Former FBI Director Louis Freeh explains in detail what the potential cost of another Clinton administration might be. Remember, Clinton's two terms were called a co-presidency, as if that were in some way estimable. Miz Clinton 'shared' in the decision making process from deciding to burn the children at Waco to sending Elian back to the hell in Cuba that his mother died trying to escape to the signing of Marc Rich's pardon.
The feckless nature in which the co-presidents pursued the investigation and prosecution of those responsible for the Khobar Tower's bombing was not unusual for the Clintons at all. The world class appeasement team constituted as their foreign policy advisory group is unmatched in its ability to substitute shallow talk for concrete results.
Mr. Freeh's j'accuse is entirely believable and deserves wide dissemination. Miz Clinton's current position as a "sensible moderate" is belied by the people with whom she chooses to surround herself—both then and now. "Moderate" can only refer to her capability in the art of dissembling, for in that she is indeed "moderate" when compared to her co-president.
There is a reason why Clinton no longer refers to her husband's two terms as a co-presidency. There are actually many, many reasons. They are the very same reasons why she will never again be more than a visitor to the White House.
50 comments:
Clinton was the first President elected from the Baby Boomer generation. To get there, he defeated two WWII war heroes, Bush pere and Bob Dole. His election represented for many the symbolic passing of the mantle to the post-Sixties world. Finally the end of the Bad Old McCarthyite Fifties. From here on out it was going to be about all the new things, sex, drugs, rock & roll, as opposed to the bad things, war, poverty, class and gender hatred.
Elections are seldom won on rationality or what's good for the nation. They're usually won on a host of inexpressible feelings. The War on Terror, the War on Drugs, these conjure up negative feelings we are yearning to escape. The only problem for the Village Commissar is that her program conjures up so many even more negative feelings ("I'll tax you more", "Children suing parents"), and she herself is such an obviously humorless stalinist that the greasepaint will have to be applied especially thickly.
it is symptomatic of what happens when our elites apparently don't see our military men and women, and the cultures they come from, as having any value.
It's of course a point you have been making consitently and well, Skook: our elites no longer value real physical work or anything having to do with real physical work and particularly don't value the people who perform this real physical work. The "red-state" people doing the real physical work make them feel guilty and angry at the same time.
There's a sense in which the elites welcome having all the real physical work being done by Hispanics. Having it done by Americans is rather disturbing to their weltanschauung—why aren't they out taking hikes and riding their bikes? If Hispanics are doing all the real physical work then it allows them to be Designated Victims in a double sense, and the elites in their racist views no longer have to feel guilty for not doing—or being able to do—any real physical work themselves.
Once again, Rick, from your mouth to God's ears.
I read Freeh's piece in the WSJ, and my eyes nearly popped out. Wow, he really put it out there. It is, of course, believable given the Clintonian penchant to care only about how things "looked" rather than some trivial concept such as justice.
The participation of Sandy "socks-n-pants" Berger was also interesting and quite telling. I remember when Clinton appointed Berger and I saw one of his first interviews on TV. I thought, where did they get this guy from-he is a real nincompoop. Sometimes first impressions are on target.
Never forget the little news item, some reporter asked Bill Clinton to comment on Berger's bust in the Nat'l Archives. Clinton laughed, and said something like "If ya know Sandy, he can't keep up with anything, his office is a joke, papers scattered around everywhere...."
And on like that. His National Security Advisor is not a traitorous thief, you see, merely a funny incompetent moron.
Yeah, right. How 'bout this--he's *both*, and also a loyal Clintonista to boot?
It is, of course, believable given the Clintonian penchant to care only about how things "looked"...
These days I think of Clinton as the great seducer, the man who could always tell folks what they wanted to hear and feel their pain. No doubt he picked up a lot of nooky in college with that approach and it even worked with the electorate. But it didn't work so well with the fanatics who were in committed relationships with their fanaticism. Made him look like a weak sucker easily led around by his desires.
Some day I hope his library becomes a monument to incompetence, a place where folks go to hear lectures on the failure of feel good foreign policy and the consequences of boomer narcissism. Of course the stained blue dress will be one of the featured attractions.
"Incompetence" is of course what white-collar criminals always want you to believe they are guilty of.
Let's not forget "Oops" Deutsch at the CIA, "Red Tony" Lake and "Not" Albright at State, with Hazel "Pick two from column A and as manys as you like from column B" O'Leary guarding the nuclear secrets at the DoE.
I don't believe for a moment that they were morons or incompetent - they simply did not have the interests of the United States as we know them as thier priority.
MHA - There's not enough greasepaint in the world to cover up the fact that Miz Clinton is a "progrssive" Poland China. Add the fact that she's not nearly as good a liar as her husband and it won't take much to beat her.
MHA:
I don't know if the elites welcome the hipanics coming in or not. Hastert doesn't welcome them and he does not exactly strike me as a man with callouses on his hands.
People do not respect phystical work because there is no money in it and it is declasse, it is beneath them.
Why would a high school kid spend his day sweating on some farm working in the fields or milking cows in a stinking barn when he can get a job at Burger King and stay clean?
My ex was prelaw, his degree was in
Constitutional history, you would be amazed how many people who saw him in coveralls and gum boots treated him completely different than they did when he was dressed nice and going to some Alumni function.
In fact I know unemployed people right now who could go to Washington In and get a job in a meat packing plant, but it is beneath their dignity. They would rather be unemployed. Twenty years ago that would not have been the case. Things have been too good for too long. So don't blame it on the elites, people just aren't that damn hungry, even the poor.
Ever watch that show on Dirty Jobs?
Notice who does the work.
Believing in things makes her a very different animal than her husband.
Skook is right as usual. She's a total ideologue, he's utterly non-ideological (I could use other, less convoluted adjectives).
Her ideology is much more in sync with the rhythm of the current mythology than you might realize. Everyone takes seat-belt laws for granted these days. My wife can't go to the doctor anymore without having to answer an extensive list of questions designed to elicit information about whether she's being beaten, followed by an extensive list of questions about her sex life. I assume these are all government-mandated. And no one complains. Why not the next step or two on the primrose path?
hipanics=hispanics. Preview is for weenies.
MHA:
Just the other day I heard some guy comlaining about seat belts. I guess you have to live in a part of the country where people still burn their trash.
The other day I was listening to some guy from California complaining about the neighbor not being in compliance with neighborhood codes, maybe his mail box was the wrong color or something and I thought to myself, why would anyone live somewhere like that? Why let people tell you what color your front door can be or where you can park your car?
Terrye,
You are right, people don't respect anything that doesn't earn a lot of money. That includes not only physical workers but also college professors, I can assure you. ;-)
Nonetheless, there is real class warfare going on. The elites in the Northeast and Ecotopia really hate the folks who do do the physical labor. The folks who make those dividend checks continue to roll in. They laud multi-colored people doing their native (and economically inefficient) labors while fearing and hating red-state Americans who do same.
why would anyone live somewhere like that? Why let people tell you what color your front door can be or where you can park your car?
What are the choices? Where I live, more and more is getting regulated all the time. How many bushes, how much you water your lawn, you can't own your own pets, almost everything is slowly but surely becoming the purview of the all-seeing eye of the state.
Sure, I could go get myself a shack in Montana and starting writing crazy tracts; I'm just not sure how to feed myself doing it.
MHA:
Where I live that is elitism. Really. This is the sticks. Gale has a fleet of cars and an old trailor on his place his family uses for camping. You should see the place, gas grills and bunk beds and American flags..it works both ways. We look at the folks in the subdivisions and see people in expensive tract houses with more square footage in their garages than we have in our houses and think, well la te da.
And those east coast people have never like the rest of us, that is why so many people went west. Robber barons, that is what they are.
But that hispanic who works at the inefficient job for peanuts might be getting more satisfaction out of a day's work than some of them.
I know they would look down on me, but you know what? When they are sick and hurting and need help, it is people like me they depend on.
MHA,
Hate may be too strong - they devalue practical competence because they have none. They couldn't wire a 3-way switch with the instructions in their hand and someone standing there explaining it to them. The only thing they know how to make is noise - and they know it.
Rick,
My wife had an epiphany the other day when she went to WalMart—almost everybody there is poor, works in a physical job, is Hispanic or black, votes Republican. The epiphany was that the WalMart hatred is probably based on a deeper-seated hatred of red-state non-white, country Americans. Sorry, I think the hatred is real, if not explicit.
Skook,
If you don't know how to do it, it's much safer to hire someone who does (that only works for electrical - hardly anyone is afraid of watercution for some reason).
My standard rate is $45 per hour for minor electrical work - two hour minimum (plus plane fare and hotel).
Black to common on the switch - two travelers out to fixture, neutral (white) bypasses the switch, ground to switch and fixture.
I had to think for a second.
MHA:
I think your wife might have been onto something.
But is hate the word, or fear?
skook:
The other day I went ot Walmart and I bought shampoo, toothpaste, diet coke, a loaf of bread, a pound of coffee and a computer.
I am trying to lose weight and so I avoided the arches.
Terrye,
I haven't noticed that this damned computer has helped my weight control very much at all. It's around 104 out so I'm not itching to get into an exercise regimen, either.
It's a dry heat though - sorta like a blast furnace.
Rick:
I love it when people say it is a dry heat. A microwave is a dry heat.
Yes, here I sit on my fanny. I quit smoking a couple of years ago, that did not help.
skook:
That sounds like a great idea.
Ever notice how many country singers are from Oklahoma. I think it is because there is nothing to do there but ride horses and sing in church.
And I hope you choke on that lazagna. I just had a fruit salad.
Skook,
Music reviews would be great. But after reading about your concerns about home repair, I guess it won't be a review of Mike and the Mechanics ;>)
Skook,
The music reviews sounds good. I used to attend NG summer training down at Ft. Irwin (before they made it the Desert Warfare Training site). Guys who hadn't been there before thought it was weird to see people putting on gloves at about 10AM in July. Until they touched metal.
OK, so the black wire . . .
Is hot, white is neutral. Socket should go to ground when the switch is off. White to socket should be recoded black with a bit of tape, IIRC... it's been a while. I'm sure you know all that anyway ;)
Chuck,
You're right - if white is used for one of the travelers it's supposed to be taped black both at the fixture and at the second switch per code.
Terrye,
If it eases the pain, I'm having two gardenburgers for supper. Yum, yum! Only 130 calories!
But I did take a 9 mile bike ride today. That helps.
You can always read the instruction sheet that came with the switch--if you remember to grab your reading glasses as you run from the burning house.
Skook,
Here are diagrams to look through. The second one is what Chuck and I are describing. Toss in a fan with it's own switch on the same circuit for fun.
And rmember - polarity counts!
From Clintonian malfeasance to ginger snaps and gardenburgers in a mere 44 comments.
Well, Clinton is a man of many appetites.
Gang:
Has anyone seen Cinderella Man? I caught it late last night on HBO.
Pretty impressive.
Braddock's mission in life:
Survival.
Mode of operation:
Hard work and dedication to his family.
Concern for appearances:
Zero.
Result:
Goal met.
Pretty important lesson in today's society.
Then as now, the "elites" thought guys like him were "suckahs".
Some lessons are timeless.
Skook and MHA have hit on one of the main problems with the boomer generation. It has been ever convinced that "perception" is more important than reality.
If you appear to be doing the right thing, you can, avoiding Lincoln's exact words, "fool most of the people most of the time".
As we cynically used to say, "good enough for government work".
Word Verification "godgumo"
Sounds like a new dadgummit type word.
Any distortion can last where there's no competition for resources.
"Cinderella Man" was great. Hollywood is crazy-making. It assaults with toxic drivel, yet celebrates some of our true heroes, too.
Skook:
I agree. Readiness to ascribe base motives to opponents is also important to them if it can accomplish any short-term goal, whether strategically important or not.
In short it is not a particularly great way to live a life. It makes peace of mind difficult, and requires constant edginess.
Being ready to take offense 24/7 breeds a certain emotional turmoil, doesn't it?
The Freeh article is also revealing in the cynicism it describes. But to what strategic end? How did Iran fit in as a potential ally? Was it helping in Kosovo? Was it helping establish a more workable relationship with Russia?
Just what was Iran doing for us at the same time it was enabling people who would murder our troops? It really puzzles me what on earth they were thinking. I wonder if there is anyone out there that can shed rational light on the subject.
But to what strategic end?
Perhaps a state visit and a handshake in the Rose Garden? Great photo op and a toast to the summer of love. And we could have followed it up by flooding Iran with copies of the Yellow Submarine.
Nice thread guy's and gal's.
My only contribution would be to say too Rick;
I once did a four-way, it taxed me. But it worked!! Come to think of it, it was a hell of a lot easier than remembering the rules for to and too! Call me stupid.
Terrye's Wild west thread got me thinking about Langtry County in west Texas, population near zero.
Back in the Wild West days, the so-called Hangin' Judge, Roy Bean, had been assigned to the town of Langtry (which was the old Camp Vinegar in the Territory).
Back east British stage actress Lily Langtry was famous as "The Jersey Girl", and was somehow the great unrequited love of Judge Roy Bean, tho the two had never met as far as anyone can tell.
Roy Bean can't be now thought of except as Paul Newman, who played him in some long-forgot obscure 70s or 80s movie the name of which I forget.
Langtry had zero to do with Lily prior to the arrival of Bean.
It was Camp Vinegar, being called Langtry because an itinerant railroad repairman named George Langtry had some years before worked out of there.
Bean's use of her name and his love for her promoted the new saloon he opened in Langtry, "The Jersey Girl Saloon".
When Lily herself finally did make it to the states (the "Jersey" was her English Channel Isle birthplace), it wasn't to Langtry, Texas, but to the Napa Valley where she made wine for some years.
If you go to Langtry today, Paul Newman is thought to have been a judge there before he went Hollywood, and is a sort of Cargo Cult icon for having put the town on the tourist map, which has gained the town upwards of dozens of new visitors in the decades since the movie was released, visitors who've bought probably hundreds of dollars worth of movie bric-a-brac and posters of Lily Langtry, "The Jersey Girl", courtesan to Victorian noblemen who to a man lived far from Langtry, Texas.
They're grifters first and foremost - figure out how they were paid and the answer will become clear.
OFF grew under their gaze and the payoffs looped through Russia, France and Germany, all of whom carried the scent of rose to the Clinton's noses.
I've got it!
America's elites are imperialists colonizing red state America.
I'm not being facetious. I'm serious!
Their behavior and attitudes are exactly what they criticize about the colonial powers!
Syl, re your thought--what goes around comes around. DC and the northeast seaboard needs to take care it doesn't start looking alien to the rest of the nation.
Buddy
The more things change. Heh. In an inside-out kinda way.
That article made me feel REALLY old. He speaks of his great-great-grandfather living in South Dakota.
My grandfather was 26 and living in North Dakota.
I've conversed with people born in three different centuries. (If you can call talking to a five-year-old conversing.)
It IS weird--it's entirely possible to be alive today, and have a parent who was alive at the time of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, before anyone had even dreamed of cars and airplanes, and Sitting Bull still had dreams of the Sioux & Cheyenne running the Great Plains from Mexico to Canada.
A note on sickness as it applies to certain things brought to mind by this thread...
I just finished watching the latest installment in the great HBO series, Deadwood. It appears that the outcome will mirror history, but who knows. During the first season my wife invariably retired during the opening credits. The astonishing amount of profanity was enough to cause her to do so and my assurances that it was great storytelling did nothing to change her mind.
She was suffering from a certain type of sickness when prior to the beginning of the second season the network showed all the first season during the course of a week.
This illness caused her to lack the requisite energy to leave her place of repose when I began my three hour descent into the pleasures of great writing and by the third night she got it. Ever since we've had an hour of enjoyment together wholly related to a program on television.
Sometime a month ago I became sick in a way in which I'd not been in at least fifteen years and the duration of the illness was eleven or so days. I dropped eleven pounds during this time (everything I ingested tasted terrible for five days) and reached a weight I hadn't seen since my early thirties. So far I'm keeping it off.
I'm finishing up W. Somerset Maugham's 1927 novel Ashenden, or The British Agent tonight. I had it with me during over-long stays on an airplane both to and from PA and while spending many hours one evening in an emergency room while my wife waited, at the insistance of her relations and her insurer, to be examined because of a problem that might not be resolved before the year ends. I finally started reading consistantly after the hour and a half delay on the runway in Philly was over.
Late in the novel which Maugham based on his World War I experiences as a British agent, Ashenden has to make a decision.
"Have you ever read Balzac's Pere Goriot? asked Ashenden suddenly.
"Twenty years ago, when I was a student."
"Do you remember that conversation between Rastignac and Vautrin where they discuss the question whether, were you able by a nod to affect the death of a mandarin in China and so bring yourself a collossal fortune, would you give the nod? It was a notion of Rousseau's."
Herbartus's large face coiled itself in a slow, large smile.
"It has nothing to do with the case. You are uneasy at giving an order that will cause the death of a considerable number of people. Is it for your own profit? When a general orders an advance he knows that so many men will be killed. It's war."
"What a stupid war!"
It will give my country freedom.
"What will your country do with it when it gets it?"
Herbartus did not answer. He shrugged his shoulders.
They end up flipping a coin.
...and so it goes.
loner:
Of Human bondage was his best.
It was about the prisons we make for ourselves.
In the afternoon Philip thought he would go to the Luxembourg to see the pictures...
They walked towards the gallery. Caillebotte's collection had lately been placed on view, and the student for the first time had the opportunity to examine at his ease the works of the impressionists.... Miss Price led Philip straight up to Manet's Olympia. He looked at it in astonished silence.
'Do you like it?' asked Miss Price.
'I don't know,' he answered helplessly.
'You can take it from me that it's the best thing in the gallery except perhaps Whistler's portrait of his mother.'
That's from my favorite part of the novel. I still have hopes of one day visiting the Musée du Luxembourg though, of course, things haven't been quite the same since 1986. No one I know who was there before 1986 hasn't claimed it, without prompting, as one of the highlights of their time in Paris.
Enthralling!
1986 was the opening of Pompidue Center? With the glass pyramid out front?
buddy—
I think a decade later, but then I'm thinking the people I know were talking about the Musée du Jeu de Paume and that some of the paintings were transferred from the Musée du Luxembourg to that museum sometime after Maugham's time. Funny, I never noticed the discrepancy. Everyone just referred to the Impressionist Museum. Time to see for myself. Anyway, the state collections post-1848 were brought together in the new Musée d'Orsay in 1986 and both of the other museums now house temporary exhibitions.
Best.
My middle daughter is there now, on her graduation trip with a friend from Ukraine she met @ the UTexas Russian Dept. They've done Florence, Venice, Rome, and Barcelona, and are due in Paris any day now. Hope she's having fun, I'm boiling old shoes for supper.
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