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In My Opinion Read Trevor Bothwell's column and give him your own opinion.

 
 
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Old 07-26-2003, 07:15 PM   #1 (permalink)
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Weapons of Mass Deception

In My Opinion
by Trevor Bothwell



The best evidence yet that President Bush lied when he said Saddam Hussein sought uranium from Niger has arrived: Bill Clinton said he didn’t.

Some commentators like Bill O’Reilly have cooed that they’ve actually gained a fleck of respect for the former president after he recently defended George W.’s use of The Sixteen Words and reinforced Saddam’s possession of WMDs, but I’m not buying it. Rather than angering Democratic leaders and the party’s presidential hopefuls, it’s more likely that the comments of Mr. I Did Not Have Sexual Relations will actually satisfy their ongoing attempts to discredit the current commander-in-chief.

After all, who better to persuade us that the president is a fraud than the Democrats’ most successful liar? It’s a brilliant strategy, really. Since the midterm elections last November practically proved that most Americans will believe the exact opposite of what a Clinton says (at least for the time being), maybe Terry McAuliffe decided to go for broke. If Bill Clinton says the president isn’t a liar, why then, he must be!

Okay, perhaps that’s a little too much hyperbole. But I still think it’s a good theory. Nevertheless, even if Bill Clinton’s latest proclamation was the first stride in his “12 Steps to Honesty” program, don’t be too hasty to assume he intended Bush any approval by refusing to join in the chorus condemning the president’s war in Iraq.

Unlike President Bush, whose political decisions are driven primarily by his moral underpinnings, Clinton’s policy calculations were almost exclusively motivated by public polls. Evidently, he’s still at it. With Bush’s approval ratings resting around 55%, why would Clinton jeopardize his wife’s chances in 2008 by alienating moderate Democratic voters? Let’s also not forget that accusing Bush of lying would only recall his own mendacity. Ironically enough, Bill Clinton reminds us of the eventual price of crying wolf: Americans aren’t likely to believe his defense of President Bush now anyway, even if his remarks were genuine.

So, the Democrats are still left with a huge problem. They know the only way to unseat President Bush in 2004 is to turn Americans against him. But instead of offering up alternative ideas to Bush’s foreign and domestic policies, Democrats are apparently content to turn to melodrama in the attempt to invent a presidential scandal.

In their latest attempts to prove that the elite media isn’t biased, Congressional Democrats and liberals have ridden the press’s obsessive coverage of their accusations that President Bush intentionally hyped intelligence reports on Iraq’s nuclear intentions and consequently duped the country into war. Democrats now argue that WMDs probably don’t even exist, when only months ago they used their very presence as a reason to avoid war.

In one of the MRA’a (Media’s Republic of America) most influential newspapers, the Washington Post, an article today (July 24) states, “Soldiers are still dying in Iraq, and the administration is on the defensive about its justification for going to war.” Fourth graders understand perfectly why the United States went to war in Iraq, but the country’s enlightened class can’t seem to figure out why the world is better off without a regime of unapologetic murdering and raping thugs.

On the day that we found out we killed Uday and Qusay Hussein, Rep. Charles Rangel not only refused to commend George W. Bush and our troops, but asked why he should be impressed that we got a couple of “bums.” Bums? Apparently, run-of-the-mill criminals are to be equated with two tyrants who would make Castro blush. Mr. Rangel also lamented that the United States “assassinated” Saddam’s sons, citing that this sort of act is against rules of engagement. Perhaps the congressman would prefer that we firebombed entire villages just to dispose of two people?

Questioning the efficiency of intelligence gathering, debating the extent of our occupation of Iraq, and overall costs of the war on terror is healthy for the country. But today’s Democrats are more concerned with making vituperative assertions assailing the president’s character than they are about even giving the impression that they care about our interests of national security.

Engaging in silly politicking is to be expected prior to election time, but Americans should pay close attention to the party doing all the bickering. Some conservatives have expressed concern that President Bush hasn’t done enough to combat the rhetoric coming from his opponents, but while this may be true, we can take comfort in knowing that he understands which battles he should currently be fighting.

Liberals can claim that Bush has taken the country to war in order to suit his own re-election ambitions, but as many experts have noted, he potentially has much more to lose politically than to gain by doing so. Just reference all the heat he’s taken so far about the “failing” economy and military deaths. However, the principle difference between Mr. Bush and his Democratic adversaries should be evident. While Democrats have made it clear that they will resort to anything to win the presidency next year, I believe George W. Bush would gladly concede it if it meant not doing right by his country while he served.

We may never fully know the true intent of Bill Clinton’s defense of President Bush’s war efforts. But one thing is certain: if in fact it is Bill Clinton who’s finally the one telling the truth, the Democrats might be in big trouble for years.


In My Opinion Archives

Trevor Bothwell is editor of The Right Report and author of the cookbook, 50 Ways to Impress Your Girlfriend’s Parents. He is a former elementary school teacher and college instructor.
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Old 07-26-2003, 07:30 PM   #2 (permalink)
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We may never fully know the true intent of Bill Clinton’s defense of President Bush’s war efforts.
For starters, it's the same thing HE was worried about when HE was in office. Those of us who don't have selective Alzheimers remember it well.

But Larry brought up a point that might bear some consideration: Howard Dean. Who's the most anti-war of all the candidates? And who is starting to pick up a LOT of steam in his campaign for the Dem nomination? And, finally, who is the wildcard that the rest of the Dems REALLY don't want to see get the nomination because they know he can never beat Bush (besides Al Sharpton)?

So it's possible that Clinton is only siding with Bush to derail Dean's campaign. But I'm okay with that because it shoves it in the face of all the Clinton freaks out there who go ballistic about Bush. When someone does the right thing, even for the wrong reasons, I can get behind that.
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Old 07-28-2003, 11:00 AM   #3 (permalink)
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I'll offer a different take on Clinton's remarks. You have to remember that Clinton is a womanizer, a liar, and an overall sleezebag. All things that make him a deplorable human being but a great politician. No one in recent memory has shown the political savvy that Clinton has, and he's shown a remarkable ability to read the field and determine the best course of political action to take.

This "scandal" that the Dems are trying to cook up is stupid. They are trying to invent lies where there were none. Bush's statements were 100% correct. He said that the British had reported info, and they had. All of the talk about whether the comment should have been in the State of the Union address doesn't apply to Bush's honesty. So trying to make big political hay over the statement will thrill the hard-Left Dems but it just makes the DNC look stupid to Moderates.

Also notice that James Carville is keeping quiet on this issue as well. Dems that know what they're doing know that this is not an issue that anyone but the hard-core Left cares about. Most Americans are glad that the Husseins are gone and believe that the ends do justify the means, so even if Bush did lie about something most people wouldn't care. Keeping up the attacks on Bush and the war are only going to open the door to Republican counterattacks that the Dems are defending tyrants... and that's not good for the Dems.

I think that Clinton realizes that the Dems need to get the debate away from Iraq and get the voters' minds focused on domestic issues. Dems won't win by posing as tough guys in the War on Terror... no one believes that. Nor will they win by making it look like going into Iraq was the wrong thing to do... most voters disagree. So Clinton is trying to shift the focus of the debate back to the Dems's strongsuit.
 
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Old 07-28-2003, 02:13 PM   #4 (permalink)
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I am not...

...aware of any evidence at all that would suggest the left is ever going to come to grips with the actual Clinton Legacy. The modern left alone holds the power to dismiss Clinton from our public life. That would be to painful an admission at this time, even while he goes about the task of crippling their new hero.

The pathology here is not about one man. It never is. It is about those who enable the one to take power.

50 million people voted for Al Gore, AL GORE, for President, the man who's stock and trade was the most blind and most loyal support of the boss of any Vice President of anything in the history of mankind.

"Fine new cloths, Emperor"

That's how I see so many of my fellow Americans.
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