June 9, 2004
HE'S NO BILL CLINTON (via David Hill, The Bronx):
Kerry's embrace of Clintonism (Scot Lehigh, June 9, 2004, Boston Globe)
THE COMPLAINT has gone from muted murmur to louder lament: John Kerry has no real message.
If the charge were that Kerry has no hugely original message, that might well be true. But he does have a clear core idea: a return to the popular policies of the last Democratic president."He is clearly building on the Clinton foundation," says Al From, founder and chief executive officer of the moderate Democratic Leadership Council. A senior Kerry adviser accepts that description with this qualifier: "But it's a new and improved Clintonism."
Bill Clinton ran to the Right of George H. W. Bush on taxes, race, China, etc. and at least neutralized issues like crime, homosexuality, abortion, etc. John Kerry is to the Left of George W. Bush on every one of them and has neutralized none. Posted by Orrin Judd at June 9, 2004 2:34 PM
I must have slept thru the 1992 elections. I remember Perot trying to close a barn door, and Perot's daughter's wedding being disrupted ? but I don't remember anything about Clinton running to the right of H.W.
China ?(maybe, but I don't recall it being mentioned) homosexuality ?(never happened, unless you mean Clinton "celebrated" heterosexuality), Race? (you got to be kidding, African-Americans knew who to vote for).
Clinton said a lot of things - the media played what made him seem 'normal' or 'centrist'. Then he did whatever he felt like doing on that particular day. His guiding principle was whatever made the ^@$##&*@ bond traders happy.
Kerry cannot compare to Clinton, mainly because he does not know how to speak. Imagine the energy it takes to constantly nuance and vet everything you say. Clinton could do it - Kerry can't.
Posted by: jim hamlen at June 9, 2004 2:57 PMFor some people, it's instinctive, a talent.
Posted by: Michael Herdegen at June 9, 2004 3:00 PMI remember quite vividly Clinton criticizing GHWB on the Gulf War: "If they're such foreign policy geniuses, how come Saddam Hussein is still in power?"
(Twelve years later, in one of those perverse displays of irony that life sometimes throws at you, Clinton's disciples were saying, in effect, "We're foreign policy geniuses, and we're all for leaving Saddam Hussein in power." But that's a debate for another thread.)
Posted by: Mike Morley at June 9, 2004 3:04 PM"I don't remember anything about Clinton running to the right of H.W.
China ?(maybe, but I don't recall it being mentioned)
Clinton very publicly chastised Bush for,"coddling",I beleive,the Butchers of Beijing
"homosexuality ?(never happened, unless you mean Clinton "celebrated" heterosexuality)"
Don't ask,Don't tell.Like the NK deal,he made a symbolic compromise that let him duck the hard choices.
"Race? (you got to be kidding, African-Americans knew who to vote for)."
He publicly b*tch slapped racist rap singer Sista Soulja(?)in front of a very displeased J. Jackson,highlighting the racial double standard the Dems have long promoted.And,yeah,they voted for him anyway.
But any decade now!!!right ,oj? they'll know who their real friends are.
Anonymous
The Sista Souljah thing was like a wrestling match with Jessie Jackson dutifully pretending to be outraged.
The Chinese were I'm sure shaking in their boots about the riled up Clinton.
h:
Blacks knew that--it wasn't done for them. It was kabuki to convince whites that Clinton was a Southerner rather than a liberal.
Posted by: oj at June 9, 2004 3:48 PMDon't worry Kerry has already said he likes rap.
Rush was running mondale and Kerry ads back to back this afternoon. They are identical.
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at June 9, 2004 4:31 PM--Clinton very publicly chastised Bush for,"coddling",I beleive,the Butchers of Beijing
--
Then the 96 election came, and Loral came....
"Then the 96 election came, and Loral came...."
.......and campaign cash came and nuclear technology left.
Posted by: at June 9, 2004 8:55 PM