwhile targets right now???


Really! I guess for former Repubs like Huffington, old habits die hard...

[pacifictiger]

31. He's sold his soul for sure.

He admitted when he left office that it would be really hard to give up "the work" of being president. I think he misses and craves the public action, love, and attention so much he has indeed sold his soul. In essence, he's still getting a blow job, only its above the waist this time.
Just goes to show that addictions of one kind or another, unless the root cause is addressed, will show up in some other form.

[Andromeda]

32. Arianna is full of shit on this one.

she IS a former Republican and has NEVER been a Democrat. She calls herself an Independent and is an opportunist if anybody bothered to examine her motives.

I like a lot of what Huffinton writes, however, I don't give her a pass on this article.

Bill Clinton is the best president we've ever had and I'm sick of people, especially here at DU, bashing him.

Save your pent-up anger for the current administration instead of attacking good Dems.

[struggle4progress]

37. Bingo. eom

[teryang]

34. Clinton has been a Bush enabler since the coke days in Mena

They are quite close and anyone who buys their recent new relationship nonsense portrayed in the press is being fooled.

[bring_em_home_bush]

35. I am sick to death of the Clintons--they are utterly useless & irrelevant

We need something new and different, dammit, or we are all doomed.

[struggle4progress]

36. Big Bill is much much better at politics than Arianna

Bill, through his actions, is saying clearly: In times of crisis, we value helping far above game playing.

If you listen carefully, you will also hear him saying: After the crisis is over, we really need to see what went wrong here.

He has his priorities straight -- and, in addition, he understands political dynamics ...

[acmavm]

39. Bill's only priority lately has been to provide cover for Poppy's

worthless, incompetent, vicious, meanspirited, greedy, bloodyfingered little boy.